Arithmancy Two: Family Name & Growth Numbers
 

The classroom had been restored to its original order since the last lesson, with the chairs and desks now in neat rows. Professor Hadley was sitting at the front, looking slightly tired around the eyes, but nonetheless she was chipper as she greeted you as you took your seats.

On the board behind her though, you'll find the following written:

Quote:

FAMILY What does this mean to you? Jot down a few words in your notebooks as you think about this.

ooc: we'll begin in about an hour =) Keep chatting to a minimum. You know the rules. ;D Lesson has begun. Please PRETEND as if you've been there the whole time if you didn't get to play coming in.

Lesson Progression
* What are the Different Types of Families?
* Make an acrostic using your character's surname and traits about your character's family.
* Calculate the Family Name Number - Using a historical figure from your house.
* What number is indicative of your greatest potential for self-actualization . . .
* Why does the Growth Number relate more to the Family Name Number than the Life Path, according to Professor Hadley?
* Calculate the Growth Number for the historical figure you used before...

Ella entered the Arithmancy classroom with a smile and greeted Professor Hadley. "Hi Professor, how are you?" She took a seat at a desk in the front, placing her bag on the floor. She read the board and pulled out her notebook, thinking about how to answer the question that was written there. She pulled out her quill and began to jot down things that came to her mind.

Keefer skipped toward the classroom, excited for the next Arithmancy lesson. The first one had been truly excellent.

So, it was with some sadness that he observed Professor Hadley. She doesn't look so good. I wonder if she's ok?

"Hullo, Professor Hadley. How are you doing today?"

He set his things down at a desk in the front row and got out parchment, ink, and quill. He scribbled "Arithmancy Lesson 2" at the top of the page, then "Family" underneath it. Ooo, I wonder what we'll be talking about today!

Minerva walked into class. "Hello Professor Hadley. Hope you are doing well today." she made her way to a seat and pulled out her parchment.

Sophie skipped happily into the classroom. "Good day, Professor Hadley!" She waved as she took a seat.

Oh! They were talking about family today, it seemed! Lovely! Pulling parchment, a quill and an ink pot out of her bag, Sophie jot down her thoughts.

Oakey entered the Arithmancy classroom and saw that Professor Hadley was seemed a little out of it today. None-the-less he greeted her in his cheery voice. Good Day Professor Hadley He smiled then took his seat closest to the windows. He took out his parchment and quill and and looked at the board. Family huh? Oakey thought. then proceeded to write.


This was exactly what Oakey's family is. He isn't related to any of the Gunters, and Aegis is only Harvey's nephew. The only motherly figure they have in their household is Harvey's mother who desperately try's to give Harvey a proper family.

Alyssa walked into the Arithmancy classroom glad to see that she wasn't late. She quickly walked up and greeted her Head of House. "Hello Professor Hadley. I'm looking forward to another interesting brain draining lesson today."Alyssa told her before looking around to see who was already in class.

She noticed Oakey writing in his journal, so she silently sat in the desk to him not wanting to disturb him. It was then that she noticed that the Professor had written something on the board.

'So that was why everybody in class was busy writing in their journals.'Alyssa thought to herself wondering why the Professor had asked that but proceeded to write down in her journal what family meant to her.



Once she was done writing and noticed that Oakey had to, she whispered. "Hi Oakey. I hope it's okay if I sit next to you? "

Ugh.

Arithmancy.

This was one of Sierra's least favorite classes, but it honestly wasn't Hadley's fault. She just didn't like numbers. Or calculating them. Or interpreting them. Or...well, you get the point.

She walked into the room and gave the professor then tiniest of smiles. As in, her lips curled up just a tiny bit before falling once again. As Sierra slid into her seat, she glanced up and saw the topic they were meant to write about. Hmm...this was actually a topic she didn't mind writing about now that she had a family she actually got along with.

She pulled out all her materials, dipped her quill in ink, and began:

Family means a lot more to me now than it used to. Now, I actually love being around my family and look forward to summer and winter breaks from school. Of course, I have family here at school, too, but what I mean is the time away from school when we can just spend time together and do fun things as a group. My dad and my new mom understand me more than anyone else I know.

Arithmancy, kinda like mathematics but also kinda different... Lily liked Arithmancy. it wasn't her favorite nor her second favorite but it was up there. Walking in to the classroom, Lily stole a look around. It still looked kinda empty and it seemed that almost everyone was writing. As she reached the Professor, she noticed that Professor Hadley looked exhausted. "Hello Professor Hadley. Are you sure you are feeling alright?" Lily asked with a smile that turned into a worried look. Was the professor going to feel up to teaching at the moment? Lily didn't know what else to do so she proceeded to her seat and pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill.

Justin walked into the classroom with a smile. " Hello, Professor Hadley. I'm looking foward to this lesson. " he said as he bowed slightly before finding a seat near Minerva. Then sat down and took out his textbook and a sheet of parchemment and his ink well and quill. He was ready for learning what the professor had for them.

Raven walked to the Arithmancy classroom. Well, she was healthy enough to attended a class. She entered the classroom and greeted the Professor.

"Good day Professor Hadley." she smiled. Then she sat at the middle and noticed that Professor Hadley had written something on the board.

Raven took her notebooks and started thinking about family. How meaningful was family to her?

Zhenya walked into arithmancy, and said "hello professor Hadley, how are you?" she asked.

She went and took a seat next to Raven and said "hey Raven," and pulled out her quill

What did family mean to her? Hmm cuddles and love, good food, special occasions, security... What else?

for Treyen too
 

Entering the classroom, Kurumi's face was brighter than usual. Numbers. Nice and straight forward numbers that were nothing more than...numbers? Or something like that. The stability and consistency that came with the subject that Kurumi desperately needed right now. Taking her usual seat right in front Kurumi smiled widely at Professor Hadley. "Good day, professor," she said, setting her things out on the desk. Once she had a piece of parchment and quill ready, Kurumi looked at the board and...




...her face fell.




Family? What did family mean to her? This had to be some sort of joke, right? What happened to straight forward numbers? Adding one plus one to get two? Kurumi's expression went from cheerful to emotionless quicker than anyone could say cookie, and the numbness that had clouded her daily routine since the holidays hung over her like a dark rain cloud only visible to her.

She didn't want to write about what she thought family meant to her. She didn't want to think about it. Her family was...falling apart...

Kurumi simply wrote her name, date, and lesson title at the top of her parchment, and then tried to force herself to brainstorm ideas...but she only got as far as writing the 'f' in family before setting her quill down. She just couldn't do it...

Family to her right now...only meant tears.

Harvey walked into the classroom his second Arithmancy lesson of the year.. he saw that Professor Hadley was there looking a little tired but still there and her usual cheerful self as she greeted other students that were entering class "Good day Professor Hadley.. how are you?" he asked as he took his seat and looked at the board for their first question.. what did family mean to him.. hmm.. he then put his quill to parchment and began to write.

Quote:

Family: Family are people who support you in all your decisions. Show you what is right and what is wrong and steer you in the right direction. Family is always there for you ready on standby to help when you require their help.. be there for you all the time even in the darkest of hours. Family always want you to be happy in everything you do.

