Runes Lesson Two - All Years

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With the first student who arrived, Daniel gave him a warm smile. "Good morning, Bennett." He replied to the welcome from the boy, before the question about the Ball arose. "I did indeed go to the ball, it was a great night for all, I believe." Daniel explained, he'd enjoyed himself, even if he'd spent most of his time on his own just watching the children to make sure they were okay.

Daniel continued to greet the rest of the students as they filed in, before checking his watch. It looked like it was time to start, but no doubt there would be some late comers.

"Okay, shall we make a start?" Daniel asked the class, though the question was rhetorical. "As you may have seen, today we will be looking at Curse breaking - some of you may have heard of it before, I'm sure. But, shall we brainstorm what we know first?" Daniel asked, motioning towards the board where a piece of chalk was hovering waiting for some ideas.

"Can anyone give me some ideas of what they know?" He prompted, looking hopefully towards his students.

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Ancient Runes was a class that Aiden very much loved. It was something that he learnt about even before he came to Hogwarts and something that had appealed to him when his sister had shown him her Hogwarts School Books for the subject.

He had found himself very much in love with the subject and, despite loving Potions, he doubted that subject would overcome this one.

Aiden had not planned on coming in late to the class but when he forgot to grab his bookbag from his dorm he had to go back and get it. Which meant going all the way down to the Dungeons before coming back up to the Ancient Runes classroom.

Slipping inside the class, Aiden gave the professor an appologetic smile before moving to sit at one of the empty desks. Blinking his eyes when he saw the subject on the board, Aiden eagerly leaned forward.

Curse breaking was something that he thought of probably doing in the future and since they were talking about it now he hoped to get an idea of what they could do.

"Curse Breaking is where a witch or a wizard disables or counters a curse on objects or even Ancient Tombs." Aiden stated clearly with a light smile on his lips.

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Finley knew only a little about cursebreaking, he'd looked at it in a book for a moment, but the idea of trying to break curses sounded dangerous. Finley had never been an adventurous person, and didn't think the job would suit him for a moment. So, he'd ruled it out.

Before knowing he was able to do runes quite well.

Making a note to go back to the books and have a thorough read on Cursebreaking, Finley remembered something he'd read. Wanting to show Naomi that she was safe with the professor - because Finley truly believed that - he raised his hand. Finley rarely spoke in classes, so for him to do this was a big occasion. He waited to be called upon by the professor.

"C-curse... breaking is m-mainly done by the M-Ministry." Finley explained, trying to focus solely on the professor and not the rest of the class, though his nerves were already growing. "B-but some work f-for Gringotts. F-finding long lost t-treasure." He finished, his cheeks glowing as his eyes moved back to his book.

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Naomi swore her eyes almost fell out of her head when Finley raised his hand to answer the question, but she smiled at him when he was done, hoping he'd catch sight of it and know that she was proud of him for speaking up.

And, well, if Finley had spoken up, maybe the Headmaster wasn't too scary. Besides, he had been fair in their last lesson, no matter how bad Naomi had been at it. She raised her hand and it shook a little, but she still answered, "Cursebreaking is extremely dangerous and requires a high level of training to master. Ancient curses are often vindictive and very powerful."

After finishing, Naomi shrank back in her seat a little. She was sure of her answer, although she still wasn't particularly fond of speaking out in class. Still, she knew enough on the subject after all her extra reading, she might as well put it to good use.

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For the most part, Ellie didn’t care much for class, she was content to just kick back and watch it all unfold before her. She had more things on her mind, and one of them included the fact that she and her brother’s maybe spent too much time together. Perhaps it was time for them all to branch out their horizons friend wise. Phil probably already had friends, Ellie on the other hand... It could be loosely said that she had acquaintances, and maybe an enemy (she didn’t even know that was possible gosh). However besides those two the only people she really relied on were Phil and Cay. At the same time she didn’t know how to make new friends. She sighed as she played with her braid absentmindedly letting the class go by. That was until Professor - or Headmaster, what did you even call the Headmaster who taught? - asked an interesting question.

