The first thing Lydia noticed upon entering the Ancient Runes classroom was the unusual arrangement of the desks. Next she noticed several tables. White cloths covered hidden objects on the tables. Hmm, this should prove to be an interesting lesson. Lydia nodded at the Headmistress as she took a seat in the horseshoe. She'd almost been late, but she made it with just a moment to spare.

She hadn't gotten much sleep the previous night so Lydia's attention was worse than usual. As the lesson progressed, she vaguely realized Professor Hawthorne was going on about bind runes. Hmm, had they studied those yet?

Lydia's attention perked up when the headmistress revealed what was underneath the cloths. The items from the lake! And they had bind runes on them? How interesting. No, they couldn't take the items away! Surely there were professors right here at Hogwarts who could study the treasures. Lydia studied the items on the tables. Earlier Professor Hawthorne had written some more information on bind runes on the blackboard, but it was pretty technical, and Lydia had found her eyes glazing over. Studying these items would be much more interesting!

Deciding to work alone, Lydia stepped up to the items, quill and parchment in hand. She decided to work on the pendant and the arm ring. Lydia spent several minutes just copying the shapes of the runes down on her parchment. Finally it was time to analyze the runes themselves.



When it was time to move on, Lydia watched with anticipation as Professor Hawthorne changed the board. Hopefully she got at least some of the runes correct! Lydia felt a glow of pleasure as she realized that she'd gotten all 3 of the arm ring runes correct. And that one had been very challenging! She got one of the runes wrong on the pendant though, but that was all right. Practice made perfect and all that.

Lydia listened to Professor Hawthorne's second question. Giving her answer much thought, she slowly raised her hand into the air. She chose to talk about the arm ring, since she got all those runes correct.

"I believe the wearer of the arm ring was a Viking warrior. He inscribed upon it runes of protection and defence. That makes sense when you're fighting for your life, doesn't it? You want something to protect you! The rune Uruz also increases the wearer's physical power. And Othala means land or home so maybe he was fighting for his home."

Had Quinn already mentioned that? Ah well, too late now. At least they'd come to the same conclusion. Great minds think alike! The Headmistress was speaking again. Lydia perked her ears up. Ah, so now they got to make their own bind rune. Brilliant.

Flipping through the textbook, Lydia spent several minutes mulling over the many runes. She wondered if their runes had to be associated with an object. That made sense. Runes weren't much use when they weren't inscribed upon something, were they? Thinking of her violin, Lydia began scribbling furiously on a fresh piece of parchment:



Satisfied with her work, Lydia turned in her parchment to the Headmistress.