Ancient Runes with Professor Watson[8]

[Ellie Waters]

Ellie tiptoed in. Not that she had to, Professor Watson was very relaxed about latecomers, he was only interested in their results.

She took a seat next to her fellow Ravenclaw, Tina, while trying to scoot away as much as possible from the Slytherin area.

Being late, she didn't know what the question was, but didn't care anyway, and took out a leather bag with her own set of runestones. She had carved them herself in a moment of boredom in the hidden broomcabinet.

Before she realized fully that the agitated wobbling was very uncharacteristical of an inanimate leather pouch, Paul had already jumped down to the floor, a runestone in his mouth, and darted between the legs of the students into a quiet corner, chewing happily away on his prey.

Ellie let out a groan and dashed after her rat.
Perhaps it hadn't been such a good idea to carve the runes into pieces of liquorice root?

[Dinah Manning]

*Dinah had never been sure about the sheep and goat expression. Ought one to be a sheep or a goat? And especially when it came to the casting of runes? She shifted her attention to the task professor Watson was asking of them. The thought that first leapt into her mind was the ever returning question of what she was going to do with her life. She was full of desire and had no viable plan. On the other side, she had tons of questions of a more immediate nature. Would she ever have one boyfriend (or more) who would throw snowballs on her window to wake her up? Would she ever be cured of her apple-addiction? Would she ever learn a spell to make her hair grow thicker? Realizing that the professor would probably not be super happy with the latter questions she chose her pick and went fetch the rune stones.*

Professor, I think I want to ask the runes for advice as to what I’m supposed to do after Hogwarts. I know I want to have a beach house, I just don’t know how I’m going to get it. I’ll probably need a job, but other than joining the circus I can’t think of anything that I would want to do.*

*She took the rune stones and went back to the floor to sit down.*

[Tina Griffin]

*Her features became slightly uneasy as Tina hesitantly pondered about a question. Was there anything she always wanted to know? Something that would come from deep down inside her heart but could be shared with Professor Watson and the rest of the small class? Shouldn't be something inappropriate... But what's inappropriate nowadays? She shrugged a little. Would be easier if they hadn't have to go forward to announce their question yet.*

*The door opened, Ellie entered. Greeting her with a gentle smile and a small wave she watched her taking a seat.*

*Back to work. Hope I'll find a good question. Closing her eyes she imagined a blue sky, letting her thoughts pass by like fluffy, white clouds in front of her eyes. A smile formed on her lips. She saw the friendly face of her best friend Julianna who had left Hogwarts a little while ago. When they would be able to meet again? Exchanging owls with her was amazing, still she missed her friendly, open personality around here.*

*She moved back her chair to proceed to the teacher's desk, quietly informing him about the question she had come up with and took her set of runes.*

*On her way to a free place on the floor little Paul made his sudden appearance, the Ravenclaw couldn't suppress a chuckle.*

Whoops!

*Moving out of his way she allowed him to pass, carefully observing where he went to so she could sit down cross-legged without harming him.*

[Deleted]

The young Hufflepuff began to panic a little bit. Ask the runes a question? She was already proving to be a bit of a flop in this class... It required too much thought for her... She sighed a little and set to thinking. It was not long before student after student headed up with their questions to recieve their runestones. Oh great... She was going to be a sheep... Or a goat. Whichever was the bad one. She sighed and asked softly to herself. "Will I even pass this class..." She glanced around, wishing she could bite back the words as soon as they were out. That wasn't an acceptable question... Was it? And it had likely been said loud enough for many in the quiet, small room to hear her.

[Ellie Waters]

Having retrieved Paul from his corner, she settled again between the Ravenclaws.

- What was the question?, she asked while trying to snatch the piece of wood from Paul's sturdy front teeth. When she succeeded she inspected it to see if the rat had damaged it, and found to her surprise he had taken the P-rune.

- Mr Watson! She held up in one hand Paul by his tail and in the other the gnawed on runestone.

- Look how bright he is! He took the Perthro stone, he knows his name starts with a P!

[Alan Watson]

*He noticed a few latecomers but chose to ignore it. After all, it was better that they showed up late rather than not showing up at all.*

*He approached Ms Waters and scooped up the rat. He examined it closely with a smile on his face.*

Are you sure that’s what he is trying to tell you? The Perthro or
Peorth symbolizes fertility and birth – the hidden that become visible.

