Lit candles floated above the desk as the Runes professor bent over her work, the sound of the quill scratching on parchment filling the room. Aileen had kept the curtains open as well, letting the warm, muted glow of the late afternoon filter in from the glass-paned window behind her.

When knocking sounded, Aileen called the student in. The puppy underneath the desk shifted his belly on the professor's shoes, stretching out his long, dark paws on the rug and letting out a yawn. Tapendra's birthday gift had grown on her. If anything, the pet kept her feet warm.

“Have a seat, Miss Rockwell,” she smiled and gestured at one of the curved Victorian chairs by the bookcases. The puppy tracked the girl’s movements with a calm, curious air.

“So, how is your project going?” Aileen began setting her things to the side. “The Hogwarts portraits, if I remember correctly. I assume you are not here to beg for extra credit,” she added in a slight teasing tone.

No, the Ravenclaw didn’t seem the type. In fact, Aileen suspected that Miss Rockwell had accomplished quite a bit so far in preparation for the presentations at the end of November. She fit in well in Runes class, completing her work with the attention to detail required, and only sometimes being distracted by her tendency to chatter. The girl hadn't yet given her a headache. In return, Aileen showed her a more relaxed side, if there ever was such a thing.

For the past month, Addison had been diligently working on her Ancient Runes project. It was a rare assignment that she was able to become excited about, which was something that she probably wouldn't admit to anyone. Sure, she was a nerd, but never expressed an excited attitude to work. It certainly helped that her project revolved around her favorite activity, painting. She was able to choose to study the Hogwarts portraits that covered the walls of the castle, a good portion of which have been there for years. Even before she began studying a single painting on the walls of the castle, she already had an idea of how to present her project. Yes, she planed everything before even starting. A portion of that was thanks to her perfectionism, where she completed her work to how she thought it was best done. Otherwise, it was due to her excitement.

Quite frankly, Addison wanted to paint her own artwork and use the runes that she studied thus far in her work. It would be an excellent visualization and a good application of the runes. While very few students even knew about her artwork, she was sure most of the fourth years knew that she rather enjoyed doodling before class began by now. So, being an artist shouldn't be too farfetched from that. Sure, she'd be apprehensive, but it was her idea to begin with. So, the artwork would be shown on her own and she would make sure that it was a good product.

Despite her excitement with her work, Addison happened around an aspect of the Hogwarts paintings that she didn't understand. It was the color changing aspect of some of the paintings. Even with her preliminary attempts to what she thought was the answer, she was unable to produce a color changing piece of work. Thus, she decided to meet with Professor Reid over the issue. Thankfully, she didn't need to use the Professor's office hours until late, since she hadn't run into much trouble. But, the color changing properties out right confused her.

So, in the late afternoon, Addison made her way to Professor Reid's office. The sound of the heels of her shoes echoed off the walls of the castle around her as she walked. She honestly didn't mind the Ancient Runes class that much, enjoying the rather theoretical side of the subject. Sure, spells were needed for somethings. But, that was mainly for creating the runes usually. The class wasn't just about creating those runes, the students had to study them and find out what they meant. It was a rather interesting class, in her opinion. She had no problem admitting that Ancient Runes homework was often the first that she completed at the end of the day, since it was often the most enjoyable out of all of her work.

It certainly helped matters that Addison seemed to have a good relationship with Professor Reid. Her perfectionist tendencies helped her perfect the work in the class, even if it took her hours to make her work exactly what it had to be. In turn, she actually tried to be quiet in Ancient Runes. Due to her determination to make her runes correctly, she often took the time to silently perfect her work. Sure, she talked every now and then, but she was a diligent worker in class. It wasn't a class like History of Magic where she was often bored, or like Transfiguration where she often had trouble casting spells. She talked in those classes, because she couldn't immerse her mind around her work. She often needed to talk to dispel her own thoughts of worthlessness in those classes, especially when she couldn't complete her work correctly.

Finally arriving at the Professor's door, Addison knocked. After hearing the confirmation that she could enter, Addison opened up the door and stepped into the room. "Thank you Professor Reid," she smiled and sat down on one of the Victorian chairs by the bookcase. She made herself not laugh at the extra credit question. Did Professor Reid really think that she was in there to ask for extra credit. This was one of the few classes where she was rather confident in her work. She was a rather hard worker, knowing that she would receive the grade that she earned from doing her work. She didn't believe that she was doing anything wrong yet. Rather, she would know if she truthfully needed any extra credit. Now was certainly not the time to begin questioning that.