He wrote this much down.. it was all that came to mind for now.. he wondered why the professor had asked them to do that.. why write down what your family means to you.. well the answer lay in the lesson ahead so he got ready for the lesson to start.

Another Arithmancy lesson. Good. Want to know what else was good? That he got in time to the classroom and was able to pick any desk he wanted. Or the one next to Kurumi, which was the one he needed if he wanted her help.

And he needed it.

So, one greeting went to Hadley, the other to the Gryffindor Prefect. "Hello, Professor." He smiled, failing to truly notice his Head of House mood today.

Next, he went over to his former seat, the one next to Kurumi, "Hey, Prefect." A smile was sent her way, and he didn't pay much attention to her frozen state, he thought she'd been answering some question Hadley asked her. Totally normal.

Until he saw the board.

Oh, family? His eyes were back on Kurumi. "You okay there?" NO, he knew she wasn't okay, but it was only an expression, okay? Because he wasn't going to be asking for specifics when the rest of the class could be listening in.

Granted, he wrote his piece.

Ellie wasn't particularly happy or upset about Arithmancy. It was just...whatever today. And at least it wasn't Defense. And at least she was coming at her own free will. See that, Arya Lovegoods?

So she continued into the classroom, took her usual seat, and followed the instructions on the board. Like a good little student.

What did 'Family' mean to her? Well...



Yeah.

Noticing a sweet chipper young puff enter the room, she nodded politely. "I'm alright. You know." She smiled, doing her best to conceal signs of fatigue.

And there was her captain. Of course. Why must people ask the obvious how are you? Scratching at her temple absently, she forced a smile at the sixth year too. "Alright. You know."

"Can't complain." Besides, not that anyone really, genuinely wanted to listen anyway, if she did.



"Hello, good day..." she greeted politely back to those KIND, KIND students who decided to be simple and NOT nosy.


Again, another student asked how she was, and for the first time, Fina felt like snapping. But she didn't. "I'm alright." She said simply, instead.

Are you feeling alright? What kind of question was THAT? She felt like saying no, but again, stopped herself. "I'm pleasant enough to teach a lesson, if that's what you mean." In other words, she wasn't getting out of a lesson .....

.......

Once it appeared as if most of the students who normally attended her lessons were seated and had jotted down a few notes about the topic on the board, Fina rose from her own seat and stood, leaning back gently against her desk.

"We'll just get started then..." Fina said, flicking her wand and closing the door, she set her wand beside her on her desk, resting her hand over it. "So... Family... There's actually many different types of families. Please, feel free to name them as you think of them. Just name one type though...." Gotta give others a chance.

Kurumi only slightly registered that Treyen had sat down next to her and his initial greeting went entirely in one ear and out the other. It was only when he asked her if she was alright that it really sunk in that he was there. All she could do was shake her head and look back at her parchment.

She usually loved Arithmancy. One of her favorite subjects...but not today. Now she wished she had stayed in bed with the covered pulled up high over her head and Walnut attempting to cheer her up by purring on the pillow beside her head.

When Professor Hadley officially started the lesson and asked what sort of families there were. Kurumi nearly lost it and shut her eyes tight for just a moment, passing it off hopefully that she was just thinking. She needed to think of something far and away from what images the word family brought to her mind. She couldn't even look Professor Hadley in the face right now.

Slowly...she raised her hand, eyes still on her parchment and waited for her turn to speak. "A family is a taxonomic rank," she said softly, lowering her hand as she finished.

Alyssa thought for a moment before raising her hand. "Professor, there is the single parent family, where there's only either a Mom or Dad, taking care of the household."

Well.. Types of family? Raven didn't know much about family. But she tried to answer. She raised her hand and answered.

"Well.. How about extended family, Professor." she said.

"A.. childless type of family. The parents may have had kids but didn't want them for the long run so either they do live with their parents and are greatly ignored... " Adam stopped himself as he said that, but he gained his speech back and continued, "Or the parents rely on other family to actually take care of their children."

He hated the idea of a irresponsable parents having kids and then not doing what they had decided to do and nurture and have their children grow. Why put someone through the pain if they knew they wouldn't be willing to attempt it.

How odd that today's lesson was about families when so much had just recently happened with Sierra's own family. At first, she didn't realize what the professor was talking about, though. Types of family...members? What?

Then she heard some of the others answering and raised her hand. "There's families made possible through adoption," she suggested, and then she lowered her hand. Really though, adopted children, like Sierra, usually ended up seeing their adopted parents as their real parents. So in a way, if you looked at it like that, adopted families were more like traditional father-mother families.

Types of Family's? Oakey pushed his hand in the air to answer. They're are Foster Family's Yeah he could have said the typical Family or whatever but he went with what he grew up with.

Families? Strange, thought Silvia. What do families have to do with arithmancy? Unless they were going to calculate the life path number of the people in their family, but that still didn't explain why they were discussing types of families.

She raised her hand. "I think one of the most common types is when you just have the parents and children living together, no aunts and uncles or grandparents. I think it's called a...a nuclear family?" Just like her family; just her mom and dad and her brother.

A taxonomic rank? Well then, someone was bitter clearly when it came to discussing families. "Perhaps true, but a family is also one of the best taxonomic ranks you'll have." Even if they didn't appreciate their family now, which many didn't, they would.

Dysfunctional family? Yes, she'd go for that one. "In some sense... I think that every type of family is dysfunctional. It doesn't matter whether it's step family, adoptive, biological.... there is dysfunction to families. And I also think that it's this dysfunction that makes ... families more ... real."

"Nuclear family. Or in other words, the biological family." The main sort of family, in some sense. You've got the mum, dad, and kids.

"Yes. That is definitely a type of family. It can be a single parent family for any number of reasons too..." Maybe one parent had a job traveling all the time. Or their parent died. Or their parents split up. Who knew?

"Extended family...yes... Because it's not just your immediate family that is family." Your aunts and uncles were family too, even if sometimes you wished they weren't.

Adoptive. Yes. For some reason or other, that actually made Hadley think on Hogwarts family. "Like your family here, at Hogwarts. In some sense or other, your Hogwarts family is like your adopted family." Truth. Really.

Why did the Gryffindor Prefect seem soo.... depressed when he talked about that? What was up with BOTH Gryffindor Prefects actually? Were they neglected children? For whatever the reason, Hadley couldn't put her finger on it.

But she nodded. That was a type of family, after all. Both types. The neglectful parents and then the childless parents.


Well then. Someone was ready to start working on numbers. "There are. There are also plants called families too." See! Herbology and Arithmancy WERE linked! If nothing else than the fact they both had families in common!

"Step-families are a type of family, so yes," Fina said, nodding at the Hufflepuff, curiously wondering about that too.

Adoptive families. Yes. Someone mentioned that already, so Fina just nodded about that.

But foster families. Now that on the other hand, was slightly different from adoptive. Kind of the same idea, but not. "Yes, foster families is a type of a family."

Most common, yes, was probably the nuclear. "But that doesn't mean that the other types of families don't exist." Besides someone mentioned nuclear family already.


