He didn't... actually know anything about curse breaking in general. So when it came to Hirsch asking how to break the curse on the box, Jaemin was at a complete loss. It was an area where his knowledge was essentially zero, and that bothered him immensely. Why in all the stuff that he read was there not anything about how to end a curse before it got you?

"Can you Finite Incantatum it?" he mumbled absently, squinting at the box. "...can you cast a spell on a spell?"

Did magic work like that? Or did they have other ways to make the curse go away? How was he already 13 and he didn't know anything about this yet?

...wait.

"If it's just human touch and human magic that makes it go off, then that means you can just get something not human to open the box. Right?" There were lots of creatures that could help them out with stuff like that. "Like a house elf or something. And once it's open, then the curse doesn't have a reason to be there anymore."

Because once the box was opened, the whole point of the curse was defeated. Right? Maybe?

Echo had to think it was really quite strange, how were they going to stop it? they couldnt touch it or use their wands?

"professors.... what about like a potion.... i know that would be more of a potions class thing. but you can just pour it over it you technically wont be touching it and its not magic from a wand... or is it all magic??" ugh she felt like her head was going to explode.

she agreed with the kid before her too, about using house elves or some sort of magical creature, but she wanted to give a different answer.

Sky was pleased that both professors seemed content with her answer about it having something to do with numbers. Honestly, it made sense to her; this was a dual class and though she might only be starting out, she wasn't naïve about Arithmancy being the study of numbers. She did take notes and rapt interest when Professor Tanner introduced about the spell that would reveal if the object was indeed cursed, taking careful account of the wand movement and incantation.

"Arithmos revelio scindo," the first year said aloud, her wand not in her hand. She didn't want to accidentally cast something she wasn't supposed to because she was still fairly new with casting spells and this WAS advanced spellwork. But if she could master the pronunciations, she would be good to go. "Arithmos revelio scindo"

And then Professor Tanner was continuing again, talking about the basic parts of a curse. How interesting and totally new to Sky, but not without making total sense! Even if it make sense, the first year still took careful and deliberate notes on what was being said, because EXAMS. No time to dwell on that, because Professor Hirsch was now taking over and they were moving onto .... breaking the curse!

Okay, so this was a wild guess here, but it made sense to the young girl. "Since we discovered which curse was on the object with numbers, would it work to maybe the numerical string of numbers which is the countercurse to the full-body-bind?" Not that she knew what the countercurse WAS, but she did know that for every curse there was an equal and opposite reaction ....

Azura beamed at Professor Tanner as she spoke to her, and she gave Tenacious a thumbs up for getting the curse right.. But as she turned to Professor Hirsch and listened to him speak, her smile fell a bit. She always seemed to have difficulty with his questions..

Probably because the two of them didn't think alike.. and even though he was one of her favorite Professors, (along with Professor Meyers) she didn't like letting him down.. Also, she had no idea what they could do..

Her brain didn't want to seem to work right now.. She assumed that you would use a spell to break the curse. Possibly the counter spell to the curse used..

She raised her hand, she had to at least try.. "Would casting the counter-curse to the full body bind at the box work to break the curse?" She asked him.. it seemed easy, but perhaps it wasn't that easy..

Okay, so they had worked out what the curse was. That was all well and good. That part Esme understood. What she didn't get so much was how to go about getting rid of the curse. At least she wasn't the only one at a loss; her sister had to be just as confused if not more so. Okay, she was going to give this a shot.

Uncertain, she raised her hand. "Would it be another spell that uses numbers? Some kind of atithmancy spell?" That kind of magic had worked with IDENTIFYING the curse, so why couldn't it work with STOPPING it? Besides, this was a joint lesson with Arithmancy. So there was that.

Hady nodded her head at Professor Tanner. She had it sort of correct but not completely. At least she was trying and the small smile on her face proved as much as did the quill in her hand that had gone back to taking down some notes. Whether this would come up on the NEWTs next term she couldn't fully be sure but there was nothing at all wrong writing ALL of this down. If anything she would at least have some type of idea of what to do should she ever come across anything strange. In which case she'd be calling Zeke. Mhmm. This was his area of expertise.

How would they break the curse? Uh, wasn't this what they were supposed to be teaching them?! The sixth year stared at the box for a long moment trying to come up with anything at all that would be a good guess. Only she had no clue. It was probably some type of spell or something though. Right now she was choosing to remain quiet and listen to what all was being said.

Fiyero blinked dumbly at Professor Tanner. He actually got it right?! He couldn't believe it! Well, that was one hard question out of the way, but now he was faced with another one.

This time he had literally no idea what the answer was. And he thought he was good at Defense Against the Dark Arts... well, at least he did until now. He scratched his head, trying not to look too confused as he frantically searched his mind for an answer. Some of the others had suggested using the countercurse to the Body-Bind. He supposed that could work, but Professor tanner had said it was a complex spell. Maybe the countercurse was too simple!

