Witches' runes. Witches' runes. Hmmm. Witches'? Weird. Why only witches'? Personally Josh would make a lot of answer to that question but in order to not to make the professor too mad at him, he was going to keep himself into a certain limit of answers. ''Witches' runes, professor, are the runes that are used in the language developed by witches to communicate in a way that wizards cannot understand. So they can gossip easily and record the magic of their own witchy, girly creations like newly fashioned love potions. Ha?'' Teehee! He loved his own ideas on the classes.

Witches runes? Evan had no idea, nor did he heard it. Nevertheless, he raised his hand. "Maybe their aim is to weaken the object? Or... drop them in a worse state?"

Iris looked at the runes that Lupa was holding up, and listened to the other students answers ... She honestly didn't know WHICH runes they were, but judging on the other kids' answers, they were witches runes ... Witches ruins... Iris had heard of them, they were fortune telling things, weren't they? "They're used to tell people about things that are going to happen, aren't they? And you only count the ones that are face up when you're making readings and stuff." Maybe listening to you're older brother came in handy

Beca raised her hand and took a guess having read it somewhere, " I think, though I may be wrong, many Witches use both the Witch's runes and the Futhark runes when divination is called for. To use the Witch's Runes for divination purposes the runes are cast in the manner of dice, casting all of them at once."

Ivory scrunched her small face in concentration. She knew this one vaguely, but her mind seemed slow in forming the words. Trying to organize her thoughts in her mind, she slowly took a few deep breaths.

Tentatively, she raised her hand her face in a funny grimace that seemed to give of waves of question marks.

“Witches' runes aren't really runes they're more like power stones, and usually made of the same bases as runes, those which channel the energy of nature more effectively, although some wizards found use for them in divination." Unsure whether to add this personal tidbit, she rushed on. " I know this old wican women who owns a parlor near our home, who uses them for massages and she always said they helped center her power and concentrate it on a certain part." She said timidly but her voice seemed to be gaining a tiniest bit in confidence as she went on. “They were also,” she paused not sure if she was correct. "used for control and binding of another person's power but that was way back when."

Searching her memories for more information on the subject, she thought of the first one that came to mind.
"There's less of them than in the Furthark alphabet so the definitions of each rune are more broad then the more specific ones used and so they're not used too much anymore...and ummm....I'm sorry that's all I know."

Sadly that's all that she could remember so she resigned herself to the mystery of wispy memory,and sunk down into her seat.

Umm, seriously she should have answered, but everyone pretty much said what they were before she could even raise her hand. Humph. Fine, she'll just get the next question then...

Ooo and Josh was here! Yet, he was sitting way over there. Aw...there was a perfectly good and empty seat in front of her though he could've sat at. Unless, he didn't want to sit next to her or Destiny. *gasp!* Ah well, better just pay attention to the lesson and not think about that...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Droo

"Jaaaaake..." She warned.



"Hello my dear." She said and stiffled another yawn.



She smiled at the boy... smart lil kid.



"Hello to you, Master Carter." She said with a tired smile.





"Nice to meet you Miss Evans, Welcome to Ancient Runes." She said.



"Miss Black, always nice to see a new Slytherin in my class..." She said thinking of the point race.



"Morning Miss Westwick," She said happy to see her books out.



"Miss Bennett," she said in greeting.



"Head Boy Fritzera," she said smiling, "Congratulations by the way."



"Miss Farris," She said smiling.



She glared at Jake. "Master Upstead, if you do not take the potion now, I'm sending you to the nurse and marking you absent! You will not infect my students with your cold." She adored the kid but wasn't going to put up with his antics.



"Miss Laksh, Welcome to Ancient Runes." She told the new student.



"Master Cartwright." She said and winked at him.



"Hello Master Phillips." and she jumped off the desk.



"Good Morning, Miss Griffin." She said and moved to behind the desk.



"I'm fine." She said and then began class.

OOC: Be careful of chatting and late arrivals. If you are just joining us, pretend you've been here the whole time, the professor will never know the difference!

FYI: Very little of this lesson is based in reality, this lesson is designed to be fun, so if you can't find the answer to a question MAKE ONE UP

"Who can tell me what witches' runes are?" She asked. "I don't want to know what the figures are, but what the purpose is for these runes."

"Witches' runes are figures that were used by witches to communicate, mostly used a very long time ago," Sapphyre answered. "They're still in use today, though, and can be used in divination." She hoped that answer was right...

