Amelia frowned as it seemed the Arithmancy Professor was quite distracted and forgot about her presence, as well as her request for tea and cookies. She sighed, as she walked over the pretty young woman and placed a gentle hand hand on her shoulder. "Professor? Can I help with anything, anything at all for the lesson? ... Perhaps, a tranquilizer?" she asked, adding the last suggestion more for humor.

Professor Shackleton was surpised when the Hufflepuff prefect placed a hand on her shoulder and offered her assistance. As gratitude washed over her, Macadrian smiled softly and replied, "No, my dear. But thank you for your offer, for the assistance and the tranquilizer. It is very much appreciated." Macadrian laughed softly and continued, "As for me, I really must scuttle off to the review. Please come back and visit me later so we can chat and you can finally get the cookies and tea I offered you and never followed through on." Macadrian chuckled softly, winked at Amelia, and then shuffled down the hall to the classroom to get set up, feeling calmer and happier already.

Amelia nodded in understanding, dropping her hand to her side. "Very well then, I shall see you in class Professor." she backed out toward the door of the office and just before exiting, she quickly added, "And yes of course, I won't forget those cookies and tea." With that, the Hufflepuff prefect skipped off towards the classroom for the first Arithmancy lesson.

Xana knocked tenatively on the Professor's office door, with her arithmancy journal tucked under one arm. She leaned up against the wall by the door, playing with a strand of her hair absently as she waited.

As Professor Shackleton turned the corner at the end of the hall, she immediately spotted a student outside her office. Hoping she hadn't been waiting long, she shuffled up the hallway as quickly as possible without breaking into a flat-out run. She called out just as she was nearing Xana, "I hope you haven't been waiting long!"

When she finally reached her office, she unlocked the door quickly and swung it open, gesturing for Xana to enter. "Go on in and take a seat by the windows. Pardon the mess." But when Macadrian entered behind Xana, she realized that the mugs and cookies that had been left on the coffee table earlier were no longer there. With a grateful sigh, Professor Shackleton mumbled to herself, "I gotta remember to thank the house elves. And they even brought up a new tray cookies and danishes. So helpful."

She dropped her belongings on top of her desk, turned to Xana and asked with a smile, "So what brings you by to see me? What can I help you with?"

Saylie had hung back after class, using the time to go drop her bag off in the dorm, then made her way down to Professor Shackleton's office. She was still really worried about her new book, but figured it was here somewhere, it couldn't have just flew out the window or something, so it had to be in this school somewhere.

She approached the door slightly nervously and looked around, seeing no singing professors, she raised her hand and knocked.

Professor Shackleton looked away from the student already into her office and up to the door. She spoke loudly, "Come on in! Door's open!" When she spotted Saylie, she remembered that the girl was looking for her book. Before Saylie could even mention it, Macadrian said, "I haven't yet got a chance to look around. I know the house elves cleaned, so there is a chance that they may have seen it if it is not where you left it. Of course, they may have thought it one of mine and placed it back on my shelves." Macadrian gestured to the hundreds of books on the shelves throughout her office, then added, "But don't worry. If that is the case, I have the books very organized, first by subject and then by title alphabetically. We should be able to find it in no time. Why don't you take a look by the coffeetable to see if it is there first?"

Saylie walked in, smiling gratefully. "Thanks Professor, I wouldn't be so worried about it, but it is new and I haven't finished reading it yet." She made her way over to the coffee table, adding, "There's a passage in it that I thought you might like because it goes back to what we were discussing last term...It had a chapter that showed another reference between Scorpio and the Gerbera Daisy, which might help in further connecting the two." She looked under the coffee table and under the edge of the chair. "I actually don't see it," she said, straightening up, "I think the house elves thought it was yours and put it up." She glanced around the room, taking in the sheer number of books, "I never realized how many books were in here, though it becomes quite clear when you're looking for a single one!" She walked over to the nearest shelf, scanning the various titles and then turned back, "The title is Astrology's Flowers for the Star Signs."

Professor Shackleton listened as the girl described the passage, quite impressed that Saylie took the initiative over the summer holiday to continue assisting Macadrian with her research. She was grateful for another reference connecting the flower they discussed so frequently last term to the star sign of the number nine.

