Maddie caught the shaking of the Headmistress' head, indicating that no, they could not be partners. The Hufflepuff had suspected and much. Hence the partnership with Derf. She shrugged when Derf answered her question about the pendant having two or more Runes. "I'm guessing three," she said. "Although it's really only a guess." She'd mark it down on her parchment and if necessary, she'd make adjustments later. They'd probably be moving on soon, and she'd rather have something on her parchment than nothing at all.

She paused and looked up at her work. "Now I'm second guessing myself on the first one," she said with a frown. "It could easily be Isa and Kenaz. That's the hard thing about Ancient Runes. How do you tell which one is the right answer?" From the way she looked at it, it could be either one. "I guess I'll just leave it as is. We're probably moving on anyway, so I guess I should just settle on something." She didn't sound confident in her answers at all, but again, she was a first-time Runes student. It'd be interesting to hear what the Headmistress had to say.

She turned to Derf with a smile, a positive out look on things despite her struggle. "Thanks for working through this with me. I think we did pretty good!" she told him.