Addison shook her head at Professor Reid's extra credit question. "No, I'm not in here for that. My project's going well so far, but I think I hit a rather small snag on one of the aspects of the paintings. The color changing property of some of the paintings, I haven't been able to find what runes causes that change," she explained. Quickly noticing that it probably would have been best if she came in with a photograph of one of those paintings, but she quickly shelved that thought. It wasn't really that necessary, since she couldn't replicate it. Plus, she was sure that the Professor probably knew what she was talking about. "I'm not too sure what I'm missing from the paintings?" she asked.

Now here was a student who was respectful and did not forget to call her by her proper title as she took a seat. Naomi Foley and some of the other fourth-years could learn a few things from her! Aileen listened to her question, glad yet unsurprised to hear that Miss Rockwell seemed to be enjoying the assignment.

"You seem to be off to a good start," she nodded. "I'd suggest thinking back to the basics. The oil paintings that you see around the castle are done in layers," Aileen began, assuming that Miss Rockwell had come across this in her research already. "An artist creates an underpainting, using the color values that they want to emphasize. Red and blue, for example. Over that, they gradually build up color after color, until they've made the final product. That alone - simply creating a painting with no magic - is a very time consuming process."

Aileen paused, hoping to nudge her toward the answer rather than spell it out for her immediately. "Today, you still use the same process with layers, but you can buy special paints that change the color for you." Which most students could not afford.

"Unfortunately, paintings created that way lose their color-changing properties with time. Much more quickly than the magical paintings you'll find from the late middle ages and Renaissance period."

She leaned back in her seat and raised her eyebrows questioningly at Miss Rockwell. "Why do you think that is? What did they do differently back then, to not only change the colors but make them last?"

Addison smiled and nodded to Professor Reid's explanation, most of which she already knew. It wasn't from her research, it was already from her love of art. She deliberated telling Professor Reid that immediately, but figured that it would be a redundant idea. After all, she assumed that it would become rather obvious when she finally presented her project at the end of the month, or if Professor Reid asked her what she was planning to do. Even though she was only in Ancient Runes for a year, she naturally assumed that Professor Reid's observations of her in class yielded a rather methodical mind that had to plan out what she was going to do. In that case, it would be rather natural for her to practically plan everything out already.

She let Professor Reid finish her questioning before responding back to it. "Right, the oil paintings would be layered to concentrate on one layer at a time so the colors wouldn't unintentionally mix, or at least that is the desired effect of painting without magic. This would allow the colors to be completely separated. From my research so far, it seemed to be the desired effect of the magical paintings from the late middle ages and the Renaissance period."

Addison pulled out her notebook, which was filled with rough sketches of the frames from different pieces of artwork, highlighting the runes that she saw inscribed on them. She turned to a section in her notebook that had her unfinished work on the color changing paintings. "From what I found, these paintings appeared to be painted in layers as well, which would keep that separation again. The difference, from what I could tell, is that today's special paints are charmed to change color. I assume that the paint back in the time that the paintings were created maintained the color changing effect by using runes. But, I haven't found anything on the paintings that would immediately show me that, unlike some of the other properties," she responded.

Being a non-magical painter herself, using any form of magic itself with art always made her curious. Learning that the possible inclusion of runes in the paint certainly made it possible to achieve that desired effect. Unlike the runes that she found on the frames, the runes within the paint weren't observable to her yet.

Aileen nodded, pleased that the student followed her train of thought so easily. She'd been doing her research. She glanced over Miss Rockwell's notebook as she spoke, understanding where she was stuck.

"Correct. When the color changes, you're seeing an underlayer of the painting - a magical layer. So, paint is built up on top of paint, and runes are built on top of runes. Charmed paints wear off more quickly, because even the best charms fade with time if they aren't reinforced every few years."

Runes faded too, but more slowly, and they had a tendency to warp rather than lose all magic.

"To see which runes were used, you'll need to peel back those layers, in a sense. Not the paint itself, mind. The portraits would have something to say about that, and so would the Headmaster," her mouth quirked up, hoping to soften the (likely unnecessary) warning.

"I'll demonstrate how they applied the spells, first." Aileen slid her feet out from underneath the watchful puppy, rose from her desk, and flipped through a few of the books on her bookcase until she found the one. She pulled out the greeting card she was using as a bookmark and put the book back. Hand-painted yellow flowers decorated the front of the invitation. It was typically pureblood, where every card looked unique, made to impress, only to be thrown in the rubbish bin or used as a tea coaster or, in this case, buried in some dusty book.

