The Adventure of the Runic Dilettantes
Jo had to roll her eyes. Of course Jeremy was concerned about setting fire to the books. He was such a bookworm.
“I don’t think we have to worry about fire and the books. I bet there’s runes somewhere to ward the books against that. We’d probably have to do it outside for it to work properly.” If she knew anything about her dad, it was that he loved a good runic ward and was exceedingly protective of their books (she had been sternly warned against writing notes in their margins and the one time she’d tried it, she’d gotten a faceful of ink in retaliation). Fire was much more destructive, and the books would probably like that even less.
Not that she would’ve risked setting fire inside even so. The library was one of her favourite rooms in the house, and she’d spent hours upon hours, flopped on one of the cushy chairs, flipping through its contents. But admitting that to Jeremy would make it harder to make fun of him and was therefore not an option.
“I think runes can probably do anything that regular magic can,” she said, in reply to his question. “My dad talks about it a lot. He says there’s more of an art to them, because it’s all about their meaning and what they can do isn’t fixed. He says it’s more like writing a poem than casting a normal spell, which is why people pay him so much money for the wards he sets.” This, of course, made the possibilities endless. But Jeremy’s idea of trying to make something glow was not a bad one. If it was an easy spell to master, then it should be equally easy to do it with runes. Light was unlikely to hurt or make a mess, or leave any kind of trace of what they’d done, and it would be immediately obvious when it had worked.
“Okay, let’s try that. Maybe we can go to the index at the back and look up 'light'. It might point us to the right rune?” She didn't wait for the confirmation and did exactly as she said. There were two pages listed as reference, so she simply picked the first one, which took her to the beginning of the section corresponding to a rune named 'Kaunan'. "How about this one?" She passed the back to him so he could read the description. "It looks very easy to draw." It was basically a less-than sign.
“I don’t think we have to worry about fire and the books. I bet there’s runes somewhere to ward the books against that. We’d probably have to do it outside for it to work properly.” If she knew anything about her dad, it was that he loved a good runic ward and was exceedingly protective of their books (she had been sternly warned against writing notes in their margins and the one time she’d tried it, she’d gotten a faceful of ink in retaliation). Fire was much more destructive, and the books would probably like that even less.
Not that she would’ve risked setting fire inside even so. The library was one of her favourite rooms in the house, and she’d spent hours upon hours, flopped on one of the cushy chairs, flipping through its contents. But admitting that to Jeremy would make it harder to make fun of him and was therefore not an option.
“I think runes can probably do anything that regular magic can,” she said, in reply to his question. “My dad talks about it a lot. He says there’s more of an art to them, because it’s all about their meaning and what they can do isn’t fixed. He says it’s more like writing a poem than casting a normal spell, which is why people pay him so much money for the wards he sets.” This, of course, made the possibilities endless. But Jeremy’s idea of trying to make something glow was not a bad one. If it was an easy spell to master, then it should be equally easy to do it with runes. Light was unlikely to hurt or make a mess, or leave any kind of trace of what they’d done, and it would be immediately obvious when it had worked.
“Okay, let’s try that. Maybe we can go to the index at the back and look up 'light'. It might point us to the right rune?” She didn't wait for the confirmation and did exactly as she said. There were two pages listed as reference, so she simply picked the first one, which took her to the beginning of the section corresponding to a rune named 'Kaunan'. "How about this one?" She passed the back to him so he could read the description. "It looks very easy to draw." It was basically a less-than sign.
The Adventure of the Runic Dilettantes
Jo said she BET that there were runes somewhere to ward the books against fire. But Jeremy really didn’t wanna bet on ‘bet’. Plus, were there also going to be runes somewhere to ward the children against fire? Probably not. And doing whatever they were going to do outside didn’t seem like an option either, 'cause that put just one window between him and his parents, and THAT was just not going to work. If his Mum even saw his face she’d know he was up to something. She was shockingly and annoyingly good at detecting ‘sneaky’.
