10:00 AM

It was Sachairi's first day officially on the job. First thing in the morning were the fifth years, which had been a bit challenging, but then he'd had a free period to prepare for his first NEWT-level class. It was technically the 7th years' class, but due to the relatively low number of NEWT-level Ancient Runes students, he had decided to combine them. This would require him to move at a different pace and possibly repeat some material the 7th years were already familiar with, but it made more sense than holding individual classes for the grades with so few students in each. Sometimes Sachairi wished he'd chosen to specialize in Potions - it was a required course, and no Potions Master was ever short of students. But at least with an elective he had the satisfaction of knowing that his students were there because they wanted to be - or at least because his subject seemed better than the available alternatives.

Now the free period was up, and students were filing into the classroom. Sachairi moved to stand behind his desk, arms behind his back, beaming cheerfully at them all as they entered, calling out names and checking them off his roll call list one by one. Soon enough, everyone was present, and Sachairi grinned at them, standing as tall as his diminutive frame would allow.

"All right, all right, we're all here, let's get going, wands and books away please!" he called over the general burble of student activity. An answering flurry of movement followed as his pupils stowed their things. Sachairi noted several puzzled looks and knew what those kids were thinking - what could they be doing that required neither books nor wands? But he waited for a moment or two longer before revealing his intentions. Striding to the chalkboard, he raised his own wand and tapped it. Nothing happened right away, but the students were experienced enough to recognize a Dictation Charm; when the professor spoke, words and diagrams would appear automatically, as if he had drawn them himself with chalk.

"Right," Sachairi said in a satisfied tone, looking out at them all before bringing his hands together with a clap. "My name is Sachairi Euan Coinneach Emburne. I know you've had more than one teacher in this subject before me, and I've reviewed the material available to me, but if I start to cover something you've already done, speak up - unless, of course, you enjoy redundancy!" He paused, grinning cheekily, with a sparkle in his eyes that clearly said, with no need of words, how unlikely he considered that possibility, before moving on with another brisk hand-clap. "Now, to business!" He waved his wand again, and a box appeared on his desk. It made a gentle clinking sound as it settled. Folding his arms behind his back, the magirunologist regarded his NEWT students closely.

"You are all, of course, familiar with the basics of rune casting by now. But you may have noticed that results from wand-drawn spells are inconsistent or unreliable sometimes. Why is that? Anyone having a guess? You," he said suddenly, pointing to a Slytherin sixth year, who looked startled to have been put on the spot so abruptly. She replied quickly enough, though, saying, "Um, because of the Individuality Principle?" Her voice was hesitant, but Sachairi nodded. "Very good, five points to Slytherin. The Individuality Principle, which you lot will have learned in Magical Theory if you took it, is one of the subtle laws of wands." As he spoke, the words 'Individuality Principle' and 'subtle laws of wands' appeared on the chalkboard. "You know about the subtle laws? They're taught in Charms still, aye? Aye, well then. The Individuality Principle is -the- fundamental subtle law, in a way; it's the basic truth from which the other known laws emerge." As he spoke, he paced back and forth, as if restless, arms still folded behind his back. "It states, in brief, that each wand is an individual - unique. This has a number of implications, including the laws of wand allegiance, inheritance, and Priori Incantatem -  that last of which, of course, is what occurs when two wands are less unique than they ought to be, if you think about it," he added as an aside. He paused for a moment, frowning to himself, then shook his head as if flicking off the errant thought.

"At any rate, doing runes," the teacher continued, his voice becoming a bit louder as he got back on topic (stay focused, Emburne, he told himself mentally) "the important bit is that the wands we rely on for incantation magic are not generic. They have traits. Strengths. Weaknesses. Even personalities, if you believed old Ollivander," he added, shrugging in a skeptical way. "With incantations, that doesn't matter so much. If you get the pronunciation and the wand motion correct, a little individual variation won't hurt anything. It still comes off more or less how it ought, because your mind is focusing your intent at the time of spellcasting. The wand is just your focus, a tool to help you achieve your intent. But!" He gestured dramatically with one hand before folding it behind his back again.

"Rune spells occur remotely, not in your mind. They are conceived, framed, and activated by your mind, but their effect is governed by the meaning inherent to the runes themselves and the magic they have been charged with, and -not- by the direct action of your will as with incantations. While drawing the runes, you have control. Once you complete the spell and activate it, it runs on the basis of the 'program' you've given it - forgive the Muggle metaphor. This means you cannot exert the strength of your mind to focus the spell as it happens - you can only make sure to do it correctly when you draw it. And -that- means that the traits of your wand will always influence your runework, no matter how precise your penmanship is. For example," and he held up his own wand. It was made of walnut and seemed a bit longer than average, with a rather twisty shaft and somewhat crooked tip.  "My wand is a fine one, if I do say so myself. It's served me well since I got my own Hogwarts letter." He smiled at the class with the barest hint of a wink. He stopped pacing, instead leaning on his desk casually as he spoke. He rolled the wand back and forth between his dexterous fingers, eyeing it fondly.

