A brief silence fell in the room. Albert hadn't expected Professor Brood to be so direct, but he nodded, showing he understood.
Indeed, Ancient Runes were no longer used in spellcasting—only for interpreting old texts.
As for using them to cast spells?
Albert suspected Dumbledore might have that ability, but whether others could wield them skillfully was doubtful. It reminded him of when he first learned English in his previous life: painstakingly looking up each word in the dictionary, stringing them together, and guessing at the meaning of a sentence.
"May I see the runic writing on the parchment?" Albert asked, pointing to the sheet on the desk.
"Of course," Brood replied, curious about Albert's level of understanding.
He hadn't expected Albert to grasp much, so he allowed him to read. The runes were fragmented anyway.
Albert picked up the parchment and studied it carefully. The writing was strange, but familiar—similar to the runes he had worked with recently. Unlike Muggle runes, these were integrated, requiring study one by one.
Some had annotations beside them, likely left by Professor Bathsheda Babbling or Brood himself.
Eyes, tree, spring water…
Short words, yet they made Albert frown. He felt he was on the verge of recalling something.
"These runes… are scrambled?" he asked.
"Yes," Brood nodded. "They're very difficult to translate on their own."
"They need to be broken down and studied," Albert said seriously.
Not all Ancient Runes were like this. Albert had read books woven with runes that were coherent. These seemed deliberately scrambled. Who would bother creating such a puzzle?
Perhaps Babbling had compiled them for Brood to practice.
As Albert pondered, a knock sounded at the office door.
Katrina MacDougal entered, surprised to see Albert at Brood's desk, carefully reading the parchment. She blinked, curious why he was there.
Albert glanced up, met her gaze, nodded slightly, and returned to the parchment. The more he deciphered, the more something stirred in his memory, though he couldn't yet place it.
"I just played two games of wizard chess with Mr. Anderson," Brood said casually, noticing Katrina's questioning look. "His skills aren't bad. But he seems interested in Ancient Runes. Katrina, why don't you sit and play a game with me?"
Brood clearly thought highly of Albert. Katrina had already guessed as much—geniuses were always treated specially.
"Focus," Brood reminded her when her attention wandered. "Don't pay too much attention to others. Concentrate on your own task."
"Mmm." Katrina refocused, but still lost the game. Looking up, she saw Albert now seated at Brood's desk, writing.
"How dare he…" she muttered.
"Professor, the runes on the parchment are incomplete, aren't they?" Albert asked after half an hour of work.
"Oh? Why do you say that?" Brood asked curiously. He knew Albert was right—the runes were only fragments.
"After translating them, they don't form a complete sentence." Albert held up the parchment. "I think these are two famous poems from The Word of God."
"The Word of God? What's that?" Katrina asked, confused.
"It describes the origin of runes," Albert explained simply. "Odin exchanged an eye for the Spring of Wisdom. To seek higher knowledge, he hung himself on a tree for nine days and nights, stabbed himself with a spear, and his blood formed the runes."
Through guessing and translating, Albert pieced the fragments together, connecting them with things he had read before. At first he hadn't recognized it, but as more runes fell into place, the content became clear.
Katrina looked bewildered, but she at least knew what runes were. Brood, however, was utterly shocked.
He hadn't expected Albert to decipher it. A wild guess? Impossible.
"Are you sure you only self-studied runes?" Brood's face twitched. Inwardly, he roared: How dare you claim you barely understand them!
If this was "barely understanding," what did that make other experts?
"Professor Brood?" Albert looked up, confused.
Brood snapped back to himself and smiled. "I'm not entirely sure. I'm still trying. But I think you're correct."
"Professor Babbling will be delighted if you choose Ancient Runes. If you're interested, write to her or…" Brood hesitated. He realized Albert might not even need formal classes.
There were still many runes left on his desk, yet Albert had disassembled, translated, and reconstructed them without even using a dictionary.
Brood wasn't sure Babbling herself could do that. He was certain he could not.