Sander noticed that Bart was in trouble again but seeing that their History of Magic Professor was tending to him, he paid more attention to Professor Botros when he began speaking again.

They were now supposed to idence the weak spots? Sander looked down at his parchment and then at his notes. Since this rune consisted of three rows, it would qualify as a complex curse.

'Duh! Sander. The Professor already said that,' Sander had to remind himself.

'Okay this it would be the middle rune in each row...unless there's an even number of runes, then you pick the middle two.' Sander read silently to himself before picking up his quill and starting the identification process.



Sander reviewed what he had written down before placing down his quill and sitting back in his chair. He would wait to see whether he had done it correctly or not.

Ella was mildly concerned about Bart but what stole most of her attention was the way Botros had jogged over to him. Jogged. Botros had jogged.Was it horrible that she felt jealous of his ability to do this? It was like she was being forced to get a taste of his shoes before when he was using a cane and she didn't like it at all. And to be focusing on all this while her classmates were falling and...going crazy (Eyes for you, Ian) made her feel incredibly mean and selfish. Ugh. She was just so over this old age thing. SO over it.

Moving on, though? Ella glanced back towards the front and strained to hear what was being said. Oh, okay, they'd be identifying the weak spots. Botros had said...uh....how did you do that again? The eighteen year old frowned slightly and glanced down at her notes, using her finger to skim through until she found the spot where he'd explained that task. Right, the middle rune in the line would be the weak one. She could work with that.

Scribble. Scribble. Scribble.



Was that right? ...Hm.

The weak spots. Adi could do that. Mercifully, that part was not one he had zoned out on earlier. He consulted his scribbled notes. For line one it was the rune in the middle. The same for line three but for line two there would be the two in the middle since there were even numbers. With that in mind, Adi began to write.



All done. What next?

Ian looked up from the amulet and saw the professor addressing a student in his direction and telling him to calm down, it appeared. Ian shrugged his shoulders, assuming he was talking to a student behind him. He saw the template for what he was supposed to write and took out his parchment and began examining the runes before him, trying to determine the weakspots and the names of the runes.



Ian smiled as he saw his own name meant standstill in this rune. He certainly felt like standing still now.

Okay, weak spots. This was easy, Lux could do that no problem. Professor Botros had said something about how to find weak spots in the different Runic Wards. Glancing at her notes, she located the middle Rune(s) in each line, and recorded them in her notes:

SPOILER!!: Notes

First Line
1. Gebo - gift, partnership, love
2. Ehwaz - transportation, motion, power
3. Dagaz - happiness, success, satisfaction

Second Line
4. Othala - poverty, bad karma, loss of land or wealth
5. Jera - productivity, change, motion
6. Hagalaz - loss, hardship, sickness
7. Thurisaz - too resistant to change, seeing only the short term, not dealing with adversity

Third Line
8. Teiwaz - over-analysis, imbalance, blocked energy and creative flow
9. Isa - reflection, blockage, patience
10. Algiz - warning, defences down, turning away

Weak Spots
Line 1 - ?
Line 2 - ? and ?
Line 3 - ?

Finished, she waited for the next instructions.

Okay now we are finding weak spots, so we as magical folks can break curses, cool! Oichi looked over her rune notes and rewrote them with just the middle runes as instructed she was pretty sure the next thing they would learn is the significance of middle runes and why the negate a curse and she could not wait.

Alec hadn't really noticed anything that was going on until Botros started jogging -- JOGGING! -- and then went on to mention the words 'Hospital Wing'. To Fox Boy. Yeah... he was confused. He was even more confused when the Helpful Hufflepuff Boy from Tobias's birthday party went on to say... ... Pietro?

... No questions. None.

... For now.

And... NOW it was time to find the weak spots. The boy would have wiggled excitedly in his seat. Would have. Instead, Alec tapped the feathered end of his quill against his chin as he frowned down at the amulet resting on his desk. Weak spots. His eyes flew up to the board again and... he squinted. Botros had said something about the middle, right? Yeah, it said so up THERE in BIG writing. Thanks for that. Really.

Scribble... scribble... scribble...

Text Cut: Journal thing

First Line:
1. Gebo = Gift
2. Ehwaz = Transportation
3. Dagaz = Happiness

Second Line:
4. Othala = Property
5. Jera = Change
6. Hagalaz = Destruction
7. Thurisaz = Defence

Third Line:
8. Tiewaz = Victory/Strength
9. Isa = Inactivity
10. Algiz = Protection


Weak spots:
First Line: ?
Second Line: ? + ?
Third Line: ?

