Wards.

The class began to follow the instructions on board and as everyone had their heads low using their wands to engrave the runes onto the metal sheet that was given to them.

Professor Babbling made rounds around the students to see if they were making any mistakes and following what was written on the board.

After a few minutes of correcting students' bad habits, Professor Babbling moved to Loki's seat.

"Have you worked with Runes before Mr. Loki?" Professor Babbling asked politely with a smile.

"Yes, Professor I have." Loki said while nodding eagerly.

"Oh? How so? Did you learn on your own?" Professor Babbling asked with a smile.

"Yes, Professor. I learnt it on our own to make the game in Hogwart's Honest Mill." Loki answered for everyone to hear.

Professor Babbling's eyes widened at the answer and she said in a calm tone, "Ah, yes, I had forgotten about that. A nifty little thing those cards are, a wonderful application of movement runes to make pictures act on their own."

"Do you do most of the work engraving runes onto those newspapers yourself? I doubt you don't have a machine for them, it'd be very inefficient to do them by hand I suspect? But still…your runic mastery, it isn't just superficial…a runic array to steal other people's lights? And you're targeting Miss Greengrass and Miss Granger?"

"Ah.." Loki suddenly felt slightly embarrassed but he covered it up and spoke up, "You are not wrong professor, we do have an engraving machine, and I've studied about the creation of runes and making enchanted items from Randolph Spudmore over the summer."

Immediately the teacher's eyebrows shot up. Then Professor Babbling picked up Loki's plate and looked at it carefully. After which she poured in a little bit of her spirituality.

Multiple balls of colourful lights popped up from the metallic plate, causing a small ruckus in the room leaving both Hermione and Daphne shocked.

"Five points for Slytherin Mr. Loki. And that is quite the experience to have. I don't know how you got an apprenticeship under him, but that is some nice experience."

"Thank you, professor." Loki humbly responded.

"Hmm…given that you've trained under Randolph, I doubt these classes will be of any benefit to you, how come you chose this class then?"

"Ah, I was surprised about the apprenticeship after school ended last year by one of our newspaper sponsors, so I didn't know I'd be doing an apprentiseship until after I chose my classes for the third year. I'm sorry."

"No worries. I can just give you work for higher years. Tell me how much have you covered under him? Do you know about rune arrays?"

"Yes, Professor. But I haven't delved into them too much and I know very specific arrays so my knowledge about them is very incomplete."

"By very specific arrays you mean arrays relating to flying brooms?"

Loki's eyes widened for a second but he composed himself quickly, "Of course, you'd know about the firebolt, I suspect he asked you for advice?"

"Haha~ I won't say he did not, but let's leave that for some other time, for now, I want to assign you a new task. Wait a moment." Professor Babbling then wordlessly flicked her wand and a cupboard at the end of the classroom shot open. From it shot out a hardcover textbook that flew straight into her hand.

Babbling then dropped the textbook on Loki's table and opened it to a new section, 'Fast Wards and Their Elements.'

"Is this what I need to learn about?" Loki asked with apprehension since the topic appeared to be a little complicated given the first page itself had three formulae.

"Yes, Mr. Loki. Try it out, I'm sure you'll like it."

With those parting words, Professor Babbling continued her rounds around the class, leaving Loki, Hermione and Daphne to their own devices, but the two of them were glaring at him.

Hermione pinched Loki's side while Daphne sent a pinching hex flying his way.

Loki took them both with a little bit of whining while softly whispering, "I'm sorry!! Sorry!!! Won't do it again I promise!!!"

"Whose Randolph Spudmore?" Hermione asked as soon as Professor Babbling was out of earshot and although Daphne appeared uninterested, Loki could see her ears were perked up.

"There's a new broom on the market called the Firebolt, the fastest broom yet, he's its creator.", Loki spoke with some embarrassment.

"What! How did you get an internship under him!?" Hermione asked shocked but she did make sure to keep her voice down.

"I was just lucky. Mr. Blimes, the owner of Zonko's Jokes shop saw that my Rune drawing skill was great and so he brought me into a meeting they were having to introduce me to him."

"Wow…I can't help but feel a little jealous." Hermione pouted causing Loki to laugh at how honest she was being.

"I'll try to see if he has a spot for two more if both of you want to jo-"

"No!" Hermione and Daphne said at the same time.

"Oh? Ok, ok, I won't help you. Make sure you get it by your own strengths." Loki calmed them down after guessing why they'd reacted this way.

With their short conversation done, everyone went back to doing their own thing with Hermione and Daphne working on studying the textbook to create something similar to what Loki had made while Loki studied more about Wards and how they worked.

The textbook had several corrections, side notes and observations written within its margins reminding Loki of Snape's Half-Blood Prince textbook.

'Is this Professor Babbling's personal book?' Loki wondered and slowly became absorbed in learning everything from the book in front of him since it looked extremely valuable.

'Wards are a combination of runic arrays that are all aimed at performing a specific task for the caster.'

'For example, wards can be used to cast an automatic slowing charm at the bottom of a quidditch pitch so that participants who fall down will not get hurt.'

'There are several ways in which one can set up wards. Some of the most common methods include engraving runes on a conductive surface, using a medium such as blood to draw the runes and last but not the least, transfiguring spirituality into the required shapes to form runes.'

'Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages and is suitable for different results. This chapter will go in-depth into all three of the above-mentioned methods, but it is recommended that students have someone to supervise them.'

Loki continued to read until the end of class when the bell rang without realising he'd been reading for about two hours straight. He only stopped when Professor Babbling snatched away his book using an Accio charm.

"Go trot off to your other classes now. I don't want you finishing the entire book in a day Mr. Loki."

Loki smiled a little and bowed his head towards the professor before leaving to go to his next class.

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