Jack smiled. "Thanks, Professor!" he said when she offered him congratulations on his badge. He was about to start up a convo with Ella, who had waved at him, when the lesson started, and people started spouting out answers left and right. Jack quickly flipped through his notes until he found what Witches Runes were used for, and he raised his hand.

"Witches runes are a special type of rune that were used hundreds of years ago by...well, witches. Stuff like that probably fueled muggle curiousity during the witch hunts, right? If muggles saw them using runes that they had no knowledge of, they probably assumed they were evil things, right?"

Ok, he was going off on a tangent. "Anyways, they are still used today, mainly for divination," he said with a grin.

FYI: This term I'm changing things up a bit and awarding Class participation points at the end of the class instead of right or wrong answers, so have fun and post often.

She turned and looked at Jake. Had he taken the potion he wouldn't be sneazing. "Correct. Cover your mouth and take your potion," She said getting mad, "or I'll have you brought to the nurse."

"No and Yes," she said shaking her head.

"No and yes..." She repeated.

"Yes..." She said and nodded, proud of her prefect.

"Yup," she said with a nod.

She looked at the girl. "Hmmm" she thought about it. "You must be on the wrong chapter... Those are Chakra stones, I'm teaching those in our next class."

"Yes." She said and smiled.

"You know, I think you are are right Master Carter." She giggled. That certainly was a great answer.

"I think depending on the rune, yes, I'd accept that answer." She said.

"Yes, very good." She said nodding.

"Actually the Futhark is not used for divination my dear... But yes, I've heard some witches cast them all at once."

"You are also on the wrong chapter... Those are Chakra stones, I'm teaching those in our next class." She showed the stones to the class on a white silk cloth:



"The bottom seven were found in the headmaster's office... I just procured the top six for the purpose of this lesson." She said.

"Good." She said smiling at the child.

"Very Good." She said.

"Some of you are saying that they are used LIKE the Futhark in Divination... Why is that answer wrong?" She asked.

Witches' Runes? Sounds interesting.

After hearing Professor Lupa's question, Chris raised his hand up excitedly. "Professor, Witches' Runes would be runes that...witches used right? Well as we know withces still technically used them now." he off-handedly gestured to the girls and the professor in the class. "But these would be ones that they used back in the old days that muggles would see as witchcraft." he finished with a smile. "And I would assume that most of those runes sets were hand-made by the user instead of alot of todays being bought already made." Sure alot of people still did make there's today, but not compared to back then.

Iris smiled as Lupa said her answer was good, and listened to her correct or congratulate people on their answers.

She then thought about the question and raised her hand, "That answer would be wrong because Futhark runes aren't used in Divinationary castings and readings; Even though they might both be used to 'predict' future events, the way they have to be used are different." Iris put her hand down and looked at Professor Lupa, hoping that She understood what Iris meant, as she knew nothing at all about these Futhark runes ... EEP!

"Ugh, fuhh-fine!" Jake exclaimed, grabbing the stupid potion and throwing it into his mouth. He had to slam his hands over his ears because of the hateful smoke that came pouring out of them... and he doubled over coughing.

And sneezed again.

Hearing the question, Jake raised his hand, causing the smoke to carry on out of his ears, and answered wearily. Why wasn't it working? "Buhh-because thuhh-they're used the ssssame wuh-way? Exactly?"

It was his only guess, because of the way she'd said the question.

Leaning forwards, Jake looked at the stones being shown, hands leaving his ears, since the smoke was... actually stopping. He went pale, his eyes on those... evil runes. Well... just runes. They looked just like LouAnn's. LouAnn who was gone. LouAnn who blacked out since she had them. But they'd both... lost the stones.

"I thuhh-think I shuhh-should go to thuhh-the Healer..." the boy said quietly, his face drawn. "An'... come buhh-back later..."

And thiiiiiink.

At the mention of runes being found in the Headmaster's office, Sabel's eyes came up from his doddle of a Graphorn rune on the edge of his paper. He squinted at the bottom seven she was holding up and frowned. He didn't recognize any of them.

"Because the Futhark are made up of different symbols and meanings, usually relating to lettering and have the ability to spell something out depending on their order. These Witch Runes seem to be more based on a symbolism, so they are harder to read."

