Reaching up to his hair, Jake quickly ruffled the mess to flatten it out, smiling a little. "Cheers," he said, shrugging slightly. "It'll be brown again by summer. Been pink a whole year already."

And with that, Jake found a desk and flopped down into it, taking his bag off and chucking his hat onto the desk. He pulled out his textbook and stretched his arms out, showing how oversized his shirt was with the way it completely covered his hands.

Walking into the classroom and sitting down next to Brody, Sylvia was somewhat nervous for the first lesson of the term, she never expected it to start so quickly. She smiled at the professor, and nudged Brody and smiled at her.

Professor Shackleton greeted the last few students who entered her classroom and then made her way to the front of the room by the podium. Her lesson plan was laid out before her, as a reference to prevent skipping over anything important.

"Good morning, my dears. Welcome to Arithmancy! I see both new and returning faces amongst us, for which I am very happy. Those of you who are returning, I take your presence to mean that you either enjoyed this subject enough to wish to take it again, or your parents are not allowing you to drop it. Either way, I am grateful for your presence. New students - I welcome you to a subject that I hold very dear to my heart, a subject that can reveal more about yourself than you've ever acknowledged and that can guide you into your futures."

"Let me tell you a bit about myself. My name is Macadrian Shackleton-Clark and I am, quite obviously, your Arithmancy professor. I have been teaching this subject at Hogwarts for six years with this being my seventh year as instructor. Prior to accepting this post, I was a cursebreaker for Gringotts and also conducted research about the magical propeties of many numbers. I still do some research, though my other school duties have made that a bit more challenging. Being the advisor for the Gobstones club and the student publication, the Quill, can be rather time consuming! But enough about me, let's get to Arithmancy!"

Professor Shackleton-Clark asked the classroom, "Would one of the returning students or anyone who has read the first chapter of the textbook be willing to explain to the class what exactly Arithmancy is?"

Herminny instantly raised her hand and said, "Arithmancy is the study of occult meanings in numbers and how they apply to human life".

When the professor officially started the lesson, LouAnn sat up straight and paid close attention to what was being said. Seeing that she only had a short amount of time to be a student here at Hogwarts, she wanted to make the most of everything, classes included. Professor Shackleton-Clark seemed like she had a huge list of qualifications, too, from being a cursebreaker to officiating Gobstones. LouAnn was pretty impressed by the woman standing before her.

Slowly, she raised her hand to answer. She hadn't read the textbook, or even thought about reading it for that matter, but her mother had done a bit of Arithmancy with her while LouAnn was being home-schooled. "Arithmancy deals with numbers and their magical aspects. We can study the numbers and figure out what they mean for us," she said.

Kyle Spoke,"Actually its the Studying Of occult meanings of numbers of means of dividing their influence of Human life. Meaning of Our own Life so these called,"Numbers" may help us to describe as so much toward the date of our birthday or organization of plans we have during the day to makes us well organized."

]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemondrop13

"Good morning, my dear. I had an absolutely delightful summer! Nearly perfect," save for the my hearing of the death of Professor Forrester, but let's not bring that up now. Going to pieces when you have a class to teach is not ideal. "I hope your summer was enjoyable as well!"

"Class, we'll get started officially in just a few more minutes."

Nodding automatically to Professor Shackleton, Rachel forced herself not to delve into the door Shackleton had just opened by mentioning Rachel's summer. No, that was something she was not supposed to think of.

Starting class? Perfect. As distractions go, Arithmancy was certainly one of the best. The sixth year rummaged in her bag for a few moments before finding the things she needed, and then spent a ridiculously long time arranging them on her desk, beside the parchmenys that Shackleton had laid out.

Time for the lesson to start!



Annnnd.. It did.

Shackleton-Clark? Rachel committed that little fact to memory and wondered if they'd still be allowed to call her just Shackleton. She hoped so since the extra Clark made the already long name even longer.

Opening her book, Rachel decided to allow others to answer this question... It was only fair - right?

Eh, what the heck. "Arithmancy is the study of numbers and what they mean for us. These numbers usually represent the values of letters in various words that have to do with us as well as dates of our birth."

Jake raised his hand as he looked at the professor, shaking back his sleeve as he did so. "Professor, to quote the book exactly 'Arithmancy is the branch of magic studying the occult meanings of numbers as a means of divining their influence on human life', but what that basically means is... I think... the way certain numbers to do with your name or birthdate, have an impact on someone's life or future. So you learn about yourself, like you said, and have an idea about the future and stuff."

He lowered his hand, biting on his lip. He soooooo couldn't remember the first Arithmancy class he'd had where they learnt what the book meant.

"Morning, everyone!" Ella exclaimed, ready to bring many house points to her house. With a flip of her brown hair, she sat herself in one of many desks. "Sorry if I'm late," she said quietly, smiling.

