The Boy in Diagon Alley

Ancient Runes

    Ivy glared at the back of his head. She couldn't believe her eyes. Ivy was about to approach him when Professor Kelsh walked in, Ivy then took an empty seat in the back of the class.

"Morning, class!" Professor Kelsh said as she walked towards the front of the class.

Once Professor Kelsh had placed her wand and books on her desk, her eyes fell on Remus, who was sitting at the front of the class, eagerly waiting for the lesson to begin.

"And who are you?" she asked with a bright smile on her lips.

"I'm Remus, Remus Lupin, Professor," he said politely.

"Well then," Professor Kelsh said clasping her hands together with a smile on her face. "Welcome to my class, Mr. Lupin," said the Professor kindly. "But you are aware that you'll be two years behind everyone else in this room? There are two other books that you'll have to read, additional to the one I'll be teaching this year."

"Actually," Remus started, a little smile tucking at the edge of his lips, "I've already read them."

"Oh?" Professor Kelsh raised an eye brow at him. "Well then, would you mind if I tested your knowledge?"

Remus gave her a small nod. Now all the other students were watching him in amusement, as well as Ivy, she was impatiently waiting for him to answer a question incorrectly.

    Ancient Runes was a hard subject. It was impossible to have read two whole books over the summer and to have memorized it all in such a short time. Ivy thought.

"Let's see... can you tell me what this word means?" asked the Professor, as she wrote it on the board.

Easy, that one means freedom, Ivy thought to herself once she saw the word.

"Er... Freedom," Remus answered after a moment of thinking.

"Correct!" Professor Kelsh said brightly.

She then drew another symbol on the board. It looked like a triangle with its tip pointing downward.

"And can you tell me the meaning behind this symbol?" she asked him.

Again, easy. That's air, Ivy thought.

"That's the symbol of earth," Remus answered, this time with no hesitation.

"That symbol actually means air," Ivy suddenly said confidently, catching everyone's attention from where she sat at the back of the class.

Remus turned back to look at her along with the rest of the class.

"I'm pretty certain it's earth," Remus said again, but from his tone Ivy could tell that he wasn't trying to sound arrogant or bitter. He was genuinely saying his opinion, with no intention of making her look bad.

"Actually, Miss Malfoy , the correct answer is earth," said the Professor, smiling with amusement.

Ivy clenched her fists and gritted her teeth at those words. A few people in class sniggered, before turning their attention back to the Professor.

"I see you've done a great job catching up, Mr. Lupin," said the Professor. "If you have any questions, I'll be glad to help. If I'm not around, you can ask Miss Malfoy. She's one of the best in class, despite that small mistake." The Professor said winking at her.

"I think I'll be fine, Professor. But thank you," said Remus, giving Professor Kelsh a polite nod of his head.

     Ivy clenched her fists even more.

"Very well, then! Now, everyone, please open your books to page four. Today we'll be studying the runes belonging to Ancient Egypt, and the old curses and spells that have been used inside the Egypt..." and so the Professor started on with the lesson.

Ivy fell into a foul mood for the rest of the day, hating the feeling of being wrong. She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against her chest, throwing one last glare at Remus.