87 Two New Professors

"No matter the size, never underestimate any magical creatures," Professor Kettleburn warned.

When I glanced over at my fellow students, I noticed that they were all paying close attention to our Care of Magical Creatures Professor, and I understood why. Professor Kettleburn was rather eye-catching.

While he was rather tall, standing well over six feet, that wasn't what made him so interesting. It was his past injuries that made him so striking.

Wiry silver hair framed his face, partially covering up a scar that ran from his forehead to chin. His milky-brown right eye was a casualty of an injury and contrasted sharply with his other eye, which was alert and rather animated.

But, what really drew the class's attention was his right arm. It had been severed in the past and replaced with a mechanical pincher-like claw. Part mechanical and part magically enchanted, Professor Kettleburn emphasized his warning by pointing the claw at the class and closing the claw with a solid click.

As we followed him across the grounds of Hogwarts, I noticed that beneath his billowing robes he was missing a full leg and part of the other. Magical prosthetics had replaced them, and I couldn't help but laugh at the thought that Uncle John would be jealous of how much Professor Kettleburn looked like an old pirate.

Up ahead, a familiar, friendly half-giant with a large coat waved eagerly at me.

Once we got closer, Professor Kettelburn addressed the class, "I'm sure most of you have seen Hagrid before. He's something of an assistant of mine who helps me take care of our more… energetic creatures."

I wasn't the only one who noticed the pause. Professor Kettleburn's scars and missing limbs didn't exactly fill the class with very much confidence. They had easily started connecting the dots and realized that it was magical creatures that had severely damaged Professor Kettelburn. I could see hints of regret for choosing this class forming on my fellow students' faces.

Sensing the class's concern, Professor Kettleburn waved his metal claw dismissively, "Relax. You won't be exposed to any of the truly dangerous magical creatures until your sixth year."

Cedric shot me a look of doubt. I shared his concern. I had this bad feeling that Professor Kettelburn was like Hagrid and had a skewed sense of what constitutes a dangerous magical creature. No wonder Hagrid and Professor Kettelburn seemed to get along, they're both crazy.

Cedric and I weren't the only ones hesitant. Most of the class looked just as worried. I was just happy that by the time Hagrid would become the teacher and introduce the Blast-Ended Skrewts I would have already gotten my OWL and dropped the class. No way I was going to get into the NEWT level class and tangle with some of the most deadly magical creatures around. Ever since I almost had my head ripped off by a Nandu, I had decided to adopt a curse first and ask questions later policy towards magical creatures. Somehow I had a feeling that Hagrid would frown on me blasting one of his precious creatures apart.

When the class was over, Professor Kettleburn called out, "Mr. Fawley, could I have a moment of your time?"

Hanging back, I motioned for my friends to go on without me.

Once we were alone, Professor Kettelburn eyed me intently with his remaining good eye. "Hagrid tells me you are bonded with a Lamassu."

Hagrid shifted nervously and gave me a guilty look as if he wasn't sure if he had said something he shouldn't have. I winked at him to reassure him I wasn't upset.

Turning my attention back to Professor Kettleburn, I confirmed, "Yes, I've been bonded with Athena since I was five."

A pleased look appeared on Professor Kettleburn's face. "If you don't mind, Mr. Fawley. I would love to show her off in class. It's not every day that I can show my classes such a rare magical creature."

After a moment of consideration, I shrugged. "I don't mind, Athena will probably bask in the attention. But make sure you don't let anyone she doesn't like approach her."

Professor Kettleburn waved his mechanical arm and reassured me, "Don't worry, I'm familiar with making sure my students stay safe."

Eyeing all three of his prosthetics, I replied a little sarcastically, "I can see that."

My remark seemed to go over Professor Kettleburn's head and he excitedly started rambling on what he knew about Lamassu.

Professor Kettleburn clicked his claw excitedly and said, "What's so interesting about Lamassu is that as a species they don't have a set shape. Their most common forms are winged cats and bulls, but their size varies greatly."

I nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I read about that in Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them."