"Thirteen inches, walnut and dragon heartstring. Hebridean Black, to be precise. This wand has power and finesse, but not a lot of, shall we say, restraint," Sachairi grinned as a few sparks shot from the wand's tip as he spoke. "Works fine for my style at incantations. I can modulate the amount of juice I'm putting in by conscious effort. But when I draw runes, the magic empowering them is inescapably tinged with the individuality, the essence, of the wand I'm using. As most of us only own one wand, this means we're stuck using it no matter what effect we're trying to achieve. If your wand's Individual properties are compatible with what you're trying to do, it'll work fine. But if there is any conflict or interference, you will get unintended results. These are often hard to predict but can be quite consistent, depending on the wand. For example, in my case, the dragon essence tends to make my failures burst into flames." His expression and voice were rather more cheerful when saying this than most people's would have been. "But it can also manifest any number of other ways. I once tried to draw a simple array - just a reversed Isa - on a pair of socks so they'd stay warm in winter, only the dragon essence of my wand contaminated the rune's magic. Long story short, if not for the geniuses at St. Mungo's, a dragon-footed man would be teaching this lesson." He chuckled, as if the thought of himself stuck with dragon's feet forever was quite amusing.

"So! How does a clever, better-than-average witch or wizard like myself, or you lot, sort that little problem? Any guesses?" But he didn't wait for anyone to guess, instead continuing to speak. "Now, you might say to get another wand, the way some wizards keep an aspen wand for charms, a silver lime for divination, and the like. But the issue is that the wood alone is not the problem - it's the core, the history of the wand, how many owners it's had and what they did with it... too many variables. There will always be a potential for unexpected results. Plus, let's be honest, only the Sacred 28 can afford that sort of thing," he added, wrinkling his nose. "I'm pretty comfortable, I don't know about your families, but I couldn't piss away my Galleons on having a dozen different wands anyhow."

"So what's a magirunologist to do, you ask?"

Sachairi gestured broadly with his wand-hand at the box on his desk. The lid flew off it, dropping to the floor with an unceremonious bang, but the professor seemed not to notice the noise. "In that box are an assortment of crystalline wands. Unlike the cored wooden wands you're familiar with, crystal wands have no Individuality. They do have properties and traits, but they're fixed and consistent by comparison. Two wood-and-core wands - say, both cherry wood and unicorn hair - may have things in common, but they will still be Individual, even if both are the same length, same flexibility, same thickness, same carving, same manufacturer. Just like the people who use them, in fact. In contrast, crystal is consistent and predictable. A crystal wand may be of high or low quality. Its size and shape may differ from that of another wand of the same stone, and, yes, that variance will impact the function of the wand.  But unlike with wood-and-core wands, where such variables cannot be precisely interpreted and in fact may mean different things for different people, crystal is consistent. Amethyst is amethyst is amethyst, no matter who is holding it. This means that when working with arrays you know are incompatible with your wand, or that you really can't afford to have go bad, you draw them with an appropriate crystal wand."

"So! We're going to spend the next month or two learning about crystals and their place in magirunology," Sachairi stated, winding up the lecture for the moment. (Whew! That one went on longer than I meant it to, he told himself. Better get to the point or they'll fall asleep on me.) "Each of you is to come here and pick a few crystals from the box. Try to choose a good assortment, but don't be surprised if you feel drawn to some and repelled by others for no apparent reason. It's normal. That's why I've done my best to provide a wide variety of stone types, with overlap. That way, if you're incompatible with emerald, you can try peridot, for instance. For now, don't worry about the properties of each stone. You won't know most of them anyhow unless you've covered this topic before. Just pick what feels right to you."

And Sachairi stepped back, leaning on the blackboard, arms folded over his chest. A small smile lingered on his features. This had been one of his favorite lessons when teaching at Euro-Glyph. Of course, they would all end up using certain stones for certain tasks. He ran over a few of them in his mind: Hematite was grounding, with relevance to hereditary, healing, and directly wounding magics due to its connection to blood. Spectrolite, with its rainbow plays of color hidden within murky depths, was a divination classic, but also applied to mind-magic. Milky quartz, the all-purpose cleanser. These things were a constant, as he'd been explaining to the class. Yet his students were individuals, as mysterious and unique as the wood-and-core wands they were used to relying on, and observing their choice of crystal wands would tell him much about each individual student. He looked forward to seeing who chose what.

(( OOC NOTES:

Crystal wands vary in size a lot. Those used for rune drawing range from tiny one-inch pieces to big six-inch ones. All those used in runeworking come to a point, but some have been left mostly in their natural growth state while others have been tumbled, carved into hexagonal columns, or otherwise worked, though all such alterations are very simple. Most resemble those in this picture, at least in terms of shape - these are much longer and fatter than would normally be used in runic work:



Note that the pictured wands have mostly been dyed, however, while all of those in Sachairi's box are natural.