Jo told him a bit about runes, and Jeremy tried to look casual, so as not to show that he was hungrily eating up any information he could get about them. He didn’t want to look like he didn’t know things, because he was supposed to be the one that knew things (He would have to talk to his mum and dad about this later, about the unintended consequences of their not letting him learn about runes, like that he had to be embarrassed right now). He listened closely because he liked knowing things, and this time, Jo knew things.
There was so much Jeremy didn’t know. Like that writing runes was more like writing a poem than reading a spell. That was disappointing. Jeremy didn’t know yet if he was any good at casting a spell, but he definitely knew that he was no good at writing a poem.
Finally, Jo found one to look at and passed him the book. 'Kaunan'. Sure enough, there it was, the ‘torch’ rune. And what was ‘lumos’ but turning your wand into a torch? He’d seen muggle torches (UK word for 'flashlight') a long time ago. His grandparents had a cottage in the woods they'd go to for retreat sometimes. There was no magic stuff there, just muggle, like how his grandfather grew up. When he would stay there, his grandparents had left a torch by his bed in case he needed to get up to use the bathroom during the night. You pressed a button, and then light came out. Sometimes, Jeremy would whisper ‘lumos’ when he used it, just to feel like he could do magic. It would always give him a chill. Yes, lumos was basically the same as a 'torch'!
“Oh yea, that’s gotta be it. See how it says 'torch'? A torch is this thing muggles use to make light, do you know it? And ya know, lots of times, language today comes from these old languages. Like how a lot of English comes from Latin, and a lot of spells do too. Well runes are old as anything. So it just makes sense that a lot of muggle language comes from runes. It's probably called a torch because of this rune,” Jeremy said, proudly. Excited as he was, he didn't even read the rest of the page.
“Do you think you have to measure exactly how long it is?” Jeremy asked, squinting at the page and wondering how important that was. And what happened if you got it wrong? Though, really, that was actually just as interesting as what happened if you got it right.
Jo told him a bit about runes, and Jeremy tried to look casual, so as not to show that he was hungrily eating up any information he could get about them. He didn’t want to look like he didn’t know things, because he was supposed to be the one that knew things (He would have to talk to his mum and dad about this later, about the unintended consequences of their not letting him learn about runes, like that he had to be embarrassed right now). He listened closely because he liked knowing things, and this time, Jo knew things.
There was so much Jeremy didn’t know. Like that writing runes was more like writing a poem than reading a spell. That was disappointing. Jeremy didn’t know yet if he was any good at casting a spell, but he definitely knew that he was no good at writing a poem.
Finally, Jo found one to look at and passed him the book. 'Kaunan'. Sure enough, there it was, the ‘torch’ rune. And what was ‘lumos’ but turning your wand into a torch? He’d seen muggle torches (UK word for 'flashlight') a long time ago. His grandparents had a cottage in the woods they'd go to for retreat sometimes. There was no magic stuff there, just muggle, like how his grandfather grew up. When he would stay there, his grandparents had left a torch by his bed in case he needed to get up to use the bathroom during the night. You pressed a button, and then light came out. Sometimes, Jeremy would whisper ‘lumos’ when he used it, just to feel like he could do magic. It would always give him a chill. Yes, lumos was basically the same as a 'torch'!
“Oh yea, that’s gotta be it. See how it says 'torch'? A torch is this thing muggles use to make light, do you know it? And ya know, lots of times, language today comes from these old languages. Like how a lot of English comes from Latin, and a lot of spells do too. Well runes are old as anything. So it just makes sense that a lot of muggle language comes from runes. It's probably called a torch because of this rune,” Jeremy said, proudly. Excited as he was, he didn't even read the rest of the page.
“Do you think you have to measure exactly how long it is?” Jeremy asked, squinting at the page and wondering how important that was. And what happened if you got it wrong? Though, really, that was actually just as interesting as what happened if you got it right.
Last edited by Jeremy Slater on 19 Jul 2026, 20:07, edited 1 time in total.
The Adventure of the Runic Dilettantes
Jo furrowed her brow a little at Jeremy’s explanation. She knew torches, of course, and was in full agreement that the torch rune should work, but she thought Jeremy might have some stuff backwards.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Aren’t runes supposed to be an old timey alphabet? And writing was definitely invented after fire, so I think it makes more sense that this is just the symbol that the people who used runes used to refer to a literal torch or the word they used for it in their language – Norse, maybe? – and then, when used by someone who could do magic, it could make things into a torch, or at least give off light like one.”
