Study of Ancient Runes

The Study of Ancient Runes, commonly shortened to Ancient Runes, is an elective course at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, that can be taken by students third year and above. It was taught by Professor Bathsheda Babbling during the 1990s at least, and is the study of magical runic scriptures. Hermione Granger is a student known to be taking this class, though it is possible that Luna Lovegood might also have taken this class as when Harry Potter first met her on the Hogwarts Express she was reading a section in The Quibbler that contained Ancient Runes which, if turned on their heads, supposedly revealed a spell that turns your enemy's ears into kumquats. Ancient Runes is a mostly theoretical subject that studies the ancient runic scripts of magic.

Words learned in this class
Only two words and their English translations are known. Hermione not only mixed up these two words on her Study of Ancient Runes O.W.L. exam, she gave the wrong meaning for Ehwaz, which means Movement or Progress, not Partnership. Gebo means Partnership.


 * Ehwaz means "Movement" or "Progress" not "Partnership"
 * Eihwaz means "Defence"

Numbers

 * Demiguise: the creature's invisibility abilities represents "0".
 * Unicorn: the creature's single horn represents "1".
 * Graphorn: the creature's dual horns represent "2".
 * Runespoor: the triple-headed creature represents "3".
 * Fwooper: the creature composed of four different colours in feathers represents "4".
 * Quintaped: the five legs of the creature represents "5".
 * Salamander: the maximum hours of the creature's ability to survive out of fire represents "6".
 * Unknown: due to the magically powerful number still being shrouded in mysteries, the unknown symbol represents "7".
 * Acromantula: the eight-eyed creature represents "8".
 * Hydra: the nine-headed creature represents "9".

Required reading

 * Advanced Rune Translation
 * Ancient Runes Made Easy
 * Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms
 * Rune Dictionary
 * Spellman's Syllabary

Known O.W.L.s

 * Barty Crouch Jr
 * Bill Weasley
 * Hermione Granger
 * Percy Weasley

Behind the Scenes

 * Throughout the entire Harry Potter books and film adaptions, not a single Ancient Runes class was seen taking place.
 * In reality, the words mentioned by Hermione in the Order of the Phoenix are Proto-Germanic runes. Ehwaz literally means "horse", while eihwaz means "yew-tree."
 * In Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4, one of the items is a rune book.

Notes and references
Étude des Runes