Upon hearing the title of the book, Macadrian pointed to a bookcase on the end, which contained all her texts that weren't specifically pertaining to Arithmancy. These shelves featured books on Ancient Runes, Floriography, the Tarot, Astronomy, and a variety of other subjects closely tied in with Arithmancy. She explained, "This case would likely be where they placed it. Let's give it a quick scan. I don't know whether they would have placed it under the subject 'Floriography' or 'Astronomy/Astrology.'" As she scanned through the subjects beginning with A, she did not find the book and jumped down to the subject heading of F. She dragged her fingers along the spines until she quickly found Saylie's book amongst the Floriography references. She pulled the book out and glanced at the cover, "Here it is! What a lovely new reference! Did you purchase this at Flourish and Blotts?"

Saylie grinned at the appearance of the book and shook her head, "No. Actually my Dad got it....It's a Muggle book. He was shopping for a new gardening book and thought about what I'd been telling him about last year. He picked it up, along with a few others, and brought them home hoping I'd like them. Turns out that this one was great. The other's were okay, but I liked this one better...it seemed to be a little more in depth. Other's just had pictures, but plenty referenced the two together." She smiled, thinking of how eager her father had been to help. He always tried to be enthusiastic about the things she was interested in, and this was no different. "Do you think it'll be of any use?"

Xana entered the room, smiling gratefully as she took a seat. "Thank you for seeing me, Professor...I'm here because... well, I'm having a lot of trouble with arithmancy." She blushed a little, hating to admit her weakness. "I feel as though I don't understand it, and what's more, I have trouble with it conceptually... I was hoping you could enlighten me."

Reese walked up to the Professor's door and knocked gently and waited.

Ariana hesitated, just briefly before walking up to the Arthimancy professors door and knocking. She needed help and professor Shackleton was the only one who could help her to even begin to understand the complexities she was feeling. Crossing her arms over her chest, the Fifth year leaned against the wall opposite the door and waited. She had all day, she could wait for as long as was needed.

When Professor Shackleton heard it was a Muggle book, her excitement dampered a bit, not because she had anything against Muggles but because it was much more difficult to verify the source. "Well, we will certainly be able to use it; however, it is going to require a bit more work to ensure that the source is reliable and that the research done prior to publishing fits the standards of the magical community. But no matter! Anything worth doing usually is a bit challenging, right?" Professor Shackleton smiled and continued with sincerity, "Saylie, thank you very very much for all your hard work, helping me with my research and participating regularly in class. It certainly does not go unnoticed and I wanted you to know that."

Professor Shackleton felt sympathetic for the girl as she blushed, clearly a bit embarassed to be asking for help. She affirmed the girl, "I assure you that you are not the only one to ever have a bit of difficulty with Arithmancy. In fact, most great Arithmancers have trouble with it at some point, so don't feel as if you are alone in this. I will help you any way that I can until you are comfortable with the material thus far. Where would you like to start?"

Professor Shackleton did not want a repeat performance of the singing fiasco and was a bit reluctant to fill her office with students again, in the event that Fabian and Max lost their minds once more and embarrassed her in front of more students. She approached the office door, popped her head out into the hallway and explained to the two students waiting outside, "I have a couple students in my office now we're discussing my research and the material from the lessons. If you'd like a bit more help on the material you're welcome to join us now, but if it is regarding something else, can I request that you wait outside in the hall for a bit til the office clears out a bit? And then you'll have my undivided attention."

She smiled at the professor gratefully. "The number part-- the substituting numbers for letters and simplifying it down-- I don't have problems with. It's decipherinig them-- applying the results-- I have trouble with. I'm embarrassed to admit it, especially to you -- as my professor in the subject--but I have trouble with arithmancy conceptually. I struggle with embracing the validity of the results, particularly in my own case... As I'd mentioned in class, I don't know my real birthdate, nor my birth name, as I was a foundling. I celebrate my birthday as the day before I was found, but I was anywhere from 1-3 days old, so my calculations could very well be off on that. And I know my given first name, Aryanna, because it was on an anklet I was wearing when I was found. But I have no idea what my original parents' last name was, so... I just feel like it's so arbitrary, using data which may or may not be accurate to calculate my numbers to define such important things as my life path and where I should put my focus... and if it's arbitrary for me, what is to say it is concrete for anyone?

