Chapter Twelve

Symbols

Quintin was happy to pull out his copy of Magical Patterns and Iconography and make his way down to his early Monday class. Most of his housemates were still yawning and not quite awake, and Jeremy wasted no time talking Quintin into stepping into the Items room to sneak some coffee and a roll off his mother's breakfast cart. Much to Quintin's surprise, Hermione was also in there, sharing a cup of coffee with Jennifer near Jennifer's worktable.

"Did you not get up for breakfast?" Hermione asked when she saw them come in.

"I did," Quintin said solemnly.

"None of the rest of us did," Jeremy admitted ruefully.

"You should get a breakfast cart for first bell too," Jennifer suggested to Hermione.

"Thanks, but I'd rather they simply be up for breakfast. I think I'll speak to Demura and make sure that anyone skipping breakfast gets a wakeup call from now on," Hermione said. "Go ahead and get something! I'll look the other way this time! Just don't forget to brush your teeth one hour after having coffee," she suggested, walking out the door. Jennifer chuckled softly at that. A minute later, Truman came in and went over to the cart.

"Good morning, Professor! Good morning, you two! Are you in here today?" Truman asked curiously.

"Down the hall," Quintin explained.

"Just stopped in for a quick coffee," Jeremy said, finishing up.

"Have a good day, then," Truman said, sitting at the front table so that he and Jennifer could talk about possible projects. The two of them waved distractedly at Quintin and Jeremy when they left.

When the two boys stepped into the Symbology room, Quintin eagerly looked around and smiled when he saw Bedivere O'Laren's painting on the wall near the desks in the front row.

"Good morning, Bedivere!" Quintin greeted him.

"Good morning, Quintin and Jeremy! And welcome!" he said warmly as they took a seat next to Oscar in the front row.

"Has anyone not read the first chapter yet?" Professor Weasley asked. Oscar and Pippa both raised their hands sheepishly. "Well, please make sure you read a chapter ahead. I have the same rule in my electives as I do in my regular Charms classes," she informed them.

"Yes, Professor," Oscar replied, and the professor turned her attention to attendance.

"Would anyone like to tell me what the definition of Symbology is?" Weasley inquired. "Yes, Mr. Snape."

"Symbology, in magical terms, is the study of magical patterns and symbols, whether natural or created by tradition or by a design made to quickly relay a particular function of a spell," Quintin replied.

"Yes, thank you, five points for Dusthorn," Professor Weasley said, walking to stand in front of the blackboard.

"When hearing the term Symbology, most wizards typically think of Astrology and Augury Divination, but in actuality, we use Symbology in every branch of magic. In fact, symbols of all kinds are so often used in our everyday lives that we tend to take them for granted. You're even wearing them," she pointed out, tapping the Hogwarts crest on her robes. "Symbols are a type of language. Early man put up symbols of animals, the sun, the moon, and star formations on cave walls, which wer important in their survival and keeping track of the seasons. It shouldn't surprise you to learn that many of magic's first symbols were based on nature as well. Symbols were important tools used to cast Life Magic, one of the earliest forms of witch and wizard magic. What was another form of symbology that wizards used to cast spells in ancient times? Someone other than Mr. Snape for a change?" she asked, glancing around the room. "Mr. Brim?"

"Math?" Markus guessed.

"Yes, that's right," Weasley said with a smile. "Ancient Greek Wizards in particular are especially known for using math symbols. They formed schools and sects dedicated to using it for magical purposes, although there's evidence of even older cultures using math in magical practices too, including Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Mayans, and Chinese. It is thought that the Romans brought it to this country. Before then, most of the Symbology usage here was very much nature and celestial based," she explained. "In this introductory portion of the class, I want you to test yourself to see if you can tell what's related to Symbology and what is not. Please write down ten things that you think are important symbols that are used in magic. Once everyone is done, I want you to compare your choices with your neighbor and decide among yourselves which ones are right and which ones aren't. Feel free to invite a third person to the conversation if someone doesn't have a partner," she said. "You may begin."

It was rather fun trying to come up with ideas, although Professor Weasley spent a lot of time telling students to look in their Symbology book any time one of the students got stuck. Still, she wasn't anywhere as near as strict about talking in this class as she was in her Charms classes, and the students soon relaxed and began to warm up to material.