EXTRA CREDIT: You DO NOT have to specify what types of crystals your character chooses from the box. If, however, you decide to research or invent meanings of crystals in occult belief - any system counts, even if you made it up yourself - and choose crystal types that seem like your character would particularly resonate with, you will be given some extra participation credit for this lesson. Bonus points if you can corelate other aspects of the crystals to your character - for example, its length, thickness, and whether it is mostly in a natural state or has been carved and polished.

If you want, you can describe the -traits- of the wands you chose, and I will OOCly PM you with what specific pieces you got; they will fit what you described. This may be a bit more fun for people who enjoy a surprise while still leaving you control over your character and what they'd be most attracted to. For example, if you describe one of your choices as being good for healing and divination, I might say you've picked up a piece of clear quartz.

This website is referring to general substances rather than crystal wands specifically, but it's a decent starting place for inspiration, since wizards can and do use magic to make wands from substances that aren't technically 'crystal' or even stone. It won't be common, but if you want your character to dig, say, a pearl or abalone wand out of that box, please feel free to do so.

http://isbet.net/fairywitch/crystals/crystalin.html ))

Jordyn had always enjoyed Runes.  It was a pity they had another professor, though.  Professor Reid had been someone Jordyn had great respect for and now that she’d moved on and they were to have another instructor, Jordyn was apprehensive.  She’d brought her books, however, and her wand, and was ready to take notes.  Often the first class with a new professor was spent going over their expectations for class, so Jordyn was prepared. 

She never really had a problem meeting expectations, so she set out all of her things on her desk near the front of class (as always) and waited for the professor to enter.  She was a little surprised, of course, when he did and the first thing he did was order them to put their books and wands away.  Her eyebrows furrowed at the order and she hesitated for a moment before following other students who practically jumped at putting their things away. 

Jordyn was a little slower about it, but she managed and then sat on the edge of her seat at her desk with concerned and critical eyes.  She wasn’t the sort of student who questioned a teacher’s methods for teaching (except a select few who had shown an entirely new level of disregard for student learning), but she was just a little wary – just a little.  It wasn’t typical to not have those things out.  But, she’d give him a chance. 

He introduced himself and immediately launched into lecture.  That upset Jordyn a little, she wanted her parchment for notes – but she’d been told to clear her desk.  It wasn’t that she didn’t know what he was talking about (runes was one of her favorite classes, after all, and she revised all summer), but she liked to remember what happened in class for later.  Right now, she was just concerned that he was going to talk a lot.  NEWT classes were supposed to be practical application based, at least that’s what she’d gotten used to over the past year, so if this was going to be that type of class, Jordyn was going to be upset. 

He was talking about wands and the properties of magic, which they’d gone over before, and Jordyn found interesting – but for studying… not for class.  Breathing out of her nose, she rested her hands on the desk in front of her and stretched her fingers, the leather of her gloves squeaking a little over the surface.  Her expression vacillated from interested, confused, and even a yawn snuck its way in before the interesting bit started – the part where they were introduced to their tools, which started to bring the whole thing together – why they talked about wands and didn’t need them for the class.  They had to pick crystals. 

Jordyn, never being afraid of being a class leader, stood up immediately and made her way to the box.  There were some very beautiful things in there, she realized quickly, peering over the edge.  He said to pick a couple and Jordyn immediately recognized some of them from her reading over the summer (she’d previewed the text book, of course).  She’d shown particular interest in reading about anything with healing properties, and when she recognized some of the pictures from the textbook in the box, Jordyn was quick to pick three that she thought would suit her interests as a student. 

A green stone with red streaks – ematille, or bloodstone. It was polished smooth with a rounded edge and a pointed one, and sort of thin.  It couldn’t have been more than a couple of inches long, but Jordyn was sure she’d collected it.  Spell damage could be controlled with something related to blood loss and infection.  She also grabbed a rougher specimen, not polished like the other and a sort of orange-yellow color.  She couldn’t remember its name, but the picture was stuck in her mind and she’d remembered reading about properties associated to healing, as well as new beginnings.  Since it was the beginning of the year, that seemed like a good choice for the head girl who felt she had something to prove.  And lastly, she other polished one she took was a deep blue, mixed with green – streaks of lighter blue and white through the entire thing, apatite.  Concentration and memory aside, it was good for being stable and fighting against long-term illness. 

Satisfied, and not wanting to take up too much time near the front, Jordyn nodded to the professor – signifying that she was done and resumed her seat, resting her choices on the desk in front of her.  They were each very different looking and Jordyn could find something about each that she liked very much.  It actually made her excited to use them and she looked up impatiently, waiting for others to follow her lead and make some choices. 

Another new Runes professor and, yet, another professor that wasn’t Professor Reid.  It felt like the castle was getting emptier and emptier with each passing year.  With a quiet sigh, Sasha took his usual seat (front row, closest to the window) and stashed his wand and book in his bag at Professor Emburne’s instructions but left out a single sheet of paper and a pencil. 

His hand shot into the air as Professor Emburne posed a question about wand inconsistency but let it fall, again, as the man called upon one of the Slytherins.  The Ravenclaw turned his attention to putting down notes, setting to paper the elaborations on the Slytherin’s answer.  He couldn’t help but grin when Professor Emburne commented that most witches and wizards only had one wand.  He’d gone through four in a year, but he’d come to accept and even grow attached to his current: a Gregorovich-made black limba and purple heart with a manticore hair. 