And as a secondary concern, so many of the aspects of arithmancy seem so... set in stone... when it seems to me that life, and people at their core, are dynamic creatures that change so much based upon experience during their journey through life. I really want to understand if the two concepts can co-exist-- we can embrace the notion of being the architects of our destinies when arithmancy seems to tell us otherwise? I mean... For example, the Soul number... I calculated mine as a five, which says I crave travel, variety and am a risk taker. Which is true. But I find I'm more of a three... and a nine... or a 33/6. But obviously I can't be all those things... can I? Can aspects of each of the numbers apply to one person? Please forgive me...I've never studied arithmancy before and I really want to understand it, to be able to rationalize it so that it makes sense to me, so I understand how it all works and it doesn't seem so... arbitrary. It's obviously got validity, or it wouldn't be a subject of study. I just don't get it, and I feel so stupid for my failure to grasp this." she sighed, obviously frustrated by her own inability to grasp the concepts of this subject. If she was going to take the class, however, she wanted to really understand it, not just be in the class for the purposes of getting a grade. And it just made no sense to her at all.

Saylie smiled, "It doesn't matter to me if it goes unnoticed, Professor, I don't do it for that." She shook her head slightly, still smiling, "I do it because I truly want to know...It just makes sense and I can feel all of the peices clicking together as they fall into place. I understand more about myself as I am learning this." She didn't know why it made sense, it just did. It was as if a light was turned on everytime she learned something new associated with this, as if it was a reminder of something she already knew and not a new concept.

"Professor, would you like me to come back later?" She asked, knowing that there someone else here who needed help and even more waiting outside. She felt that she was being slightly selfish to want to discuss research while others needed help with the actual classwork.

Ariana jumped as she heard the professors voice ring out through the corridor and she looked hesitant as she entered, stopping at the entrance. She blushed horribly, a sorry look on her face as she stuttered, "I'm...I'm sorry professor. I just wanted to better understand Arthimancy, that's all." She looked down and shuffled her feet, feeling the emotions around her.

"I can see you have a full office so I'll come back later. Sorry to have disturbed you." She said, a slight drop in her voice as she glanced around. So much for getting to know her she thought with another shake of her head. She moved her bag to her other shoulder and sighed.

Shackleton listened as the girl explained her confusion and difficulty with the subject, nodding in recognition as Xana made her points and contemplating how she could satisfy the girl's inquiry. She understood completely how anyone with Xana's history might have difficulty placing her confidence in a subject like Arithmancy, a subject which works with a person's very essence.

After reflecting on the student's explanation, Macadrian began softly, "First, let me reassure you that you are not the first person to have difficulty accepting at face value what the numbers tell us about ourselves. Add to it your history, and I'm not entirely surprised, nor offended, that you are struggling with the concept of numbers and names describing our very being. Hopefully I can help reconcile this matter for you. Let's start with your name. There are plenty of people in this world who are adopted and are unaware of their birth name. Arithmancy has not forgotten or abandoned those people. While you may not know what your destiny or life was meant to be from birth, you can, at the very least, determine the essence and vibrational pattern that you grew into. It will show what energy of lessons you added to your life by gaining a new name, a new family, a new life.

"Now, you say your birthday could be anywhere in a three day period? Perhaps you might consider determining what your Life Path and Birthday Numbers would be for all three dates and see which is most like you, which feels the most right for you. You may not know for sure, but you can utilize the numbers to your advantage and figure out what your birthday might be. You could even choose that to be the day you celebrate if you so wish. Perhaps it would give you a bit more clarity and put you at ease with that issue. And of course, while you may never be sure what your original Arithmancy profile should be, that doesn't mean that you can't use what you learn from the subject and apply it to other people. You'd be surprised how many times I have applied what the numbers tell to my understanding of my relationships with those around me."

