Arithmancy Class, Lesson One?

Lily stepped out of her office and into her classroom. She was glad that the two were connected because that meant she didn't have to walk very far just to get things set up. And that also meant that she didn't have to wake up so early just to do it. Here, she was able to wake up to where she had just enough time to get things together. She was wearing her favorite red blouse and black pinstripe pants and black heels. Her hair was up in a ponytail, showing off her dangling, golden hooped earrings.

As she pulled out her wand, she walked over to the windows. Lily flicked the wand so that light would fill the classroom so it would be easy to see what she wrote on the board. Today was her first class of the semester and she needed to remember that basics always came first, no matter how many times they've been taught before.

She turned toward the board and pointed her wand at it. Letters and numbers began appearing to map out her lesson for the day.

Underneath the numbers and letters read: The Pythagorean System. She decided to wait on adding examples of what they would be doing until the time came to do so. It was quite easy, so it wouldn't take too long to set the example and let the students mess around with it. Lily sat on the table closest to the board and waited for her students to start showing up.

Amelia was most definitely not going to be late for this class. She still felt horrible for having been late to Runes the other day. And since Arithmacy was one of her favorite classes, she made damn sure she wasn't going to be late again.

So Amy awoke early, put on some jeans and a blue sweater and headed down to breakfast. She reckoned she would be close to the only one there and she had been right. Very few other students had descended, or ascended from their common rooms yet but there was hot food waiting for Amelia when she finally chose a seat.

Eating quickly, one hand on the utensil while the other hand flipped through her Arithmacy book, getting herself in the mindset of the class she would soon be headed to. After her quick breakfast she placed her book back into her bag and made her way up to the seventh floor. She passed a few professors and even fewer students on the way but Amelia had her mind focused. She reckoned she was going to be maybe 10 mins early. Hopefully.

Finally, Amelia reached the doorway of the classroom, panting a little from the exertion of climbing 7 flights of shifting staircases. She'd got mixed up when her staircase had moved a few different times while she was on it. But she knew where she was now.

Entering the classroom, Amelia was still glad to see she was one of the first students to have arrived. "Morning Professor," she said with a smile. She quickly found an aisle seat at a desk for two. She pulled out her book, some parchment, a quill and ink and began to scrawl down the letters and numbers that were up on the board.

yesterday we were just children , playing soldiers just pretending dreaming dreams with happy endings in backyards, winning battles with our wooden swords but now we've stepped into a cruel world where everybody stands and keeps score --------------------------

Penelope ran, panting, up the stairs. Of course she was late, she was always late. Hopefully Professor Boleyn would understand this time, the potions professor had made her stay late and didn't give her a note for the next class. Asshole! It didn't help her case at all that she was usually at least 5 minutes late to every class. Lets see, what floor am I on? She took a second to catch her breath a bit, looking around for any clues to her location. Ah, the painting of a rain forest, that must mean she's on floor 5. Damn it! She still had two more floors to go. With the trumpet of the nearby elephant, she huffed her book bag higher on her shoulder and set off to conquer the next two flights of stairs.

Finally at the top, she busted into the classroom panting and full of sweat. It really was quite a thing to behold, her once calm and collected appearance now a frazzled display of what running up 7 flights of stairs can do to you. She walked over to an open seat and collapsed in it, laying her face immediately down on the desk in front of her. "I'm so sorry Professor." Her words were slightly muffled from her face smashed on top of the desk. "The potions master is evil." It was really all the explanation she could get out at the moment, moving her mouth took way too much effort for her to explain further.

She then realized she wasn't alone at the dual-desk, and looked over to her desk mate. "Oh hey Amelia, how're you doing today?" After sitting up and looking around the room, she realized they were the only two students there. "Wah..am I early?!" What the crap?! You mean I didn't have to run of 7 goddamn flights of stairs!?

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"Good morning, Ms. Coote." she smiled at the first student who walked into her classroom. She watched as she sat down and began writing what was on the board. Not too much later, another student walked in. Lily smiled and noted that the girl must have been running just to get there. She stood up and walked over to the board, listening to what the girl had to say.

"Hello, Ms. Carlisle." She couldn't help but laugh at the comment about the potions professor. "I'm sure he is. And of course, there is no need for you to be sorry. I give all my students up to ten minutes of being late, if they are late, to get here. I remember how hard it was to get from one class to another." she explained.