*He put down the rat and turned his attention to the class.*

Now you all need to prepare your space. It would have been better to perform this ritual during the night, that way it would have been easier to make the runes speak to you, but I’ve tried to recreate a nightly atmosphere so it should still be possible to go through with it.

You all need to move away from each other, make sure you’ve got enough space to cast the stones without any accidents. Take a deep breath, relax and close your eyes. Make yourselves receptive to the stream of thoughts, sounds and images that come to you and observe them with your inner eye.

[Michael Billows]

*He had little idea of what question to ask the runes and even less interest. He forced himself out of his seat and strutted to the front of the class, taking what had been allocated for him.*

Maybe I should ask them what the point of this is...

*He thought to himself.*

*Turning a few of them over in his hands he looked at them. He muttered to the teacher.*

I'll ask if any of this can make me rich.

[Ellis Archer]

*Blinks, confusion plain on his face. Ask the Runes a question...*

Is this Divinations?

*Ellis flicked his eyes about the classroom to reaffirm that he was in Ancient Runes and not in the Divination Tower by mistake. He felt a bit of relief in seeing he was right where he should be, but that didn't clear anything else up. It was beyond him to know if his question was to be answered, for he didn't even know how to go about asking the question in the first place.*

*Passing this class was definitely out of the question. Maybe that should be the question to ask however, it was asked before his lips could part, and he snorted silently, peeking sideways at Jennessa Lynn. He then thought of his own question as quick as a snap.*

Who's gonna win the House Cup? I think that's a fair 'nuff question.

[Ellie Waters]

Fertility? Ellie looked surprised at her rat.
- Don't make little rats, okay?

She scratched Paul's back and put him safely into her bag.
Everyone else seemed to have difficulties finding a question too, and she decided to test the matter first with a simple one.

- Will I get through all my exams?

[Dinah Manning]

*Dinah tried to find a place away from the rest of the students where she would be able to cast the runes without bumping into anyone. To her annoyance the slytherin boy was standing right in front of her. She thought he reminded her a bit of a squid and was worried that each and all of his arms would slap her if he started moving. She suddenly remembered that she had very pointy elbows, so she used them to shove him further away.*

[Alan Watson]

Now, grab all the runes that I’ve given you and when you’re ready, pose your question to the runes before casting them onto the floor in front of you. Remove the stones that are inverted – if they don’t show you their symbols they will have no meaning for you. The remaining runes will provide you with symbols which you now have to interpret. The answer to your question is stored within these symbols. Your interpretation will have to take into account the meaning of the rune, the distance between the stones, their shapes and most importantly your own intuition. I will be here to guide you along the way, so if you have any questions don’t be afraid to call me.

[Tina Griffin]

*The moment of truth had come. Tina waited for another few seconds, suppressing to wonder what her fellow classmates would ask. Still this was completely different compared to regular classes with just one right way. After all each question should be really desired, not just formed in words. Slowly in- and exhaling a couple of times she soothed her mind, shutting out doubts and nervousness.*

When will I meet Julianna again?

*With that thought she casted the rune stones in her hand on the floor.*

[Ellie Waters]

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Ellie mixed the runestones between her hands for a while before letting them fall on the cloth in front of her crossed legs.
Only five stones, writing visible, had landed there.



Ellie scratched her head. She hadn't read the chapters Professor Watson had required and was completely confused.

[Michael Billows]

*He was quite disgruntled about being shoved by the Huffie and threw her a wicked glance before withdrawing to his desk and dropping them at random on the desk in front of him.*

*He pursed his lips and looked at the stones as though calculating their worth, not being able to find any in not understanding them.*

[Tina Griffin]

*I'd rather not wanna open my eyes. Tina thought. Who knew what the runes might say? If they said anything that made sense at all. She sighed with a shake of her head. God. I'm so embarrassing.*

*Whatever was in store for her, she was quite nervous. What if something unexpected, or rather feared would prevent them to see each other ever again?*

Oh shut up already.

*Telling her mind to step aside for some more relaxed focus she finally dared to open her eyes. Her lips pressed together when she eyed the stones. Slowly her hand moved forward to remove the irrelevant; already scanning the ones she would be working with.*