And besides, he wanted to come up with something a little more outside-the-box than what had already been said. He raised his hand. "If we can't put a spell on the box itself, maybe putting a spell on ourselves would work," he said, "a protection spell, like a shield charm or something..." He glanced up at Professor Hirsch, hoping his answer didn't sound too stupid.

Arielle had been sitting quietly, taking notes and writing down the spell used to show the numbers on the box. But how to break the box was the question now, and quite frankly she had no idea. All of the answers so far had been really good, so she was going to use the excuse of being a first year to wait for the right answer. However, when the first year Gryffindor spoke again, she knew she had to come up with an answer. He isn't the only smart first year... she thought to herself. But alas, she couldn't think of anything and sat in her chair, fuming and feeling stupid, but not letting it show on her face.

Text Cut: You guys <3

Text Cut: Jaemin

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ameh

He didn't... actually know anything about curse breaking in general. So when it came to Hirsch asking how to break the curse on the box, Jaemin was at a complete loss. It was an area where his knowledge was essentially zero, and that bothered him immensely. Why in all the stuff that he read was there not anything about how to end a curse before it got you?

"Can you Finite Incantatum it?" he mumbled absently, squinting at the box. "...can you cast a spell on a spell?"

Did magic work like that? Or did they have other ways to make the curse go away? How was he already 13 and he didn't know anything about this yet?

...wait.

"If it's just human touch and human magic that makes it go off, then that means you can just get something not human to open the box. Right?" There were lots of creatures that could help them out with stuff like that. "Like a house elf or something. And once it's open, then the curse doesn't have a reason to be there anymore."

Because once the box was opened, the whole point of the curse was defeated. Right? Maybe?

Finite Incantatem? If only it was that easy. Curse breaking wouldn't even be that difficult if it only took a Finite Incantatem to finish it off. There was a bit more to it, which he was about to explain, when Jaemin had decided to say something else.

And there it was.

Frankly, Hirsch hadn't expected this answer to crop up almost as soon as he'd asked the question. He might have been standing in his usual casual way, but there was nothing even remotely casual about the expression on his face. The smile was enough to tell anyone how happy and proud he was with this particular answer.

"Precisely, Jaemin, precisely. If it affects humans, who says that a human has to be the one to open it? Very well done."

Text Cut: Echo

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grrr..Meow

Echo had to think it was really quite strange, how were they going to stop it? they couldnt touch it or use their wands?

"professors.... what about like a potion.... i know that would be more of a potions class thing. but you can just pour it over it you technically wont be touching it and its not magic from a wand... or is it all magic??" ugh she felt like her head was going to explode.

she agreed with the kid before her too, about using house elves or some sort of magical creature, but she wanted to give a different answer.

A potion?!

The man tilted his head and thought on this particular answer. "That's an interesting answer, Miss Duchannes. Very unique." Had anyone else mentioned this in all the times he'd taught it? He doubted it. And if they did, he probably couldn't remember. "Unfortunately, no. This particular box doesn't like human touch or human magic of any kind. Potions comes under the category of human magic because we're making them." Even if other creatures used it as well.

But we don't talk about that.

"But very clever thinking."

Text Cut: Sky

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixRising

Sky was pleased that both professors seemed content with her answer about it having something to do with numbers. Honestly, it made sense to her; this was a dual class and though she might only be starting out, she wasn't naïve about Arithmancy being the study of numbers. She did take notes and rapt interest when Professor Tanner introduced about the spell that would reveal if the object was indeed cursed, taking careful account of the wand movement and incantation.

"Arithmos revelio scindo," the first year said aloud, her wand not in her hand. She didn't want to accidentally cast something she wasn't supposed to because she was still fairly new with casting spells and this WAS advanced spellwork. But if she could master the pronunciations, she would be good to go. "Arithmos revelio scindo"

And then Professor Tanner was continuing again, talking about the basic parts of a curse. How interesting and totally new to Sky, but not without making total sense! Even if it make sense, the first year still took careful and deliberate notes on what was being said, because EXAMS. No time to dwell on that, because Professor Hirsch was now taking over and they were moving onto .... breaking the curse!

Okay, so this was a wild guess here, but it made sense to the young girl. "Since we discovered which curse was on the object with numbers, would it work to maybe the numerical string of numbers which is the countercurse to the full-body-bind?" Not that she knew what the countercurse WAS, but she did know that for every curse there was an equal and opposite reaction ....

At Miss Diggory's answer, he couldn't help but wonder if this was a topic that came naturally to her. You find that in some people: they grasp the concept and spells much faster than anything else in the subject. Or maybe she had a knack for Arithmancy? Tiara would probably be happy about that.