Aileen sat down and dipped her quill in ink. The dog sat on his haunches and peered over the desk at her movements as she began to draw a design on top of the card with steady, sure lines. She was no artist, or at least did not see herself as such. She merely replicated what she saw and knew as a means to an end, not to create.  When she moved her hand away to show the student what she'd done, a fractal pattern covered the surface of the card, like something you would find in the center of a red rose. Her lines looked as certain (and as technical) as an architect's blueprint.

"This is just a basic, crude example of what I'd do if I wanted to change the color of these flowers to red every few minutes. You draw, or paint, over the main color of the flowers, which is yellow. And you give it time to dry." Aileen picked up the card and waved it in the air so the ink would dry faster.

"Then," she picked up her wand and gestured over the lines to imbue them with magic, watching as the black ink faded into the card and disappeared.

"Now we wait. Any questions so far?" She leaned back in her seat, looking relatively relaxed. It'd take a minute for the flowers to turn, and Aileen could then explain how to reveal the spells without damaging the paint.

This was, dare she say it, fun. As much as teens drove her crazy sometimes, the younger ones were (mostly) unjaded, and retained their curiosity, and did not see themselves as being above work like some adults did. Granted, she'd never ordered any of them to dig up artifacts and risk ancient curses in the scorching heat of the desert... but there was always next class.

Addison nodded to what Professor Reid said. Yes, all of that made sense. Indeed, she had forgotten that the oil paintings were layered. Considering the fact that she didn't paint much herself, it was probably rather expected that she would forget that. She never attempted to peel back paint on any paintings that she saw, so it was an occurrence that she neglected. Even with her personal study of muggle artists, it still hadn't occurred to her. At the very least, she knew that she would have to study the paintings closely.

She couldn't help, but to smile at Professor Reid's obvious warning to her. "I don't think I'm about to go that far," she reminded the Professor. Certainly, she must've known that Addison wasn't the type to attempt to dismantle a painting, or anything else for that matter. To be honest, she wasn't one to disobey the rules so nonchalantly. At the very least, she would have a pretty good reason as to why she would break the rules, if she were to break any.

Addison nodded, eager to view a demonstration on how to spells work. She liked magical theory, and made a mental note to herself to record this demonstration in her notebook afterwards. When it came to magic, she was always excited to learn about it. Magic naturally intrigued her, considering her muggleborn blood. Besides, she knew that Professor Reid probably wasn't going to give her the answer that she had been desperate to find. Even with the demonstration, the spells on the paintings could very well be slightly different than what she was told.

Even if these differences remain, she would probably enjoy finding it out. It was times like this that she was happy that she decided to take, and keep, Ancient Runes. It was certainly possible that she would remain to take Ancient Runes even as a NEWT class, even if she didn't need it. By that point, the class wouldn't be a potential necessary requirement, it would be a class that she took for her own personal interest. She would probably have a rather hard time to decide which classes to drop after her OWLs, depending on how well she did on them. No matter what she chose, Ancient Runes was likely to still be on her list.

Addison watched, with interest, as Professor Reid got up and chose a book with a greeting card in it. It was a rather high quality looking greeting card. She looked on as Professor Reid started to dip her quill in ink. Her gaze diverted for a moment when she noticed a dog peering over the desk to watch its master. Knowing that the situation at hand was more important than personal questions, she immediately looked back to watch Professor Reid draw a rather good fractal pattern on top of the card.

As Professor Reid explained the reasoning for the lines, Addison continued to watch with interest as Professor Reid continued the demonstration. She was then given time to ask any questions. Understanding that Professor Reid was most likely not finished with her explanation of the demonstration, she knew not to ask the most obvious question off the top of her tongue. Instead, she decided on another, "Is it possible that the paintings have more than one layer of runes over the paint. Or, would there only be one?" she asked, clearly still interested in what was going on.

Aileen smiled back at her, confident that Miss Rockwell would never dream of breaking the rules. Though the professor greatly appreciated how easy this made it to work with her, she couldn't help but reflect that it might be good for her to push the boundaries a little sometimes. If any student could find that balance between natural curiosity and foolhardiness, Miss Rockwell probably could.

"The more complicated the painting, the more layers there are," she nodded at her question. "So yes, I would say that the paintings inside the castle contain numerous magical layers. Not only to change colors, but to change seasons and settings, and to allow a portrait's inhabitants to flit from painting to painting. All of that is done using layers, the markings on the frames, and even the paintbrushes themselves."