"So what's a magirunologist to do, you ask?”

The Ravenclaw started to raise his hand, again, but the question seemed to be rhetorical and the professor plowed on.  Slightly awkwardly, Sasha let his hand fall back down. 

At the Professor’s bidding, Sasha rose and approached the front of the class.  All in all, at least at the moment, he was a bit speculative about this whole endeavor.   Amethyst was quartz with elemental impurities.  Stone was stone.  This all felt a little too close to the wishy washiness of Divination for his tastes.  Find the hidden meaning in the pattern beer foam left in the glass.  Find the crystal ball that speaks to you. 

With a slight sigh, he picked three stone wands from the crate, completely at random.  So he assumed.  Completely bypassing the spectrolite, he returned to his seat with a short, thick and completely cylindrical wand of black onyx, a mid-sized and beveled sodalite with a pleasantly deep and rich blue hue and a long, thin and very delicately carved lavender zirconium.  The last had seemed an odd choice; it was far too sparkly and purple for his liking.  He dismissed the notion and turned back to the front, waiting for the next step. 

Verity listened aptly to the new professor's lecture, curious as to how his teaching style might differ and looking for potential red flags within his introduction. She had been burned (not quite as figuratively as Verity would have liked) by a previous professor, which caused her to be wary of new instructors. She didn't mean to doubt, and he was obviously very passionate about his subject which was comforting.

However, when he went on his little aside about his 13-inch wand with a lack of restraint, she barely succeeded in stifling a chuckle. Chalk it up to her reading up on Freud (right git he was) for her Psychology A-Level. Eventually, the Hufflepuff remembered that she was supposed to be mature and regained focus, and cringed only slightly by the noise as the lid of the box hit the ground. When he urged them to pick out a few of the crystal wands, she was glad that she had the foresight to read the textbook prior to the school year starting. She wanted to see what the new professor might focus on, and the effects of the crystals intrigued her.

Verity followed some of her fellow students and looked at the selection of wands within the box. An amazonite wand resonated with her, being focused on personal truth. She also picked up wands of aquamarine and kunzite, being drawn towards their potential applications for therapy. Pleased with her choices, she made her way back to her seat, smiling towards Jordyn and Sasha on the way.

(( If you want to have your student reply to what Sachairi says to them, please feel free - whatever he says to the other students is assumed to take place once he's done interacting with the previous one, so everyone has 'IC time' to be fit in, if that makes sense? Also I'm -pretty- sure there aren't any other 7th years taking Runes, but if there are and their player would still like to post them making choices, please feel free to do so! Just fit it in to your post before you post your reactions to the current events of the thread. ))

The small man's muddy-colored eyes kept a distant but alert watch on his students as they approached the box. He was pleased to see them taking the assignment seriously right off the bat. Not that he wouldn't have gladly done his best to explain if anyone had posed questions, nor would a bit of silliness have done any damage at this point, but at NEWT level, things got a bit dangerous, and if they were responsive and quiet now, so much the better. When the class began tackling genuinely challenging stuff - which they would soon enough, using these same bits of colorful stone - this hopefully meant that he wouldn't have to go to too much trouble to keep them calm and focused. Which would in turn lead to (hopefully) fewer things going wrong. Something was always bound to go wrong, but he did prefer to minimize it where possible. So there was a definite expression of approval on his face as he observed their choices, one by one.

The Head Girl came up first, Sachairi was unsurprised to see - she was Head Girl for a reason, after all. He was also not surprised by the intelligence and alacrity with which she selected her wands. She knew exactly what she wanted, and went for it. A typical Slytherin, then,  he joked to himself, before immediately changing his mind. In truth, she was not what his Gryffindor mates back in the day would have called a 'typical' Slytherin at all, if he could judge by her choices. All pertained to... healing? Yes, healing. There were a few other possibilities for the individual wands, but all together, there could be only one purpose for that collection. Well, she certainly did know what she wanted... Sachairi tugged at his lower lip as she made her final choice, thinking, St. Mungo's should give this one a priority interview. If she's not head of a department there, or in charge of whatever other institution she chooses to work for, within ten - hell, five - years of graduation, I'll eat my socks.

The little bloodstone wand would be finicky at first, due to its size, but the fine point would be excellent for inscribing tiny, fine figures, and once mastered, Jordyn would find its smallness and thinness allowed for a high degree of precision - an essential trait for complex, high-level rune drawing. And with the healing properties of bloodstone, Jordyn could place a Wound-Closure Array right on a wounded person's skin if she wished. He didn't even need to stretch his imagination to see the connection between the finely wrought, delicate wand with its huge potential for power and precision and the girl who chose it. Her second choice continued the theme. It was rough, unpolished, orange-yellow... if he recalled correctly, it was spessartine garnet, hewn directly from the crystal without finishing. If so, that solar gem would not only aid its owner directly, particularly when treating the gastrointestinal and reproductive systems, but it would stimulate her native compassion and drive to help others - in short, the strength to carry on with an extremely difficult, emotionally demanding job. Lacking finishing, it would be raw and intense in its potency, without inhibition, but its power was of such a gentle nature that using it would be like standing in full sunlight on a spring day - warm enough to be soothing but never hot enough to burn. Another fine healer's tool. He nodded unconsciously as she picked up an apatite wand. It made perfect sense with the other two. And it seemed to complete the set, because she stopped choosing then, content with those three. Three was a powerful number for healing as well - the caduceus with its two snakes entwining a single rod...