***

Right then. Now that they had some ideas and views about types of families that existed in the world .... "Family comes from the Latin word, familia and in essence it is a group of people affiliated in some way or another, either by co-inhabiting the same residence, biologically related through marriage, or sometimes even friendships can be construed as a family." Hadley paused a moment. "Families, yes, while traditionally speaking they are a mother, father, and children.... as your basic nuclear family, can be anything. They can be your role models. They can be your teammates. Your housemates. Your neighbors. Your pets. Family is, really anything you want it to be. It's not just about living under the same roof and sharing DNA, but it's about affiliation. Connection. Mutual love and respect for one another."

She paused again, looking around the room. "So before we get to the calculations involved in today's lesson, I want you to write your own surname down on your parchment and come up with a word or phrase for each each letter in your surname. In an acrostic style. Something that you think is important to you or your family. I'll put an example of my own name on the board."

Heartwarming
An Italian
Deliberate in actions
Lovely. Most of the time.
Even can relate to you.
Your turn now!

ooc: so yea, do a line-down acrostic with your surnames and traits that YOU think your character's family holds. No numbers .... yet. You'll have ... until sometime tomorrow, the 16th to work on this. At least 8 hours ....

Alyssa listened as the Professor pointed out what family was all about. She was still puzzled as to why knowing what families were had anything to do with Arithmancy, but Alyssa knew that the Professor always had a purpose to everything she did, so she obediently wrote down the letters of her last name and gave a word or a phrase to each letter. She thought long and hard about how she felt about her family and what she thought made them special

bitter? pfft, Hadley is so wrong
 

Kurumi didn't particularly like the tone in Professor Hadley's response to her. She felt judged...misjudged...and it did not help Kurumi's mood at all. Best ranks you'll ever have...yeah, family was one of those things...but it did not feel that way when a member of it was...

Kurumi stopped herself. Tears burning the corners of her eyes. Only Treyen knew what was going on with her right now, and she was glad that he was back to sitting next to her. This was going to be hard to get through and Kurumi had to force herself to stay in her seat instead of just picking up her things and running out of the room right then and there.

When someone mentioned a single parent home...Kurumi whimpered softly under her breath. That was going to be her home soon...and not by anyone's choice...
Kurumi winced when she heard the word that she knew would be coming: mother. It strung more than words could express. Kurumi had found herself unable to say it for over a month now, not even bringing it up when she had spoken to Treyen. It had always been she or her then, and Kurumi was afraid to say the word. Almost as if in doing so it would cause harm.

And then the assignment came and Kurumi's eyes flicked towards the door again. Did she HAVE to do this part? Yes, Professor Hadley had just said that a family didn't just mean your flesh and blood, but could be friendships and other such things...but Kurumi's mind just couldn't get away from her own.

Sluggishly, Kurumi picked up her quill and brought it down on her parchment. She pressed down so lightly that it was a wonder any ink came out of the quill at all.


Kurumi set her quill down and stared at her parchment...more specifically, she stared at the word 'restorative' that she had written. Yes, the support of her family - especially her brothers - had been what had healed her most and she chewed on her bottom lip. Too bad that the same thing that could happen with the spirit couldn't happen with the body.

Kurumi hung her head, eyes sort of coming in and out of focus, while she waited for class to move on. Hopefully the next steps would involve numbers...although, Kurumi had the sinking feeling they were going to do something with their Family Name number...which they had done a few terms back. That lesson had brought her to tears as well since she didn't know who she was then...who her father really was...now, she was on the verge of tears for another reason entirely.

They had to do a poem about their family? Well that didn't really sound too much like Arithmancy. Wasn't it supposed to be about numbers? Well, Indy didn't mind that much. This would be fun. Acrostic poems. Indy had gone them before, and she had thought she was pretty epic at them. So now she had to do one. With her last name? Oh dearie me. Why did she have such a long last name. Oh dear parents of mine. But then her frist name was really long too, so it didn't really matter that much. She'd get on with it now. So she wouldn't hold the class up hahaha

SPOILER!!: parchment

Herbolody
Understanding
Troublesome
Caw. Caw. Ravenclaw
Highly loyal
In it to win it. Quidditch that is. Obviously.
Not easily Scared Unless you're Lafay. Then I'm scared
Sporty
On the ball. The Qudditch Ball that is.
Needless to say. We rock.

Ooooh. Indy had done. She liked her poem. It seemed pretty epic. Indy smiled, putting down her quill. Task done. Yaay.

Acrostics done at 2am FTW xD
 

Hmm, Professor Hadley doesn't seem like she's in a very good mood, Stella thought, even as the discussion had started, about the different types of families. She had stayed quiet, not even really taking any notes even though her parchment from the earlier contemplation was still out on her desk. She still didn't see the connection between family and Arithmancy, unless they were going to study more about family numbers or something to that effect. She thought there was something like that, and reached down for her textbook to check. At least the ultimate definition that the professor had given about family seemed to work with her idea from earlier. That it wasn't just parents and siblings. She still didn'tknow what relevance that had to numbers.

She set her textbook down again, unopened, as they'd been tasked to write an acrostic with their own last name as the subject. Maybe Professor Hadley had heard about their Muggle Studies homework from earlier in the term. Although she hadn't done that part of it, so she wasn't really looking forward to trying it now. Especially not if it had to be with her own name. She started writing something on the parchment under her earlier scribbling, though, after a couple more moments of fidgeting with her ring, figuring she might as well get it over with. Hopefully they weren't going to be graded on what it said, because she'd much rather just focus on Arithmancy.

SPOILER!!: hehe

Generally loving
Artistic
Respect for each other
Discerning
Independent
Never too judgmental
Entertaining
Ready for anything

Jory began his acrostic. It was made up with qualities both of his families possessed and some about himself. Especially the "Always in a good mood'' part which he always was.

S- Stands up for what’s right.
T- Tolerable ;)
O- Open minded
N- Never judges anyone
E- Eager mind
W- Weak at Arithmancy
A-Always in a good mood
L- Loves food
L- Lives with a perfect family

Sophie didn't really understand what Professor Hadley meant by first question, so just listened as her classmates replied. Oh, okay then. She played close attention to the next instructions. Aw, no numbers yet? At least they were doing something fun!

Pulling her parchment closer, she grabbed her quill and dipper it in her ink pot.

Ella liked this lesson already. She loved her family and any talk about them or families in general made her think of home. Now what would she say in her acrostic?

Nessie dislikes her family, but she's here xD
 

Meh, this sort of topic was not what Nessie felt like talking about. She didn't like her family, and she had her reasons for her hate. They always just pretended to be so perfect, and it bugged Nessie that they'd rather lie than be unperfect like everyone else.Once again the thought of March came back into Nessie's mind, she wasn't looking forward to it, it just meant more family trouble.

Half listeing, half not Nessie lay her head on her desk facing Adam, as he focused on Hadley. She knew he had it rough too when it came to family, probably even tougher than she did, but he seemed to be alright with the topic unlike herself. He was obviously tougher, in the inside where it mattered to be strong.

