10AM

While Edie loved her younger students, she always looked forward to her NEWT-level class the most. She was perpetually impressed by the level that her students were on. They had taken her in as a strange, new professor and let the change pass rather smoothly. From what she had heard, the last Ancient Runes professor had left behind quite a pair of shoes to fill. Edie did her best to fill them, but of course had no way of knowing who the students liked better. Not even a survey would do - what student in their right mind would admit that they hated her? It would be a poor move, even if Edie didn't care what a 15-year-old thought of her, as she not only graded their handwritten essays but was an accomplished runologist.

After waking up with the sun, Edie made her usual trip to the kitchens for some breakfast. She nibbled on some toast with jam and sipped on some tea, but after a few minutes couldn't watch so much work being done and not pitch in. She did her best to help the house elves with their morning tasks, ignoring their cries that they could do it all themselves. She knew how house elves could be, and after spending nearly every morning with them for a year, considered them good friends.

Finally they pestered her enough to leave the kitchen; it was time for Edie to prepare for class anyway. She headed to her classroom and brought out a bag of Medieval runestones. All of her classes were on the Medieval period of runology, a roller-coaster ride of an era. She hoped her older students would catch on to the patterns that began to show up during this period. Edie had flipped through some of the extensive notes that the former professor had left behind, but in the end she decided to do her own thing and hope they wouldn't be frustrated with a little repetition.

On the board, she charmed a piece of chalk to write Readings in Medieval Runology, then sat at her desk and methodically organized the runes to make sure that all 27 were there. Once she confirmed that there were, Edolie leaned back and looked over her empty classroom, eager to begin her day.

Camelia arrived in the classroom on time, almost always punctual. "Good morning Professor," she greeted. She wouldn't normally address her professor on a casual basis, but it felt weird to not say something seeing as she was the first one to arrive. She found a seat in the middle of the room, sliding behind her desk and pulling her books and parchment out.

Camelia wasn't a lover of Ancient Runes, but nor did she despise it. She found the theories behind the subject interesting and she liked learning about different countries she'd never gotten to visit. But it was hard to be patient with a subject that involved so much reading and studying, and so little use with her wand. Camelia struggled with anything really that wasn't active. It left her too much time to think, a feeling of helplessness. Camelia tried to combat these feelings by taking extensive notes in this class, in order to occupy some part of her body.

 She glanced up at the board to see what was written there before taking out her quill and writing out the title for this lesson in neat handwriting.

Reaching the doorway to the Ancient Runes classroom, Sasha paused, his gaze falling on the blond professor sitting at the front of the class.  Professors came and went at Hogwarts.  He’d come to accept that as part of the rhythm of the castle.  But, Sasha had still fallen in the habit of checking the professor’s desk before entering with a slight vein of hope that, perhaps, Professor Reid would have returned. 

Sasha held nothing against the new Professor.  He was a through and through Ravenclaw.  He respected all of the professors as their rank expected and he sought to earn their respect through hard work and academic achievement.  But, this new independently spirited woman was just about as un-Professor Reid-like as one could get.  The former Runes professor had been demanding and distant with a slightly icy edge to her.  But, she’d become part of the weird extended family that a core of the Hogwarts clan had grown to represent.  Sasha hadn’t expected Professor Reid's absence to be quite as unsettling as it had been. 

But they were not greeted with a haughty, vague explanation about unexpected curses in tomb mazes that morning.  No new indication that Professor Fern was a temporary substitute.  With a slight sigh, Sasha rolled his shoulders back and found his seat in his usual spot: front row, closest to the window.  He took his supplies out and, in orderly fashion, arranged them neatly in front of him. 

Xavier entered the classroom with a mild scowl on his face. The new Runes Professor was definitely pretty and seemed nice enough, she knew what she was teaching at the very least but she was no Aileen Reid. No one would ever be Aileen Reid and Xavier came to the realization that he may have had feelings aside from Favourite Teacher for the eldest of the Reid sisters. At least the term was almost over and he didn't have long to dwell on it.

He took his seat near the middle next to his cousin who was wearing a rather disapproving look. Or at least what he took for disapproving, it was always hard to read her when she wasn't smiling. Xavier had taken to assuming these blank unmoving stares meant she wasn't happy even if she never said so.

He settled his book bag next to his desk and removed quill and parchment scrawling the title at the top. He was interested in the topic at least. Ancient Runes had always piqued his interest, especially the medieval era, although there wasn't much about Medieval Magic that didn't interest him (even if he had walked over in the middle of History of Magic last year)

Cadance sat in her desk in the middle of the class with her hands folded in her lap. She had entered the room about the same time as Sasha had and had already gotten her supplies in order and copied the title off of the board. She sat stock still staring straight ahead, her face a porcelain mask. To say she didn't like Professor Fern wasn't entirely true. She didn't dislike the women per se, she just wasn't a fan of any woman who didn't carry themselves as a Lady should. Despite her hatred for her own strict upper class Pureblood upbringing and all the archaic bonds and traditions that came with it, she couldn't help the prejudice she shared for unrefined women.