There. Placing his quill down, the seventh year sat back and ran both hands through his greying hair. Now... he had more questions. Like whether Ancient Runes could be linked to Arithmancy since they both included curse breaking.

The next step seemed simple enough. Find the weak spots and Botros had told them how to find them. So without further adieu. Nigel took a glance at the runes ward and wrote down what he thought the weak spots were. So if there is two runes you pick the middle two. Reminded him about something to do with math. Whatever



There done.

Bart was still holding his shoulder, but looking at the professor in a concerned way. He was lost in more ways than one and he actually admitted it. Botros didn't seem to realize how big this was that Bart admitted needing help and didn't just clown around, well he really couldn't clown around anymore. That hurt to do and took way to much effort. Plus it really was childish if he thought about it, but still. This class was confusing and he didn't know what else to do. "Hospital Wing. No I'll be fine, I have to learn." Wait what did he just say?

He tried to move back in his seat to show he was fine and reach for his fallen parchment that he had his symbol on. "Oouch" was all he could do when he moved the shoulder. Alright it was hurt more than he wanted to admit and maybe he did need to see someone. Maybe they could figure out how he could get rid of the beard and maybe put the hair back on his head while he was there. He looked between the professors as Botros said about tutoring.

Why was the man swearing at him like that. "Tutor? I haven't even been in a full class yet, maybe I just need taught." Shouldn't that come first before he would need a dumb tutor. He looked away at his scattered things. It was way to much effort to really lean down and pick them up.

"I guess this means I have to leave class again?" but as he asked his question and looked up Botros was gone. Oh he had just walked away and started on with class. Well so much for catching up if the man was moving on. He looked at History Man, could he leave?

Maybe Mr. Maroon's little stumble was more serious than he had initially thought. Botros certainly thought so and, even though Bart said he was alright, as Braith watched him, he could tell that wasn't entirely true. The way he was favoring his arm and the pained look on his face, he could see that the boy was hurting. And even if it turned out to be nothing serious, it wouldn't hurt to have him checked out just to be sure.

"I agree," McCormack said with a nod as Botros suggested the Hospital Wing. Of course he would volunteer to escort the boy as he was finished with his portion of the lesson and Ab was still right in the middle of his piece. He shook his head slightly as he expressed his confusion over the subject matter. "Let's worry about that later." Certainly if he was in pain his mind wasn't going to focus or grasp anything any better. Besides, Ab was talking about tutoring which Mr. Maroon might be able to benefit from. "I'll take you down there to get you checked out. Able to walk or do you need some assistance?" From what he saw it was his arm that might be injured but he wasn't completely certain.

Mo turned his amulet this way and that in order to identify and jot down each of the runes engraved on it. What was the point of charming an amulet to do something, and then casting runes on it to keep it from doing the thing you'd charmed it to do? Unless someone else did...? But wouldn't it be easier just to remove the charm, rather than casting the runes?

It was confusing. Mo was obviously not a Runes scholar.

He glanced down at the Runes noted on his parchment, tracing along the line to the one in the middle. This part, though, this was NOT complicated.



Were they going to actually get a chance to break the curses, or was this all theoretical?

Oh, Bart survived. Good.

Glancing back at Botros, she rested her chin on her hand. The lesson was going by slow and she was ready for another nap. You'd figure that after a dozen of them in a week she'd be well rested. But no. This aging thing was really taking a toll on her.

But look at Botros. Just LOOK at him. She was sure he'd had a cuddly-grandfather appearance to him once. Or had she been dreaming? Meh. Whatever.

Now it was time to look for the weak spots. Okaaaaay. Looking back through her notes, Beverly read the passage of how to find them. Okay. Okay. Hmm.



And she was done. Stare.

Toby was scribbling away at his notes, which were getting steadily more and more scruffy and all over the place as he was constantly having to go back and correct words that he'd misheard once he realised that what he he written made no sense. It was arduous work, but Tobias was determined to try and do as well as he could in Ancient Runes (and, by proxy, History of Magic), and that determination was etched clear on his face.

When the time came to find the weak spots in the curse that was up on the board, Tobias squinted between blackboard and parchment as he copied it down, then got to work on trying to find the weak spots.



Finally finished with that (or at least, he thought so) Toby set his quill down, leaned back, and took a breather.

