Hogwarts and the Atypical Wizard

After a thorough understanding of the observation of the ball-dodging bird, Sainz turned the time converter and came to ten-thirty again.

This time, he appeared in the Ancient Runes Study class, which, like the Care of Magical Creatures class, was held once a week, twice in a row.

Professor Bathsheda Bablington is the professor of this course. She is a middle-aged witch with long, smooth black hair.

This is a relatively boring and difficult subject to study, so not many people choose it.

After Professor Babeling called the roll, she asked everyone, "Does anyone know the meaning of the name of our course?"

The students looked at each other in confusion. What does that mean? Isn’t it just studying ancient runes?

The professor asked in a different way: "Does anyone know why runes are called runes?"

In addition to Sainz, some people had read the textbook in advance. A Ravenclaw said, "Professor, rune means "carving", and runes are words engraved on objects."

"Good, five points to Ravenclaw!

This is a crucial point. Ancient runes are a kind of spells carved on certain carriers, such as stone, wood, bone, shell, fruit shell and other materials. They are a kind of magical text.

This is very different from the writing we use in our daily lives.

We will explore these fascinating glyphs together in future courses.”

As early as the last school year, after Sainz purchased relevant research books on runes in advance, he discovered that runes were an ancient writing system popular in Northern Europe, Central Europe and other regions, somewhat similar to the oracle bone inscriptions of the great Eastern countries.

Of course, this was only for his own convenience in understanding. In fact, ancient runes were more similar to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Runes are known not only in the wizarding world but also in the Muggle world.

When talking about runes, we have to mention the character in the runes’ origin story that is widely circulated in the Muggle world - Odin!

Legend has it that in order to obtain the secrets of the universe, Odin hung himself on a tree and nailed himself with his spear.

After nine days and nine nights without food or water, the "Rune" containing the magic secret finally unfolded before his eyes, for which he paid the price of one eye.

Leaving aside the mythological elements in it, and looking at it from the perspective of a magic researcher, it feels like a kind of ritual magic similar to the origin of werewolves.

However, unlike the failed case of the origin of werewolves, runes were "created" by wizards.

Existing data show that runes originated at least in the second century BC and were popular for a long time until they were declared illegal by the Vatican in the 16th century, at which time they were completely replaced by the Latin script.

There is evidence that in its home base of Iceland, runes coexisted with Latin for a considerable period of time - thousands of years.

Because there are runes on some very important buildings and cultural relics of the Muggle Church, which they cannot hide even if they want to.

While Sainz was thinking about this, Barbling showed a chart on the blackboard that was in the book, and she continued: "The earliest existing runic alphabet is the one you see, which had 24 letters.

It was used before the 8th century.”

The professor then showed another alphabet, "After the 8th century, the Nordic runic alphabet became this one, shortened to 16 letters, and was used to replace the old one."

Regarding the sudden changes in the two tables, Sainz had doubts when he was studying the magic symbols, and he took the opportunity to ask: "Professor, why do the letters of the runes change so much in a short period of time?"

"Mr. Autumn, you are not the only one who has this question. I have the same question as well. But I'm sorry, kid, I can't answer this question."

Sainz felt that if the professors at Hogwarts didn't know, the possibility of other people knowing was not very high, but he still asked tentatively.

"I'm sorry Professor, this may be a little offensive, but have you spoken to other wizards and what do they think?"

"Don't be sorry, kid, I'm not that narrow-minded!

But unfortunately, there are too few wizards willing to study ancient runes in depth, and there are very few in the whole of Europe. We all know each other and communicate frequently, but there is no explanation that can convince everyone. "

"So, professor, any hypothesis or guess?"

“Hmm, guess?

So what do you think, Autumn?"

"Professor, I have a few guesses that may or may not be what you think.

I would guess that the first possibility is the easiest to think of.

Could it be caused by a magical change?

That is to say, before the 8th century, wizards used 24 letters to perform magic, but around the 8th century, people suddenly discovered that after a certain point in time, some of the letters lost their magical properties, and in the end only 16 of them still had practical significance, so the later alphabet appeared. "

"This is indeed the most common speculation and the most widely circulated one." Professor Babel nodded in agreement. "Anything else?"

"Another possibility is that people discovered that 24 letters were redundant and that only 16 were needed to fully express all meanings, so they were simplified in the 8th century?"

"Well, there are other wizards who are staunch supporters of this speculation. It is rare for a little wizard to be able to think of this."

The professor reiterated that this speculation was also being argued.

"Professor, I have another idea. Do you think it makes sense?"

"Tell me."

“Is there a possibility that those letters did not lose their magic, nor were they merged and streamlined, but simply lost the wizard?”

"What do you mean?" Professor Babel looked at Sainz seriously, "Tell me in detail."

"Professor, you see, that period was a time of fierce struggle between foreign cultures and local cultures. Is it possible that the wizards who could use these runes were wiped out in large numbers, causing them to gradually lose their status?"

"Well, some people have thought about this. Is it because the number of wizards who can use these magic runes has decreased? This speculation is also possible."

"Professor, what I want to say may be slightly different from what you said."

"Oh? What's the difference?"

“What I want to say is, is there a possibility that these runes are bloodline runes related to blood?

Just like prophecy and divination, the magic performed by these letters also requires special blood support, and this blood was destroyed in a short period of time, resulting in their meaning being unable to be expressed. "

"Is there any essential difference between this and the previous speculation?" The professor was a little confused about what he wanted to express.

"Professor, is it possible that this special requirement is not only related to the wizard's talent and knowledge, but may even be related to more than just wizards. To make an inappropriate analogy, it's like some magical animals..."

Professor Babel interrupted him immediately, "Autumn, I think our time is limited. We can talk about some vague conjectures later. Now let's understand the specific meaning of these runes together."

"Yes Professor!"

"Okay, first let's get to know what the ten numbers from 0 to 9 look like in ancient magic words..."