After using the Bubble-Head Charm, Harry and Ron could both easily make out the writing formed by the shifting patterns on the seashell underwater.
Unfortunately, even though they could see the writing, they could not read it.
It was not just Ron who could not read it; neither Harry nor the prefect could, either. One thing was certain: it was not English, nor any of the more common European languages, and it was not Runes.
Although Harry could not recognize every rune, he knew their general shapes. The line of writing before him had none of the mysterious beauty of Runes.
After copying the writing that appeared on the seashell onto the parchment they had prepared beforehand, Harry and Ron left the washroom, then stared doubtfully at the parchment in their hands.
"Harry, have you ever seen writing like this?" Ron asked doubtfully.
"Never," Harry said with absolute certainty. The characters looked like lots of tadpoles or little fish pieced together.
Harry was certain that he had never seen writing like this anywhere.
What Harry did not know was that much the same situation was unfolding before the two champions from Ilvermorny and the two champions from Nanyang Magic School.
As it happened, the champions from both schools had solved the first step of the clue the previous night, discovering the writing formed by the patterns on the seashell. But then they had gotten stuck.
Not only the champions, but even the professors accompanying them were baffled by the writing. They could not even be sure whether it was writing at all.
Wizards were generally quite learned.
It seemed that an outstanding memory was one of the prerequisites for becoming a wizard.
The syllables of spells were stranger than those of any language currently in use. The fact that all