Tessa stared long and hard at the runes. She recalled something in her notes about weak spots... weak spots... She sighed as she read back through her notes. Ah, there it was...

Once she was sure that she understood what was needed, she returned her attention to the complex curse that lay before them. If it was complex, that meant it had multiple parts. So... she took out her quill and began to write down her guesses.

Text Cut: Notes

Top:
1 Gebo
2 Ehwaz
3 Dagaz

Down:
4 Othala
5 Jera
6 Hagalaz
7 Thurisaz

Bottom:
8 Tiewaz
9 Isa
10 Algiz

Weak Spots:
Top: Ehwaz
Down: Jera or Hagalaz
Bottom: Isa

She sat back for a moment, massaging her wrist of her writing hand. Once that had stopped throbbing, she leaned forward to compare her notes and her answers. Hopefully, they were right.

Alexa had decided some tuning out would be necessary. It was obvious she was having trouble focusing and this was starting to get all kinds of technical except not really. You mean to tell her all she had to do was find the middle runes? That simple? Alright, what was the catch? Go ahead and tell her, might as well while she was still listening.

As it turned out, there was a catch but it wasn't the horribly hard kind. Just remembering where lines where meant to technically start and end. Shouldn't have been that hard.

Now where did she put her quill?

Sweet merlin, she'd just placed it on her table, it couldn't have gone. WHERE could it have gotten to in such a short period??? The Gryffindor was set to throw everything off her desk so she could get a better look but then it MAGICALLY APPEARED where she'd left it. Ahem. Nothing to see here. Just a Gryffindor trying to get work done.

Bart didn't even care what was going on with the class anymore he was just glad for a few things. 1. he was able to move even if it hurt, 2. Botros wasn't being mean and kicking him out for falling, 3. History Man would be the one going with him to the hospital wing. Yes those were things he was happy about, but the pain in his shoulder was not something he was happy about. He looked around for another moment not being able to hear anything Botros was saying he turned back to the History Man.

"Alright I'll go." He gathered his things with one hand, but left some of the stuff that was still on the floor. He was not bending that far. Getting his bag he drug it behind him as he shuffled his frog slippers across the floor. Pulling his pants up towards his chest to readjust them as he got to the door he turned to give a nod of thanks to not so old man and headed out. History Man was with him, right? He had things to say to him yet, but that would wait until they were out of class.

Kace saw after he was done doing the runes, he needed to find the weak spots. He tried to follow along what the professor was saying and he still didn't understand it. He just put question marks onto the weak spots and hopefully someone had the answer because he didn't. But he wrote down the mathematical equation the professor wrote.



But he did stare at the board trying to figure it out. He cocked his head and gave a quizzical look at it.

Braith watched Bart expectantly and with a hint of concern. He was sure he wasn't too gravely injured but probably bad enough to see the Healer, so it was no issue for him at all to escort the boy up to the Hospital Wing. He just didn't want it to take too much convincing because the boy seemed somewhat stubborn. McCormack gave Mr. Maroon a small smile and nod as he finally agreed then watched him gather up his things.

The boy seemed to have a bit of trouble getting everything so Braith bent down and picked up the last of the books he had left on the floor under his desk. He turned a gave a small nod to Ab as he followed Bart out the door. He'd return to get his classroom materials later. It was more important to see the boy off to get his medical needs taken care of.

Someone was now being sent to the hospital wing? Was this an effect of whatever was causing them to be all old and stuff? Were more students going to do this? Because this was TERRIFYING. How many more kids were going to get hurt? And she was all scared. Imagine how that kid felt about this situation.

And still, Botros was something of a curiousity right now. Looking all young while everyone around her aged so prematurely. Something was very fishy at Hogwarts. But something else was up also. He didn't seem like he was a villian here. He was concerned about the well-being of another student and such. Maybe he was just legit concerned about the people.

But professors and backwards aging and the kid who fell down aside, Caelen listened and took notes. Because school HAD to go on. Even if one kid fell. Or a bunch of kids started sprouting grey hair and wrinkles and looked somewhat like a grandpa without the grand part. Okay, amulets and such with heiroglyphics and such. They were used for protection and had some kind of blocking thing on them so you couldn't... disable the charm? The little redhead wasn't so sure. But that seemed right, so she went on.

