"Um Professor I think Runes can be used in telling the future just like Divination can." Pie was very unsure of this answer for the simple fact that...well yeah Pietro was scared of the runes. The fear was kind of melting away as this class progressed. Who knows, maybe they'd actually end up interesting to him and not freaky like he always saw them as.

Oh? Perhaps Professor Lupa was going to argue that the harder futhark runes were better than Rowling Runes, which is why she was reluctant to teach them the 'easy route'. Nodding at her answer though, he blinked when she conjured a fork by his plate.

"Thank you," Dominic murmured back in regards to her congrats, still confused by the fork, the cake, the plate... The cake that looked way TOO chocolaty for his taste.

Oh. Abby got a fork too.

"Divination is a method of fortune-telling that attempts to gain insight into a question or situation by way of a standardized process or ritual. There are many different categories and processes, but using Runes is not one of them." The seventh year answered in response to Lupa's queries on why runes weren't used for divination.

K raised her hand, "Professor I think it is beause runes are from the past and divination is about what is going to happen in the future. We use other sources in divination." K really liked this class so she hoped she could get the anwser right on the frist question.

Eva thought about Miss Lupa's questions. Why isn't runes like divination?
She raised her hand in order to answer and waited for her turn:
"I think that you might say that, because Runes are not meant to predict the future like Divination. Runes are like..." she paused to give a good example. "... it is like an oracle for people who seek advice in their life. The more especific you are when thinking about what you want to know, the clear your answer might be. Am I right, Professor Lupa?" Eva wasn't enterily sure about her answer. She hadn't pick up a single to book to study over the summer vacations, so she was taking more time to 'get into' the subject again, as well as she needed a little more to remember the basics of Ancient Runes, being a subject she wasn't especially devoted to.

Theo rocked back and forth on his chair. He didn't want to be here at all. He didn't want to be associated with the wolf lady. But he had to attend the class, since it was one of his OWLs.

Damon smirked a little bit as he leaned back in his chair. His attention then was placed on the various questions the other students said as answers. "They were never used for divination until quite recently, right? Like, the turn of the 20th century?" He really hoped he wasn't mixing up topics and going way off here. That would be embarrassing. He knew that some used runes to enhance magic, but these looked like entirely different runes. And why did they look like animals?

Well, regardless, it couldn't hurt to try. Even if this class would be the death of him. The chocolate cake was probably there to ease the pain of utter and hopeless confusion.

Carter flipped through the textbook unsure of the difference. But he was excited. the professor seemed very nice. (Unlike most of the rumor he'd heard.)

"Uhmmmm, no." She said now getting excited about teaching again. "You tried though." And a fork appeared by her cake.

"They do aid our spell casting... but No, that's not why they aren't divination." She said pointing at the next student. "Good though." And a fork appeared by his cake.

"Indeed some could... but Runecasting is not divination... Try again." she said smiling.

"Nope... they are not used to predict the future..." She said and winked at the boy. "Don't give up."

ooc: You haven't checked my bench today, I needed to finish with the headmaster... and you didn't RP leaving...

"Well.. you are right, but that doesn't answer my question." She said and went to the next student. "Good try," another fork appeared by his cake.

"Yes, Divination is an indefinate art, but that isn't the answer to my question." She smiled... "good try though..." A fork appeared by her cake.

"You can't even try?" she said and conjured a fork in her hands... "Try..." she held it out for him, "Try and you can taste that cake..."

"Uhmmm, no." she said and handed her the fork she had been holding for Tristin.

"It is a phonetic alphabet, and you are close but no." she said and conjured another fork near his cake.

"Leave it to a Ravenclaw, that's the closest answer so far... Five points." She said with a nod and conjured a fork by his cake.

"Oooo that's also a very close answer... Two points." She said with a nod and conjured a fork by her cake.

"It's a transliterating tool, yes... but not the answer I was looking for." She conjured a fork for the girl.