Anyway, everyone seemed to have started with their writing, which was why Ness decided to do the same. She peered over to see if Adam had started but seeing as he didn't she looked at the persons work behind her. So they had to write their family surname in acrostic style. Shouldn't be too hard, if you had nice things to say that was. Renesmee stared at her notes for a few moments and yes she had added an E before the X, but that was because there was not a single word she could think of that would suit X for her family.It didn't matter though, because what she had written, was all a lie, none of those things were true anyway. Her lips formed their usual pout, it wasn't good to lie and truthfuly Ness had had enough of her parents' rubbish, which was why she crossed out her work and started all over again.There that was how it really was, Ness frowned some more as she put her head back in her hands that we're now lying on the desk. Right now, all she wanted to do was get as far away from this topic as she could, but that wasn't very easy to do at the moment.

Tayla didn't get the chance to raise her hand and answer Professor Hadley's question about families, but she wrote down her ideas in her notebook. She smiled as she thought of her family. She missed her little sister April, and her parents, too, of course.

Finally done, Tayla left her quill in her ink bottle and got ready to show her work to the professor.

Harvey wrote down the types of families that existed on his parchment and listened to what the professor said about the answers and about family. He listened as she talked about how there other types of family who may not be related to him by DNA.. such as housemates, friends, pets, role models etc.. but the one that stuck with Harvey the most was friends.. his friends were his family while he was here.. and some were like family even away from school. He then listened as Hadley explained what to do in the next activity. Hmm.. an acrostic.. he could do that.. his name was not that long.. oh! his surname! well that was not long either.. he then watched as the professor did her own.. yeah he could do that.. not bad.. he then got to work and worked on that acrostic. He would write one for not JUST his biological family but also his family that included his friends.. at this he looked at Justin and Minnie.. and he smiled.. and his professors.. he looked at Hadley and smiled.. he then looked at his parchment and started writing.



He looked at his parchment.. there he was done.. that was what they were supposed to do.. right?.. a family acrostic.. and Hadley DID say family isnt just family that share DNA its other types of families too.. so he had in this acrostic.. his biological family, friends and professors. He then waited for the professor to continue the lesson

Oakey put his quill to paper. and wrote out his last name going down

Acrostic? :whaa:

Well... Raven was not too good in words because she didn't like writing literature. But...

Yeah.. I'll try she murmured. Taking her note, she tried to write about her family.

She did miss her family now. But she tried to hide her unhappy face.

Silvia wrote her last name on her parchment and then paused for a moment. What words could she use to describe her family? It was difficult to think of words off the top of her head, especially when they had to start with specific letters. After a few minutes however she started to write:



She wasn't entirely sure what this had to do with Arithmancy, but she was sure that the professor had a good reason for it.

Oh. So now they were supposed to write their last name and find words that described his family with the first letter of his last name. Adam sighed heavily, he kind of had difficult names but not to mention his parents were very harsh towards him.

B- Bad Tempered
U-UNLOVING
R-Rude
N-Neglectful

He wrote all of the words with such hate that he managed to rip out a small hole on unloving and neglectful the most. Looking over to his side he saw Nessie looking at his paper. Adam smiled awkwardly and tried to slyly move his paper to the corner of the table so she couldn't see so well.

Spike looked at the Professor, jaw slightly agape in disbelief. He had to write an acrostic? Did she know how long his surname was? He glanced across to Indy, wondering what she was scribbling down. She was so much better at words than he was. Gahhh. He wrote his name down the side, and then doodled round the edge of his parchment as he tried to work out what words to use. Spiders, brooms, snakes, random squiggles...they all appeared before the poem. Hmm...

Keefer continued scribbling down students' responses and Hadley's responses to them. Sometimes her comments clarified, and other times they confused. But maybe they would make more sense later.

His ears perked up on the mention of the term 'acrostic,' as they had done one of those for Muggle Studies earlier in the year. Ooo, I like making these!

He drew a line in his notes and carefully wrote down his last name. M-A-R-I-U-S. Now, what are some things that are important to my family? Well, the A was easy. We breed Abraxans, after all. But the others were more challenging.



He examined his work. Man, how did I come from this family, again? For Keefer was surely not serious, reserved, or even under control sometimes. I guess that just shows that genes aren't everything!

Catching up!
 

What does family mean to her? Well it meant several different things to her and changed a lot depending on her mood or if one of her many siblings irritated her lately. She thought about it for awile and decided to write down the family to her meant loving, and understanding. I mean her family had to love and understand her for all of the things she and her siblings have done in the past...otherwise she was sure that she would not be sitting here in this class.





Hannah thought about this for a moment and then her hand shot in the air. "Professor what about immediate family?" This is a word she heard often spoken by her parents I mean sure all of her family is from a noble and pureblood line, but her parents always harped on the fact that the immediate family mattered the most when it came to how they acted.





Did the Professor realize just how long her name was and she had three o's in there...how was she going to think of three different words?

Loyal
Outstanding
Careful
Keeps to themselves
Wary of others
Offensive
Outspoken
Doesn't let others walk on them


Hannah wasn't sure about the offensive part...I mean others think the Lockwood's are offensive when it comes to blood status and muggle things, but it's not our fault if somebody doesn't agree with us!

Sean sat there for a minute or two. He was thinking hard, trying to figure out what to write. He had a few ideas, but they didn't start with the right letters! Where were the numbers, numbers are so much easier to understand! He then started writing, hoping he had it figured out.

Admittedly when the Arithmancy Professor started speaking about family the first thought that entered Vicker's head was the taxonomic ranking. Perhaps it had something to do with the recent nature of many of their classes. Or maybe its just how the Ravenclaw's brain is wired.

He started scribbling his last name down on the parchment, filling in a few letters randomly. Acrostics wasnt his strongest suite, hence his choosing another option for Muggle Studies. From time to time he would look towards the windows trying to find words that can describe his family without it sounding self-serving. Finally it was the words his grandmother kept repeating over and over to him, drilling in him the "Vanderbilt Virtues" that she says was essential to preserving the reputation of their ancestry.

Zhenya sat and listened to everyone who came up with answers to the family types. She had thought of a few, but every time she went to put her hand up, someone had said it. To the ones she didn't think of, she wrote down on her parchment. They all sounded really interesting and she wanted to remember them.

And then they moved on to a different task, an acoustic about her family. Okay, so what would she write? She began writing her last name down the line, and then thought of different things and added them.

Alec tilted his head and blinked up at Hadley. The Professor seemed to know a lot about family. No wonder she was the Hufflepuff Head of House, where everyone did seem like family from Day One. But... he was a Hufflepuff as well and he didn't know a thing about family.

And he didn't know how to write an acrostic either. The word sounded like something gymnasts would do. So Alec looked down at his parchment and scratched his nose with his quill. He had to write something... and the first place to start was with his surname.

SPOILER!!: Alec's Acrostic! ... Hey, they're both A's!

Supportive
Unbelievably loyal
Makes me feel happy to be with them
Mind-boggling sometimes
Energetic
Reliable
Super awesome best boy friend to Anya

... And that had taken quite some time. Of course, Anya had to be in his acrostic somewhere. And it was a pity he didn't have a 'K' in his name. Kite flying just had to miss out now. Part of it was all him and part of it was about his dad, his only family. But that was that and he couldn't think of anything else to write. ... Hadley wouldn't mind it being lame, would she?

