Cedric just finish eating his peppermint candy then he raised his hand,"Using your birth certificate,of course,cause the certificate one contains very exact and original infos about you while some names that we are using for years is just like the case of misspelling and maybe they are nicknames given for us when we are such a baby.."

"Anyway,In other cases,Certificates also has errors cause sometimes the one who is writing about the infos of people's name were misspelled the name of the people so your parents need to contact the administrator of that sort of thing so they can sort your misspelled named on you're birth certificate."

"This is very true. Take a toad!" With a short toss, Macadrian launched a peppermint toad toward Dem, Grace, Ash and Aaron.

"Both? You're also right, thought for not quite the right reason. I appreciate your effort, so have a candy!"

"You are precisely correct! Yes! Excellent insight! Take two peppermint toads for that!

"Class, if you know your original birth name and you were adopted and given a new name, you use the original name to figure your official profile. Consider the original name the true essence of who you are. However, you will also want to figure a second profile for your adopted name, which is the energy you drew to you to work within this lifetime. In this type of situation, you will certainly have grown up living out the adopted name and so you'll want to see what energy has been influencing your life with this name. Then, with the two profiles you can piece together the story of who you really are."

"Aha! You both are thinking ahead! That was going to be my next question! If you don't know your original name and have only the adopted name to work with, you won't be working with your true essence, but rather with the influences of your adopted name. Your Destiny Number would indicate the type of energy and influence your adopted name has brought you in this life. It is not unusual for adopted children to sometimes feel unclear about who they are. Many Arithmancers would argue that without knowledge of their original names, these individuals may be experiencing a 'lost self.'"

Quickly shuffling over to her desk, Professor Shackleton took a sip from her mug, jotted a note about housepoints, and asked the next question, "So, what do we do with those babies who were given a name at birth and then their parents had a revelation and changed the baby's name within a day or two after birth? How do we handle this situation?"

Varius raised his hand, "I think it would rely on the first name put on the birth certificate, whether that is the first name the parents chose or the name they decided upon later."

"... and then when the baby gets older... have them chastise their parents for being so darn indecisive!"

Aaron thought hard about this one. Tricky. "Ma'am, you would go with the new name, because your original parents with the same experiences obviously went through more experiences to decide a name change. thus, changing your Destiny number. Had they no gone through those new experiences, your life would be a lot different." Shazam! Great answer.

Herminny raised her hand and said, "So many intresting scenarios this class but in this case yet again there is an original birth certificate name and according to the expression/destiny number that is the name to use regardless.".

Satine raised her hand, "Professor, I have to agree with Aaron, you would go with the new name because the parents are still the ones in charge of the name and they may have seen something that fits the child better, but only if they haven't put a name on a certificate yet. However, if the parents had already put the first name on the birth certificate and then changed it, they should use the first name." wow she hoped that made sense out loud.

Naomi was not sure of which name was to be used but she liked the idea of the second one. "I agree with Satine and Aaron, you would use the second name."

Up to this point Mariel had been unusually silent in Arithmancy class because, quite honestly, she was slightly confused. She wasn't sure which name to use for any of Professor Shackleton's questions because she could see the rationale in using either. So instead of voicing her answers which would have just seemed confuddled anyway, she settled for furiously scribbling down notes on her parchment. She may not have had the correct answer to begin with, but she would have it in her notes.

Upon hearing the last question, the 14 year old though for a moment, then listened to the others' contributions. Raising her hand, she offered, "I agree with..." random Gryffindor boy whose name she did not know "him." She gestured towards Fyo. He had made a good point about the second name being on the birth certificate. "You would go with what was listed on the birth certificate..." At least that's what seemed to be the current trend with the answers today, "but if the parents changed their child's name so close to birth, couldn't they have the name changed on the birth certificate? I mean, it could be reissued, right? And then you would go by that changed document... I think." Completely unsure now, she put her hand down and readied her quill to write down the correct answer in her notes.

Cedric raised his hand again,"The other parents can process about the late registration thing so the first one will be ignored and the latest will be the exact thing."

Trixie slowly raised up her quivvering hand. Arithmancy was never her strong point. "Well I guess that original name on their birth certificate since that is what the baby was known as at first. They were about to take on life with that name and the change of the baby's name was an abrupt change. So changing the name does not influence it." She was not sure if she was correct but it was worth a go.