She barely acknowledge Xavier as he entered the room and sat beside her. Her cousin and closest friend was still insisting on sporting the horrible mess of fuzz he called a beard. Where many of men looked rather dashing with a nicely grown beard Xavier merely succeeded in proving just how young he really was despite almost being a man grown (as far as the Wizarding World was concerned).

She glanced around the room moving for the first time since taking her place. At least the topic was interesting and it looked like they'd be doing mostly written work, something that was perfectly fine with her. At least they weren't kneeling on the floor like children playing with chalk like Professor Maras had them do.

As soon as Bran entered the classroom to be met with the new Runes professor, Bran's face turned from charming and welcoming to dire and judgmental. Taking a seat around the middle he continued to watch the woman with profuse distaste, frown only intensifying when today's subject had been revealed. Wasn't the futhork basic runology? How tedious...

Turning to no one in particular he let out a long sigh and minutely rolled his eyes. With a barely audible hiss, he turned towards someone that didn't look like a complete fashion mishap and raised his eyebrows unimpressed. "Woodstock called, they want their hippie back" he muttered, barely above a whisper. He could understand boho chic, maybe. But that simply made him cringe. And those boots.. Ugh.

Not to mention this was a professor, for the love of Merlin. Regardless when he caught the Professor's eye, he smiled charmingly and nodded in greeting.

A few students shuffled in, signifying the official start to class. She greeted the ones who greeted her, leaving the others to settle in as they would. The recent (and probably, for the students, rather unexpected) change in professors had clearly thrown them for quite a loop. She didn't want to pressure any of them to like her -- if they wanted to, the reluctant ones would come around - in time. Besides, even if they didn't, they'd be leaving the school at some point. That was one of the many wonderful things about change, in Edolie's opinion.

She turned to grab a few books from behind her, moving them in order to reach her set of medieval runes. From behind her, Edie heard a (rather grumbly) sigh and something about a hippie. Edie's jaw clenched. Teenagers would be teenagers, and some of them weren't so pleased with Professor Reid's departure. At first it had taken Edie a little extra self-reassurance before learning to ignore them. They'd be gone soon, after all.

Once a few more students trickled in, Edie cleared her throat in a manner that implied she was going to start her lecture. "I'm sure many of you have seen the Medieval Futhork in earlier years," Edie began, bringing her bag of amethyst runes over to the podium. "I'm sure you're all aware that these runes were popularized in Scandinavia during the 12th to 15th century, the late middle ages." Edolie did a quick spell to enlarge her runes, which just so happened to be from Scandinavia. She'd spent a semester there during her university years -- it had been quite a trip.

"What many do not realize is that the Medieval Futhork not only provided basis for the appearance of runology as a study, but also signified the start of wizarding deviation from muggles. Since Latin was becoming more popular amongst muggles, this language became a somewhat more elusive way to communicate.*" Edie moved the runes about the table - magically, as they were quite heavy now that they were so large. "You may notice that there are 11 more runes in this set than in the Younger Futhark. That is no mistake. Each rune corresponds to only one phoneme, whereas the runes in the Younger Futhark were made up of several. One of the many reasons for this to allow for one to be more exact with their messages."

Edie did another quick bit of magic to project the image of the runes set about the table on the wall behind her. She had arranged them in order. "Does anyone recognize symbols from the Younger Futhark? How about any from the Elder?" Edie addressed the class. This was a simple question -- her students should be able to list a few of the more recognizable symbols, at the very least.

*totally made this up. If it seems completely whacko, let me know, and I can formulate new ~theories~.  This link should give you a list of symbols for each of the futharks. This is the Elder Futhark wiki. Let me know if you need help! I did a bunch of my own research -- don't spend too much time on this.

Sasha shared many students' disappointment that Professor Reid had left but he also recognized that was his own issue.  It was entirely separate and independent of Professor Fern.  She had nothing to do with the change of staff.  Yes, Professor Fern was very different but Sasha knew all that meant was it was on him to adjust.  He certainly couldn't condone any disrespectful remarks.  So, as the class got underway in earnest, Sasha turned his attention to his notes and the questions presented to them. 

After all, wouldn't it be best to show the new Professor just how much they'd learned under Professor Reid?

The Ravenclaw raised a hand and waited to be called upon.  "Schlagenweit, ma'am," he offered as he got to his feet, certain the professor hadn't yet memorized all their names.  "The second and third from the left appear to be t and b from the Younger Futhork though t seems to be from the Danish version and the from the Rök Runes.  Berkana, the corresponding b from the Elder Futhark is to the left of middle."  With that, Sasha took his seat, again.