Biting down on his lip, Jake headed into the classroom and avoided looking up to the front of the room altogether. Barely registering what was being said, he sat at the very BACK of the room (something he never EVER did) and allowed himself to gaze out of the window. Shackleton now scared him. Ever since... the whole discussion thing.

Shudder.

Wait... book?

Meh, everything got flooded and Jake was certain other people were having that problem. Maybe someone WITH a book would be willing to share.

"Hey Professor," Jake said quietly, and it was glaringly obvious that he was no longer his bouncy hyper self. More like... a zombie.

Cyrus walked into Arithmancy with his usual energy. He gave the Professor a salute before he realized that she had her eyes closed, maybe she didn’t feel well? Cy figured it best to leave as is. Pressing his lips together tightly, because he was itching to talk, he found himself a seat in the middle of the classroom.

Cam walked into the Arithmancy classroom, his eyes first setting on the professor. "Hi Professah," he greeted calmly and took a seat, waiting for the class to begin.

William walked into the classroom his spirits rather at odds with his emotions. He looked up to see the professor sitting there and smiled, "Good day professor." He said in a sickly sweet false voice as he turned and looked to see who all was there. Steering himself as far away from the one person he didn't want to see he moved to the edge of the room, sitting near the front taking out his textbook.

Sigh

Thomas walked into the classroom with two books, three rolled up parchments and his inkwell. He randomly picked a free seat on the second row. He put all his stuff on the table and sat on the chair. Thomas organized the table and picked up one of the books. He read some parts of the book while he was waiting for the class to start.

Wesley didn't like Divination. But she did like Arithmancy.

Maybe it was the fact that everything always came out positive.

Or maybe it was just being able to work with solid, dependable numbers.

What-ever-the case, the tiny first year hurried into the class room, almost just waved, but then decided on saying, "Hello Professer." instead. Wesley figured, if she was in a bad mood, she'd want people to say hi to her, because she probably wouldn't notice them waving.

Looking around for an empty spot in the back, the 11-year-old began to move to the empty corner, not wanting to sit next to Jake (having yet to move on after the fainting incident). But then, warily watching him, she noticed he didn't have a book.

Biting her lip, she almost walked over by him and offered to share hers, which had arrived just the other day from Father and Mother. But she couldn't do it. It was... too embarrassing.

So in the end, much the coward, she took an empty seat in the corner, pulled out her text book, and started to read.

...

"The Soul Number, also known as the Heart's” Jake needs a textbook. I have a textbook. It would be mean to just not share. He’d hate me even more…but…but…I CAN’T!... “Desire and the Soul Urge Number, is an element of the Core that describes” I’m being so mean. He’s sitting there. He looks sad. I don’t want to be mean. I don’t want him to hate me. But I’ll walk over, and he’ll look at me, and he’ll hate me because I hurt him. I headbutted him, and he hates me. And he’s never going to forgive me. So I should just sit here. He’s popular. One of his friends will share… “your secret thoughts and wishes - what you long for in” But what if his friends don’t have a textbook? What if they all get sick and can’t come to class? And then he won’t be able to read. And then he’ll be sad. And it’ll be my fault because I have a textbook, but I didn’t share. And he’ll hate me. But I don’t want to… “your heart of hearts and what is your dearest desire. This number”
...

One minute later, after unsuccessfully reading the first sentence and a little of the next, Wesley picked up her books, and shuffled over to her fellow Hufflepuff, hands sweating.

Biting her lip, she stuttered, "H-hi J-jake. D-do y-you w-w-want t-to sh-share t-text-b-books?"

The child could taste the blood on her lip, from where she had bit. It didn't taste salty. Wesley wondered why everyone said blood was salty.

Wow third lesson of the year already Arithmancy already Herminny thought as she entered the classroom and took a seat and took out her textbook and turned to the chapter on soul and personality numbers as instructed.