"Uhmmm... I'm not sure what you are talking about Miss Campbell... but you tried..." and she conjured a fork for her too.

"Not really, Master Moretti..." She said. "And that's a disagreement with my question... not really an answer..." she conjured a fork and held it away from him, "try again." She winked.

"Well... yes... but you didn't really answer the question." She shrugged.

"That's a good try, but no." She said and she handed the fork she had held for Pietro to her.

"Right? No, but you are on the right track..." and conjured a fork for her.

"Two points to Slytherin... you are also very close. They were never created for that purpose and runecasting, not divination, was only started in the 20th century..." she conjured a fork for him as well.

She looked at the class and said "While we do a rune reading by casting runes, in a similar way as Tarot cards, Tarots are used to foretell the future, runes are not. Remember, when you do a rune reading, you ask a question, address a particular issue, and it gives you a possible past, present and 'future', or rather what will be if you follow the path you appears to be on. The future is always perceived as mutable, changeable. You need to be very familiar with the person you are doing the reading for." She took a breath. "and a rune reading is done as an evaluation process, not as fortunetelling."

She pointed to the ravenclaw, "As Master Pryce pointed out, runes are rooted in the present, because they do not answer the question you ask, but they guide you to that answer through the essence of it, as it exists now. It's true that sometimes, knowing the true essence of something will allow you to guess at what the future will bring, but that's all it is, guessing. For instance, if you know that a wand was made to harm," she decided to emphasize "was made specifically to cause harm, one can then infer that it will, in the future, indeed cause harm; but runes, futhark, or Rowling, or any other, can not tell the future, only the present, and the reader is guided to their answer. So in essence using runes, you can merely examine cause and effect and be pointed to a likely outcome."

Did she lose them? That was long... maybe she should go back to the text book... no... questions... "Any questions?"

Evan still got the fork. Weeeeeeeeeeee! He reached to his cake and with huge bites, finished in no more than 15 seconds. Yes, he loved chocolate cake. And it was delicious. Maybe these werewolves weren't as bad as they were told. No, it depended on the werewolf, and this was a nice one.

He listened more willingly now, that it had draw his attention. He had a question, a vital yet a stupid one. Raising his hand hesitantly, he asked "How... do you read... runes?" He didn't know! The pureblood Cartwright didn't know! Unbelieveble. He blushed and quickly sat down. Luckily, he was at the back, and people couldn't keep staring at him for a long time.

Thomas was tempting to ask a question but it wasn't really about this subject but it was in the text book. He raised his hand slowly and asked,"Er.. Professor Lupa right? What is the seventh sign? It doesn't look like an animal more like a skull with tails?" he asked feeling a bit awkward

Tiberius smiled broadly as the fork appeared. Points! And CAKE! Cake was the best part. YUM. Trying not to get distracted, Tibi listened as other students gave their responses.

"Um, professor," Tibi raised his hand, "Will we be talking about the meanings of these runes? I'm not seeing much explanation in my text." Tibi frowned. Was it not in the book? Tibi didn't do well when things weren't in books. "And... um, will we be doing rune-readings in class?"

Tibi scratched his head with one hand, while the other clutched his fork.

Mmm. CAKE.

Hum... She didn't seem so bad as she thought she was after all. She accepted the fork and looked at it with curiosity, wondering if it was already time to eat the cake.
"Just one question: I'm a little confused about the relationship between runes and the past, present and future. So, if we have a question about the past or the future, the rune will guide us, but not tell us what will happen or... How does it exactly work?" She was little lost there an dthe fact that she had to be writing down to fast didn't help to keep Eva focus on everything she was hearing and to memorize and apply later.

yes rune reading james loved his but he had only done it with frutherk runes not the new ones

YES!

Sylvia loved Ancient Runes now. FACT.

She smiled angelically, and cut of a piece of cake with her fork. 2 POINTS. GET IIIIN.