"Hey, Jake!" she called, recognizing the pink fluff. She waved.

Ginny ran in the classroom.''Hello everyone!Sorry If I'm late!''..she found a seat and she sat quickly...

Damon had his textbook already open to chapter 1 and was searching it carefully for the answer to professor's question. Damon looked and looked but noticed that many of the other students already had said their versions of what they thought was the answer. Damon waited patiently all the while ready to say the answer.

Sara meekly raised her hand and said, "The study of numbers and how they affect your life?"

Arithmancy.. Ella thought. The first chapter rang a bell. She raised her hand, ready to answer if chosen. She was polite enough not to shout out like most of the others. She reviewed the answer in her head, hoping not to get tongue-tied.

Deals with numbers.. effect on human life..

Woow, this woman was indeed very wise and successful! She had a brilliant past, and it seemed she'd be just as successful in the future. Evan hoped that he could be like her too.

This was easy. At least Evan remembered somethings from his father's teaching. He shot his hand in the air. "Arithmancy deals with numbers which have huge effect on human life. It explains these effects." He lowered his hand as he finished. He hoped it was the right answer.

Carter's hand shot up, but it seemed he was too slow, a lot of the other students had already answered. He lowered his hand and listened to what the other students said. (Which was what he was going to say too.) Then a few girls walked in late, one of them sat next to him. He smiled at her.

Ella smiled back. "You a first year too?" she asked quietly.

Raiden raised his hand slowly, eyes flickering from his book to the professor.

"Professor, Arithmancy is Number Divination; the word Arithmancy is actually from Greek words that mean 'number' and 'divination'. It's a study on how numbers affect your life and the things around you."

Kinda. Sorta. If he remembered correctly.

Sloane raised her hand tenatively but lowered it just as fast, the older students were very quick on the draw. No matter she was glad she was in her first class as a Hogwarts student.

Professor Shackleton's eyes narrowed as two students entered her classroom late and then announced their tardiness and one even tried talking in the middle of her lesson! She addressed them both, "Tardiness is unacceptable in my classroom, as is making a spectacle of your late arrival. I'm deducting two points from Gryffindor for your tardiness, a modest amount since it is the first day of class. And another point from Gryffindor for Ms. Westwick's continual disruptions. Chatting while I am holding my lesson is not allowed. If you wish to be social, do it on your own time. Now please get out your textbooks and direct your attention to my lesson."

Macadrian really hated having to be strict because she is normally such a kind-hearted person, but she had a job to do and that included disciplinary actions when necessary.

"Very good. Two points to Gryffindor."

"Also correct. Two points to the Badgers!"

"Absolutely right, Ms. Rider. One point to Ravenclaw."


Macadrian addressed the class, "As your classmates have stated, Arithmancy is the study how the numbers in our names and our birth dates affect our lives through their very significant magical properties. Each number has its own energy, whether high or low, and the combined effects of these energies impact who we are and how we live."

Professor Shackleton stepped forward and picked up a leather journal off her own desk, though her journal was not nearly as new as the ones placed before the students. "Each of you has been given a journal, in which I want you to record your Arithmancy Profile. For every calculation we do in this class this year, next year, and until you graduate from Hogwarts, I'd like for you to record it in this journal, so that you may have a complete profile by the time you leave these walls. And with that complete profile, I hope you also achieve a more complete understanding of who you are and how your numbers relate to influence your life. For those students who are already in their later years at Hogwarts, you are already equipped with the knowledge to calculate a rather lengthy profile and I hope that you will enter your knowledge into your journal.

"Are there any questions before we continue with the lesson?"

"Sorry, professor," Ella said quietly, very embarrassed. Her first class and already lost points! At least she read her textbooks. Head down, face red. Ugh.

Kyle raised his hand and Spoke..
"How has Arithmacy helped you Proffesor?"
he said Anxiously..

COOOOL! Journals were wicked-awesome.

Jake, who had suck faaaaaaar down in his seat as Ella addressed him after she came in late, picked himself back up and plucked his journal up from the desk. Looking over it, Jake quickly glanced up again and shook his head 'no' in response to the 'do you have questions?' question.

Alexandra cracked a smile, this really seemed quite interesting! She was extremely excited to get started on her journal!

Tori looked to her left and saw a few of her Gryffindor friends.Tori sat quietly listening to her classmates answer. She quickly realized that this was going to be one of the troublesome subjects as she wasn't very good with numbers. Tori wasn't as excited to getted on her journal.

Fallon had been sitting silentally in the class since before it began. When she walked in earlier, she took a seat next to Evan. Once class started, she listened in as everyone talked about what Aritmancy was. Fallon looked at the journal that was in front of her. This is going to be great!