With three lessons, Arithmancy was Grace's number one class. She loved the professor as well as the lesson. She happily walked in and greeted the professor cheerfully. "Hello professor." But her eyes were closed. She quickly found a seat while taking out her book. Luckily, Arithmancy book wasn't lost in this flood thing. She opened the chapter professor had told them to open and waited.

Watching the everchanging clouds outside the window, Jake seemed to kind of drift off into his own thoughts for a while, not paying much attention to anything else. When his attention WAS finally caught, it took Jake a few seconds to really register where he was. He blinked... and turned...

That girl... she looked... familiar. Alot of things had happened since the beginning of the school year, including his sudden outbreak of paranoia, which had blown alot of his memories just away from his mind. But still... this girl knew his name and she was stuttering almost as bad as he had been when he'd jumped in the lake. And that was in the middle of winter.

"Hi..." he murmured, blinking up at the girl, trying to think of the name. Through his mind things were jumping out at him. Kayla in hogsmeade, Kayla last year, Kayla and Dominic last year... Dominic this year... Dominic's new co-prefect to replace Kayla... their first act of prefectdom in the Common room, when a first year had- "Wesley. Hi Wesley."

When this very first year had fainted. Jake could also remember a pain in his nose, and seeing this girl up close... but... naaahhhhh, it couldn't be. "Erm... I'd be up for sharing, if that means... I can use yours. I don't have textbooks."

... he was very... specific in his understanding of speech. Especially now. "Erm... please."

That WORD was so INFURIATING! It was like... the word of his life.

Erm.

Iris practically skipped into Arithmancy, she was really enjoying this lesson. She made her way over to Grace and sat down next to her. "Hello Professor!" she said as she took her book out and opened it to the right page and began to read.

Arthimancy. That was that subject that involved thinking and numbers right? Oh boy. At least his Head of House taught it AND she likes good ties which is why he wore a pretty one, with DOLPHINS on it. Dolphins were fun AND spiffy.

He took a seat and waited for the lesson to begin.

Wesley watched, wide eyed, as Jake just...looked at her for a while. In that brief moment her head was whirling with thoughts, He hates me. He hates me so much. He's swallowing his disgust in order to make some room for words. Word of hate. He's going to say no. Then he's going to say he hates me. And I'm going to go back to my chair. And I'm not going to cry. Because I deserve it. Because I deserve being hated. Because I hurt him. And I am a bad girl. I am a very bad girl. And I-

Oh. Her lips formed that silent word as she blinked, caught of guard. Jake said hi. He said hi to me, he said my name, and he didn't say he hates me.

Blinking rapidly, she closed her mouth, smiled shyly, and said, "S-sure! Sure thing!"

Taking a seat, she pulled out her book, turned to the correct page, and pushed it closer to him.

"Ummm...c-can you see?" Wesley asked anxiously, tilting her head to the side, wondering if it was close enough for him to read too.

Watching the girl's every move, Jake refrained from tilting his head, something he seemed to manage everytime he observed others. He must have looked odd, no longer blinking, but just watching. Fishy eyyyyyyyyyes, yo.

Glancing down at the book, Jake ensured he could in fact see the words and he nodded, looking back out of the window as he did so, giving a delayed "Yeah-huh," as confirmation out loud.

Rubbing her temples once more, Professor Shackleton brought her hands down upon the desk and pushed herself to her feet. She spoke in a quiet but clear voice, "Shall we begin our lesson, then? We're going to open with a discussion of the Soul Number. I'd like those of you willing to share one fact about the Soul Number with the class to do so now. I'd prefer for this lesson to be more of a discussion than a lecture, so feel free to comment on each other's points if you think it would expand our understanding of the Soul Number. I'll be sure to chime in to clarify points or add bits and pieces I think pertinent. Who'd like to start us off?"