Macadrian paused, allowing the girl to absorb what she'd explained while she contemplated how she would approach the latter half of the girl's concern. She then explained, "I don't believe that Arithmancy really sets anything in stone, per se. There may be certain aspects of a person's life that are innately true or meant to happen and Arithmancy highlights these, but as you mentioned, people change throughout their lives. An ambitious person doesn't likely lose their ambitious quality in their lifetime; however, what they use that ambition to accomplish would likely change several times throughout their life. People's goals change, their knowledge expands, and the manner in which they approach situations evolves. Arithmancy addresses the heart of the matter, the tools each person has to make any and all of their goals become a reality.

"As for whether or not you can possess the qualities of other numbers while your major number is just one, the answer to that is most. definitely. yes. Advanced Arithmancy explains how each person has bits of most, if not all, numbers reflected in their essence and personality. No where does it say that you must be only one type of person; in fact, I think it is quite the contrary, especially in numbers that are meant to make us aware of our faults. The purpose is to become aware of those faults and address them head-on with the purpose to correct them. Without Arithmancy, we might not ever recognize that we have a particular fault, but upon reflection, we see that we do. That is why I study Arithmancy, why some of your peers study it.

"And let me just add, that your inability to accept Arithmancy at face value does not make you stupid in the least. In fact, I think it shows a great amount of courage and intelligence to challenge the subject and yourself in an attempt to truly understand and master it."

Professor Shackleton smiled at Saylie, her intuition telling her that this girl might just pursue a career in Arithmancy if she continues along this route. Goodness knows Gringotts would try to recruit her if she did well on her OWLs and NEWTs! Macadarian responded, "That makes me quite happy to hear that you're applying what you've learned in class to your life. It is, after all, the entire purpose of Arithmancy; yet, so few truly do it." Macadrian gave a small sigh and then added, "And you do not need to leave, Saylie. You're quite welcome to stay. But let's move this conversation over to the armchairs by the windows so that we can have a bit more room and comfort, shall we?"

No sooner than she'd said the words did she wish she hadn't. She never wanted her students to ever feel that she wasn't available for them when they needed her. She blurted, "No no! Come in, come in! I can see this is clearly important to you and we can always make room for more. We'll just have to do some adjusting is all." Professor Shackleton smiled as she looked into Ariana's face, trying to read if she had hurt her feelings too terribly. "Why don't you come in and take a seat in one of the armchairs by the windows and we'll have a cup of tea or cocoa and discuss what it is brought you to my office, hm?"

Saylie took the professor up on her offer and moved over to one of the armchairs. She sat down and relaxed into the chair. Her situation was quite different from the other two girls in the class, and it surprised her, especially because they were so much older than she was. Maybe some people were destined to do certain things, and that was what drove them through their young years. Like a wizard who was destined to be a Quidditch star always excelled in it, or the same with Potions, Charms, and even Arithmancy. Maybe there was a driving force that propelled them through. To Saylie, that force was becoming known to her, and Arithmancy was helping, the numbers just made sense. To others, it might not be so clear, and while that confused her, she accepted it. "Is there any Cocoa, Professor?" she said with a grin. Cocoa went perfectly with discussions and comfy chairs.

Ariana was just on the verge of walking away when she heard Shackleton speak and she turned back, a slightly relieved look on her face. "Okay, I guess I can stay for a bit. And hot cocoa sounds lovely thank you Professsor." She said, a small smile appearing on her face as she walked into the room and looked around, finding an armchair to sit in. "I only wished to speak with you about some matters I am having difficulty in understanding. I want to do well in this class, but it sems that no matter how hard I try I just can't figure it out." She said a sheepish look on her face.

She stifled a yawn which came out of nowhere and smiled apologetically. Ariana had to admit she was embarassed and added as she placed her bag down beside her. "I've never had this much trouble in a class before, so don't think I'm not capable of understanding things. I normally excell in everything I do. And with my O.W.L.S coming up I would like to be able to understand the complexities of the art or Arthimancy." She stopped, realizing she was beginning to ramble and muttered, "This is so embarassing."

