The Study & Appreciation of Ancient Runes Lesson Two [All Years]

Dust-filtered light, the sweet smell of old books, and the serenity of an empty classroom were all there for Andrei to enjoy as he awaited his next class. As usual, the blue-robed headmaster busied himself with a particularly hefty leather-bound book. Written in a sloppy runic hand, the manuscript was—from what Andrei could make out—a discussion of tomb sickness. After his brush with death, the aging man found himself intrigued by the very disease that nearly felled him and this book was the latest in a ceiling-high pile of literature he'd read since recovering.

The unspoken fear of a reversed remission scared the man more than anyone including his wife knew. In a typical Kessler family fashion, he found sanctuary in knowledge. If he was going to die by some slowly creeping illness, then he was going to know everything about said illness. For Andrei, there was comfort in knowing.

Appropriately, today's lesson would be something a bit different and perhaps a bit boring to much of his class: the history of modern runic study. Many of his classes of late had a definite bias for practical applications of his field of study and now it was time for a change. After all, how could one ever hope to wield runic magic without knowing about its rediscovery in the early modern period—knowing one's roots is important.

It was time for a goof old fashion lecture class.

With the impending N.E.W.T.s looming just over the horizon, Clara knew she needed to figure herself out. She'd gone to career counseling in her 5th year when preparing for her O.W.L.s, but 15 years old was far too young to decide the rest of one's life, and it was no surprise that she was having second thoughts.

Her parents had reassured her that she would most likely excel in any field she chose, but that didn't make the decision any easier. She wasn't worried so much about the N.E.W.T.s themselves - she'd always been a good test-taker, and she'd received nearly all O's on her O.W.L.s - but the exams would qualify her for certain career paths depending on her scores in certain subjects.

And the little job experience she had didn't tell her much about what she wanted in her future career. Working for the Ministry was tolerable, but as the year dragged on, the work began to feel more and more like a chore. It was mind-numbing and uninteresting, and certainly not something she would have chosen for herself had she been given other options. But now she was faced with more options than she knew what to do with, and she had no idea what she wanted.

She sighed as she pulled herself from her thoughts, stepping into the Ancient Runes classroom and acknowledging Professor Kessler with a short wave before sitting down. Perhaps for now, she should just focus on getting the most out of her last year at Hogwarts. People were supposed to enjoy their final year, weren't they?

She retrieved her notes from her bag and tried to clear her mind, determined to stay in the moment for this class. School wasn't over yet. She was supposed to be here to learn.

Ms. Goldstein, Mr. Hendricks, Ms.Blackmoor...

Andrei's eyes flicked up from his book as each new face filtered into the room at their own pace. His gaze neither lingered too long nor too little; the ability to acknowledge students while also exerting minimal effort was a craft every experienced teacher learned well. That said, the headmaster could not help but let his gaze linger for a few seconds than what was strictly necessary on one of the most peculiar couples he had seen in quite a while: cabbage girl and his—yes, his—son.

Of course, it was normal for kids their age, Andrei rationalized. Holding hands, stolen kisses, and endless drama; he remembered it all well. And yet, the whole thing made the man uneasy. Mimosa Harrington was harmless; her family, on the other hand? Andrei wasn't all that sure but, then again, he was getting ahead of himself once more—they were only holding hands, after all.

Shaking the thought the troublesome thought from his head, he marked his page and stood up. It was time to start class.

"Good afternoon," his voice cut through the murmurs of the, as of yet, unsettled classroom. "I hope you all enjoyed the assigned reading on the rise and fall of the Coptic texts. I believe it put a good capstone on our last couple classes, so today we'll be turning our attention to something new."

"Today we'll be discussing the reawakening of interest in runic study in the era that muggles call the Renaissance. It was during this time of intellectual curiosity in both Muggle and magical communities that we see a veneration of the classical past in all things. Art, science, and culture flourished in this environment and it is here that we find one of our fields' modern founding fathers, Leonardo Romano."

He paused here ever so slightly.

"Would anyone like to hazard a guess as to where Mr. Romano was from and why his work is still relevant today?"

This was an easy question, but it was important to keep the class engaged to some extent. After all, everyone who was anyone knew that the Italian created the first modern rendering of what amounted to a runic dictionary.

"Very good, Ni—Mr. Kessler," Andrei's mouth twitched into a slim smile in spite of his near misstep—it was good to see that his son had not been slacking. "Now, one of the interesting things about Romano is his relative obscurity during his lifetime. Many scoffed at his works and, indeed, he died a pauper. In fact, it is only because of his daughter, Nina, that we know anything about the Romano name."

He paused and wrote both Ramano names on the blackboard not opting to resort to magic for his transcription—sometimes the old ways were best.

"Many scholars have noted the possibility that Nina actually embellished and expanded on her father's work before publishing it under his name. If true, she—not her father—would be considered the cornerstone on which modern runic studies have been built. This idea is, in of itself, rather interesting because it is the start of a trend we see in the early days of runic study. That is to say, the prominence of women in academic work."

He began to meander from one side of the classroom to the other, speaking as he walked.

"Given the time, much of their work has been published under a pseudonym or the names of their husbands. Now, can anyone name one of these more prominent women and their contribution to the field?"

He paused once more and waited. Once again, not a hard question. If one had read the assigned reading they would have plenty of names to draw on.

Mimosa hardly heard a little bit of Squid Boy's answer, a default setting whenever he started talking about something boring, her mind still working in overtime trying to figure out what they were going to do today. So far, no pretty rocks had shown up and no things on the board to copy. Finally, the young Slytherin was forced to conclude she would have to actually listen to the Headmaster speaking to understand what was going on.

But by the time she tuned in, he was already done with Squid Boy and talking about people's husbands. Though why he was interested in witches getting married was anyone's guess. Still, it had t do something with Ancient Runes right? So married women who studied the subject? Probably.

Quite confident that she ahd fgured otu the code, Mimosa raised ehr hand, making sure to wave it about to get the Headmaster's attention.

"Rosana.. Umm... The lady who did the Spellman Syllabary, it's a really boring book but I saw Gaspard reading it and I think her Husband is Mr. Spellman. She wrote the book but he forced her to use his name because there was a divorce settlement..." The words weren't all clear, and it struck another question in the witch's mind.

"What's a divorce settlement?" Pausing for a moment, the witch spoke out again as she remembered the full name. 'Rosana Amorim, that was the lady's name!"

All Miss Harrington received was a slight nod of mild concern before Andrei returned to his lecture—he had already had two children to parent and couldn't go about adding one more to the mix. The next hour or so went much the same way; Andrei spoke for a while, posed a question for discussion, the class stared blankly at him before someone found the courage to respond, and rinse and repeat. Only when the distant clanging of bells interrupted what the headmaster believed to be a thoroughly engrossing discussion of the Second Cyrillic Split in the late Renaissance period did his lecture finally come to end.

"Alright, class, it looks like that's all the time we have today," he nearly sighed. "Much like last week I will be extending my office hours to allow for questions about term papers, so please do try and drop by if you have any questions."

And, with that, the class was over. The students filed out, the blackboard cleared itself, and Andrei once more found himself alone. It was, in his more than biased opinion, another class well done.

---
Class Closed.

Clara Goldstein, Ravenclaw — 15 points [attendence]
Nikolai Kessler, Slytherin — 20 points [attendence & participation]
Mimosa Harrington, Slytherin — 20 points [attendence & participation]