As the other students came clambering in, she was writing on the board again. This time, she was putting up her name:

She turned back toward the class and smiled. "So, to begin this lesson, I'm going to go over the basics of Arithmancy. We all know that Arithmancy is based off the magical properties of numbers and letters. The only role letters have in this lesson is figuring out our numbers. What I want all of you to do is write your names on a piece of paper as I wrote mine on the board. Then, with the chart that is up here, write underneath your name each number that is associated with each letter. When you're finished doing that, add up the numbers and wait for further instructions." she explained.

Once she finished explaining, she wrote her numbers under her name as each student was doing theirs.

# 1 - # 2 -# 3 - # 4 - # 5 - # 6 - # 7 - # 8 - # 9

This post has been edited by Lily Boleyn on Jun 11 2012, 08:58 PM

Amelia glanced over at her desk mate who slid into her seat in a hurry. Penelope Carlisle, a seventh year Hufflepuff. She seemed like someone who was smart and willing to work. Hard working. Good. Amelia would have probably been pretty angry if she'd been stuck next to someone who wanted to talk the whole class through.

"Hello Penelope, I am well. And yourself?" she asked in response to Penelope's greeting first. She watched the rest of the class trickle in and then paid attention to their professor as she began to write on the board. Oh, this was easy. Amelia quickly jotted down her own name.

Amelia was pleased to figure it out so easily. Numbers were fun. The magical quality of numbers was even more fun. Finding out what you're name meant about you was an easy ice breaker for a class. Professor Boleyn had chosen wisely. As Amelia glanced around, she noticed other students, comparing with each other their results. It was going to be a good year, Amelia just knew it.

yesterday we were just children , playing soldiers just pretending dreaming dreams with happy endings in backyards, winning battles with our wooden swords but now we've stepped into a cruel world where everybody stands and keeps score --------------------------

Penelope calmed her breathing (and sweating) after a few breaths, first impressions always being her forte. Or not. "Oh, I could be better," she said to Amelia with a chuckle while unloading some parchment and quills onto her desk. After arranging them, she finally sat back and closed her eyes for a well deserved second. "Ms. Boleyn, I forgot how cool you are." Some professors would just auto-detention a student like her, but having 10 extra minutes seemed pretty do-able.

She focused her attention up on the board, Arithmancy usually making her head hurt instantly. This seemed rather easy so far, so she picked up her quill and started spelling out her name.

P+E+N+E+L+O+P+E+H+A+R+P+E+R+C+A+R+L+I+S+L+E=?...

Whew! That was a mouthful, why in gods name did her parents have to give her a long name. She envied Lucy's short name, but Penelope was decidedly cooler. Ah, better get back to work!

P+E+N+E+L+O+P+E+H+A+R+P+E+R+C+A+R+L+I+S+L+E=? 7+5+5+5+3+6+7+5+8+1+9+7+5+9+3+1+3+9+3+5= 106

Penelope stared at her parchment for a second, then up at the board, then back to her parchment. Three digits? She looked over to Amelia's and back to her own. Aren't I suppose to have two? I probably did it wrong... She raised her hand, "Ms. Boleyn, what do I do if I have three digits instead of two?"

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numbers all around

Before she was able to explain, Penelope asked a question. Lily looked at her and smiled. "You'd do the same as if you only had two numbers. Add each number together to get your final product. An example would be adding 114. You'd add one plus one plus four and that would come out as six. If it comes out as a double number, you add the numbers together for your final product." she explained.

"If that confuses you, I can do it for you." Lily looked around to see if anyone else was struggling. It didn't seem so. "Ok, so, once you find your final number, please look at the charts on the board to see what the numbers mean about you. I want you to write a summary of the meaning down under your number and express how you feel about that. Does it fit you? Could it be different? What do you like or don't like about it?" she instructed.

Lily wasn't sure what to say now, the biggest part was done and over with. Maybe they could have little fun tasks. Yes, that's it. "Once you are all finished with that, I would like you to place your parchments on my desk so we can start the fun process." she told them.

words: i don't care // tag: students // notes: the charts are in my second post //
template created by mal-function at rcr

Amelia was one of the first finished, so as soon as Professor Boleyn told them to place the parchments on the table, she promptly got up from her table and strode up to set hers on the desk. She walked back to her desk, glancing over at Penelope's paper. She'd seen where she had hesitated in the penmanship, a drop of ink on the parchment, but after Professor Boleyn explained what to do, she had continued on and gotten her number easily. Good.

Amelia sat and awaited further instruction, pulling her Arithmacy book before her and flipping through the first couple of pages. She had already read the thing front to back, but she liked to go through them many times, in case she caught something she had missed before.