This explanation made way more sense to Jo, although it was a little strange that you’d have a rune just refer to an entire word. Jo wasn’t entirely sure how long the runic alphabet was, but surely there couldn’t be enough runes to cover all the possible words. Maybe some words were special, though, and they got their own symbol.
Either way, what mattered was that the rune seemed to fit, so the next step would just be to draw it. “I don’t know if the size matters,” she said, in response to Jeremy’s question. “I think sometimes, when you want the runes to be hidden, you can make them tiny and they still work. But maybe it’s harder. Maybe we can try to make it large, just in case.” Of course, it could also work the other way. Maybe a large rune needed more magic to work. “Or maybe let’s make it around the size of the one in the book.” Better to be safe.
It was suddenly becoming very apparent to her, that despite how many times her parents and her granda had mentioned runes, she didn’t know nearly enough about them. The realisation should perhaps have given her pause, but what was the point of experimenting if not to learn more about something that you didn’t understand well enough.
Leaving Jeremy with the book, she walked over to one of the worktables and grabbed a nicely large bit of parchment, a quill and some nice, bright blue ink. “We can use this. Do you want to do the honours?” She wouldn’t have normally offered. But Jeremy was the guest, after all. And she wanted to see if he was lying about being scared.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Aren’t runes supposed to be an old timey alphabet? And writing was definitely invented after fire, so I think it makes more sense that this is just the symbol that the people who used runes used to refer to a literal torch or the word they used for it in their language – Norse, maybe? – and then, when used by someone who could do magic, it could make things into a torch, or at least give off light like one.”
This explanation made way more sense to Jo, although it was a little strange that you’d have a rune just refer to an entire word. Jo wasn’t entirely sure how long the runic alphabet was, but surely there couldn’t be enough runes to cover all the possible words. Maybe some words were special, though, and they got their own symbol.
Either way, what mattered was that the rune seemed to fit, so the next step would just be to draw it. “I don’t know if the size matters,” she said, in response to Jeremy’s question. “I think sometimes, when you want the runes to be hidden, you can make them tiny and they still work. But maybe it’s harder. Maybe we can try to make it large, just in case.” Of course, it could also work the other way. Maybe a large rune needed more magic to work. “Or maybe let’s make it around the size of the one in the book.” Better to be safe.
It was suddenly becoming very apparent to her, that despite how many times her parents and her granda had mentioned runes, she didn’t know nearly enough about them. The realisation should perhaps have given her pause, but what was the point of experimenting if not to learn more about something that you didn’t understand well enough.
Leaving Jeremy with the book, she walked over to one of the worktables and grabbed a nicely large bit of parchment, a quill and some nice, bright blue ink. “We can use this. Do you want to do the honours?” She wouldn’t have normally offered. But Jeremy was the guest, after all. And she wanted to see if he was lying about being scared.
The Adventure of the Runic Dilettantes
Jeremy narrowed his eyes. He thought he had figured everything out, and then Jo had to go and challenge him. He tried to follow quickly along with what she was saying, but he'd already said runes was an old-timey alphabet, that was his whole point, and he was so stuck on that he wasn't sure he fully got all the points of the argument. Jeremy bristled a little, though really it wasn't so bad. Part of him liked to argue just a little, at least about smart things, and it wasn't often that other kids could argue with him about this stuff. He was surprised Jo knew what 'Norse' even was. When he'd talked about the Norse to his sister, she'd just asked him if he'd said 'Horse' (though now that he thought about it, she might have been teasing).
But Jo couldn't be right, there was no way it was so simple as that. Runes were an ALPHABET, weren't they? There couldn't be a rune for every word. There was this thing called hieroglyphics where ancient people would write using pictures, but he didn’t think runes were like that, were they? Besides, runes were ANCIENT, and muggle electric things were invented….well Jeremy didn’t really have any idea when they were invented but definitely not ancient, from what his grandfather had told him.