Luckily, Cy was already on this page in his textbook. His dark eyes dropped to the pages to see what it was, and he read it off... slightly twisting the text into his own words. "Uhh, Soul number shows yah' your secret ambitions. Sometimes you might not even be aware of these ambitions. Deepest, maybe even darkest dreams are found in this numbah'." He nodded furvently.

Cy's ambition was to take over the world, maybe he number would prove that? If it didn't prove that, then it was obviously lying...

Herminny raised her hand and said, "The soul number tells you what you're hearts desire is." She wanted to add more because she was beginning to think Arithmancy was bull but wanted to urn her house points not loose them

Thomas raised his hand and said," I think the soul number can tell us what our heart desire's, our true motivation, what we love best, what we need to feed for our soul, and what you value most from it." Thomas hoped that his answer was correct.

Demetria raised her hand. "The soul number tells your hearts desire, dreams, and ambitions. Sort of like what you love to do or dream of doing in the future." she explained. "Oh and it tells you what feeds your soul." she added.

Cedric raised his hand,"It shows your ambition and what you aim in life and the abilities that will help you along that path."He answered.He wonders what his ambition,to be a prof or auror.Whatever it is,He don't want to think about it and talk about it cause he's enjoying his life as a kid

Professor Shackleton wrote notes on the board of all the things the students were saying that she agreed were important to note, as well as adding a few things of her own here and there:

She was quite pleased with the information her students had shared. She decided to add a small bit of information herself, "There are times when the Soul Number will dominate your energy and subordinate all other traits and characteristics, even that of other Core Numbers. When this happens, your Soul Number will pull you toward people and places that resonate with your own energy. These instances are asking you to hear the song of your soul and to nurture and feed the very core of your being.

"Then, there will be other times when your soul energy will lie dormant or possibly be repressed and suppressed by your current situation. Eventually though, your soul energy will awaken with renewed force, changing the direction of your life. These times, when your soul seems to call out to you in anguish have been referred to as the 'dark night of the soul'."

Allowing them to scribble their own notes, Professor Shackleton paused before asking, "What are some areas in which people might use the information that the Soul Number reveals? Let's discuss that. What areas and why?"

Oooh, Arithmancy. Fyo raised his hand, clearly in a good mood. Because, you know, he LOVED Arithmancy as much as he loved chocolate. Honestly! Numbers were just so.. WarmFuzzyCuuute.

"Professor, since the soul number reveals your innermost desires and priorities, I'm sure people could use it to sort out confusing matters of the heart," he began. "I mean.. how about if you want to know if you're ready to give up your career for someone you love? Or if you're ready to leave a job you love because it isn't giving you the chance to make progress? Your soul number could help you decide what your true desire is, what you value more - the career or the person; the job or the progress."

Iris picked up her quill and wrote the notes down that Professor Shackleton put on the board then put her quill down and listened to what she was saying. Iris looked down and scimmed through the text book again before raising her hand, "Um... Could you use you soul number when you are thinkingg about what kind of career you want to go into? Because Nubmer 8's, for example are told here that 'they would want to be the boss or at last have power of some kind in the world'. So they would maybe think that they would sucseed in a Political career over, I dunno, a small business for even though you would be the boss of your own business, there would be little world wide power involved." Iris sighed and hoped that her answer made sense out loud.

"Professor, could I please add something?" Fyo asked, raising his hand again. "It just occurred to me.. We can put the soul number in use when starting relationships, too. It could help us decide what kind of people we really want around us, or what type of friends we wish to make and have. Not to mention the "class" of people we genuinely fit into, and the kind of company we feel comfortable in," he added, thoughtfully.

William put his hand up, not quite sure on his answer, "could you use your soul number to determine if the path you choose is right? I mean it is about your heart and soul, so if your heart really isn't into what you're doing then you could possibly change what you're doing to something else, something you enjoy." He replied, before adding, "but what if you don't know what you value most?" He asked, more to himself than to the professor. Oh he so wasn't feeling this class today.