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...

Gideon listened as his classmates chose to describe what family meant to them and there were some pretty varying and sometimes interesting answers. As he paid attention, he had to admit some of them applied to his own family while others did not and there were things that came to mind that werent mentioned that also fit either way. As Professor Hadley asked them to make an acrostic of their surnames, the Gryffindor sat for a few minutes with his quill trying to think of words that fit with the Gerts in his life.

Quote:

G allant
E ducated
R esilent
T extured

Pausing after his choices, Gideon decided to add a few things to his notes. And so underneath he added the reasonings for why he had chosen the words he had, the descriptions making him smile softly at the thoughts of what they meant.

Quote:

Gallant for the the knights and Gryffindors within...
Educated for the two studious and talent parents including one professor...
Resilent for their survival and always managing to be together...
Textured because each member was diverse and unique in their own way.

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!

Taylor was confused to why they were talking about families in class but it would be interesting. When the professor told them to write a type of poem, Tay smiled. Poems were kinda of like song lyrics but that type of poem wasnt like song lyrics at all. She started on the poem.

SPOILER!!: parchment

Madness
Crazy
Idiots
Never around
Terrible
Yelling
Rude
European

She hated her family. Her twin was starting to annoy her even.

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!

An acrostic with her surname? Well this would be...interesting.

Vashti wrote her last name down the parchment then slowly and thoughtfully added a word to each one until she had filled out her whole name.

SPOILER!!: Vashti's parchment

Generous
Reasonable
Energetic
Easy-going
Noisy
Wise
Eccentric
Loving
Learned

Merlin, there were so many E's... And she almost put something else for the "R" - Louisa would know the word - but decided against it. So she set her quill down and simply waited quietly for the lesson to continue.

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?

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.

As Josephina walked around the room and glanced at the student's poetry, she couldn't help but notice how some of them seemed rather serious and melodramatic, whilst others ... were just ... positive radiance. Some students obviously thought well of their families, others, not so much.

"So now that we've got some basic ideas behind what we think our surnames mean just from our own personal experiences with our families, let's add numbers into the mix." Of course. Because this wouldn't be a lesson about the mysteries of numbers with them. "In case you haven't realized it by now, one of the numbers we're going over today is the Family Name Number, which as you may have guessed, uncovers information contained in your surname. You calculate this number ... how?"

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.

Family name number.

Gideon scrolled that bit of information next on his parchment as Professor Hadley revealed that it would be at least one of the things they would be learning in class. Now how did they calculate it? The Gryffindor figured to assume it was like a lot of the numbers they worked with, adding up assigned numbers and reducing so he raised his hand to answer.

"Ye would assign the correct numbers to each of the letters of yer family name, add them together and then reduce until ye get to one number," he offered before lowering his hand. It was as good and educated guess and when he flipped to the page in the textbook he was greeted with confirmation of it.

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 =).

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?"

Amelia honestly wasn't so sure who'd she do her calculation on, so she decided just to go with the Founder of her House. After all if it wasn't for Helga Hufflepuff, there would be no Hufflepuffs period. And that was a rather tragic thought as she loved her House and wouldn't have wanted to be placed anywhere else.

Right below her acrostic she put her calculation:

Quote:

H--U--F--F--L--E--P--U--F--F
8--3--6--6--3--5--7--3--6--6

8 + 3 + 6 + 6 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 3 + 6 + 6
= 53 => (5 + 3)
= 8

Amelia double checked the calculation in her head now and then was sure that she had done it correctly. She now waited for the next instructions.

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.