Aileen paused to glance down at the card. Still yellow, so she went on.

"A few of the Renaissance artists crafted their paintbrushes with wand-like properties. They found that unicorn hair gave white paint a luminescent glow; kelpie hair gave paintings of lakes and seas more depth and naturalism. But in the late 1600s when the Statue of Secrecy came into effect, these artists were accused of owning multiple wands and flaunting their magic in front of muggles. The ones who accused them were fellow artists who, it was rumored, couldn't quite achieve the same effect in their work," she smirked slightly. "From that point on, paintbrushes were ruled to be mundane and non-magical only. Of course, not everyone listened and it was not enforced too carefully."

"There we are," she glanced at the card, where the yellow flowers had blossomed into red.

"On top of the pattern of the rose I drew earlier, I used my wand to make the Jera rune[1], which lets the flowers change their color, and the Pertho rune[2] to hide the pattern."

Aileen could do this next part for her, but since there were a few possible solutions, she wanted to give her a chance to try.

"What would you do to reveal the magical layer, here?" She gestured at the flowers.

As Aileen gave her a moment, the puppy fixed his gaze intently on the girl, seeming to wait for her answer.

"You're welcome to test out different ideas if you like. I won't be upset if the card bursts into flames," she teased, not really expecting that to happen.

1.	Link to reference
2.	Link to reference

For the most part, Addison was pretty curious. She was clearly curious when it came to her academic classes at Hogwarts. Even the muggle curriculum interested her, to the point where she would spend some of her time off from school curled up in the nearby library or at home with muggle mathematics books. Soon, she wanted to get started on muggle science as well. Back as a first year, she was curious about magic and the strange properties of the castle. Even now, at the beginning of her fourth year at the esteemed castle, there were things that she didn't know. She would love to roam the castle, in pursuit of other wonders in the castle. If only she had more time.

But, there was another reason why she didn't roam the castle nearly as much as she used to as a first year. It was usually true that, as a nerdy and intelligent Ravenclaw, Addison often times had the mental capacity to process the various knowledge into her brain. But, her mind liked to wander. If she wasn't concentrating on something that interested her, her mind would go off onto different tangents. This would be why she would occasionally doodle, or her random pieces of artwork, especially on stuff that she didn't necessarily have access to right at the moment. Her wandering mind was typically shown when she talked too much. She made a mental note to herself to really concentrate when giving her presentation in Ancient Runes later that month, so she stayed on topic. Her mind didn't wander that much in Ancient Runes, which was why she was able to concentrate pretty well in the class.

Addison smiled as Professor Reid answered her question. Her head nodded as Professor Reid listed some of the reasons for some of the paintings' properties. She had already discovered many of those properties in her research. The only one that she hadn't committed a lot of time to just yet, was the magical properties in a paintbrush. She made a mental note to herself to look through some of the books in the library, for information on magical paintbrushes. They were clearly an interesting idea, especially for a young artist that would create artwork the muggle way. Just as she had thought of that, Professor Reid went into some information on the magical properties of some paintbrushes. Considering the fact that Professor Reid had her notebook and that she didn't have anything to write with or write on, she took mental notes on the information. She mentally noted the fact that she needed to record this information down later. Nevertheless, she would be sure to conduct her own research into the topic at a later point.

Having completely forgotten that Professor Reid was giving a demonstration (Addison's mind hadn't even wandered!), she was surprised at first at the comment. Turning her eyes to the card, she smiled as she remembered the demonstration of the runes. She nodded as Professor Reid named the runes that she used, noting their names mentally. As the Professor inquired how to reveal the magical layer, she looked up and smiled. That was exactly the question that she was hoping Professor Reid would answer for her. But, it was never that easy. She had to give the Professor credit, knowing not to give her students all of the information, especially for a project that she was working on.

"To reveal the magical layer," she repeated, deep in thought.

Before she could begin thinking, Professor Reid welcomed her to test different ideas. She couldn't help but to smile at that request. "Aw, you ruined the surprise," she joked. She noticed the puppy again, smiling to it, before retreating back into deep thought of what to do.

One idea that she could use, would be to use a spell. She highly doubted this would work, given the fact that if a spell could reveal the runes, why wouldn't anyone else have used it before? For that matter, why wouldn't she have used it before herself? The spell, Prior Incantato, would reveal what spell was used[1]. While it revealed spells, she had no idea if it would reveal the runes. There were two runes that she could use for the revelation. Kenaz could shed light on the layer[2]. While Perthro was used to hide the pattern, it was used in pattern recognition and thus be used to reveal the pattern[3]. The choice that she had to make, was which one to use?