By the last choice, Sachairi's left eyebrow was raised in a look of pleasant surprise. If this was the caliber of student Sorted into Slytherin these days... well! It was certainly an improvement from his own time, when half the Slytherins in his year went on to be Death Eaters.

"The director of St. Mungo's better watch out when you graduate. You'll be having their job soon enough," he commented with a wink as Jordyn nodded to him. She returned to her seat straightaway, and by her look of impatience, she was ready to get going. A fine young woman, if he could judge by what he'd seen so far. 

A boy came up next, a Ravenclaw. Sachairi had noticed him raising his hand a few times and had almost called on him, but he was trying to draw out the ones who seemed less eager at first (and one of the questions had been rhetorical anyway.) The professor noticed the slight sigh as the Ravenclaw reached into the box and made a mental note to give him the next question. He seemed to be going through the motions; rather than making definite selections, as Jordyn had, Sasha seemed not to care much what he chose, just doing as he was told. Sachairi's eyes glimmered with an unexpressed amusement. He wasn't aware of Sasha's skeptical thoughts, but the boy's expression and lack of apparent interest in his choices didn't escape Sachairi's notice.

The professor made a mental note to keep an eye on that student as the first selection proved to be black onyx - a small, fat, cylindrical piece. Sachairi frowned a bit, thoughtfully, trying to decide what the significance of that choice was most likely to be. Black onyx had three major realms of usefulness. It could be used defensively - both in an active sense, and in the sense of invisibility, concealment, or even simply avoiding attention. It was also compatible with magics of endurance, including emotional endurance, and thus hope. And finally, in the wrong hands, Black Onyx was very compatible with Dark magic... Which of these aspects, Sachairi wondered idly, had resonated with Sasha - even if unconsciously? A good stone for working more subtle magics, in any event. When the next selection proved to be sodalite, Sachairi relaxed slightly. Although sodalite was better known for its strong affinity to water and aquatic creatures, it also had several protective applications. In fact, it was the opposite to black onyx in some ways. Where onyx could be used by the unscrupulous to inflict nightmares on others, sodalite could be used to create a very effective defense -against- nightmares. Very interesting. Was this a unified attraction to protective stones, or evidence of some internal conflict?

It wasn't really his business, of course, not really, but he couldn't help analyzing the students' personalities on the basis of their choices. He justified it to himself by telling himself he could teach them better if he knew them as individuals. This was true enough. But he also did it just because it was a fascinating and entertaining exercise.

Sachairi's eyebrow twitched upward again at Sasha's third choice. He was not fooled by the apparently thoughtless, random way in which Sasha went about making his choices - if anything, that made it more likely he would pick up wands especially suited to him, since his unconscious mind was in control of his hand at those moments, meaning any conscious self-censoring or self-control mechanisms were bypassed. It was an artificial stone, wholly created by human hands using a blend of pure elemental magic (namely earth and fire) plus Transfiguration. (Muggles could do roughly the same thing using technology, a fact which Sachairi found very impressive, but the wands in the box were of Wizarding manufacture). Because of this it had little inherent properties of its own except those granted by its color (and thereby whatever impurities were present, more than the stone itself.) On the surface, the lavender zirconium wand seemed an inappropriate choice, and Sachairi frowned to himself again. But as Sasha returned to his seat, he smiled once more. After all, Sasha seemed very studious and serious at a glance, which was -why- the lavender seemed an odd choice, but perhaps it was exactly because that sort of energy was lacking in his life. Sachairi made another mental note, this one concerning the need of giving Sasha several reasons to use that particular wand over the course of the year. Musing deeply, he only nodded to Sasha as the boy finished choosing and returned to his seat.

Next, another girl. Like the first young woman, Verity's choices revealed a clear specialty of focus. In her case, appropriately enough, truth was apparently paramount, but there were also strong themes of creativity, self-expression, and self-integrity. A person, then, who either knew her own mind, or wanted very much to. Somehow he suspected the former, to judge by the confident way she made her selections. "You should go into anti-Dark Device design," Sachairi told her as she pulled, first amazonite, then kunzite and aquamarine. He meant it, too. The amazonite and aquamarine were both good for water and aquatic spells, like the sodalite, but the amazonite was even more appropriate for spells meant to positively affect a person's mental or emotional health in a variety of ways, as well as being a potent channel for raw magical energy. The amazonite was the wand of a creator or a therapist, a person with clear inner vision and the ability to express it. It was also a very good wand for spells involving Nature. The aquamarine was strong in many of the same areas, but also brought its affinities with persistence, patience, and sustained willpower. The kunzite, with its strong focus on mental strength and healing, completed the set. Yes... definitely a creator, or a therapist. A healer for the body and a healer for the mind, Sachairi thought wryly as he compared Verity's choices with Jordyn's.  He gave Verity a friendly grin as she pulled her last wand. Then she returned to her seat, smiling at the other two students who'd already chosen.