Sierra says it's too bad she can't just copy Alex's. XD
 

Poetry.

POETRY?! Really, Hadley?! Sierra guessed this had something to do with Arithmancy, but Merlin only knew what. Sierra peered at Alex, who was sitting across the room. It was really too bad that she couldn't just copy her brother's. Bahhh. Now then. Time to come up with something that was important to her family that also went along with the letters in Greingoth. Too bad there was no P in her last name. Power would have gone great there. Neverless, Sierra sipped her quill in ink and wrote:

Things Important to the Greingoths

G etting ahead of others
R ich in power
E verything at our fingertips
I ndependent, so as not to rely on others
N othing can stop us
G reatness is what we aim for
O urselves (that's who we look our for)
T alented in Quidditch
H ecate Lafay Greingoth

Acrostics? Anya loved these! In fact, she had one hanging above her bed at home. It was of her first name though. And it had Disney Princesses on them. So she really couldn't use it for class. She'd have to come up with something else.

She pondered for a minute on what the Professor said. Something important to her...

She spelled out her last name on her parchment and got to work. The first two were pretty easy. The next one stumped her. In fact... the more she went on the more distracted she got. And so... Anya just put the first thing that came to mind down before moving on to the next few letters.

She smiled a little when she got to the letter S. She wrote down the last name of her very best friend. That was the first thing that came to mind. And next to her last name itself, was the most important thing on the paper. And probably the thing that defined her the most.

Then she went back to the one that she skipped and wrote something more appropriate.

She reread her list before smiling. Perfect.

Kurumi sighed under her breath and picked up her quill again. She knew it...Family Name Number...again. Kurumi didn't really want to keep on thinking about her family and "discovering hidden meanings behind it" through numbers. She just wanted to add things together and maybe try to predict the future of her OWL results.

When Professor Hadley asked how the number was found, Kurumi set her quill to her parchment and wrote down from memory.


Sorry, Professor Hadley, she was not in a speaking mood right now.

Numbers! FINALLY! YAY!

Sophie really wanted to get to this part, but had no idea of how to calculate it. She would just wait until someone else answered so she would be able to get to work!

Tapping her fingers on her desk, she kicked her legs as she watched the others replying.

Vashti was certain she had looked over this number recently when she was studying for her NEWTs, but she had to take a moment to recall the way to calculate it. When she had, she raised a hand. "You have to assign a number to each letter in your last name. Then you add them together and, if the number you get isn't a Master Number, you reduce it into a single digit number." Quite simple, really.

Noticing Kurumi's silence, Fina looked at the fifth year curiously as she began to jot down notes. To which she couldn't help but peer over the girl's shoulder and nod, somehow wishing that the prefect would discover the courage to voice out her answers.

Well someone at least had the courage. Even his answer hadn't been entirely complete. "Except you forgot one thing. Where you get the numbers. Which of course, you get the the numbers from the Pythagorean Number System." But as per usual, they wouldn't be doing their own surnames just yet.

"Because your family that you've formed here at Hogwarts is so important," at least Fina thought it was. "I'd like you to pick a famous historical figure from your house, be it your house founder, or just simply someone from history who was in your house who you find .... inspirational, and calculate their Family Name Number. Knowing that this number reveals one's inner subconscious response to life, how do you think their family name number fit in with the way their life led?"


ooc: you may use your house founder's name. A name in history. I don't want you using a name from Harry Potter's generation though, if you can help it. Try and think back farther if possible =).

Playing catch up
 

Alyssa quickly jotted down what everyone was saying. She knew about how to calculate family numbers but since everybody had given the answer, she wasn't going to repeat herself. She knew that you assigned numbers to her last name using the Pythagorean Number System and added them up using the reducing method until you came up with one number or if it was a Master number then you didn't reduce it any further.

Then she heard the Professor tell them that they needed to pick somebody historical from their house and calculate their family name number. Hufflepuff. Who was famous and inspirational in Hufflepuff? Alyssa knew that most likely everybody would pick Helga Hufflepuff, so she decided to dig further back in history. Then she remembered Newton "Newt" Scamander. He wrote the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which was still used by all the students in Hogwarts. She had just finished reading that book in the Hufflepuff study tables a couple of weeks ago.

Taking out a parchment paper, Alyssa quickly calculated his Family Name Number.



Alyssa was going to reduce it further before she remembered that 33 was a Master Number. Referring to her textbook she wrote down what the number represented.

Alyssa realized that the Newt Scamander's family name number totally represented what he did in his life. His interests in beasts was encouraged by his own mother who bred Hippogriffs. He spent so much of his life travelling the globe, scouring for the existence of magical creatures all over the world. He just didn't keep all this knowledge to himself. He shared it will all the wizarding population. He spent his life dedicated to the study of magical beasts, Magizoology.

Alyssa wasn't sure whether she was supposed to provide her answer now, but raised her hand anyway and waited for the Professor to acknowledge her.

Famous historical Ravenclaws? Vickers paused for a moment then looked around at the other students in blue robes. What are the chances that they would all be figuring out Rowena or Helena Ravenclaw's name? Vickers dug through his bag and pulled out his textbook, leafing through historical figures who's Hogwarts house was fortunately mentioned.

Then he came across the name of Garrick Ollivander. He was Ravenclaw? But of course he would! That would make so much sense why his wands were the best.

Vickers started scribbling the famed wandmaker's name down, and started to do the calculations. When finished, he flipped open his Arthmancy book and noted down what the number equivalency meant....

Wow would you look at that...

Vickers raised his hand on the Professor's question "Professor, the Ravenclaw figure I selected is Garrick Ollivander. His family name number is 4, and it does fit him rather well because it was through hard work, thoroughness and self-discipline that he became the best wand maker this side of the Magical World. "

Kurumi noticed Professor Hadley give her a look, and the prefect wasn't sure how to take that particular look. She had the feeling that the Arithmancy professor was getting the wrong impression about her from this lesson...but matter of the family were really really hard to stomach right now.

Which is why come color returned to her face when she heard about just whose number they were going to be calculating right now. Someone from Gryffindor House? Kurumi's thoughts instantly went to one person who was actually still at the school and played an important role.

With the faintest of smiles tickling the corners of her lips, Kurumi set to working on her calculations.


Setting her quill down, Kurumi thought for a moment. That seemed to be rather fitting for what she knew about Sir Nicholas, but she couldn't help but laugh at the mention of spirit in the description since, well, he WAS a spirit now.

Hey, had she just laughed? Even if it had been soft and mostly to herself, she had in fact smiled. Just as long as calculations stayed in this direction, she would manage to get out of this lesson tear-free. She didn't speak just yet, however, choosing to remain in quiet contemplation for a while more.

So, they need to calculate the family number of a famous person in History? Raven thought about someone who was very famous in Slytherin. Then she took The famous potion master, Severus Snape.

Taking her quill, she started to write and count Snape family number



Then she asked Professor Hadley. "Is it correct, Professor?"

Family numbers? Sounded interesting. Silvia didn't know very many famous figures in her house other than its founder, so she went with that.