His frown deepend. "Why were they found in the Headmaster's office?" Found implied a sense of 'not supposed to be there' and the fact that they had been 'removed' suggested that their placement in the Office was even less desirable. One rune looked like an eye, another a sinister face, a sun and a moon, and then directions; putting it all together in a picture made it look as if someone was watching the Headmaster night and day, and the information was conveyed in all directions. There also looked to be one sort of like an ear and then another one that looked like waves; sound waves maybe?

Why aren't they similar? Professor Lupa was asking too hard this time! Evan raised his hand hesitantly. "Maybe the way they describe future is different... or... like... you can write words in Furthak Runes, right?" Right?! He was going blind now. "But those symbols doesn't look like they're enough to be considered as letters." He really was making up now. Hopefully some part of it was right. Oh and please let only professor hear it. Because it contained highly imaginative stuff.

"Because the Furhark arn`t always used in Divination and have some other uses. Unlike the witches runes which have few uses" said Barry hand raised. He really had no clue

"Because Furhark Runes are laid out in certain patterns. Witches runes are cast like dice. Only the runes that land right side up are used in a reading."

Nia raised her hand hesitantly. As much as she liked runes, she was hesitant when it came to the divination side of things. "I certainly wouldn't say Witches Runes were used like the Futhark in that context," she said, thinking about the reasons that caused her to think that. "For a start, when considering 'divination' with a Futhark runes, it is more a case of using rune to help address a question of interest. In doing this, one examines the past, the present and the future - but it is all relative to one's current path. It is important to remember everything is changeable, and Futhark runes help to point in a direction of an outcome." She looked thoughtful. "Like aiding your own perception of things...which isn't seeing into the future like divination at all."

She swallowed slowly. So how were Witches Runes different? She needed to complete her answer. "As far as I understand, the art of divination with Witches Runes is subtly different. For a start, it is meant to be harder to understand them. Something to do with the pictorial symbols starting easier to interpret, but hard to master. Indeed, if they were invented for only witches to use, there could be a reasoning there for the divination of certain types to questions to be answered." She paused. "All of the pieces are cast, so I guess that will mean something...attention is only paid to those face up and on the casting cloth or something? If that is the case, it could mean upto 13 different parts to an interpretation..."

And with that she bit her lip...had she actually managed to give any information that was relevant? Oh, how she loved logical straight answer subjects.

"Professor Lupa, when using Futhark Runes, you use all 24 runes, Correct? When you use the Witches Runes, do you use all 13 or just 8? I generally see that only eight of the thirteen runes are used in divinaiton."

Chris had no real clue, except for the matter of arrangement of the runes. He raised his hand slowly. "Professor could a reason why that suggestion is wrong be that when using the Futhark Runes you use different arrangements like the Tree rune arrangement and when you are using Witches' Runes they just through them onto a surface, and interupted the ones that were face up or valid for the reading?" he sure hoped he was right.

But it seemed to make sense.

Okay, maybe she should really brush up on her ancient runes reading because she had a hard time remembering anything about the Futhark runes. Sighing, and trying her hardest not to sneak a glance over to Josh, who was sitting by Ravenclaw...a GIRL Ravenclaw...she opened her notebook and wrote a few things down that people were saying. Like she was going to remember it later...pfft.

Though something did get her confused. A 13 or 8 set? "There are two different Witches' Runes?" she asked, slightly puzzled. And they were looking at the...13 rune one? What's the difference between THOSE ones?

Jack tapped his chin and then raised his hand. "Well, they're not used LIKE the Futhark runes because, quite simply, they're NOT the Futhark runes. They're Witch runes!" he said with a smile. "Plus, you use them differently, you throw them out in front of you like you're rolling dice, and you read them differently than you read Futhark runes." he answered.

Becca nodded, listened to everyone elses answers and then raised her hand again, "Don't Futhrak runes use more stones than Witches' Runes, Professor Lupa?"

Jenny was a bit puzzled. Divination? She was listening, just not understanding. Um, Witch's runes? Futhark? This is confusing. She thought. "Professor, don't with Witches' Runes, you, uhh, throw them out like you do when you use dice?" Jenny said. She thought: The bottom seven were found in the headmaster's office...wait a minute. Found. Found, stolen. Maybe they were dangerous weapons..and she took them! Headmaster's office..wow! They could have been confiscated, or worse, fake ones! She began to worry. "Did the headmaster find the Witches' runes for you, Professor?" She asked politely. She was so going to bust her for it.