Victoria put her hand up "Professor, you would use the first name they picked because it would be the name on the birth certificate."

Demetria shoved the peppermint toad in her mouth and thought over the question. Ooo that's a toughy..... after swallowing the delicious candy, she raised her hand. "They would still use their original name, wouldn't they professor? If it was the original name they were givin, even if the parents changed it afterwards, then that is the name they should use. Or, like you said before, couldn't they maybe combine the two names and put them together?" she asked. "Oh I have a question." she raised her hand again. "I know this is kind of a weird question, but what if the child was givin a name, then the parents changed it, then they were adopted? Would they combine all three names?" she asked.

Entirely impressed by the students' reasoning and not surprised that there was a fairly even split amongst opinions, Professor Shackleton clarified, "Ready for the official answer? If the name change was made official and the birth certificate was also changed shortly after birth, the NEW name is considered your original name. If no change was ever made on the birth certificate, than the first name would be considered the original name. You will, however, find it interesting to work out the "would-be" name in either scenario and see what energy that name would have carried for you.

"Points to the houses whose students answered correctly. Also, everyone gets a peppermint toad for trying - just come up here and reach in the bag."

"As you might expect, whichever name is officially on the birth certificate is the official name to be interpreted. Combining them would not be appropriate in that situation, but determining them separately would certainly be interesting."


"I have two more scenarios for you. First one, what if your name has a Jr. or Sr. or uses Roman numerals after your name? Do you include them in your calculations?"

Victoria walked over to get a peppermint toad, she went back to her desk and thought about the next question.

Satine took a bite of her toad as she thought about the answer to the Professor's question and then finally raised her hand. "Professor, thanks for the great treats today! I think you would have to factor them into your final calculations because these extras to your name also make you who you are in the future." she put her hand down and ate the rest of her treat! these were amazing!

Herminny put yet anoth pepermint imp in her bag because as stange as it may be she was not a child who liked sweets much. She listened to the next question and then raised her hand to give her two-sense and said, "Yes, I do believe you would caculate the jr or sr or Roman numeral into the caculation because it does appear on the birth certificate and it is part of the persons identity. But professor I have a question, how would one caculate Roman numerals with there name to get there destint/expresion number. I mean Roman numerals have no letters to get a number from Pythagorian number system so would you just treat it as a number, or use the number word like I-1-one to figure it out?".

Iris decided that there was no use shying away, she might was well give her opinions too - after all, Aaron and Satine were, those two were brilliant today! Iris was slightly jealous of the answers they had given, she wouldn't have worded her answers that well. So she raised her hand, "Miss, um. Professor, I think it would depend on a couple of factors, for example, If I were Iris Jr. - which I am not - and my parents and family called my such, then I think I would use that in my calculations, as I acknoledge the 'Jr.' every day, However, if my Family just called me 'Iris' and only had the 'Jr.' on my birth Certificate, then I would not include them in my calculations, as the title, I guess you can call it a title, isn't ever actually used, and therefore woundn't affect me directly. Like, I could have been bullied for the formality of the 'Jr.', which would ultimately change what would happen to me, in terms of family, social and career lifes." Iris said all of this rather quickly, and really hoped that it made sense. She looked to Professor Shackleton, and then to Aaron and Satine, and gave them both smiles of relief.

Aaron looked over at Iris as she gave her answer. When she was done Aaron mouthed the words good job to her. Unfortunetly, Aaron had a different opinion.

He raised his hand and said, "Professor, I think it would be whatever is on the birth certificate. If there are jr.'s and roman numerals then I think you would calculate it. By the way, professor. Are there jr.'s and roman numerals on birth certificates?" Aaron didn't even know if they were or not.

He looked over at Iris again to see how she thought of his answer.

Mariel nodded at the younger Slytherin boy's answer. It seemed as if you always went with what was on the birth certificate. "Again, I think you should go with what's on the birth certificate," she offered with a raise of her hand. "I think Junior and the like may be found on the official record... But not Senior since that child's parents would have no way of knowing if he would go on to have his own child or even name him after himself, so that wouldn't be on a birth certificate." Shrugging as she thought she might be rambling a bit, the 14 year old turned back to her notes.

"Professor, I think that you would use the Jr. in your name because it is a part of your name, that is on your birth certificate" Ash said raising her hand