"Well either way I bet it's the right one," Jeremy said, too eager to think much about what Jo was saying about fire.
“Yea, we can make it the book size, I know THAT, I just mean…look, this line is bigger than this one, but by how much? Do you think it matters? It kinda has to, right? Or else would people just be making light whenever they try and do math problems?” His grandparents had taught him math as well, and from what he saw, that put him ahead of a whole lot of other wizarding children.
Jeremy squinted at the book and thought that over and didn't notice Jo gathering supplies until she suddenly offered them to him.
“Me?” Jeremy asked, his eyes widening just a bit. He hesitated, looking down at the parchment, his hand lifting halfway towards the tools that he was being handed, but not quite making it all the way to grab them.
Jeremy felt his heart-beat quicken, as everything suddenly felt very real. What was going on? Was he going to chicken out, now, right when they were about to do something so amazing? Maybe he could blow them both up...But if it wasn't him, it would be Jo right? His eyes rose to meet hers just for a sec.
No, it’d be better if he did it. He trusted himself a lot more than he trusted Jo. Out of the two of them, who was really the most likely to get it wrong and blow them up? Just look at her hair! Sure, it was cool and all, but could he really expect the wild-looking girl to be able to draw two careful lines? He’d be surprised if she could stay in the lines drawing a picture.
Jeremy on the other hand, was careful. He had a steady hand. He could follow instructions. Could Jo do that? He didn’t think so. She had been the one to suggest them drawing runes in the first place, which she almost certainly wasn’t allowed to do, since he wasn't either, so how good at following instructions could she be?
“Okay, I’ll do it,” he said, hoping he sounded very brave and confident when he did it, because there was still a chance she might take his wisdom and caution for being scared. Which would really be unfair, because then she wouldn't know just how excited he was feeling at the same time. Steeling himself, he took the equipment. His eyes glanced over furtively towards the door, just to make sure it was closed, and nobody was looking in at them through a door or window.
“Okay, so…let’s see…” the boy said, taking a moment to look back and forth between the parchment and the quill. He nodded in approval of the ink. Blue was his favorite color, so this was a really good sign.
“So…you just draw it and that’s it?” he asked, realizing that he didn’t actually know how to make the runes magical. "How do you...don't you have to like...say a spell or something?" But maybe drawing it was enough, or else, why would his parents be so worried about him doing it?
But Jo couldn't be right, there was no way it was so simple as that. Runes were an ALPHABET, weren't they? There couldn't be a rune for every word. There was this thing called hieroglyphics where ancient people would write using pictures, but he didn’t think runes were like that, were they? Besides, runes were ANCIENT, and muggle electric things were invented….well Jeremy didn’t really have any idea when they were invented but definitely not ancient, from what his grandfather had told him.
"Well either way I bet it's the right one," Jeremy said, too eager to think much about what Jo was saying about fire.
“Yea, we can make it the book size, I know THAT, I just mean…look, this line is bigger than this one, but by how much? Do you think it matters? It kinda has to, right? Or else would people just be making light whenever they try and do math problems?” His grandparents had taught him math as well, and from what he saw, that put him ahead of a whole lot of other wizarding children.
Jeremy squinted at the book and thought that over and didn't notice Jo gathering supplies until she suddenly offered them to him.
“Me?” Jeremy asked, his eyes widening just a bit. He hesitated, looking down at the parchment, his hand lifting halfway towards the tools that he was being handed, but not quite making it all the way to grab them.
Jeremy felt his heart-beat quicken, as everything suddenly felt very real. What was going on? Was he going to chicken out, now, right when they were about to do something so amazing? Maybe he could blow them both up...But if it wasn't him, it would be Jo right? His eyes rose to meet hers just for a sec.
No, it’d be better if he did it. He trusted himself a lot more than he trusted Jo. Out of the two of them, who was really the most likely to get it wrong and blow them up? Just look at her hair! Sure, it was cool and all, but could he really expect the wild-looking girl to be able to draw two careful lines? He’d be surprised if she could stay in the lines drawing a picture.
