Chapter 108: Ancient Runes
Chapter 108: Ancient Runes
Vacations are always a delightful break for the mind and body, especially for students. Despite the dreaded holiday homework looming over their heads, nothing could dampen Albert's cheerful mood. In fact, Albert had finished his remaining homework in record time the day before the Christmas break, ensuring a carefree vacation ahead.
During the break, Albert enjoyed sleeping in late, lounging on the sofa after meals to watch TV, or indulging in leisurely pursuits like playing with his cat, listening to music, chatting or playing chess with Nia, and curling up by the fireplace with a good book.
However, soon after Christmas, Albert found a new interest. After the town library reopened, he visited it to search for records related to ancient runes, inspired by a book he had bought recently, titled "A Beginner's Guide to Ancient Runes." Despite the effort it took to get through the book, no new skills related to ancient runes had appeared on his skill panel.
Albert drew parallels with alchemy and decided that, just like with his previous experience, delving deeper into related books to enhance his understanding of runes would be the key to mastering them. As for waiting until third year to take the Ancient Runes elective? Albert didn't have the patience to wait that long. After all, he had his skill panel, and once a related skill appeared, he was confident the rest would be simple.
There were scant records about runes in the library, but Albert managed to find some information in the Germanic mythology section:
"Runes, also known as Futhark, originated in Germanic mythology and are associated with the renowned Father of Gods, Odin. Legend has it that Odin traded one of his eyes for the knowledge of runes. (The term 'rune' itself conveys a sense of mystery.) Odin belongs to Germanic mythology, and runes are a part of the Germanic language. When it comes to the Germanic people, the first thing that comes to Albert's mind is the Germans.
Yep, those stiff Germans. Modern German evolved from the Germanic language."
However, there was a problem! Albert vaguely recalled that the author of Harry Potter had incorporated a lot of Latin in the design of spells. But Latin and Germanic were two distinct languages.
Albert never considered himself an archaeologist or a language expert, and he had no intention of delving into these mind-boggling issues. Instead, he chose to record his doubts, thinking that perhaps as he gained more knowledge about runes, these doubts would unravel themselves.
Later, Albert indeed found the connection in the library: after the disappearance of runes, the Germanic language adopted some Latin letters.
This explained why both England and Germany, despite using Latin letters, were classified as Germanic languages.
It took Albert several days to figure out why Hogwarts offered Ancient Runes as an elective.
Germanic mythology originated on the Scandinavian Peninsula, present-day Sweden.
According to Albert's research on Germanic languages, the languages of Sweden's neighboring countries—Denmark, Norway, and Iceland—were all derived from Germanic, specifically the North Germanic branch.
Ancient English, on the other hand, originated from Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, which belonged to the West Germanic family, and thus, the runes.
Later on, due to religious influences, a large number of Latin letters were introduced. Latin had a profound impact on all of Europe. Albert speculated that this might be one of the reasons for the decline of runes.
However, one undeniable fact remained: runes possessed magic. Ancient magical artifacts were often engraved with these ancient runes to enhance their magical power.
Albert attributed this to the famous rune stones, which were well-known in the magical world in his previous life.
Despite much of his understanding being based on speculation, Albert relished in his pursuit of these ancient writings. He was intrigued by them and eager to learn how to distinguish and decipher them.
After scouring through numerous records, Albert realized that the Muggle world had very limited information on the subject.
Therefore, Albert wrote to Truman, seeking his advice. Following his suggestion, Albert purchased "The Magical Phonetic Table" and "The Rune Dictionary" from Flourish and Blotts.
Compared to the ordinary world, the magical world had a deeper understanding of runes, as they were inherently a part of their realm.
During the rest of the holiday, Albert dedicated himself to deciphering the runes, a challenging task. However, his efforts were eventually rewarded when a skill called "Runes" finally appeared on his panel, although it wasn't exactly what he had imagined. Nonetheless, Albert used his experience pool to raise this skill to Level 1.
Soon, he found that he could barely understand the runes, and the feeling was extraordinary. He could faintly sense the mystical allure of the ancient runes.
Albert continued to invest experience into "Runes," raising it directly to Level 2. At this level, he discovered that he could understand and read most runes without relying on "The Magical Phonetic Table" or "The Rune Dictionary." He could even recite them aloud.
This was fascinating. The runes Albert had learned through his skill panel were undoubtedly correct, and when he revisited the books with his newfound knowledge, he was able to spot some interesting errors.
Sometimes, it was challenging to represent one language accurately and clearly in another. Discrepancies were inevitable.
Especially when it came to rune stones with religious connotations, most interpretations tended to be somewhat inaccurate.
A single rune could have varying interpretations in terms of symbolic meaning, magical application, notation function, and divination analysis.
Mixing these up would lead to deviations in the final result.
Later, Albert began experimenting with designing and studying the magical applications of runes, with a new focus on amulets, a topic he had previously set aside. However, before he could finish his research on the runes for the amulet, the Christmas break came to an end.
The day before the start of the new term, Albert boarded the Express train back to Hogwarts.
As he had expected, Fred and George hadn't crafted a garlic cross, but they had sneaked a string of garlic from home, and Lee Jordan had done the same.
Looking at the pile of garlic in front of him, Albert's eyelids twitched. He had assumed they had forgotten about it.
"Have you finished your holiday homework?" Albert asked, changing the subject as he really didn't want to dwell on the garlic issue any longer.
"Oh, almost," said Lee Jordan, munching on a pumpkin pie. "I'll just look for some information in the library later, and I'll be done in no time."
"We're all set on our end," the twin brothers chimed in unison.
"Copying each other's work?" Albert saw right through their scheme.
"No, it's called referencing," they retorted.
Lee Jordan scoffed and continued eating, clearly unimpressed.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