The spell was clearly the easiest to use, but she doubted that that was it. She opted to use Perthro to, hopefully, reveal the pattern. "Since Perthro hid the pattern and the layer, I would attempt to use Perthro to reveal that pattern through its pattern recognition," she stated as she pulled out her wand.

She hesitated at first, before remembering that Professor Reid did invite her to try it out. So, gesturing with her wand, she imbued the card with Perthro to reveal the pattern.

1.	Reference
2.	Reference
3.	Reference

Aileen nodded, keeping her expression neutral as the student offered her theory and waved her wand.  The air shimmered above the card, but the image remained as it was; covered with red flowers.

“Close,” she said encouragingly. “If we cast the rune in reverse…” Aileen demonstrated with her wand. A delicate, spider web pattern began to surface over the flowers, then solidified into inky black.

“There,” she smiled at her. Unsurprisingly, Miss Rockwell had just needed a nudge in the right direction.

“Pertho is an interesting choice,” she raised an eyebrow. “You could have used Laguz or Kenaz, but those are more temperamental. We wouldn’t want to douse the card with water or engulf it in flames.” Or paintings, for that matter.

Tilting her head, she thought for a moment. The puppy shifted his attention back to the professor, tilting his head in the same direction.

“Prior Incantato might have worked in this case, since I used a wand to cast the rune instead of a tool or paintbrush. But the spell only reveals the most recent layer of magic. On old paintings such as those in the castle, you could uncover the color changing properties you’re looking for, or just as easily find a second-year’s map to the loo.”

The Hogwarts portraits suffered much indignity.

“The key, I believe, is in separating those magical layers and determining the order in which they were created. It’s easier than it sounds.  If you look carefully at an old painting, you’ll notice that it shifts color gradually.”

She gestured at the card, which was slowly turning back to yellow again.

“And if you look even more closely, it happens in steps. The topmost layer will change first, and then the one below that, and the one below that, until you see the original layer. Say, for example, the sky in a painting starts to change gray, and a second later the grass grows a bit longer – you’ll know that the gray sky was the last layer created, and the grass was the second to last layer. These things are important because when you try casting Pertho on a painting, it won’t reveal all the layers at once. If it did, you’d see a mess of lines and runes.”

Pertho was a good place to start, and if Miss Rockwell came across any difficulties, Aileen would be happy to offer other ideas.

“So when you're working on your project, I would suggest focusing the rune on the topmost layer, and working your way to the original layer. By the time you’re done, you’ll have mastered Pertho or never want to see it again.” Humor glinted in her eyes. Aileen realized that she hadn’t given the student her notebook back, and slid it across the desk toward her.

After having use Perthro on the card, Addison looked hesitantly at Professor Reid, believing that she did something wrong. Despite looking at her Professor, she highly doubted that the woman would easily tell the answer by just looking at her. But, it was like an extra sense of security for her. Indeed, there was no such expression on her face. It was just neutral, which was rather typical. For that matter, she assumed that Professor Reid probably practiced to not appear to favor any one of the students in particular, despite the fact that she came in for help. After all, favoring one student would probably leave the rest discouraged.

Despite Addison's attempt, the card remained unchanged. Before she could even react, Professor Reid already did so by telling her that she was close. She grinned and shook her head as Professor Reid demonstrated casting the rune in reverse. She should've known that! If the rune was used in the first place to hide the magical layer, then the same rune in reverse should make that layer appear. It was a good thing, then, that this was practiced on a greeting card and not on a historic painting.

Addison smiled as Professor Reid listed other runes that could have been used, which could have produced the same effect. "Since Perthro was used to hide the layer to begin with, I figured that it would make the best sense to use Perthro. It's pattern recognition use seemed to be the best choice, since the layer could be thought of as a pattern," she explained. She figured that it was best to explain herself, since the Professor wouldn't know why she did what she did without that explanation. In a subject like runes, where everything could get complicated, those explanations were certainly helpful.

"Prior Incantato would work? I thought that since the paintings were so old, and the magic in them so old to begin with, that a simple spell as such wouldn't reveal those layers..." she trailed off. Now, that was certainly a surprise. If she had known that, she could've uncovered those layers already.

Addison nodded as Professor Reid commented on separating the magical layers to see how they were created. That would probably be the hardest part of trying to understand the color changing property. It made sense that the order would be reversed as such. Of course, some of the more intricate and complicated paintings were bound to have many layers.