Professor Kettelburn's eyes seemed to lose focus in remembrance and a faint smile appeared on his face. "My good friend Newt wrote that book. He did the wizarding world a great service when he released it. Before him, many magical creatures were greatly misunderstood by wizards. Many magical creatures have been summarily wiped out because of misunderstandings."

Shaking off the nostalgia, Professor Kettelborn leaned forward and eagerly asked, "So, you said you were bonded with Athena. What was it like? How exactly are you bonded? Can you feel one another?"

I felt the urge to lean away as I was bombarded with question after question.

"Sorry, it's been so long since I ran into a wizard that was bonded with a Lamassu. You see, it's quite rare for a Lamassu to let an egg go free, even rarer for an egg to bond with someone and hatch."

I shook my head to indicate that it was ok. Turning my thoughts to the night Athena and I bonded, I said, "It's hard to explain. I remember it like it was yesterday. She hatched from a pure black egg and just before she emerged, red glowing symbols and patterns appeared on her egg."

"Symbols? Are you sure they weren't runes of some kind?" Professor Kettelburn interrupted.

Pausing to think it over, I replied hesitantly, "Maybe. But, I wasn't paying too much attention to the glowing symbols. Once the hatching began, it didn't take long for Athena to emerge."

I didn't mention that I could view the memory in perfect clarity in my mind palace. As well-intentioned as Professor Kettleburn may be, whatever symbols or runes that were on Athena's egg were between Athena and myself.

Getting back to the story, I continued, "The bond didn't initiate until she bit me. It's hard to describe, but I felt something surge through me and connect me to Athena."

I turned to point at the castle, and explained, "If I concentrate hard enough, I can sorta feel where Athena is."

"Can you communicate through the bond?" Professor Kettleburn inquired.

I shook my head, "I don't think so. But, she can feel if I'm in distress."

"Hmm.." Professor Kettelburn stroked his scarred chin and mused. "The other wizard I met who was bonded could communicate with his Lamassu with a mere thought. But, your bond might be too immature to allow for real communication. It may also have something to do with your age. Would you be interested in working with me and trying to develop your bond?"

Although I was a little surprised that there was more to my bond than I previously knew, I eagerly replied, "I would like that."

Professor Kettleburn beamed. "Excellent! I know that the beginning of the semester is rather hectic so why don't you bring Athena to my office in the next couple of weeks once you've settled in?"

Before I turned to leave, I asked a final question, "Professor Kettleburn, if you don't mind, can I ask, who was the wizard you knew that was bonded with a Lamassu? I would love to meet him or at least exchange letters."

Professor Kettleburn hesitated for a moment, "I'll write to him and see if he is interested in contacting you. But, it may take some time, he is a busy man."

On my way back to the castle, I realized I needed to run if I didn't want to be late for my first class in Ancient Runes. I had never been late to a class before, and I wasn't about to start now.

Nearly breathless, I made it to the class just in time. As soon as I crossed the threshold, I spotted Jessica. She had saved me a spot next to her.

"Cutting it rather close, aren't you?" She murmured as soon as I took my seat.

Before I could reply, a bookish middle-aged witch whose red hair had begun to age into a faded copper color entered the class. Framing her face was a set of horned rimmed spectacles that took away attention from her freckles splattered across her face.

"Welcome to The Study of Ancient Runes. I'm Professor Bathsheda Babbling."

After Professor Babbling did a quick roll call, she said, "Now, before we begin, I always feel like I need to take some time to explain what the next three years will entail."

Looking around the class, she asked, "How many of you signed up for the class believing in the fairytale of mystical runes that our ancient ancestors used to enchant wonders?"

When several hands eagerly went up, Professor Babbling shook her head in dismay, "There's always a few in every class."

In a brisk tone, Professor Babbling added, "Unfortunately, it falls to me to break that myth. Ancient Runes are simply an ancient wizarding language. There is no magic involved."

The students who had their hands raised slowly lowered them in disappointment.

Sensing the disappointment, Professor Babbling's green eyes softened with understanding. Comforting the class, she said, "While there isn't anything inherently magical about ancient runes, if you enjoy mysteries and hunting through ancient hoarded knowledge inscribed on faded scrolls and clay tablets, you will come to love this class. Here, you will learn how to decipher ancient knowledge long forgotten to the sands of time."