((Sorry! I kept forgetting about the class. BAD HELENA))

I can ride my bike with no handlebars ,

Look at me look at me Just called to say that its good to be Alive in such a small world I'm all curled up with a book to read I can make money open up a thrift store I can make a living off a magazine I can design an engine 64 miles to the gallon on gasoline I can make new antibiotics I can make computer survive aquatic Conditions I know how to run the business And i can make you wanna buy a product Movers shakers and producers Me and my friends understand the future I see the strings that control the systems I can do anything with no assistance 'Cause I can lead a nation with a microphone And I can split the atoms of a molecule

Quietly, he had slipped into the classroom after Miss Coote and took up his usual residence at a desk near the back. His bag occupied the seat beside him, a gentle deterrent just in case the class magically grew larger in enrollment. Unfortunately, he suspected that even the magic in the school could not metamorphose the inane minds of the majority of the student body into appreciative intelligence. Not that he cared. The more idiots that were in the school, the less competition he would have in school and in the workforce after graduation. He was confident he would succeed even if the odds were not astronomically in his favor.

Even though it helped him out, he understood that Professor Boleyn was likely less excited by the lack of seventh years enrolled in her. That knowledge did not move him to participate any more or less in the class than he intended. He always listened to her lectures as he found them insightful and intriguing, but he only spoke up in class when he had something to say. Most of the time, he did his work quietly, occasionally made disparaging remarks on the poor attempts at others to understand, and listened. Meticulously, he opened his parchment notebook (his own creation as the wizarding world was still using scrolled parchment, which he thought was ridiculous) and flipped it open to the first blank page. The inkwell he placed in the upper left hand corner of his desk, close to his notebook, so that he could dip his quill pen with ease. Looking up from his desk at the blackboard, he wrote down his own name and numbers.

H+O+R+A+T+I+O+P+E+R+C+I+V+A+L+L+O+V+E+C+R+A+F+T

8+6+9+1+2+9+6+7+5+9+3+9+4+1+3+3+6+4+5+3+9+1+6+2 =  121

1+2+1 = 4

He glanced up from his work when Penelope burst into the room and smiled with amusement. The girl was always late. Even to the Prefect meetings. Oh, well, it did not hurt anyone. He wondered why she was always so flustered about being late though. She should just accept that people will be upset and ignore them. That’s what he did, and he thought it very sensible. He waited and ignored the silly chatter as the three women conversed about professors and work and ‘hihowareyou’s, jotting down a few ideas in the corner. Length was very important in the making of wands. It was one of the reasons why he was so interested in Arithmancy. The subject had a very practical use for his future. According to the great Wandmaker, Garrick Ollivander, there was a supreme three for wand cores. Now, he agreed with the long dead wandmaker that phoenix feathers, dragon heartstrings, and unicorn hair were the most reliable with any wood, he believed that many powerfully magical substances could be used in wand cores if first paired with the right wood.

After his classmates had mentioned their numbers, Horatio Lovecraft drawled, eyes still focused on his notebook as he continued writing his notes, ”4.”

created by tillie of caution & sds

Look at me, look at me driving and I won't stop.

And it feels so good to be alive and on top.

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yesterday we were just children , playing soldiers just pretending dreaming dreams with happy endings in backyards, winning battles with our wooden swords but now we've stepped into a cruel world where everybody stands and keeps score --------------------------

Ah, that made much more sense. Penelope looked back at her paper. So...

106 = 1 + 0 + 6 = 7

Awesome! 7 was a pretty cool number right? She guessed she would find out, she looked at the board and read the explanation for number 7. She dealt with the scholarly aspects of magic? Hmm, Penelope wasn't very scholarly at all, that seemed much more like Horatio. Seven deals with the activation of imagination and manifesting results in our lives through the use of conscious thought and awareness. Jesus! That was way deeper than Penelope had ever thought about herself. Picking up her quill again, she started writing the summary of what seven's description meant to her.

I have mixed feelings about my number's description. It says I should be scholarly, but I don't really feel like I am. I do like the comments about imagination and dreaming, and using it to my own benefit. That's something I think I quite often do.

She paused, was that enough? There were only four sentences, how long was this summary suppose to be? Penelope was never very good at writing, it was hard to get out more than just the basic thoughts.

I also like that I'm suppose to be a representative of mystery, when faced with a mystery I always try to get to the bottom of it. Overall I feel like my number is a pretty good match.

That was probably enough, Penelope set down her quill and took the piece of parchment up to Professor Boleyn's desk and set it down on the pile, finishing somewhere in the middle of the class.

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