"It sounds like I'll be able to cast Perthro in my sleep," she joked with a smile, accepting her notebook back. Despite receiving it back, she didn't try to immediately record the information down. Considering the fact that she came to her teacher for help, she assumed that it would be rude of her to start scribbling away in the book. She decided to record the information a little bit later.

“Well, there are worse spells to try," she smiled slightly. "It certainly wouldn't do the artwork any harm. If you're lucky, you could reveal a magical layer done by the artist's hand. If not, best to try another solution,” Aileen clarified after the Ravenclaw expressed her surprise about Prior Incantato.

“Using Pertho is probably the best place to start. And of course, if you come across any other obstacles, you know where my office is.”

Since the student felt comfortable enough to joke back, Aileen took the opportunity to ask a question of her own.

“Have you worked out any ideas for presenting your project at the end of the month?” Such an interesting topic deserved a solid presentation.

As Professor Reid clarified using a spell to reveal the magical layers, Addison nodded. Right, it made sense. Considering the fact that she didn't know how the layers were made to begin with, she wouldn't have known if she could've used the spell to begin with. At the very least, the spell would probably be the least dangerous attempt at revealing a magical layer or two anyway. Perhaps that was why she had thought about using it just a little while ago with the card.

"Right, that is true," she agreed. Even if she had any more problems, she could always run right back here to this office to inquiry about them. That was what the office hours were supposed to be used for, after all.

Addison smiled when Professor Reid asked if she had any plans for her presentation. This was the part of the presentation that she practically planned from when she heard of the assignment. It was her idea of perfection as it was. "Yes, actually, I have. So, um, I was thinking of brining into class two paintings, layered with runes. One would be of a subject that could move and talk within the frame. The other would have the color changing property, and the first painting could move into that frame. This way, I could say what runes I found, and then show an example on how they work," she explained, babbling on.

"Ambitious," she nodded her approval. It would either succeed spectacularly or fail spectacularly, and Aileen hoped for the former.

The girl's excited chatter made her wonder if there was another reason why she seemed so excited about the project. But not wanting to pry, she went with the more logical assumption.

"Do you mean to use paintings from the castle? I might need to help you get those down; they are often fixed on the walls."

Aileen had found that the inhabitants of portraits did not like being moved, either. Growing up, every time her mother and the house elf would rearrange the pictures on the walls, the artwork would howl for days. Or perhaps that just said something about Reid family portraits.

Addison's cheeks flushed at Professor Reid's question. Apparently, she wasn't articulate enough to even elaborate on what she was planning on doing. It was her own bloody project, and she couldn't use the necessary words to even describe it. Sure, it was her idea for perfection, which might have made it harder to describe. But, if she couldn't even describe it to her Professor alone in her own office, how would she even be able to present that very project in front of her peers in class at the end of the month?

The girl immediately shook her head as a response to Professor Reid's question. "N-no, I-I have no in-intention on u-using the castle's p-paintings," she stammered. The apparently ambitious Ravenclaw that the Professor just saw only moments ago was already lost. "I ... I intend to use my own paintings," she managed weakly.

Perhaps the idea sounded better in her mind, but Addison thought that it would be a good way to present her project. If, and that was certainly a pretty big if, she could correctly imitate the necessary runes, she should be able to achieve the same effect or there around. Considering the fact that the class was a fourth year class, they shouldn't be expected to master runes at all yet. On second thought, it was probably a bad idea then. If she couldn't even take credit for her own paintings when the professor didn't even see it yet, how would she be able to do so in class?

The professor blinked at Miss Rockwell in surprise, a line forming between her brows. One moment, the student had seemed fine, and the next, she seemed plagued by nerves.

"You must be an artist," Aileen inclined her head. An artist, just not a very confident one. Strange, how some of the brightest Ravenclaws blushed and stammered and doubted themselves. It was rather irritating to someone like Aileen, who valued creative ideas and more importantly, the resolve to follow through with them. But Miss Rockwell was young yet, at an awkward age. She had time to gain confidence.

"It's not a bad idea, Miss Rockwell. In fact, I'm rather impressed by your interest and dedication," she chose each word as if the student were in danger of dissolving into tears. The puppy shifted slightly closer to the girl and rested the tip of his chin on the armchair.

"However," Aileen paused. "It will take a great deal of work. Perhaps more than you expect. I certainly don't want you to stress yourself out to the point of exhaustion, or focus on this project at the expense of your other classes."  Well, perhaps useless classes like Divination were alright... Aileen kept that thought in the back of her head.