Cursebreaking and Ancient Runes went hand in hand didn’t they? Mum had said something about Cursebreaking once... But what was it? Ellie tapped her finger against her lips in thought as she went through her memories searching for Cursebreaking.  Career day! It was Career Day, and Cassie came in to talk about being a ‘pharmacist’ for a special company. She talked about how important chemistry was and how following the instructions was super important. On the way home, Ellie asked why she picked being a Potioneer and Phil said something like: “Why not something cool like a Dragon Tamer or or -” and Caelan added in, “or a Curse breaker!” Ellie was astounded by the fact that Caelan thought Cursebreaking was cooler than Potioneering, but never said anything. Immediately her mind smacked into the longest occupation lecture ever and her mum ...

  “Oh!” Ellie exclaimed raising her hand and grinning jubilantly, finally excited that this subject had something to do with something kind of interesting to her, “my mum dated a Cursebreaker back in her college years before dad, said his job was just like being an archaeologist, or someone in the muggle world who uncovers the past. Cursebreakers search through old curses, jinxes, or hexes by deciphering Ancient Runes, and it’s an extremely dangerous job since old curses, jinxes, or hexes are unpredictable.” She paused before sinking back into her chair.

“Something like that I think.” She added, not afraid of her outburst but afraid of being wrong.

Guest

The sight of a late student wasn't one that Daniel liked, but he would rather a student arrived late than didn't arrive at all. The Headmaster simply nodded towards the boy in response to the apologetic smile, and made a note to tell the boy to make a little bit of a better effort next time to be on time.

The answer the Slytherin gave was a small step in the route to redemption though, and Daniel nodded once more. "Very good, Aiden." Daniel replied, just before the next answer came.

Daniel was quite surprised Finley had spoken up, all the teachers spoke of his shyness. "Very true, Finley, well done!" Daniel replied, being a little more enthusiastic with the younger years because they needed encouragement more.

"Again, very true, Naomi!" Daniel responded as the other quiet Ravenclaw spoke. He couldn't help but smile in the knowledge that both of them were trying in this class, it meant he was doing something right - or so he hoped.

The last answer, however, was one that hit Daniel almost as hard as he'd been hit in the Great Hall at the opening feast three months ago. Hoping it didn't greatly show in his face, Daniel managed to nod as Ellie Brennham answered the question. "That... that is very true." Daniel agreed with the witch, looking towards the Gryffindor only long enough to be deemed polite before he looked away again.

"Cursebreaking can be studied at almost all magical universities in the world. It is a complex branch of magic, mostly because the languages you are trying to depict are both ancient and more commonly in a language that hasn't always been completely translated." Daniel explained. "Whilst some of us work for the Ministry, others will work for Gringrotts, breaking in to tombs, pyramids, and the like, whilst others can work freelance. It is a very rewarding job, but also a very stressful job. One wrong move, and you could, realistically, die.

"Now, I can't do a whole field trip to Egypt, or in to the Amazon, so today I have brought cursebreaking to you. Please don't be afraid, nothing in this classroom will hurt you." Daniel explained, slipping his wand from his pocket and levitating a box to each desk. Each one was different. Different patterns, different words. Different challenges to unlock.

"I have therefore made up small tests for each of you. There are runes on each box which need to be deciphered. Use your books if you're not confident on your translations yet, or have a go at doing it alone. If you manage to successfully open the box, you will find a small Christmas present from myself - a box of Bertie Bott Every Flavour Beans. If you don't manage to open it - well you will still enjoy the rest of your day." Daniel explained, with a knowing smile on his lips.

If people did get them wrong, they would be faced with a 'curse' that would keep them laughing for the rest of the day, intermittently, and for no reason at all.

Guest

After being late to Potions, Sumire tried her hardest to get to Ancient Runes on time but found her mind wandering as she walked through the halls with unsure steps. She was biting her lower lip as she braided her hair and tightened her bag around her shoulder. As it so happened she walked by Ancient Runes three times just thinking about the past weekend. Her mind was in a mess of the events replaying every word. Apart of her wished her mind wasn’t holding these things; she wished she just remembered the feelings, the faces, the event and not the exact words of her family and those she loved.

“Sumire,” her grandma cooed sympathetically, “you know we love and adore you but we cannot deny that this sudden news raises a lot of questions. What else what was Ageha hiding from us? What could this possibly mean for you? What’ll happen to your and Felix’s relationship when the time comes?”

Those same questions were burning in her brain when a voice of one of the groundskeepers called out to her. They asked her what she was doing out of class and immediately she turned on her heel and ran to Ancient Runes. Her breath was ragged as she opened the door quickly.

