Raiden raised his hand slowly. "Uhm... I think the two majour groups are the major and minor arcana, sir... The major arcana cards tend to carry more weight than the minor, and they have more meaningful pictures on them, too..."

Qaz raised her hand and replied, 'There is the Major Arcana, 22 cards linked most probably to Greek Mythology and the Minor Arcana, , 56 cards divided between four suits, which represent the 4 basic elements of the universe: Fire, Water, Air and Earth.'

Distractions, Willow had always thought, should not be allow inside a classroom. However, there were always those kind of distractions that could not really be. . . controlled? The kind that weren't considered distractions by everyone. Or at least she certainly hoped that her distraction wasn't considered one by the rest of the Hogwarts population

And then she snapped out of it, her forest green eyes blinking a couple of time at the same time that a slight frown appeared on her forehead.

Failing to notice that Juniper Goodwin had taken seat next to her, or that Issy had greeted her, Willow attemtped to focus on what Professor Kapoor was talking about. Her hand shot to the air, "Well, there is the Major Arcana that was first used by Paul Christian and consists of twenty two cards, and then there is the Minor Arcana that consists of fifty six cards." That made no sense. The minor one had more cards than the major one? Weird. Or maybe it did make sense, and Willow had been just too distacted during the time Kapoor had explained it.

Stupid Distraction.

"Very good answers, you three. Take two points."

"Yes. One point to each of you for your answers." He snatched the floating chalk with his right hand and began to spell a name out on the board.
"Before we actually get into the elements, I'd like you to note a gentleman by the name of Jean-Baptiste Alliette. Jean-Baptiste Alliette, or Etteilla, was a notable French occultist who is most often credited with establishing a system of occult correspondences. That is to say, it was he that defined that relationship that says fire is positive and water is negative, and that planets, colours, astrological signs have an assigned translation between each category. For instance, the numbers on the major arcana." He said, picking up a deck from his desk and holding out one card. "The elusive Fool card. What number is usually assigned to this card?"

Again, Issy's hand rose into the air. "The fool is numbered either 0, or even XXII," she said.

Qaz raised her hand and replied, 'The Fool is usually 0...which is easy to remember if you think of a fool having 0 brains.'

"Sir, the Fool is the First Card of the Major Arcana, but, in a twist, it is numbered Zero," Tobi said with his hand in the air.

Dominic raised his hand again, surprised at himself that he knew this much so far. "The fool card," is amusing? "Is usually assigned to the number zero."

Professor Kapoor waited to hear from a few more students before continuing. He took note of who was answering what.

Pleased to see that she'd earned two points, Anna raised her hand once again. "The number zero is assigned to the Fool Card," she said. Anna thought about the Fool Card for just a moment. She really had no idea what it meant or why it was labled as a "fool," but she had read that the number zero was assigned to it. Hmm..guess all the extra reading she did up there in the Common Room was starting to pay off.

Raiden raised his hand. "The Fool card usually gets assigned a zero, Professor." He thought for a moment. "I keep remembering reading something about infinite potential, but I can't remember exactly..."

Cedric raised his hand,"The fool card or the jester usually numbered 0...and zero is perfectly signifies the fools.."Cedric answered

Jane thought of the 'Joker' card in the Muggle deck of playing cards when Professor Kapoor talked about the 'Fool' card. She was about to answer : It has no number but the other students answered something else first. Luckily they did, if not, she might risk losing points for her house. She pursed her lips and waited to learn more about this..Tarot cards-..thing. She started on her notes, so as to not be lost later.

Daniel raised his hand and said, "Professor the 'Fool card' is numbered "0" signifying its infinite possibilities."

Sakura raised her hand slightly. "The number assigned to the fool is zero. The reason for this is to signify the infinite possibilities of the card. Also it is the first card of the major arcana."

For some weird reason, Evangeline actually was sorta understanding all of this Divination business so far (which, trust me, didn't happen so often), and she couldnt really let it pass her by could she? Nope. And that was why she raised her arm in order to answer. "The number associated with the Fool Card is zero, Sir." The Prefect replied, but then stopped, wondering whether or not to go on. Deciding to say a bit more - after all, she had to use what she had read - she smiled. "From what I've read, that's because the number zero isn't really anything on its own. It can become anything."

Cela copied down the notes about the french occultist and listened with interest. Nico was right about Kapoor being pretty darn cool. She listened to the other students answer and nodded emphatically, being aware of the answer herself.

Still, she felt it was important to answer too, so she raised her hand "The number associated with the fool card-- even though some people argue the fact that it is a number in the first place-- is zero. I guess its one of the similarities between divination and arithmancy that zero can represent infinite possibilities and burgeoning potential."

Celandine beamed, happy to have an excuse to use interesting words. "The association between the fool and the number zero is about new beginnings, but it is also about starting over, second chances and movement along the path of life in general, even if the 'fool' has 'zero' experience or direction."

Chris smiled as the question was asked. His grandma used the tarot. He raised his hand with an answer "The Fool card is numbered "0" to signify its infinite possibilities."

Helios was at the back of the class, arms folded over a broad chest in defiance.

"Cards...it's all about the luck of the draw.."

The prince was muttering. He wanted clear predictions, not vague guess work.

Cela raised her hand again as a thought occurred to her, "Professor, it kind of makes sense for the fool to be represented by zero. It's the first card of the major Arcana, right? And when we count we start out with nothing before we even get to number one. Thats how we measure time too. So I guess the reason zero is associated with beginnings and infinite possibilities is because at the start of time, or of a journey, things haven't happened yet. In relation to the fool I guess sometimes we can be a bit foolish in our hopes for what might happen, even if we do look at it with rose-tinted glasses sometimes."

Celandine slapped both hands over her mouth, willing herself to keep her observations internalised. What if Professor Kapoor didn't want to hear her musings? Thats what her journal was for! "Sorry Professor." Celandine told him, idly wondering if maybe he had some of that coconut ice left.

"Yes. One point to each of you for your answers." He snatched the floating chalk with his right hand and began to spell a name out on the board.
"Before we actually get into the elements, I'd like you to note a gentleman by the name of Jean-Baptiste Alliette. Jean-Baptiste Alliette, or Etteilla, was a notable French occultist who is most often credited with establishing a system of occult correspondences. That is to say, it was he that defined that relationship that says fire is positive and water is negative, and that planets, colours, astrological signs have an assigned translation between each category. For instance, the numbers on the major arcana." He said, picking up a deck from his desk and holding out one card. "The elusive Fool card. What number is usually assigned to this card?"[/QUOTE]

Herminny raised her hand and said, "The elusive fool card's number is 0, which makes sense cause the fool would have hard time getting anywhere in life cause there completely spontaneous acting on a whim, never knowing what the heck it is there doing and there only hope is to stumble upon something great, he certainly won't find it by normal means".

"That fool bloke's card is a big, fat ZERO!" Clifford raised his hand and bounced in his seat excitedly. He'd had one too many chocolate frogs before lesson started.. ah well. "OOH OOOH! I think it's a big, fat zero 'cos it's the first card in the arcanawhatsit." It made sense, didn't it? YUP!

Miranda turned and watched Clifford, in what was obviously a pretty sugar-rushed state. Or maybe he's always like that...

Turning back to her notebook, she began to scribble down things with her quill. Fool = O Zeroooo. Yeah, easy enough. Snort.

"The number associated with the fool card is zero." Miles said with his hand in the air. "Most of the time, the card is unnumbered, but now and then there may be a lickle 0 on it, just to let people know." He smiled. Wasn't it obvious? If the fool had no number?

Natka raised her hand. "The Fool's card is usually connected with zero, Professor."