Who was this kid? Botros listened and nodded along to the young Slytherin, impressed. "The Nauthiz merkstave is the third one," he corrected quickly, not wanting to interrupt the boy's stream of thoughts. But once he was done talking, Botros clapped for him. "That's very accurate and thoughtful. Great thinking--" He squinted his eyes at the parchment, "--West Odessa." Brilliant kid.

Then the Slytherin captain spoke, Botros nodded at him, smiling. "My opinion is exactly what you just said, actually." He glanced to the rest of students and… yeah, not many were finding this understandable. "Let me try explaining this to the others."

Botros lifted himself off the desk again and went to one corner of the blackboard to explain what had just been said.

"In the original Old Norse manuscripts the name of Thor’s hammer is spelled either mjǫlnir or mjǫllnir." He wrote the foregin words before carrying on, "Many modern Thor’s hammer researchers try to feature the word Mjollnir in the Elder Futhark runes, simply replacing each letter with a corresponding rune." He pointed at the set of runes. "The procedure is incorrect. Mjolnir is an Old Norse word. Old Norse developed in the 8th century as Odessa just pointed out. Due to its difference as compared to its earlier form, Proto-Norse, Vikings were to reform their runic writing system." The professor shot a smile at the Slytherin boys before extending it to the rest of class, "As a result, they adopted the Younger Futhark." Mhmm. "By the end of the 8th century the Elder Futhark was not in use any more. So if we were to write the name of Thor’s hammer in the Elder Futhark runes, we would have to reconstruct it in Proto-Norse. Like this..." He turned toward the board and wrote, melð[u]nii̯az down.

"However, all of you should keep in mind that all of this is just a theory. Researches and studies are still in progress up till this moment." He paused and chuckled. "I admit that my earlier question was a bit of a tricky one, I apologize for confusing you." They were quite adorable handling the script though. Even the most professional researchers made the mistake of trying to decipher this script in Elder Futhark - Abraham didn't think it was a big mistake actually, it was just not what it is.

"Anyways, five points to Mr. Odessa for his great answer and thinking." And he was such a small kid!

Pause. "It's very interesting that Slytherins are the ones who detected the trickery in that question, eh?" Very cunning people, Botros beamed at Odessa, the Snake Captain and Juliet.

Ab stood straighter and concluded, "The correct answer is how Mr. Odessa put it." He wrote the answer on the blackboard for everyone to see.



"We have one more thing to discuss before we do a small activity and then wrap this lesson up." Some were already growing bored and huffing. Botros felt sorry for them.

Walking to his desk, he lifted his magical wand up in the air for everyone to see. "This is a magical wand. And like someone already mentioned, runes offer magic or enhance magic without wands." He smirked and continued, "But that's not entirely true, because instead of the traditional runestones, we're going to use runic wands in order to use runes this term." He paused, lowering his wand and waiting for the imaginary impressed 'ooohh's to die down.

No? Nothing? Well, okay.

"A runic wand is called a gandr." The professor tapped the top of the two baskets he took out from his desk a while ago and fished out a long wooden stick with a flat side. "They look closely like our magical wands, but with carvings etched all over them." He lifted the runic wand in the air, "However they're not as powerful, varied, or effective as magical wands. They're not nearly as easy to reign either." Nothing matched a magical wand. Not even a gandr. "It's important to add that one Gandr is crafted for one sole rune. We're not going to go through the making of a Gandr, but you all must know it's a very delicate and advanced level of Runology. Thirty years into this fascinating field of study and with great difficulty I can barely make a successful Gandr." He was dead serious.

"Because all runes are more powerful united and in some way they strengthen and complete each other, it's always better to carve all runes on the Gandr regardless of which rune it's made for. The wandmaker then adds a carefully calculated number of the desired rune to mark this Gandr to its rune." He lowered the runic wand into the basket and stepped away from it.

"When you hold a certain runic wand and start chanting the Galdr appropriated to the rune it's marked to, the symbols on your runic wand will start to give a visible golden glow. Depending on how bright this glow is, you'll know whether your chanting is working or not – whether you are connected with this rune or not yet." Botros went to the blackboard and erased the history and origins of the word 'rune'. They must've written that down. He wrote then, 'Uruz' in the middle and scribbled something beneath it before turning around and facing the kids again.

"Uruz is our rune for today. It's the rune of life force, physical health, and courage." They didn't have to write this down, it's all in the textbook. "While Thurisaz is the main rune associated with Thor, some scholars also mention Uruz, with its energy that governs raw primal power, survival and endurance, it's almost a perfect fit for the Norse god of Thunder."



With a wave of his magical wand, the professor removes the cloths off the piles and widened his smile. Beside each desk, now, sat a replica of Thor's hammer and a metal box. "With the help of a runic wand, Uruz Galdr and the fake hammer of Thor, I want you all to try and break this metal box in two halves." Not that they could smash it into bits. "You can go ahead and try to lift the hammer now, see how impossible it is. It's nowhere near Thor's Mjöllnir and yet no one can lift it off the floor on their own." Cute little kids.

"After you tested your hammer, you come over here, pick a Gandr from the basket – they're all Uruz wands so don't get too picky, and return to your desk to practice the Galdr a few times without the wand." Botros looked at as many students as possible before he went on, "Then you'll have to grab the wand and the handle of your hammer in both hands, chant the Galdr carefully with great focus in order to be able to lift it and break the metal box into two." Inside they'll find a wooden box with something for each one of them.

Oh right, there was a kid sitting on his desk. Ab turned toward Richard and stared at him for a long moment, "You can go back to your hammer, mister Turner." He approached the boy closer, "I hope you know by now that I don't tolerate intimate gestures between my young students." In front of younger students! Botros moved aside to let the Slytherin go back to his desk if he didn't have anything else to say.

"As you all come and pick your runic wands, I want you to chant with me the Uruz galdr chant." he cleared his throat and started expecting them to chant along, "uruz uruz uruz... u u u u u u u u u... u u u u u u r r r r r r... u u u u u u u u u.." Over and over again, without breaking a sweat. It was easy!

...

"If anyone needs help or has a question, feel free to raise your hand and I'll come over." Sooner or later, depends on what's left of his energy. He could feel his knees getting sorer already.

ooc: - OKAY, activity time! In order to get full credit, you need to make 4 posts:

* 1 post where your character walk up to the basket and take a runic wand while they chant the Galdr with the professor.
* 2 posts where they try to lift the hammer and crash the box. (they should grab the runic wand with both hands WITH the hammer's handle, chant the galdr, the runes on the wand should glow stronger as they chant harder and louder and that's when they can lift the hammer. Once they stop chanting, the hammer falls to the floor again.)
* 1 post where they succeed in cracking the metal box and open the wooden box inside to find a small pendant in the shape of Thor's hammer.

- Each post needs to be at least one paragraph long (1 paragraph = 5 sentences).
- Please title your post with the number of posts you're at (e.g. post #1, post #2...etc)
- You have about 24 hours to complete this activity.
- Feel free to help each other out, but ALL metal boxes should be broken. You cannot share your box with someone else.
- I'll try to be around as much as possible if your charrie needs help.
- Have fun!