One by one, the rest of the class rose and came to the box, making their own selections. Sachairi stayed quiet for the most part, except for a mild comment here or there akin to those he'd made to Verity and Jordyn. When the last student had chosen, Sachairi stopped leaning and stood up straight, bringing his hands together with a clap. "Right then! As I believe I said before, those are your property now. I did notice that most of you limited yourselves to three. Three is a powerful magical number, and if having three feels right to you, by all means, leave it at that," he emphasized with a nod toward the class. "Those of you who might like another go are welcome to return to the box at any time; just ask and I'll conjure it. I'll also be bringing it out for lessons and assignments that are best done with specific wand types; though, some of you will find that your personal set is already quite specialized for certain tasks we will be tackling later," he added with a wink. "If you feel a particular affinity with a given wand assigned for those classes, you are welcome to keep it. If you feel a strong -aversion- to an assigned wand, please let me know. We'll deal with that as it comes up." From his tone, he had no doubt that it would be an issue sooner or later. "Anyone want to hazard a guess why that might be a problem?"

As the school year began, Maxie had for the second time in his life felt excitement over taking the train back to Hogwarts again. These were the years where he could decide what to study. No more digging through the dirt to plant some Spitting Saxifrage from Serbia, or feeding lice-ridden Nifflers. No, this year was all about the books, and submerging in the laws of ancient magic. At least, that was what he hoped for. This interest had only grown after his summer work at the National Museum of Wizarding History this summer.

Ancient Runes was his favourite subject (with History of Magic coming close second) and since he had had no classes earlier that they he had been the first to arrive. As his classmates started piling in, Maxie was already sitting at his usual desk (the one right behind Sasha) scribbling unreadable notes on a parchment. He sat like this for a long time and it took him a few seconds to realise that the Professor had started talking when he did.

He looked up. That wasn’t Professor Reid? Apparently they had a new teacher in this subject. This unnerved Maxie somewhat. He had gotten used to Reid’s teaching methods, and with a new teacher he had no idea how it would develop. But as soon as the new teacher (Professor Emburne, was it?) went straight into his lecture, Maxie was hooked. No wasted time on introductions and going over the course-material. This was what he was here for.

The subject matter fascinated Maxie. He had of course heard about crystal wands before, but only in passing, and hadn’t really taken the time to dwell on the subject. Something he greatly regretted now. He liked to be somewhat on the same level on the subject that were being discussed, and this threw him off. As his classmates all rose and picked out their wands, Maxie hesitated. This was intimidating. As a result, he was one of the last ones to pick his wands.

He knew close to nothing about crystals and gemstones, that was more his mother’s forte, so walking up to the counter his shoulder were slump, making him look smaller than his 6 feet height. So, peering into the box, he hesitated again, taking his time to pick three crystals at random. One he did recognise - the light green crystal, cut quite short, was peridot. He didn’t know the names of the other two - one long, thin, icy blue with sharp edges, and one rough, grey stone with streaks of brown and green. Weighing them in his hands he was just about to return to his seat, when a sudden urge made him swing around and grab yet another wand. This was golden white in colour and jagged, points pointing out of it making Maxie think of a star.

As he finally returned to his seat the Professor began again.

(( A reply for Max! This happens after Verity's selections but before Sachairi moves on with the class, chronologically, but I didn't want to edit it into that post because it's already quite long. x.x I will do this same thing for anyone else who wants me to. Alternatively I can simply PM the information about your choices I would've included in an IC post to you if you prefer. Either way works. Also for convenience in future posts I have edited the link at the top to be to the MAIN section of that crystal guide rather than the first section... when I posted that I had no idea her "Back" buttons were so literal! I've never encountered such a thing before. My bad guys! It'll be way easier to go to other pages in the guide now.

Also, all the information he's been thinking about in response to the characters' choices will be coming up over the course of the school year so even if I don't specifically mention it in a played-out class again and even if your character chooses not to visit Sachairi to learn about their wands, you can assume they learn everything he didn't say aloud at some point in the year. It's up to you precisely when since obviously we won't be playing out all the classes, but in general, simpler and more general information is more likely to come up early in the year, while complex, high-level, advanced, or cross-discipline information such as incantation-rune crossover spell stuff is more likely to come up later in the year.

