"I think we ought to start with the basics, " said Hermione wisely, "The first thing I'm going to be teaching you lot is how the counting numbers 0-9 are represented in Ancient Runes. The numbers 0-9 are represented in Ancient Runes by creatures."
"Cool!" cooed Lily, "I love magical creatures!"
"This should be interesting, " piped up Ginny.
"So? asked Harry eagerly, "How is the number 0 represented?"
Next nanosecond, Hermione reached across the table and retrieved a piece of parchment. She picked up her quill and drew a picture of an apelike creature with doleful black eyes and a body covered with long, fine, silky, silvery hair.
"A demiguise!" said Lily excitedly, "Demiguises have the power of invisibility. They make themselves invisible when threatened and can only be seen by wizards skilled in their capture. Demiguise hair can be spun into invisibility cloaks."
"Yes, " said Hermione matter of factly, "That's why the demiguise is the creature used to represent the number 0 in Ancient Runes. It's power of invisibly is representative of the number 0."
"Cool!" said Harry cheerfully, "The power of invisibility is the most awesome power any creature can have!"
"I'm going to draw the creatures for both 1 and 2 now, " said Hermione in a businesslike voice.
Hermione proceeded to draw a unicorn and a graphorn on the parchment to the right of the demiguise.
"A unicorn and graphorn, " recognized Lily at once.
"Let me guess, " piped up Ginny, "The unicorn's single horn represents the number 1 and the graphorn's dual horns represent the number 2."
"Very good, Ginny, " smiled Hermione, "it's good to see you lot picking things up quickly."
Hermione now drew a snake with three heads next to the graphorn. The had three heads and was a vivid orange with black stripes.
"A runesspoor, " said Lily in an awestruck voice, "Runespoors aren't dark creatures, but they are sometimes embraced by Dark Wizards because of their striking appearance, The left head acts as a planner, the middle head as a dreamer, and the right head as a critic. Runespoors don't tend to live long as the heads frequently attack each other. It is especially common for the left and middle heads to conspire to bite off the right head."
"Wow, Lily, you really do love magical creatures, don't you?" said Hermione approvingly.
"Care of Magical Creatures is my favorite class, " said Lily proudly.
"It shows!" replied Hermione kindly.
"I think we can assume the three heads of the runespoor represent the number 3 in Ancient Runes?" interjected Harry.
"Yes, " confirmed Hermione, "Are you all getting a feel now for how creatures are used to represent numbers in Ancient Runes?"
"Yes!" chroused Harry, Ginny, and Lily.
"It's fitting that a creature called a runespoor would be used in Ancient Runes!" grinned Harry.
Hermione turned her attention back to the parchment and next line after the runespoor she drew a brightly colored bird consisting of feathers that rotated four vivid colors: yellow, hot pink, lime green, and orange.
"Fwoopers!" said Ginny and Lily together.
Lily and Ginny beamed at each other.
"I briefly had a fwooper as a pet when I was five, " revealed Ginny, "My brother Charlie got it for me as a fifth birthday present. "Unfortunately, Ron got really rough with it and it died tragically young."
'FUCK RON!" burst out Harry angrily.
"A lot of people assume I'm closest with Ron of my brothers because we're closest in age. But Ron never treated me very well. I've always been closest with Fred and George of my brothers. I'm also on excellent terms with Bill and Charlie, who have always been decent to me. I'm actually truly glad to have made the decision to never have anything to with Ron ever again because of how mean he is., " added Ginny fiercely.
"It must be a relief to be shot of him, " said Harry bluntly.
"Yes, " replied Hermione and Ginny at the same time.
"I never had a pet in the muggle world because my dad isn't fond of animals and never allowed it, even though my mom would have loved for us to have had a pet while I was growing up. I do have an owl now. I have a brown owl I named Mario because in the muggle world we have these things called video games and my favorite video game is Super Mario Bros., " explained Lily.
"I'm muggleborn too, " added Hermione, "But I was never into video games."
"So, " said Harry, bringing the topic back to Ancient Runes, "The four colored feathers of fwoopers must represent the number 4 in Ancient Runes."