Well, the "artistic flair" part seemed accurate, since creativity was one of the Ravenclaw traits, as did "looking for what is possible." One could also say that she served her students by bestowing them with knowledge. Silvia didn't know that much about Ravenclaw's personality though, and, scanning the descriptions of the other numbers, she thought the number seven would have fit quite well.

The Family Name number. Stella simply nodded as the acrostic mess concluded and theyd gone back to Arithmancy. She had known there was something, and now she didn't have to go back to her textbook to remember what it was. Others had given the answer to the question of how they discovered their Family Name number, though, so she stayed quiet. Even if she was curious about what Professor Hadley had thought about their acrostics, there was no reason to go back to that. Not when they were finally doing something she thought was relevant.

It was definitely interesting that they'd been asked to calculate the numbers for a famous person from their House, though. She knew exactly who she could focus on, although indirectly she knew she was probably one of the only people who could do the assignment and still be focusing on her actual family as well. She didn't like thinking about that, since she felt like it inherantly meant she should have been better at certain subjects than she was, but at least she wouldn't have to fall back on the Founders. And she could always just come up with another excuse if she was asked why she'd picked that person. Picking up her quill again, she started doing her calculations underneath her previous work.

SPOILER!!: Family Name number

FANCOURT
6+1+5+3+6+3+9+2
35
3+5
8

EIGHT (8): You inherit an attitude about money and power that will cause you to seek recognition in business and finance. Your family name brings you the qualities of leadership, organization, a high value placed on success, competency, and doing a job well, as well a possibly inflated ego.

Glancing at her textbook finally, she copied down the description that was assigned to the number eight, then just sat there looking at it for a while. Superficially, she didn't really see how it related. Not to most of what she remembered, both from books and what her mother could tell her. The longer she looked at it, though, there were definitely parts of it that fit.

*joins in* :D
 

Lewis had been taking notes thoroughly for the last couple of minutes, trying to write everything down what the professor said. Somehow this whole family talk made some of his fellow classmates quite sad. And some of them were excited. He just couldn't really care less. It wasn't as if he was particularly proud of coming from his family but then again he didn't resent it either, so. Whatever.

They were supposed to pick an important former member of their house? Who to pick, who to pick? He had finally come to terms that he was going to have to stay here at Hogwarts so in the end he had in fact read all there was - or at least all the he could find - on Hogwarts. And therefore also on Hufflepuff. Did the Fat Friar have a last name? Was it Friar?

In the end Lewis picked Artemisia Lufkin. Mainly because she had been his first chocolate frog card ever and he liked her story. Soooo, now on to the calculations.

SPOILER!!: Family Name Number

L U F K I N
3 3 6 2 9 5

28 -> 2+8 = 10 -> 1+0 = 1

ONE (1): You inherit an independent spirit, a forceful nature, a strong will, and the ability to come up with original ideas.

Well, that interpretation seemed quite appropriate to the first female Minister of Magic.

Ella sat drumming her fingers no her desk, wondering who to pick from her house. She knew there were many great witches and wizards but was drawing a blank. Suddenly, as if a light bulb had gone off, Ella thought of someone. Duh! Helga Hufflepuff! She had founded the house so she was obviously the most important, right? With a person in mind, Ella began her calculations.



Then when she had calculated a number, Ella pulled her book out.

Sophie was eager to start. As soon as Professor Hadley gave the instructions, she started thinking about a famous Hufflepuff. She didn't want to use their founder's name, so she searched for some more Hufflepuffs in her mind. She remembered her father telling her once that Hogsmeade's founder was a Hufflepuff! Mr... something Woodcroft. Oh good! At least she remembered his last name!

Pulling her textbook closer, she opened it and started working.



She then looked at what it meant.



Hm. Okay. Now wait for further instructions!

Jory listened carefully to Professor Hadley's instructions before he began. He decided to use the Fat Friar and he hoped that was ok with the Professor.

Fat Friar
6+1+2+6+9+9+1+9
=43 =4+3
=7

Meaning: You inherit wisdom to be able to research and analise, you are investigative.

Major Catch up...
 

Minerva thought about her family and then she thought of the family that she had found this summer and put her hand up. "Professor I'm not sure what you would call this type of family, but it's people that your not related to at all. They are friends that take you in and protect you from danger and make you part of their family." yes that was a great family she thought.



Warm Hearts
Happy
Energetic
American
Typical family
Bubbly
On time
Real fun
Neat freaks
Minerva struggled with a few letters. Then she couldn't help but smile thinking of her family. She then thought of last term and their poem they had to write in the class and she glanced at Harvey. At least she wouldn't be embarrassed if they read them out loud this term.



Minerva put her hand up. "Professor to find the calculation we have to find the numbers for our last name and add them together. Once we get that single number we can find out what it means." every calculation had a meaning and that was the best part.



Minerva thought about different names and then she decided to just pick the obvious one even though others probably did it as well. Helga Hufflepuff. She took out her parchment and began to calculate
Parchment:

Minerva looked in her book and read what 8 meant.
Book Interesting Minerva thought.

Justin sat and thought of his family...The oddity of it and how his was so much different than the conventional idea of what a family is.As he thought on it he began to make a list.

Fiercly protective
Welcoming
Loving
Compassionate
amazingly optimistic
Proper to a fault

As Justin listed a few things the professor said they'd be exploring the meanings of their surnames...and of course calculations would be needed to do so.

Then they had to pick someone who was from there houses...of histrorical import... So, Justin thought of only one person....a distant cousin that would've been great if only not taken too soon. On his parchement he wrote out his calculation.


Then he opened his textbook to find out what the meaning was. as he read along he wrote that down on his sheet of parchement as well.

Hmm so they needed a famous historical figure from their house? Oakey wasn't to keen on Historical Figures but had remembered Granny Gunter always talking about how her husband always was such a history buff and that he knew everything there was to know about Grogan Stump a former Minister of Magic who belonged to the Hufflepuff house.

Oakey set his quill down and mentally laughed at the thought that this would fit any Minister of Magic.

Just as Harvey had finished his acrostic.. he couldnt help but feel that he was being watched or at least someone was looking at him.. so he looked around to see who it could be.. but upon looking around there was no-one looking at him.. they were all working on the acrostic or were waiting for the class to move on.. but he was sure that someone had been watching him or if not that then looking at him.. but he shook this feeling away he was just being silly.. if Gem was here in class then he would understand that.. but she wasnt.. so there was no-one else.. unless.. he then looked at Minnie.. she was finished and waiting for the class to move on.. nah.. she wouldnt look at him.. she had Justin now.. nah he was just being silly... He then listened as the professor spoke about the family name number.. and how at Hogwarts every claw was family and that they were to pick someone from history that was in their house that they found inspirational.. now Harvey being a muggle-born did not know anyone from his house except its founder.. he had never really read up on who else in history was a Ravenclaw.. so he decided to go with its founder.. Rowena Ravenclaw.. so he picked up his quill and set to work..



He then opened up his book to look up the meaning of this number



He read this and wondered if this applied to the founder.. if Rowena Ravenclaw was like this.. as he read it he realised one other thing.. this may or may not apply to the founder of his house.. but it somewhat applied to Harvey himself.. he was always concerned for others, he too had an emotional nature. He was very generous, yeah he always felt that he wanted to help all that were around him and many of them knew this and HAD in fact experienced him helping them.. so this was 50% or so him.. well.. he didnt expect that now.. well he had done it.. he then waited for the professor to move on with the lesson.. but he couldnt help but study that meaning further as he waited..