Jeremy on the other hand, was careful. He had a steady hand. He could follow instructions. Could Jo do that? He didn’t think so. She had been the one to suggest them drawing runes in the first place, which she almost certainly wasn’t allowed to do, since he wasn't either, so how good at following instructions could she be?
“Okay, I’ll do it,” he said, hoping he sounded very brave and confident when he did it, because there was still a chance she might take his wisdom and caution for being scared. Which would really be unfair, because then she wouldn't know just how excited he was feeling at the same time. Steeling himself, he took the equipment. His eyes glanced over furtively towards the door, just to make sure it was closed, and nobody was looking in at them through a door or window.
“Okay, so…let’s see…” the boy said, taking a moment to look back and forth between the parchment and the quill. He nodded in approval of the ink. Blue was his favorite color, so this was a really good sign.
“So…you just draw it and that’s it?” he asked, realizing that he didn’t actually know how to make the runes magical. "How do you...don't you have to like...say a spell or something?" But maybe drawing it was enough, or else, why would his parents be so worried about him doing it?
The Adventure of the Runic Dilettantes
As it turned out, Jo had misunderstood Jeremy’s question, which was slightly embarrassing. Still, she tried her very best to ignore the faint heat on her cheeks as she squinted at the page and tried to figure out the answer. It didn’t seem to her like the side Jeremy was pointing at was bigger, really. Unless, she supposed, you looked at the inside of the lines in the drawing and then it looked slightly longer, but then if you looked at the page that contained the entire runic alphabet at the start of the book, they looked the same length to Jo. She turned the pages a couple of times, trying to make up her mind, before deciding it couldn’t matter that much.
“We can measure them, I suppose, but I dunno if we have the tape measure anywhere in the library. But I don’t think it would matter. I mean, you can change the size of all kinds of things when you’re writing, and it’s okay as long as the letter looks like the letter, you know? I don’t see why this should be different. It is an alphabet. And I don’t think you can make things happen with runes without meaning to.”
She bit her lip. While she thought her reasoning was sound, she didn’t want to be the reason their little experiment failed. She almost wished her dad was here so they could ask him all those questions. Almost. “We can just try to copy it exactly from the book, just to be safe.”
Luckily, the next question Jeremy asked, she did have an answer for. “I don’t think so,” she said. She still snatched the book back and paged back to the beginning to double-check. She didn’t want to risk saying something incorrect in front of Jeremy again. “Yeah, no spell. You just have to focus really hard on what you want it to do. I think that’s why my dad says it’s like poetry. Since runes can mean many things and lots of runic magic involve more than one, you kinda have to figure out what they would mean all together and then imagine what that would look like while you’re writing them down.” It seemed simple enough with one rune, and suddenly Jo’s fingers were itching to just do it.
She really hadn’t thought Jeremy would be so eager, and now she rather regretted having offered. That Jeremy kept pussyfooting about and asking questions and not just doing it didn’t help matters. She wanted to see what would happen. “Come on,” she said, “We need to hurry or we might get in trouble.”
“We can measure them, I suppose, but I dunno if we have the tape measure anywhere in the library. But I don’t think it would matter. I mean, you can change the size of all kinds of things when you’re writing, and it’s okay as long as the letter looks like the letter, you know? I don’t see why this should be different. It is an alphabet. And I don’t think you can make things happen with runes without meaning to.”
She bit her lip. While she thought her reasoning was sound, she didn’t want to be the reason their little experiment failed. She almost wished her dad was here so they could ask him all those questions. Almost. “We can just try to copy it exactly from the book, just to be safe.”
Luckily, the next question Jeremy asked, she did have an answer for. “I don’t think so,” she said. She still snatched the book back and paged back to the beginning to double-check. She didn’t want to risk saying something incorrect in front of Jeremy again. “Yeah, no spell. You just have to focus really hard on what you want it to do. I think that’s why my dad says it’s like poetry. Since runes can mean many things and lots of runic magic involve more than one, you kinda have to figure out what they would mean all together and then imagine what that would look like while you’re writing them down.” It seemed simple enough with one rune, and suddenly Jo’s fingers were itching to just do it.