"Exactly, " said Hermione briskly, "Hey, Lily, do you know why fwoopers are sold with Silencing Charms?"
"Because fwooper song, while enjoyable at first, will driver a listener insane if he or she listens to too much of it, " answered Lily immediately, "Fwooper owners are legally required to reapply the Silencing Charms on a monthly basis as its effects wear off after awhile. "
"You go, girl, " Hermione told Lily happily.
"Time to start a new row, this top row is getting pretty crowded now, " said Hermione matter of factly as her hand led her quill back to the left side of her parchment where she began a now row with a ferocious looking five legged creature.
"A quintaped!" yelled Lily with chills in her voice.
"Are quintapeds dangerous then?" inquired Harry.
"Extremely, " said Lily shakily, "They PREFER humans over all other prey!"
Harry and Ginny looked at Lily with shocked looks on their faces and looked away from the parchment.
Realizing it was better to move forward quickly at this point, Hermione said, "The five legs of the quintaped represent the number 5 in Ancient Runes, " rapidly and quickly moved to drawing the next creature to the right of the quintaped. The creature turned out to be a salamander."
"This one's easy, " smirked Lily, "Salamanders can only survive for six hours outside of a fire. That's why salamanders are used to represent the number 6 in Ancient Runes."
"Bingo!' responded Hermione brightly, "I'm really impressed with your knowledge of magical creatures. especially since you are muggleborn and have only taken the subject for one year."
"I know a lot about magical creatures that we haven't covered in class because I've read all about them you know, " said Lily proudly.
"Good, " said Hermione approvingly, "More people should read more. But this next one might stump you."
Hermione went on to draw an egg shaped creature with four legs.
"I am stumped this time, " said Lily dejectedly.
"That's because the symbol for 7 isn't a real creature, " explained Hermione patiently, "This is called the unknown symbol. It is used to represent the unknown. Because 7 is considered such a mysterious number in the realm of magic, the unknown symbol is used to represent the number 7 in Ancient Runes."
Harry, Ginny, and Lily all shook their heads and gave each other, and Hermione looks that said quite plainly, "I don't know what to think."
For a few minutes and a few nanoseconds there was an awkward quiet in the room until Hermione drew an acromantula next to the unknown symbol."
"That's an acromantula, " recognized Harry the nanosecond he saw it, "They are highly intelligent and can speak English prolifically but cannot overcome their brutal nature and will attempt to devour any human that goes near them. I was incredibly lucky to escape Aragog in the Forbidden Forest in my second year at Hogwarts."
Lily shivered.
"You've MET an acromantula?" gasped Lily.
Having determined her to be trustworthy, Harry told Lily the entire story of his meeting with Aragog.
"Hagrid isn't a great teacher, " said Lily, earning her scowls from Harry, Hermione, and Ginny, "He's way too obsessed with the most dangerous of creatures and doesn't know how dangerous they are. I don't blame him for the Buckbeak incident though. That was Malfoy's fault for insulting Buckbeak after Hagrid made it crystal clear that hippogriffs attacked if people insulted them."
"Plus, Malfoy milked it for all it was worth, " remembered Harry.
"It was never believable though, " said Lily firmly, "He'd whine in the Slytherin Common Room about how much agony he was in but few of us believed him. Madam Pomfrey is too competent in her job not to have to have healed him fully at once from a moderate injury."
"I know right?" agreed Harry, "She regrew half my bones in one night after the rogue bludger incident."
"Trust me, many if not most Slytherins are just as happy Malfoy is no longer at Hogwarts as the rest of you."
"One more to go, " said Hermione crisply, adding the final drawing of number representation. "
Hermione drew a nine headed creature on the parchment in the rightmost spot on the second row.
"That's a hyrda, " said Lily simply, "But they are extinct. Why they died off is unknown. "
"But it's obvious that the nine heads of hyrdas represent the number 9 in Ancient Runes, " supplied Harry.
"Indeed, " confirmed Hermione, "You all picked on these representations of numbers in Ancient Runes really well. This a great start to catching you lot up on Ancient Runes!"