I hid a smile behind my hand. Professor Babbling was good. Already she had half the class eagerly leaning forward, wanting to know more, and those who had been disappointed had already half-forgotten why they were let down in the first place. I'll bet she has been perfecting this speech since she started teaching.

Seeing how she had the class's attention, Professor Babbling added a warning.

"It won't be easy," she said. "Translating runes can be frustrating, especially in the beginning. I can guarantee most of you at one point, will want to bang your head against the wall when trying to translate ancient runes. But if you stick it out, it will be worth it. I promise."

With her introduction out of the way, Professor Babbling started her first lesson.

"Now, before we get started on what Ancient Runes are, I need to clarify what they aren't. Other than being a recorded language, ancient runes have little to do with modern language. For example, the way the english alphabet works is that sounds are associated with letters, and letters are grouped together to form words. Once you learn the alphabet, you can sound out words even if you don't understand their meaning. And while I am simplifying the English language down to a couple of sentences, my main point is that ancient runes are nothing like the modern alphabet."

Next to me, Jessica raised her hand.

"If runes aren't connected to sounds like the english alphabet, how do they work?" She asked.

Professor Babbling smiled, "There's a reason why we call them ancient runes. They bear a striking similarity to some of humanity's oldest recorded language, Hieroglyphs."

Looking around the class, she asked, "Does anyone know what Hieroglyphics are?"

I raised my hand, and when Professor Babbling pointed at me, I said, "Normally, hieroglyphs represent the image of a thing or action. But, the ancient Egyptians also used them in a more complex way than simply using them as a vague picture script. They also used them to stand for a sound or the sounds of one to as many as three syllables or clarify the precise meaning of adjoining glyphs."

Professor Babbling raised her eyebrows in surprise, not expecting me to go into detail.

"My aunt is Egyptian. She gave me a lecture on the subject." I sheepishly replied.

"Well, since your aunt isn't here to receive any points, five points to Ravenclaw for paying attention to her lecture."

Glancing at the rest of the class, she added, "Mr. Fawley is correct in how Hieroglyphs can be used in several different ways, and so can ancient runes. But for now, we will focus on runes that represent objects, concepts, or ideas."

Professor Babbling pointed her wand at the black chalkboard. Several pieces of chalk rose into the air and began drawing a set of ten different runes.

"Today's lesson will be the easiest step in your journey of learning ancient runes. Your assignment is to hunt down the meaning of the runes in your books. The first to correctly label all ten of them will earn twenty points for their house."

There was a thick flurry of movement as students in the class all reached for their bags as they brought out their book on ancient runes. Seeing as how most of the students taking the class were Ravenclaws, the class's competitive streak was in full swing.

To Ravenclaw students, the only thing better than getting good grades was being able to prove your academic superiority by achieving points. Have I mentioned how serious we take academic competition in Ravenclaw?

Not being immune to the competitive nature of Ravenclaws, I opened my book to get started. The only problem was there were thousands of runes to search through. If I wanted to win, I would need to narrow it down.

Rather than search page by page hoping to catch a glimpse of a familiar rune, I decided to study the runes drawn on the board to see if I could discover a clue. From my aunt's lecture, I knew that hieroglyphs often take a shape that is supposed to simplify whatever it is representing.

Let's see. She said it was simple, so the ten runes need to represent a basic idea. One of the runes I zeroed in on looked like a unicorn. Now that I think about it, several of the runes look like simplified symbols of magical creatures. Some I knew off the top of my head like the twin-horned graphorn or a spider.

All of a sudden, a light went off in my head, and I made a connection. They were all symbols of magical creatures that had easily identifiable numerical traits.

I raised my hand, and Professor Babbling eyed my closed book skeptically and challenged, "So, you figured it out without using your textbook."

Hearing the doubt in her voice made me grin. Confident in my theory, I announced, "They're numbers."

She raised an eyebrow and waved to the board, "The points are yours if you can correctly label all of them."

As I approached the board, my mind went into overdrive. Professor Babbling had placed them in a random order to make it more difficult. Trying to appear confident, I picked up the white chalk and went for the most obvious runes first.