Speaking of those meetings with Sachairi, they can be played out if you guys want - your choice of whether it's a quick visit after class or a longer meeting in his office or in the classroom during free time or somesuch - or we can just handwave them and say they happened so your character can know IC the information I have given you guys OOC via Sachairi's thoughts and reactions to your character's wand selections. Playing the meetings out is very likely to include more than just repeating the stuff I typed in this thread, too, so I recommend doing so just because it'll be fun, but if you prefer not to, it's all good! Sorry I'm being rather disorganized about all this - it's my first time playing a professor in a very long time, and my first at this game ever, so I'm still getting my act together. I promise I'll do my best to be more organized and such! ))

Toward the end of the choosing, Sachairi noticed one boy seemed to be holding back. Although this boy (Sachairi thought back to the roll call to remember his name... ah! Maximus) had been one of the first to arrive - who indeed would probably have been there before Sachairi himself if the professor hadn't spent his free period in the classroom preparing for this lesson - the Ravenclaw now seemed to be hesitating. Sachairi couldn't tell if he was unsure of himself, trying to be polite, or simply preferred to be among the last to choose for some reason. Sachairi studied him for a few moments. Maybe he wanted to take his time making his choices and didn't want to feel rushed by others waiting behind him. Still, the look on Maximus's face suggested he was a little unsure. Of himself or the lesson, he couldn't tell, but just for the sake of it, Sachairi offered the boy an encouraging smile as he finally approached the box. "Go on then, no rush to choose, take your time," the professor told Maximus, observing the Ravenclaw's choices with cheerful interest.

A very short piece of peridot came first. Sachairi nodded to himself. "Intriguing," he murmured to himself, not realizing he spoke aloud. Peridot was useful for a wide variety of applications, from protection to inspiration to dream-magic and more, yet its potency was concentrated largely in the realm of the mind and the soul. Peridot was also said to have affinity with the night. This could manifest in many ways, but Sachairi suspected that its particular usefulness to witches and wizards who do their best creative work late at night was the aspect relevant to Maximus. On the other hand, perhaps the boy had insomnia or some other problem with sleep or dreams? If so, peridot was a solid option. Its many functions, after all, could generally be boiled down to protecting and healing the mind or soul. The little wand would, like Jordyn's bloodstone, would be tricky to control at first due to its smallness, and moreover peridot was a fragile stone, so it would require some delicacy in its use. (Of course, unlike wood-and-core wands, crystal wands could be repaired if they broke, even if it often ended up being a little different than before. But still.) Yet once Maximus had practiced enough and mastered the wand, it would be capable of inscribing spells that - if seemingly narrow in focus, given it will not be suitable for more vulgar, physical sorts of magic - remarkable depth and subtlety. In its element, the peridot wand, properly applied, would be a splendid tool. You could hardly ask for a better one when it came to dream-magic or astral projection. "Be careful with that one. It's strong in its own way, but fragile."

The next piece that emerged from the box was one of Sachairi's personal favorites. The deep, soulful blue of the kyanite wand was very attractive. It was hardly altered from its natural state, too, having grown in a sharp-edged, elongated form referred to as the 'blade' form, but which worked quite as well for rune inscription as the more conventionally popular 'wand' form. The tip had been lightly sculpted to a functional wand-point so it would be more sturdy, less likely to snap off, and the broken-off base smoothed so as not to inadvertently cut its user on the once glass-sharp edge, but otherwise the crystal was much as it had grown on the rock for countless years, shaped only by the hands of nature and its own inherent magic.

With each choice he made, Maximus grew more interesting to Sachairi. Kyanite was elementally aligned with water, but in a more metaphoric than literal sense; you could certainly use it for spells literally involving water, but it was more potent in the realms of emotional healing and enhancement. In particular it was often used for spells to strengthen willpower, restore flagging resolve, bolster a weak self-esteem, and to restore shattered confidence.  In short, to sustain and nurture the inner self. It was also a fine stone for inscribing the difficult but very useful spells which may reveal or enhance a person's talents and skills. In a literal way, kyanite could be used to help a person make the best of themselves and their life. It was, again, not a stone with a lot of "practical" applications in the stereotypical 'bangs-and-smells' sense, but it was extremely powerful in its own way, and, properly applied, could help its owner bring a lot of good into the world for himself and others. Sachairi wondered what the boy's wood-and-core wand was made of...

"Sphene? But that's... huh," Sachairi breathed softly to himself as he observed Maximus select the sphene wand. The Runes professor was looking at the Ravenclaw student rather as if he were a prized experiment or valuable specimen that had just done something unexpected and fascinating (though with more human warmth in his eyes, which sparkled with lively interest, than he would've given an object.) Indeed, he was fascinated. Sphene was a very unusual choice - few young people seemed to have much affinity for a stone whose magical resonance translated to humans as an almost pure time-essence - and specifically, ancientness, the limitless past stretching out behind them. Its only connection to the concept of nowness or modernness was that it could be used in spells concerning accessing and applying ancient knowledge in the present. Otherwise it has no power or relevance for spells intended to affect the current moment or the future. It only reveals the past. Yet it is one of the most appropriate and potent stones for that task - highly specialized and very useful in its element, but not much good otherwise. Still, Sachairi was impressed as well as intrigued by the choice and didn't bother to hide it.