Xana was thoroughly put at ease by both the professor's demeanour and her words, feeling for the first time as though arithmancy could perhaps be relevant to her life despite the lack of hard data that she had. More, she was impressed that her understanding of the unwavering nature of arithmancy's answers were not as hard and fast as she'd understood them to be... there was room for the dynamic aspect of life within the context of arithmancy's core philosophies; it did not demand that people be pigeonholed into one personality type as she thought it did. This did even more to curb her skepticism of the validity of the study of arithmancy... it did not have to fly contrary to her beliefs that her life was her own to direct.

And most of all... the professor didn't get upset with her for questioning the validity of her subject, that she welcomed her probing the topic and trying to understand the root ideas behind the topic! Wow. Xana was completely impressed. "Thank you so much, professor. That helps so much, and is very reassuring.. especially knowing that there is room for the dynamic aspects of life and personalities within the philosophy of arithmancy... I intend to work hard and do my best to truly understand the nature of this field of study, and I feel so much better just to know that the aspects of the subject that concerned me ... well, I misunderstood it, I think. You've given me a lot to think about."

She paused, thinking. "If one understands their core numbers through arithmancy, is it ever possibly to completely change them? I mean... For instance, if your heart number is a one and you find that that reading is so, if you make a conscious effort to change yourself to a three, for example, can you ever re-write your heart, or personality, or whatever core aspects of yourself that you have if you feel that one of the other numbers better describes the type of person you want to be?"

"Professor,"Reese said."I do need help with what we learned in class.I have no idea how to do it."

Professor Shackleton grinned as Saylie asked for cocoa. It seemed she had found someone who enjoyed the beverage as much as she did. She replied smartly, "What kind of question is that? Of course there's cocoa! There's always cocoa!" Macadrian winked playfully at Saylie as she removed her wand from her robes, aimed at the pot of cocoa warming over the fire, and effortlessly levitated the pot over to the table between the arm chairs. She rested it down on a cloth pot holder and then retrieved several mugs from the cabinet. As she poured Saylie's cocoa, she asked, "Would you like some caramel or mint to flavor it?"

Professor Shackleton sympathized with the girl's frustration, knowing her to be a very good student and that a lack of understanding in a subject like Arithmancy was probably quite annoying to someone so quick to understand most things. In an attempt to alleviate her frustration, Macadrian replied as she poured the girl some cocoa, "I will do everything in my power to ensure that you understand everything I've taught and are fully prepared for your O.W.L. examinations. And don't be embarassed. I'm here to help and there is no need to be embarassed when asking for help. It doesn't admit weakness; it shows awareness and dedication - awareness of your own faults is a very wise trait and dedication to overcoming those faults is quite admirable. So no more worries about being embarassed, ok?"

Professor Shackleton was quite glad to see that she had put Xana at ease about Arithmancy and its complexities. In response to her question, Shackleton thought for a moment and explained, "Well, you wouldn't actually be able to literally change the numbers because your actual birth name and birth date can't change; however, that is not to say that you can't strive to be more like another number's qualities. Think of it this way, your original core tells you what traits you were brought into this world with, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't strive for the others. It just means you have less work to do in those areas! If someone was an eight and was extremely successful in business and money, but often neglected their family and love, that person shouldn't simply say 'Well, I'm an eight so I don't need anything but financial success.' That person should say,'I'm an eight so finances come easy to me, but spending time with my family may be more of a challenge. Now that I'm aware of that, I need to make sure I devote my energies to that area of my life.' Does that make sense?"

Saylie grinned, "It's a perfectly good question, a complete one, it even had a question mark!" She replied as she accepted the cocoa, "Mint would be lovely, Professor, thanks." She said in a softer voice, enjoying the scent of the cocoa.

She sat back in her chair and listened as the Professor explained to the other students. Maybe she would learn something new, or some new way to apply the knowledge if she listened to the explanations and questions of the other students.

She beamed... this clarified things for her. While arithmancy would not likely replace potions or herbology as favourite subjects, Professor Shackleton was quickly becoming one of her favourite professors for her approachable nature and for being open to critical analysis of her subject. "Absolutely! That completely makes sense! It's not what you have to be, but it's what you might have to work with-- the things inherent in your nature from birth? " She nodded. "So in your philosophy, ideally, you tend to analyze the numbers that show what tools you are in possession of, and use the information on other numbers to address your own path to personal growth? Am I understanding that?"