Each line as a special ward and something about the spells being seperate wards. Or at least treated as such. That seemed important. And it seemed like that was gong to help matters later in the situation up ahead. For the spell or whatever they were doing. The poor kid kind of messed up her concentration. But it wasn't like she had a lot to begin with anyway.

She scribbled down more notes just as furiously, even though a portion of her mind had already given up on the task. It no longer interested her to partake in this activity, for her brain had now categorized it as unhelpful for future use. Cursebreaking was too easy, or at least this was, and too boring.

Maybe sports for a living really wouldn't be that bad.

But enough of career thoughts. After peeking at a neighbor's parchment, Alice noticed that no one else was writing down the rune names and did her own with a question mark instead. Even if she did already know the answer.

Weak spots. They need to find the weak spots. He could do that. At least it seem easier than identify the runes. Messer stopped massaging his forehead and wrote down the answers in his notes.



Okay. He's finished. Now, what's next?

Botros let McCormack handle the Maroon kid. The class was almost over anyway, he wouldn't miss much. Not that the boy showed any sign of caring for Runes before. Still, Ab would give him an extra class if he wanted to review.

Back to their lesson. "The weak spots should be as following." He moved his wand across the board.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackboard

"The first line consists of three runes, we pick the one in the middle. Ehwaz. This rune was placed there specifically because it speaks about the togetherness of the whole group. Its energy can unify two things (even people) in a strong cooperative relationship, and attract the right units to form one solid group." He pointed at the second vertical line, "The next line consists of six runes. We can choose either Hagalaz or Jera to break this ward. Let's consider what each rune means before we decide on one.

"Jera has to do with right timing, and result. It's the maxim in the proverb, “As you sow, so shall you reap”. While Hagalaz, as the ninth rune in the alphabet, has a special place. Nine signals completion of a perfect pattern. Nine months is one of nature’s most regular human cycles, that period for a baby in a mother’s womb. In this sense Hagalaz is a protective rune, and assists this curse when someone tries to blow off its cover." Botros paused, offering them a moment to think about what he just explained about both runes. "It's up to the curse breaker to choose either of those runes, it really depends on how skilled he is in charms and spellwork, and how strong his rune magic is. We'll go for the Jera rune for now, it's less stable and doesn't have that protective energy as much as Hagalaz. Then we can break the resulting ward (Hagalaz, Thurisaz, reversed Teiwaz) at Thurisaz, the new weak spot.

"Third line we have Isa. It represents ice in the literal sense, yes, but it also dictates stillness. It offers the curse a stable state." Botros turned away from the blackboard and leaned forward on the desk. "That's the most important step in breaking a runic ward. If you choose the wrong runes, it could take you ages to be able to break the curse." He saw this happen to his apprentices.

"We're not going to do any actual curse breaking today, unfortunately, that's for another lesson." Look at those who were hallucinating, yawning, and staring at his blonde curls, Merlin's Beard. "So unless there is a question, class is dismissed." He straightened up once again. "Leave your amulets behind and keep your notes for next time."

Adi scribbled down some more notes as Botros spoke. This was all very interesting but Curse breaking sounded like a pretty intense thing. Again, he was not sure he'd like to go into that field. But he had many years to decide for sure.

So, the lesson was done. Adi put his stuff in his bag. Leaving the amulet on his desk, he walked over to Botros, still wishing the man were old. "Very interesting lesson, Professor. Looking forward to the next one.'' Adi grinned and with that, left the room. The History of Magic Professor wasn't back as yet so obviously no goodbye for him.

Ian noted he had chosen the correct runes, though he had transcribed a couple incorrectly. He scribbled out the wrong transliterations and made the correct ones before finishing up his notes. He had noted that other students were gathering up there things and so he assumed that the class was over. He began to gather his things and place them in a manageable pile. He looked around, trying to figure out what he was supposed to be doing with this amulet. He spoke out loud to the professor. YOU WANT US TO TAKE THESE AMULETS WITH US? His hearing was rubbish.

Soo was there going to be a lesson where they do some curse breaking? That is what it sounded like to Nigel. He had guessed the right runes. But what Botros was saying sounded awesome. If there was two runes, you had to pick which one you think it was and that depended on how skilled you were. How awesome was that.

Nigel was disappointed the class was over. But it sounded like next class was going to be even more awesome. Nigel left was amulet on the desk and packed up. The other professor had already left with the injured gryffindor. So only Botros was here. "Thanks for the awesome combined lesson Professor and nice hair."

Nigel had to compliment those golden locks.