Beneath the unicorn rune, I drew the number one. The unicorn was easy because it had one horn. Next, I went for numbers two and three. They were easy to spot due to the runes having a twin-horned graphorn and the three-headed runespoor on them.

Since I had no idea which one was four, I moved on, saving it for the end. Five was easier to find. The rune was in the shape of a crab with five legs. Six and seven received the same treatment as four. When I spotted a rune in a spider's shape, I drew a large eight beneath the rune.

With half the runes completed and all the easy ones out, I focused on the five remaining runes. I gritted my teeth in frustration. A couple of the runes I couldn't make heads or tails of. They were supposed to be creatures of some kind, but of what, I had no idea.

After racking my brains for a moment, I turned to the other three that I could identify. One looked like a salamander, and the other a snake. If I tilted my head and squinted, the third one sort of looked like a fwooper, a small magical bird from Africa.

In my mind palace, I was going through my memories of reading books about magical creatures. I focused on the snake first. The way it was drawn tickled the back of my mind, I knew I had seen that symbol somewhere before.

Just as I heard a quiet snicker from the back of the class, it came to me. I had seen a similar symbol in Fantastic Beast and Where To Find Them in the chapter about Hydras. The only difference between the symbols was that in the book there were nine of them drawn out in a fan shape, whereas the rune only had a single one. Confident of my decision, I drew the number nine beneath the hydra-head.

I turned my attention back to the salamander and fwooper rune. The remaining numbers were zero, four, six, and seven. I decided to ignore the salamander's four legs; too many creatures had four legs for that to be significant.

Everything I knew about salamanders and fwoopers rushed through my mind. In the end, I settled on two key facts. One, fwoopers come in four different colors, and two, salamanders can't spend more than six hours outside a flame, after confirming four and six. I turned my attention to the last two.

One looked sort of like a wide-eyed monkey, but there were too many creatures out there to narrow it down. The other looked like a squabble of lines and if that was supposed to be a creature I didn't have the faintest clue what it was supposed to be.

A subtle cough from Professor Babbling told me I was just about out of time, so I decided to give it a fifty-fifty shot.

When I finished, Professor Babbling gave a nice slow clap and said, "Congratulations, Mr. Fawley. I thought those last two had you stumped, how did you figure the runes out?"

I shrugged and replied, "Well, the first five were kinda obvious."

Professor Babbling nodded along, agreeing with my statement.

"The next three, I worked out by remembering traits about the magical creatures from books I've read. But, the last two were a flat out guess. I have no idea what the runes for numbers zero and seven are supposed to be."

"Don't feel too bad. Those two runes often stump newcomers. The rune for zero is a demiguise, which can turn invisible. A fitting rune for the number zero."

"And the other?" I pressed.

This time, Professor Babbling smirked, "Ancient witches and wizards knew there was something magical about the number seven, but to what end was unknown to them. So, they created a rune that was deliberately confusing, or otherwise seen as unknowable."

We spent the rest of the class practicing drawing the runes on parchment. I'm not going to lie. I kind of sucked at it. I guess drawing runes was a skill I was going to have to work on. My only comfort was Jessica was just as bad.

Near the end of the class, Professor Babbling asked, "I know the class is almost over. So if any of you have any questions, now is the time to ask them."

I went ahead and raised my hand, something she said at the beginning of the class had made me curious.

"How widespread were ancient runes? You mentioned clay tablets, but I don't think anyone in the British Isles ever used them."

Professor Babbling smiled, "That's a good question."

She pointed her wand over to a small bookcase in the corner, and around a dozen books came floating out. Each book's title appeared to be written in foreign languages. With another wave, the books fluttered open, each showing ancient runes drawn similarly.

"What's fascinating is that ancient runes span the whole world. Some of the runes appear to have slightly different meanings. But, it's pretty obvious that they all share a common ancestry. This leads some of us who have devoted ourselves to translating ancient works to suspect that at one point, there was a single worldwide magical society."

Professor Babbling leaned forward excitedly and the class, just as eager to hear more, leaned in to listen.

"Have any of you ever heard of a place called Atlantis?"