Harry's first class of the year was Ancient Runes where he was joined by every third year in Gryffindor plus quite a few of the Ravenclaws. Hadn't this been a class attended by all four houses last year?
Of course, the third years last year hadn't enjoyed a year of Madam Spurl showing them how useful runes could be prior to their selecting electives.
Professor Babbling entered the classroom. She was young, but had gray hair. She wore robes of blue and black, but no hat. She seemed kind even though she did not smile.
"Class." She glanced around. "Class. Please."
The room quieted.
She didn't have McGonagall's iron stare, but she managed fine, Harry thought.
"I am surprised at the number of students this year. I suppose I have last year's Defense teacher, the first cursebreaker to teach here in some years, to thank for your interest. While she may have told you excellent stories to gain your interest in the discipline, she may have forgotten to describe the difficulties of learning the subject in the first place."
Was she trying to get some of them to quit, Harry wondered.
"I suppose all of you are here for the exciting bits. Those come later, after years of study, hard years. I'd best tell you now while you can still transfer."
She proceeded to demonstrate exactly what she meant by years of study. She laid out the next three years for them, what different sets of symbols they would learn and what applications they would undertake. None of the students in the room groaned at the excessive amount of work they would have to undertake to even qualify for NEWT-level Runes, which finally touched on advanced topics like permanent enchantments and warding. Mastery of those topics, and others, came from apprenticeships. The magic was older than almost any other kind, hence obscure and opaque, she reminded them more than once.
Babbling, at least, wasn't raising any false hopes.
"In a normal year, students who take this class often have a specific reason. That's fine. I allow everyone to work toward a private or family project. However, everyone will have to select a public project that can be discussed with the rest of the class. Begin thinking of your options as we do an overview of the field this week. We'll set public projects early in November and they'll be due in May. I am open to discussing private or family projects during my office hours."
"We'll get to make an enchanted item this year?" Hermione asked.
"You get to design one. If the designs are acceptable in May, and within the bounds of safety, I will create them during class so that you can all see what you have to look forward to. If you continue your studies."
So she wasn't just trying to wash them away like stains in a cloth. She would threaten them with work then tempt them with rewards.
"Now that I've tried to scare you off somewhat, I suppose I should show you why you shouldn't run screaming."
She brought out something small, then enlarged it. It was a model of a city that floated above her hand.
"This is Alexandria two thousand years ago. In Egypt, under the Greeks, then under the Romans." She shifted the model a bit and pointed somewhere else. "This is the portion of the Great Library that burned several times, the section open to the muggles which has been thought destroyed for many hundreds of years. This larger portion, which one can still visit today if one applies for permission, has never been destroyed. Why? It's the magical section and it is protected by runes."
She jabbed her wand at the model and it flew to a table at the side of the room. A poke of the wand had some large papers fly toward her. They hung in the air behind her. "I made these magical tracings myself during my first visit to the Library. Notice how these hieroglyphics glitter. These are infused runes, which is something we will learn toward the end of your fifth year of study. These runes are empowered to do as they are instructed."
She walked to the left-most chart. "This set here pulls a little magic from every visitor to keep all the runes powered."
She pointed at another spot on the chart. "This set suppresses flame. It's a very old set, but the Library now has modern versions as well for fire prevention. No one wants all these books to burn."
She stepped to the center chart. "Now, this set prevents any person inside the Library from attacking another. This set keeps the books and scrolls from going beyond this boundary. And on and on." She only waved at the last chart without explaining what it meant.
Even so, Harry was intrigued. Babbling had a bit of the showman in her, didn't she? Or maybe she'd heard about what Madam Spurl had done for her first class the previous year?
"The rules of the Library aren't written down and ignored, as is true of Hogwarts and many other places."
She sounded angry about that.
Harry could see why. He had seen the treatment some students received. Or Harry himself, from Snape in first year.
"The rules are written into the runes and the magic of the place enforces them. A person literally cannot steal a book or light a fire inside the structure. He cannot lie to a librarian or hide a scroll. He cannot cut a page from a book or open an inkpot. There are many rules, some silly and antiquated, many still relevant. That is how the oldest library in the world is still around, at least for the magical. Sadly, the collection is not all encompassing. It has excellent resources for study in Greek, Latin, and different periods of Egyptian language and history. Plus it covers many magical subjects, including those that are banned in most of the world."
What did that mean, Harry wondered.
"Before you ask, there are very few structures like this still standing in the world, whether that is good or not is a question of metaphysics. The inability to lie might be very useful in a certain building in London... We will dabble a bit into some history and other topics in this class. I promise it's not all memorization."
.....
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