Evelyn sat in silence, mouth slightly open, confused, not knowing what to say. "No...?"

Arrick was lost in a mismash of conflicting emotions. One, he recognized this teacher to be the one cited in the Daily Prophet for being THE werewolf, and despite all he'd been told by Abigail he couldn't help feeling skeptical about his safety. Two, he knew nothing about Ancient runes, but it was beginning to sound like Arithmancy, which he not only didn't understand but thought was frivolous.

However...Ancient Runes sounded very much like it was about the here and now, and that was something he could grasp. It had him vaguely intrigued, even, though he wasn't sure why.

So the scrawny redhead remained hunkered at the back of the class, listening with a frown of intense concentration.

Runes.. confusing. Ella didn't understand at all. She glanced at Tibi in awe. How was he so smart?

Stupid question.

She wished she was as smart as him. She knew Gryff's house was in last place. If only something could happen which would (magically) make her smarter. As if.

So Ella scrunched up her face, gazed from the cake to the teacher, and resisted from pulling her hair out. Ughh, she needed a tutor. Or a smarter brain. Either would be delightful.

Oh, Merlin! Ancient Runes was just as LouAnn had always feared---difficult. The problem wasn't the professor, as she seemed highly educated and experienced in all that she discussed. The problem was that LouAnn just wasn't all that great in this subject. As the professor explained something about tarot cards and runes, LouAnn watched her with wide eyes and a facial expression that indicated she was as lost as she could be at this very moment. She blinked, then sank down in her seat just a bit.

She needed assistance...guidance...or a fork. "A fork would be nice right about now," she thought to herself, glancing down at the treat on her desk. She backtracked in her mind, trying to get herself caught up to where she needed to be. So these runes the professor discussed would...tell her present? Then they'd...guide her on a pathway to her future? So runes are just used to guide, hmm? LouAnn repeated that train of thought over and over in her mind, trying to drill it in so she'd remember it in the longrun.

OI! That was more than a bit confusing! Alexandra pushed bits of her cake around the plate. She didn't like chocolate so there wasn't any way she was going to eat it.

Emalyn hurriedly scribbled down what Professor Lupa was saying. Ay yi yi it was a lot, but it kept her on her toes. Unfortunately she couldn't think of a question. What Lupa had said was pretty straight forward, and Ema knew she would learn from the other questions instead of coming up with one of her own. She instead chose to listen for questions and answers while staring at her piece of cake.

"yeah uh how do you read runes?"

Zoe couldn't tell if her stomach was feeling queasy because she was eating the exquisite chocolate cake too quickly or because Ancient Runes was making her head spin. She wished that she would have reviewed the book more carefully before she had come to class. One of the things she disliked the most in classes was being confused.

She wiped a smudge of cake off of her nose and almost tucked an errant piece of hair behind her ear stopping just in time to realize that her hands also had sticky chocolate goodness on them. Maybe if she thought of another question Professor Lupa would be nice enough to conjure up a napkin.

Raising her hand she asked, "Is there a lot of possibility for error while doing a reading using Runes, Professor?" Then casting her eyes down and then in a quieter voice she asked, "Could I possibly have a napkin or be excused to wash my hands? I'm a bit messy when chocolate this good is involved."

That cake was... torture.

In fact, Jake had a beady look in his eyes and was about to pounce on the cake, knowing full well that the chocolate would make him sick, but not really caring. Upon being asked if there were questions, Jake realised he was in fact in a lesson, and blinked around at the others, before saying to himself, though maybe not as quiet as he'd hoped, 'Can we eat the cake without a fork?"

HE WANTED CAKE!!11!!11!!1!!1ONE!1!

What lesson was he in?

Chris smiled at Professor Lupa. He shook his head, he didnt have any questions. He was just excited to continue. Runes was one of is favorite classes.

No immediate question popped into Patroclus' Head, so he sat smiling, content for Prof. Lupa to carry on with the lesson!