Also known as titanite, that piece was first and foremost a diviner's wand, a tool best suited for spells meant to draw on the knowledge and wisdom of the dead, and it was one of the few stones suited to one of the most advanced runic inscriptions: calling up memory-shades. The older the memory, the more effective sphene is - the opposite of how most other stones capable of the feat work. It could even be used to draw a spell which could call up memory-shades of your own or another person's ancestors through the physical blood link to them - not a true resurrection, or even a true spirit calling, just a temporary solidification of a sort of physical memory or echo. But still extremely useful, and very rare, ability.

Of course, having an affinity for sphene was no guarantee that Maximus would ever have the skill, or the interest for that matter, to pursue that line of study or cast those kind of spells. Yet Sachairi had no doubt whatsoever that the -potential- was in him to do so if he wished, and that if he did pursue that angle, the sphene wand would serve him very well.  Its rough, unpolished nature would make it difficult to draw highly detailed or very small runes, but it would have no trouble inscribing the structures and key runes for large, powerful mandalas and other magical rune-circles, which could then be completed by more refined, polished wands... such as, perhaps, the Ravenclaw's other two choices. Sachairi was now very curious just what sort of person these wands were resonating with. The harmony between them was so obvious even a Muggle crystal-waver would have seen it, yet it wasn't as easy to draw conclusions about the sort of person who was choosing them. Interesting. Very interesting.

After choosing the sphene wand, Maximus stood for a few moments, weighing his three selections in his hand. When he started back to his seat, Sachairi watched him go, still pondering the boy as if he represented an inscrutable mystery. But then, Maximus paused, then turned around and returned to the box, almost as if pulled back by something he'd forgotten. Sachairi smiled to himself as the boy withdrew a cerrusite wand. In contrast to the first two, it was a decidedly practical stone, a wand most appropriate for spells concerned with work, business, getting things done, overcoming obstacles, rationality, and logic. On the other hand, it was a balanced stone, complementing rather than contradicting his other choices - it would help the boy actualize his creativity and overcome obstacles and barriers in life if used correctly. A very wise choice - but was it conscious or intuitive? Sachairi would have given much to know, but he didn't have time to find out just then. Indeed, it was possible the boy didn't know himself - he could have believed himself to just be choosing stones he found pretty, totally unaware of the deeper harmony between the wands and himself.

Which reminded him of something important he'd forgotten to say before. He'd expected the whole class to need this offer, not just most of them, but still. Addressing the whole class Sachairi called as Maximus returned to his desk, "By the way, I noticed that more of you than I expected seemed to know what you were choosing and why. If you are one of those who -don't- know much or anything about your choices, and you'd like to know more, please feel free to see me after class or find me in my office later on and I'll tell you everything you want to know about your new wands and their properties," he grinned. Some teachers may have said that reluctantly, or in a neutral 'doing my job' sort of way, but Sachairi looked very happy with the idea of spending potentially hours of his free time over the next few days explaining crystal lore to his students. "We will, naturally, be covering many of these crystals and their properties as we go along, so you'll all learn about them in time, but I'm sure you'd all rather learn about your own first, which I am glad to help with. If you prefer to do your own reading on the subject, the Hogwarts library has a decent collection of books on crystal lore, but everyone in this class is also welcome to borrow books from my personal library." He raised his wand, performed a curious little gesture with it, and suddenly a pile of books appeared on a clear spot on his desk. "These are the ones most likely to be useful to you. If you decide to visit me, you can take a look at my shelves, if you'd like, as well."

This said, he proceeded with the lesson, observing the last few students after Maximus make their choices, before standing up straight, bringing his hands together with a clap, and continuing with the lesson.

Sasha’s gaze dropped from their new professor and onto the three wands arranged in length order on his desk.  If only Professor Emburne had warned them they’d be keeping their chosen crystals beyond the day’s lesson, Sasha would have taken a little more care in selecting his.  The black onyx and the sodalite weren’t that bad but the zirconium…the pastel lavender was a bit sparkly.  It would go wonderfully with the pink, stuffed unicorn Eirene had given him for Valentine’s Day a few years back. 

Hopefully, they’d be able to swap out their selections during these one-on-one meetings.  That was a worry for another day. 

"Anyone want to hazard a guess why that might be a problem?”

Again, Sasha raised his hand and, when acknowledged, rose to his feet.  “I imagine it’s precisely because of crystal’s inherent consistency.  The personality and individual nature of wands means there’s some degree of … cooperation?  Of balance between the wand and the caster.  A wand may reject the efforts of one who’s not an appropriate match.  Or, even when used by the wand's chosen, the wand’s strengths and weaknesses can serve to balance and harmonizer with the handler.  In its consistency, the crystal is indifferent to its handler.  The effects one crystal produces will be consistent, regardless of whether that effect is beneficial or harmful to the caster.” 

Sasha shrugged, slightly.  “In that aspect, a wand is like a trained dog.  While the dog may work best with its master, the results are usually not disastrous if a stranger tries to engage with it.  Most of the time, the dog just won’t listen.  The crystal wand is more like a snake charmer’s ward.  The snake doesn’t care who’s handling it.  It's still a wild being and will do what is in it’s nature.  Either the charmer is a good match and respects it, or they aren’t.”