So... she didn't want them to use their own names yet? Well. She's right about at least one thing. Hufflepuff has become a second family to me. In a way he never could've expected.

So, who are some famous Hufflepuffs? Obviously Professor Longbottom, Cedric Diggory.. Helga Hufflepuff. But he wanted to use someone a bit less obvious. Oo, how about Newt Scamander?

A bit unsure of how to spell his name, he pulled out his Care of Magical Creatures textbook, which he happened to have with him. Yup, Scamander. He scribbled this name at the top of his parchment. Alright, now to assign numbers.



He perused the discussion in the text about what this meant. Well, his parents did instill in him a drive to learn all he could and do a good job in hi work. The observation, analysis, and perfectionism bit was all part of taking care of his hundreds of Abraxans. Though I'm not sure, then, if it comes with the job or from the family...

He wasn't sure how he felt about sharing the results aloud. He didn't mind if Hadley saw, but he wasn't going to blab it about for all the hear. This felt more... personal than usual. Wow, maybe I feel the need for privacy more than I thought! He laughed despite himself.

Glenn nodded to the teacher and turned over the page of her journal to a fresh page with no ink yet on the page. After, she took out her textbook from her bag and found the page that explained the family numbers. She completed her own quickly, curious to what it would mean before moving on to what their activity really was.



She thought hard about who she could use for her famous Hufflepuff member. Hmm. Oh! She had one that was very relevant to Arithmancy.



Oh, that seemed right. Universal truths counted as the properties of the number 7 too, right?

Tayla listened to the professor and her classmates, and opened her textbook to chapter twenty-seven. She read quietly. "The Family Name Number is calculated by assigning each letter in the surname with the appropriate number, then adding those numbers together and reducing the sum to a single digit, unless we get a Master Number, in which case we do not reduce."

Tayla decided to use her house founder's last name. She loved being a Gryffindor and was curious to know what the meaning of it's family name number would be. She took her quill and started to calculate.





After finishing her calculations, she consulted her textbook. Then she raised her hand. "Professor, if my calculations are correct, the family name number for 'Gryffindor' is five. According to our textbook, a five reveals that," she paused and started to read. "You inherit a belief that you shouldn't be fenced in, for you are a free spirit. Restrictions, limitations, routine challenge you. Travel and change are easy for you, and you are innately curious and a risk taker." Tayla looked up again and continued to speak. "I'm not sure if it describes Godric Gryffindor completely well, but I think him being a free spirit and a risk taker is quite true."

Keefer looked over his calculations again and realized he had made a mistake. Shoot, I assigned R to 1... it's supposed to be a 9... So it was time to start over again. Which was a shame really, because the number he had found fit his family fairly well.



He looked at the new meaning. Well, I do see helping others to be a priority.. which is probably why I got Sorted in Hufflepuff... And our family is definitely family-oriented! Another helped toward his Sorting, most likely. Though our family is pretty chill. I wouldn't say there is a stubborn streak anywhere, and we also aren't very vociferous about strong opinion. All in all, he thought the first number suited them better.

Then he happened to glance at the heading of his work. "Scamander. Wooooow... I was interpreting this in light of my own family both times." His cheeks flushed, he suddenly felt quite stupid.

Upon further reflection, he felt that a lot of the analysis he just did could be generalized. Many of these are Hufflepuff qualities, so I'm not surprised Scamander would be here. Family orientation, the importance of helping others, even problem solving skills. Yeah, a lot of it fits!

Semi-redemption!

Sierra looked from Gert to the professor as both of them started to explain the Family Name Number. It sounded easy enough, which was the good thing about Arithmancy. Sierra didn't think there were many good things about the subject, but at least the calculating part was easy.

Even if it did take years to do...

Okay, so she needed someone in her house, someone really old... Remembering one of the portraits hanging up around the castle, Sierra began to calculate the Family Name Number for Elizabeth Burke.

B U R K E
2 3 9 2 5

2 + 3 + 9 + 2 + 5= 21
2 + 1 = 3

Sierra double-checked her calculations then looked back to see what a number three meant.

THREE (3): You inherit a fun-loving, optmistic nature, a sense of humor, and a creative spirit.

Hmm. Sierra really didn't think the number three fit in with what she'd heard about Elizabeth Burke.

Supposedly, Burke was a pureblood who encouraged other purebloods to make fun of Muggles and call them a mudblood. I don't think a number three fits in well with her personality... Somehow, I just don't think many people would agree to her being fun-loving, optimitic, having a great sense of humor, or having a creative spirit.

And now was the time to walk around and check student's work. Noting Alyssa's hand raise first, Fina approached the third year and looked over her work. Scamander; interesting choice and she had to hand it to the girl for not picking the first to pop into her head, which likely would have been Helga.

And she even got the fact that Scamander had a Master Number. "Good, good."

Another non-ordinary historical figure was selected. Ollivander. "Yes, yes, good job and I do quite agree with you that his Family Name number was quite fitting for what he became in this world."

Hearing a subtle laugh, Fina looked over to the source and found Kurumi being curiously quiet. Approaching the fifth year, she glanced at her parchment, hoping to see an inkling of what was funny but noticed something else instead. Kurumi obviously was tired. "Uh.... for Porpington, the first 'O', you put a zero, rather than six..." But using one of the ghosts for their family name number; clever. Pity only half of them had confirmed family names.

"Quite right," she said nodding at the young snake who used the quite famous Potions Master from the 20th century.



Noting the few Hufflepuffs who of course did choose to use Helga, she nodded when the all seemed to come up with 8.



And then the students who used Ravenclaw, she glanced at their work, nodding again. Nine for Ravenclaw. Her thoughts wondered briefly for a moment about Slytherin and Gryffindor, but she figured, someone would do those, right? Maybe. It would be amusing if one was 6 and the other was 7 though.

And there was a name she hadn't read about in AWHILE. Fancourt. Perpetua Fancourt. Inventor of the lunascope. Nodding at Stella though and her calculations, she then moved on.

Another name she hadn't heard in awhile, but very important female figure. Fina nodded at Rasting and his calculations, which were quite accurate for Lufkin.

Ah, the Hogsmeade Founder!!! Good thinking Sophie, Fina nodded as she looked over her calculations. "One thing though, is that Woodcroft actually is master number 11, which has a separate meaning from the ordinary two."

And another student was done, to which Fina's eyebrow creased a bit. She was hoping that it wouldn't be attempted for the other two ghosts, but alas.... "Per Fat Friar, yes, 7 would be correct, except I don't believe Friar is his surname. I believe that was his first name." And 'Fat' was just a nickname he obtained over the years. "Unfortunately there's no historical evidence as to what the Friar's full name was, which is why calculating his family name number isn't really accurate. Same could be said for the Bloody Baron." Nickname again.

Seeing another student set their quill down, Fina approached and glanced over their work. Diggory. The famous Hufflepuff who died during the Triwizard Tournament that was just over 80 years ago. She nodded at Justin's work. Four was correct for the Diggory family.