“I’m so so so sorry,” she panted to Headmaster Jameson with wide eyes, “I-I’ve had a confusing weekend. I-May I just take my seat?” She pleaded, her eyes wide and worried. She had missed so much of the class... She was just praying she got some credit, but she couldn’t help her distress.

Guest

As another student slipped in to the room, Daniel's eyes moved from the students who were working to the one who had just entered. Her name was supplied to him from memories of dealing with the permission slips to let her home for the weekend, Sumire Sidhir.

Daniel knew the witch wasn't any trouble, and therefore didn't need the whole spiel on how he wasn't happy with her. For one, it likely wasn't her fault, and secondly it would be disrupting to the class. So, instead, Daniel simply waved the witch towards and empty seat before sending another one of the boxes that needed to be broken in to.

"You're using your Runes knowledge to attempt to get in to the box. You may use your book if you like." Daniel explained to the witch patiently, hoping she would understand, but if she didn't he would explain.

Subject: Re: Runes Lesson Two - All Years Mon Jun 29, 2015 8:42 pm

As the boxes were levitated across the room, Victoria couldn't help but feel her excitement grow. A challenge was always something she enjoyed, and today she hoped that her rune would be some what difficult to crack. Otherwise there wouldn't be any fun in the task!

Once the box had settled on her desk, Victoria looked up to the professor, looking for permission to begin, and when he nodded, Victoria got on, closing her book. A challenge wouldn't be a challenge if you could look up the runes, would it?

Almost instantly, Victoria took to lifting the box up, turning it around and looking at the many faces which held at least couple of runes each. The witch smiled as she recognised two words on the first page. Not here. They were simple, so Victoria knew that she wouldn't be wrong in that respect. Turning on to the next side, she was face by a couple more runes, and frowning slightly, the witch tried to piece the phrase together.

It took her a couple of minutes, and a lot of deep searching to bring up the area of the textbook she'd seen this piece. But after recalling it, her smile blossomed once more. You will never open me if I see the sun.

Now, that could mean one of two things, either the box needed complete darkness, or it was making reference to light. So, with careful hands, Victoria tried to trace the bottom of the box, looking for something...

Her finger brushed over a small ridge and the Hufflepuff let out a small sound of excitement. Pressing it, nothing happened, so Victoria turned the box, looking again at the Runes.

Do not press.

Well, it was a little late for that....

Turning the box once more, a few runes showed the final step.

Stroke to open.

Following the instructions, Victoria stroked the ridge she'd thought to be a button and the lid opened, showing a box of every flavour beans. Beaming at the prize, Victoria took them out and closed the box, thoroughly happy with her progress and amazed that the professor had thought of something so cool.

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Guest

Watching everyone work, Daniel smiled to himself, happy to see them giving this a shot. He knew it wouldn't be easy, but so long as people tried, well, he would open the box for them and present them with the Beans anyway. Afterall, it was Christmas in a few days time.

When he realised the time, however, Daniel quickly collected himself, moving back to the front of the class and raising his voice to be heard over the din. "Okay everyone, I'm afraid we've run out of time. Well done to those of you who succeeded in getting in to the box, and for those who haven't, well, if you want to know how, wait behind and I'll show you." Daniel explained, looking happy with himself.

"You may all leave now, stay safe over the holidays, and I'll see you next lesson." He told them.

House Points
Alberi Woodston = 10 points for attendance
Ellie Brennham = 10 points for attendance + 5 points for answer = 15 points.
Isabella Krupp = 10 points for attendance
Layla Taylor = 10 points for attendance
Bennett Fox = 10 points for attendance
Sumire Sidhir = 10 points for attendance
Victoria Newbury = 10 points for attendance + 15 points for participation = 25 points.
Aristotle Mayes = 10 points for attendance
Finley Allen = 10 points for attendance + 5 points for answer = 15 points.
Naomi O'Hare = 10 points for attendance + 5 points for answer = 15 points.
Aiden Harvey = 10 points for attendance + 5 points for answer = 15 points.

TOTAL:
Gryffindor: 45
Hufflepuff: 45
Ravenclaw: 40
Slytherin: 15

» Runes Lesson Three - All Years
» Runes Lesson One - All Years
» Ancient Runes Lesson Three [All Years]
» Ancient Runes - Lesson One AND Two (All Years)
» Ancient Runes - Lesson Three (All Years)