"Trust you to put a clock at the top of your list," Jeremy said to Quintin.

"Of course," Quintin replied. "I put a lot of symbols of Ancient Magic on here... clocks, stone circles, sundials, and hourglasses are all representations of time that are used by different devices and spells. All of them are have their own problems when it comes to measuring time, though, since they're either in a fixed location or they're simply a representation of how wizards see time from their perspective in this time stream. None of them really show the complexity of Time itself... they're just symbols, and ones we use every day inside and outside of magic. Despite the inaccuracy, the symbols themselves are still complex enough that humans can wrap our heads around the concept of Time to the point where we can actually manipulate it. Isn't that fascinating?"

"I agree," Professor Weasley said, stepping over to their table with a smile. "In both Ancient Magic and Life Magic, Symbology is a crucial part of understanding broad and complicated subjects that are too vast to comprehend fully. To put it another way, symbols can represent concepts that we know exist and have an elementary understanding of, but still have a lot of unanswered questions. For example, when do souls form? How did the universe begin and what was here before it? How did life start, and what's the meaning of it?"

"Forty-two!" Jeremy replied with certainty.

"I'm glad to know you read some books at least," Hermione replied knowingly, then pointedly tapped his Symbology book until he opened it.

"What I don't understand, Professor, is why Symbology stopped being taught at Hogwarts, and why was it picked back up again?" Quintin said. "I mean, I can see plainly that you're right and it is very important when it comes to understanding how Ancient Magic and Life Magic works. So why was it abandoned for so long?"

"Partly it's because of what you researched last year, Quintin, about what happened to the original Sentinels of Magic," Hermione explained. Several of the other Dusthorns looked over curiously. "You see, when Icarus died, he didn't pass on his duties of Sentinel of Ancient Magic, while Caprica passed Life Magic on to the centaurs, not to anyone in Hogwarts. As a result, the school's emphasis became more and more about the two formal houses of Dark and Light, and it lost touch with the two informal houses of magic. Even though we also use a lot of symbols in formal magic, Dark and Light spells are typically cast with wand gestures, movement, words, or through physical magic disciplines like Potions and Items, which are focused on the magical elements inherent in components. Since many wizards at the time believed that the formal houses were superior replacements for the two older forms of magic, they didn't really see a need for Symbology training outside of Astrology and Divination classes. They likely felt that the subject was antiquated and replaced it with more modern subjects instead. I myself brought it back just after getting my teaching license. Magic itself was out of balance, and we were in the process of realizing just how much of a mistake it was to neglect those other two houses for so long."

"That does make sense, although it also makes me wonder about something else," Quintin admitted.

"Something in your book?" Hermione hinted.

"No, it's still about the Hogwarts curriculum," Quintin replied. "You teach Symbology because it's an important foundation to Ancient and Life Magic, and because the four houses of magic are equally important, right?"

"Right," Hermione said.

"Then how come Hogwarts doesn't offer a class in Life Magic?" Quintin asked.

Hermione opened her mouth, then shut it again for a moment before finally answering him.

"That's a very good question," she replied. "Why don't you continue your symbols discussion?"

"Yes, Professor," Quintin said, looking to see what was on Jeremy's list.

Severus was debating whether he wanted to have lunch in his office or go down to the daycare when Hermione stepped through the Doorlift and strode into his Study unannounced.

"Oh, is this a working lunch then?" he wondered, but there was nothing in his journal.

"No, I just had one question," Hermione replied. "Why don't we teach Life Magic?"

"I suppose because no one has ever offered to teach it who was proficient in it," Severus replied calmly.

"Yes, well, maybe we ought to consider it," Hermione suggested fervently. "It's true there's elements of it in other classes, but it's rather neglected considering that the basis of the school is the formal arts, just like Ancient Magic was, so I really think there ought to be a class, at least as an elective."

"Fair enough, although I'm not the one you really need to speak to about this, am I?" Severus pointed out. "Even so, I would be careful about how you approach this with Sagittari. He is in rather bad humor over Laura's sudden concern over the possible side effects of her morning sickness potion and her inability to hold it together when she refuses to take it. Good luck," he added.

"Very well," Hermione said, and strode back out of the room. Shrugging to himself, Severus decided to head to the daycare to avoid anyone else charging into his office during lunch.