Satine shot her hand into the air, "Professor, many Witches use both the Witch's runes and the Futhark runes when divination is called for. To use the Witch's Runes for divination purposes the runes are cast in the manner of dice, casting all of them at once...and ummm...A rune is only relevant to a reading if it falls face up...pretty much you just ignore any that are face down...and you want to pay attention to the leading which is like the most important rune...I think it's the one furthest from you. If all the runes are face-down, you are not yet meant to know the answer. You should not attempt another reading for at least one week." she said it all quickly and knew that it had all jumbled together but she hoped she was right...her grandmother had used Witches Runes and perfered them all others.

"Good answer, Prefect Potter." she told him.

"Yes! Very Good Miss Beaumont!" She said with a clap.

"Master Upstead... Now that you took the pepper up potion you should be fine. Stay." She figured the runes had appeared to the headmaster, just as they appeared to Jake and Louann.

She smiled, "Very good my dear!" She said "You have a way with words and will do well in this class." Hmmm... should she tell the children the truth? They knew Headmaster Bontecou had disappeared... they didn't know why. "They were found in... unusual places within the office, we've come to believe the headmaster's disappearance wasn't voluntary, but foul play..."

"Right!" She said proudly.

"Yes..." she said.

"Yes, that's a difference..." she said.

"Mmm yes..." She said moving to the next student.

"Yes, the number of runes are diffenrent." She said nodding.

"Right..." she said tapping her lips.

She laughed. "Yes, that's true."

She magically summoned her espresso maker and demitasse cups. She lifted her wand. The coffee poured into the cup and then placed itself on the desk. She took it and before she sipped it, said "I'm having a little caffeine to wake me up... if you wish to have some, lift your wand and a filled cup will come to you." Then continued the class.

"Yes, that's correct." She said.

"Good." she said nodding.

"Good answer." she said told the girl.

"Very Well. To summarize:" and she cast to the board behind her desk where the chalk magically wrote the following as she spoke it:

1. The Futhark is first and foremost a written, phonetic language. Witches' Runes are symbols.
2. The Futhark is NOT used to tell the future. They are a way to guide your life... it is up to you to change the future.
3. To cast the Futhark is to draw individual runes and lay them in different spreads, Witches' runes are cast as dice, and you use all 13.

ooc: Remember... this is mostly made up.

"Good question. From what I know, originally there were 8. Some of this is obviously myth... but the stories tell us, many many centuries ago... there were four witches who oversaw the world. They decided they needed a way to foretell the future. So each created two. Narmandel, the witch that covered the northern regions, created The Sun and The Moon; Winstrill, the witch that covered the western regions, created The Wave and The Birds; Everlynn, the witch that covered the eastern regions, created The Rings and The Crossed Spears; Salomina, the witch that covered the southern regions, created The Ear of Corn and The Black Rune." She said looking at the student, hoping they were following.

"In the 11th century, when squibs were obliviated and made to live their lives amidst muggles, Gypsies were born. Muggles who thought they had magical powers. They found the 8 runes and to make them their own, they added 2, The Eye and The Starand CHANGED THREE! Oh Yes, CHANGED!" She smiled. "The Wave became Water, The Ear of Corn became The Ripe Grain and The Black Rune became The Sickle... spooky..." She shuddered.

"Then in the 18th century, a group of 7 wizards who had learned to live with the Gypsies, had discovered that the original 8 were indeed magical... and the additional 2 had been made by squibs, who weren't really squibs at all, but late blooming wizards... those two runes were magical as well!" She clapped her hands in excitement. "So they all agreed to change 5 of the runes. Water should be turned back into Waves, plural now as the symbol had changed through the ages. The Crossed Spears was changed to The Crossroads, The Birds was turned into Flight, the Ripe Grain became The Harvest and finally, to keep with the creepy, The Sickle became The Scythe. At the end of their discussion one of the wizard's wives demanded they add three runes. Woman, Man and Romance... because witches want to know their romantic future." She said knowing she would have wanted it that way.

"So... that leaves is with The Sun, The Moon, The Rings, The Crossroads, Waves, Flight, The Harvest, The Scythe, The Eye, The Star, Woman, Man and Romance." She said smiling. "Pick ONE, tell me it's meaning."

ooc: Some you can find online, but I'd rather see your creativity... MAKE IT UP! Have fun with it!