She really hadn’t thought Jeremy would be so eager, and now she rather regretted having offered. That Jeremy kept pussyfooting about and asking questions and not just doing it didn’t help matters. She wanted to see what would happen. “Come on,” she said, “We need to hurry or we might get in trouble.”
The Adventure of the Runic Dilettantes
Jeremy stared as Jo explained how this all worked. She was saying it in a voice like what she was saying made a lot of sense and was really easy, but Jeremy didn’t think it sounded easy at all. Poetry wasn’t easy, because it never meant what it said, which was the whole point of words. But maybe with one rune it would be easy…after all, they knew exactly what they wanted it to look like. If he copied it from the book, and imagined the glow, just like he’d used to imagine a wand, it should be simple, right?
“Okay, okay, I’m doing it, I’m doing it!” Jeremy said, a bit too sharply, because he was feeling a little jumpy, and the pressure from Jo wasn’t helping one little bit. As he dipped his quill in the ink and began to lower his hand, he REALLY hoped she wouldn’t notice his hand was shaking a little. Now that he was actually about to put the quill to paper, his mum’s words wouldn’t get out of his head. He felt a pang of something he thought was maybe guilt and suddenly, this wasn’t seeming very fun anymore. But if he told that to Jo he’d die of embarrassment so he just had to get it over with and remember how cool it was going to be when the rune glowed.
He took a deep breath. Now that Jo was rushing him, he was ever aware of how long it was taking him to draw. But if his hand shook, that could make everything go wrong. He needed to summon every bit of steadiness he could, and be unmoving, like a really big tree, untouched by the wind. His quill delicately touched down on the parchment, and with a hiss of inhalation, he began to trace upward.
“Kaunan...first a line like this..." he began, careful as anything. He moved slowly, steadily, and like Jo had told him to try, he started to imagine. Torch…torch…a glowing light. Like the ones his grandfather had had. It would glow, just a little light to brighten the library. Jo had talked about fire, but it didn’t use fire at all. It just used…Oh, THAT kind of torch. Jo had meant the OTHER torch, the wood stick with fire on the end. As Jeremy’s hand carefully changed direction, tracing upward, his brain started spinning. Wait, if this rune was called ‘torch’ what if they’d got the wrong one? What if it could….
“What the…Ah!” Jeremy said, stepping back as the parchment lit, just as he’d imagined it. The crackles of little flames…little flames on the wooden table.
Jeremy dropped his quill and stared.
“Okay, okay, I’m doing it, I’m doing it!” Jeremy said, a bit too sharply, because he was feeling a little jumpy, and the pressure from Jo wasn’t helping one little bit. As he dipped his quill in the ink and began to lower his hand, he REALLY hoped she wouldn’t notice his hand was shaking a little. Now that he was actually about to put the quill to paper, his mum’s words wouldn’t get out of his head. He felt a pang of something he thought was maybe guilt and suddenly, this wasn’t seeming very fun anymore. But if he told that to Jo he’d die of embarrassment so he just had to get it over with and remember how cool it was going to be when the rune glowed.
He took a deep breath. Now that Jo was rushing him, he was ever aware of how long it was taking him to draw. But if his hand shook, that could make everything go wrong. He needed to summon every bit of steadiness he could, and be unmoving, like a really big tree, untouched by the wind. His quill delicately touched down on the parchment, and with a hiss of inhalation, he began to trace upward.
“Kaunan...first a line like this..." he began, careful as anything. He moved slowly, steadily, and like Jo had told him to try, he started to imagine. Torch…torch…a glowing light. Like the ones his grandfather had had. It would glow, just a little light to brighten the library. Jo had talked about fire, but it didn’t use fire at all. It just used…Oh, THAT kind of torch. Jo had meant the OTHER torch, the wood stick with fire on the end. As Jeremy’s hand carefully changed direction, tracing upward, his brain started spinning. Wait, if this rune was called ‘torch’ what if they’d got the wrong one? What if it could….
“What the…Ah!” Jeremy said, stepping back as the parchment lit, just as he’d imagined it. The crackles of little flames…little flames on the wooden table.
Jeremy dropped his quill and stared.
(Permission given by Professor Odera)