Ancient Runes

Tuesday, 3rd September 1991

Matthew woke up quite excited today since he would have for the first time one of his electives, Ancient Runes. He already prepared a few questions for Professor Bathsheda Babbling their Ancient Runes lector. But first, he would have a nice Double lesson of Charms with Professor Flitwick and a bit of Herbology in-between.

After Breakfast, they headed for Classroom 2E which was located in the Charms Corridor on the third floor close to the training grounds tower. Coincidentally Matthew and his friends had to pass the forbidden Corridor where the Philosopher Stone was guarded or will be guarded in the future. Since Matthew wasn't sure if the Stone was already there at this point since the Mirror of erised only gets moved there after the Christmas break. He didn't believe the Stone would just lay there in the last room on the ground only guarded by traps that even first-year students could pass.

While passing the forbidden Corridor Matthew quickly cast a homenum revelio in the direction of the door wandless so his friends wouldn't notice it. The reading he got from the Spell told him that Fluffy, the Cerberus with the worst name for a deadly three-headed dog who supposedly guards the entrance to hell or the Underworld in Greek Mythology, was already guarding the trapdoor. After a few moments, he realized that he just could have used his minimap to confirm that, which also showed that Fluffy was located in the Room.

He was the only living thing inside the seven rooms, which was strange since there should be also a troll guarding one of the rooms. They probably still didn't put it there. Or rather Quirrell since this was his "contribution" to protect the Stone.

They arrived at their Charms class which soon started. During the first lesson they had a bit of revision of the last years, they repeated spells like the levitation Charm. After making sure that everyone still could cast the Spells, the small Professor began with the new spells for their third year. The first spell they would learn this year was the cheering Charm.

According to Flitwick the Charm was created by Felix Summerbee in the mid-1500s and created a feeling of great contentment. If he remembered right this was one of the Charms which would appear at the end of the year exams, which was logical since they were easy to practice and harmless. This gave Matthew an idea for a future project which could earn him massive amounts of money in the non-magical world. Wasn't this basically what some Drugs did, just that this didn't harm the consumer's health? He definitely should create a potion with a similar effect and fill it into pills that he would sell. Happiness was something many people would want, but this idea had to wait until he was of legal age or at least close by and powerful enough to give a shit about ministries since they would most likely try to restrict him.

As Charms finished they had an hour of Herbology before Lunch. Nothing special happened in Class, they only started with Puffapods a magical plant that produced large pink seedpods full of shining beans, which instantly flowered when they came into contact with any solid object. The spores of a Puffapod could cause dizziness and could also be used in potion-making. Trolls appeared to be allergic to Puffapods, sneezing whenever they bloom. Matthew stored a few seeds of it instantly in his pocket.

Once they finished with their Lunch break it was finally time for Ancient Runes the Lesson Matthew anticipated the most today. Runes Class was in Classroom 6A which was on the sixth floor. The Class wasn't so full as the other Classes so, members of all four houses shared this class. Still, most of the Ravenclaws took this Class, which wasn't strange since they always are studious. Matthew and his friends took two desks in the front of the class so they wouldn't miss it. All of his friends took runes, but unfortunately, instead of Arithmancy they rather took Care of Magical Creatures with Professor Kettleburn.

After a while, Professor Bathsheda Babbling entered the Classroom and the Students became quiet. Bathsheda Babbling was an average height woman that was fair skin she has brown hair and eyes Bathsheda looked as she was getting on in age as she had some wrinkles on her face that could vanish with a simple potion and no one would know it was ever there.

"Take your seats... My name is Bathsheda Babbling and I will be teaching you about Ancient runes and some common runes used today." She started the Class.

"In Ancient times Runes were the main method to cast spells, later on, it was replaced by Charms a method that worked with less preparation. Ancient Wizards had different methods to cast Spells with the help of runes, some enchanted artifacts with Spells, some tattooed rune clusters onto their Skin to channel magic through it for specific spells, then some wizards used disposable objects like rune stones here in Britain or nordic countries, while in Asia they used paper talismans which some spell caster even use until today. After Runes got replaced by Charms their main application shifted to enchanting and warding. You find today Runes usually on wardstones thís is what is professionally called a centralized ward schemes, some powerful ancient ward schemes are distributed over large areas. Hogwarts Wards are a mix of both which is also possible." She explained.

"Another usage would be small rune clusters for specific usage, many wizarding Communities use for example runic lights and similar applications. The advantage of runes in enchanting and warding is that they are physically anchored into the enchanted object and last longer. This would be also possible with enchanting through Charms but it takes a lot more energy. You see there are many different methods of how runes could be used even today. Does anyone have a question?" she finished her introduction into the topic of ancient runes.

Matthew instantly raised his hand.

"Yes dear, could you introduce yourself first?" Requested the Professor as she pointed at Matthew.

"My name is Matthew Mason. I have a question regarding the different rune languages. After reading many different books on the topic of runes I found that all major magical Cultures had at least one set of runic languages over their History, Ägypt had Hiroglyphs, in Britain, France, and the Germanic countries where the different versions of Furthark spread like elder Futhark, Younger Futhark or the medieval one which was still used during the founding of Hogwarts, Ancient Greece had their own runic system, in Asia they used older versions of the languages they use even today, in America, the Maya and Aztecs had their own writing culture although the Aztecs rather used blood as a medium for their magic. Of all these past magical cultures I could find records of their Language at least partially. Only about the ancient Norse runic system, I didn't find anything. Not even a letter. Why is that?" asked Matthew after a rather lengthy description.

"Ah, that is an interesting question, my boy. You won't find a definitive answer anywhere since all that remains are Legends. According to them the Norse Gods themselves after either a great war or a disaster caused by Norse magic-user removed all records about the runic language. This is the most detailed answer you will find anywhere. Has anybody else a question?" asked the Professor after answering Matthew.

While the Class continued Matthew stayed in his thoughts, 'Hmm, there was probably some kind of disaster that wiped all records of the runic Language out. And the legends then turned this into something that the Norse gods themselves removed the Language. After all, there are no Norse gods or Asgard. Or are there?' asked Matthew himself as he had to think about the dark Shadow that tried to invade his mind as he read the Scroll of Sins. 'Well, it isn't impossible. I shouldn't forget the possibility completely but I have no proof or even a clue of their existence at the moment besides this Legend which could be interpreted differently.' Mused Matthew as he continued to listen to the class, he would need to look for different sources of what really happened to the Norse runic Language since he would most likely find not much about it in Hogwarts since it happened long before it.

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