Seeing another student finish up, Fina approached the young Ravenclaw and looked over her work, impressed at the young girl's use of such a long name. "Except that de Montemorency is actually Family Name Number of 11. Because 11 is a master number. See how before you reduced your total to a two, you had an 11?"

Seeing another student not reading through the textbook, Fina approached the Gryffindor and looked over his calculations. McGonagall. And yes, he was right on with his math.

And another Minister of Magic used. Also a Hufflepuff. See, whoever said Hufflepuffs didn't produce GOOD, VALUABLE leaders to society, was SADLY MISTAKEN. Honestly.

She nodded at Oakey and his calculations for Grogan Stump. An 8. Quite right.

Seeing another student finish writing, Fina looked over at her parchment and noted that she not only calculated for Bridget Wenlock, but for her own last name too. Hmph. Well she wasn't going to correct the girl on the fact that she got her own surname's number wrong. That's what she gets for jumping ahead.

But she calculated Wenlock's number; FINALLY, a Hufflepuff did so! And she even recognized the fact that the famous Arithmancer had a Master Number! "Good, good. On Bridget Wenlock's family name number anyway."

For a moment, Hadley's eyes grew wide in surprise as there was yet another historical figure with the number 11 as their Family Name Number. But upon looking closer at the Slytherin's work, she shook her head. "You missed the second 'L' in your calculation." So you know, not a Master Number after all.

Looking over at Vashti's work, Fina nodded at the girl's use of another historical figure who was Minister of Magic, this one though, not a Hufflepuff. And just for the sake of it - because it was longer than many - she even read her interpretation and had to crack at a smile at the Ravenclaw throwing the best parties bit. For some reason or other, her inner competitive side wanted to hold challenge to that, even if she didn't voice it. Instead she just nodded and moved onto the next student.

Ah and there was her student to calculate the family name number for Godric. Now what about Salazar? But alas, Godric's family name number was disappointingly NOT a 6 or 7. "Five is correct," Fina nodded at the girl's calculations.

As Keefer didn't look quite done by the time she was about to get around to looking at his parchment, she nodded and passed him by, letting him work just a bit longer. But this time, he looked done and she glanced at over at his parchment. Another Scamander was used, which she recalled from Alyssa's parchment of that he had a master number.

Something that Keefer failed to recognize. Even with his corrections.

"Uh... Keefer.... with your calculations, before you reduced to a 6, the answer was 33, which I do believe is a master number." Believe? She knew it.

Seeing another student set their quill down and re-reading notes/textbook, Fina approached the fourth year and glanced down at Sierra's parchment, half hoping to see Salazar Slytherin there, but disappointed when not. It was a historical figure. Someone different. Burke. Elizabeth Burke.

And her calculations were correct, to which Sierra received a similar nod as she'd given out before.


Alas, seeing as everyone - or nearly everyone - had done their calculations for a historical figure, Fina figured it time to move on, which she walked back up to the front.

"So now that it seems like many of you have figured out the Family Name number," Fina paused, waiting for any objections to this. "Which represents your inner subconscious to life, as seen in one's surname, we're going to move onto another number which is somewhat related. Keep those historical figures you calculated the family name number for in mind though." They would use it for the new number. "This number is indicative of your greatest potential for self-actualization as you journey through life. The textbook says it to be related to one of your core numbers, but I actually find that it goes better with your Family Name Number." Greatest potential.... inner subconscious.... it was all related, yes?

"So any guesses as to what number this is?"

Looking up from her parchment, Kurumi saw Professor Hadley looking over her work. A 0? Why had she even written that down in the first place? The number 0 wasn't even a part of the Pythagorean Number System to begin with. Picking up her quill again to fix her notes, Kurumi couldn't help but look up the number 0's meaning - mostly for her own curiosity. "Emptiness, change, decay, nothing..." she read from her textbook.

Yep, that sounded about right...

Wind knocked out of her sails and any hint of a smile that had been on her face removed, Kurmi lazily went to fix her calculations.

When she had finished, Kurumi set her quill down once more and sighed. This number seemed rather ironic as well. Perhaps, it meant that Sir Nicholas was actually right where he was supposed to be as a ghost? His greatest growth coming with spiritual understanding and all that...you couldn't get much more spiritual than being a spectrum, could you?
Kurumi looked up again when Professor Hadley asked another question of the class, but once again found herself too wrapped up in negative thoughts to feel like answering. It certainly sounded like your Growth Number, or the Key, from the way the Arithmancy professor was describing it. It was said to be related to one's Life Path Number which was part of the core.

Kurumi quietly wrote down Growth Number on her parchment and then set it back down on the table.

Lily was busy thinking of someone to do the math for, that was different. But she looked up, shocked when she saw the professor walking around to continue. I'd better just do Ravenclaw... Lily thought as she furiously wrote down on her paper.

Lily checked her math and then looked up just as the professor was asking the next question...
Raising her hand, Lily decided to take a guess at the question. "Could it be something like your greatest achievment number? like giving you a general idea of what you will be remembered for... or something like that..." Lily trailed off at the end. It had sounded brilliant in her head, but sounded horrible once she had said it. Her face fell, just thinking of what the professor would say to her answer.

Minerva sat quietly she looked through her book and then put her hand up. "Professor could it be something about family growth or achievement."

Watching Kurumi as she fixed her calculations, she frowned at the silence. Totally unlike the fifth year and though Fina suspected stuff was going on in her head, she knew better than to call the girl out on it in the middle of the lesson.

So instead she just did her best to let Kurumi be .... for now.

Greatest achievement number? Yes, wasn't that what she just said. "That's what it represents, but not the name for the number." Stealing another glance back at the Gryffindor, she was sure the girl knew it, but she kept quiet. And Fina wasn't going to press for the answer.

"Close.... Not family growth." There was no such number called that. "But the number I was inferring to is called the growth number." Yes. It's a chapter backwards in the textbook, but Fina thought it better to go over last names first.

"The Growth number, or the key, describes about how you further grow as your progress according to your life path. Why do you think I said it relates more to the Family Name Number than the Life Path?"

Jory listened to what Professor Hadley said. "Oh,'' he said disappointed. But quickly he grinned at her. "I'll go change it right now.''

Hufflepuff
8 3 6 6 3 5 7 3 6 6
8+3+6+6+3+5+7+3+6+6=53
5+3=8
You inherit an attitude for power which will cause you to seek recognition in relation to business as well as finance.

Jory raised his hand to answer the question. "Is it because it relates to you and your family possibly from generations, so it kinda passes down?'' "Like DNA,'' he thought.

Alyssa pondered over the question before raising her hand. "Professor could it be because the Life Path Number only relates to the path that we follow using the talents and abilities we have, while the Growth Number shows us that at some point through our life path, we will finally discover that one talent or ability we will excel in the most. It's something that we inherited but we haven't learned to use it to the best of our ability. It is related more to the Family Name Number because that number also shows what we inherited through our families and how that ultimately affects what we become in the future." Alyssa hoped that she wasn't rambling on again and that she actually made sense. Because she did know the difference. She only had problems actually putting it into words that made sense.