Pushing his thoughts aside, the man half-smiled, half-smirked at her answer. "You’d think, wouldn't you?" Logic said as much. "But unfortunately, it doesn't quite work like that. The numerical values you see above the box? They come from the curse. You can't change it or alter it in any way without altering the spell itself first."

Pause.

"But if you wanted to come up with your own string of numbers for the countercurse, you could. Bear in mind that it takes a while." You might find yourself stuck in a tomb for a while and let's face it: nobody wanted that.

Text Cut: Azura

Quote:

Originally Posted by FwooperOnYourLeft

Azura beamed at Professor Tanner as she spoke to her, and she gave Tenacious a thumbs up for getting the curse right.. But as she turned to Professor Hirsch and listened to him speak, her smile fell a bit. She always seemed to have difficulty with his questions..

Probably because the two of them didn't think alike.. and even though he was one of her favorite Professors, (along with Professor Meyers) she didn't like letting him down.. Also, she had no idea what they could do..

Her brain didn't want to seem to work right now.. She assumed that you would use a spell to break the curse. Possibly the counter spell to the curse used..

She raised her hand, she had to at least try.. "Would casting the counter-curse to the full body bind at the box work to break the curse?" She asked him.. it seemed easy, but perhaps it wasn't that easy..

The two of them didn't seem to think alike, did they? But, to Hirsch, that was fairly intriguing as well. And this question, while being hard, was asked for a reason: he wanted to see exactly how their minds worked in these kind of situations, even if they weren't in the situation right now. There was no point asking for answers that you could find in textbooks. Hirsch didn't work like that.

As for the girl's answer, he smiled. A wide, dimpled smile. "Exactly. The best defence is the perfect offence. Well done, Azura."

Text Cut: Esme

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squishy

Okay, so they had worked out what the curse was. That was all well and good. That part Esme understood. What she didn't get so much was how to go about getting rid of the curse. At least she wasn't the only one at a loss; her sister had to be just as confused if not more so. Okay, she was going to give this a shot.

Uncertain, she raised her hand. "Would it be another spell that uses numbers? Some kind of atithmancy spell?" That kind of magic had worked with IDENTIFYING the curse, so why couldn't it work with STOPPING it? Besides, this was a joint lesson with Arithmancy. So there was that.

Another Arithmancy answer? Did the students here love the subject to pieces? He glanced over at Miss Diggory and then decided to keep his focus on Miss Darcy for now. "Not exactly, no. We do use Arithmancy but it's not an Arithmancy spell." Confused? You won't be for too long.

Text Cut: Fiyero

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMadamMalfoy

Fiyero blinked dumbly at Professor Tanner. He actually got it right?! He couldn't believe it! Well, that was one hard question out of the way, but now he was faced with another one.

This time he had literally no idea what the answer was. And he thought he was good at Defense Against the Dark Arts... well, at least he did until now. He scratched his head, trying not to look too confused as he frantically searched his mind for an answer. Some of the others had suggested using the countercurse to the Body-Bind. He supposed that could work, but Professor tanner had said it was a complex spell. Maybe the countercurse was too simple!

And besides, he wanted to come up with something a little more outside-the-box than what had already been said. He raised his hand. "If we can't put a spell on the box itself, maybe putting a spell on ourselves would work," he said, "a protection spell, like a shield charm or something..." He glanced up at Professor Hirsch, hoping his answer didn't sound too stupid.

And that certainly was an out-of-the box answer, Mr Jones.

Hirsch smiled at the boy because, well, he was right. "Yes. This isn't the method to break the curse itself but extra precaution is never a waste." Constant vigilance, anyone? "I'd say, cast the shield charm before trying to break the curse to keep yourself protected. It doesn't protect you from all the curses that could be thrown at you but it certainly keeps you safer for a few moments." Good. He liked this answer.

Text Cut: Silent Ones

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kolyander

Hady nodded her head at Professor Tanner. She had it sort of correct but not completely. At least she was trying and the small smile on her face proved as much as did the quill in her hand that had gone back to taking down some notes. Whether this would come up on the NEWTs next term she couldn't fully be sure but there was nothing at all wrong writing ALL of this down. If anything she would at least have some type of idea of what to do should she ever come across anything strange. In which case she'd be calling Zeke. Mhmm. This was his area of expertise.

How would they break the curse? Uh, wasn't this what they were supposed to be teaching them?! The sixth year stared at the box for a long moment trying to come up with anything at all that would be a good guess. Only she had no clue. It was probably some type of spell or something though. Right now she was choosing to remain quiet and listen to what all was being said.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ginnilie

Arielle had been sitting quietly, taking notes and writing down the spell used to show the numbers on the box. But how to break the box was the question now, and quite frankly she had no idea. All of the answers so far had been really good, so she was going to use the excuse of being a first year to wait for the right answer. However, when the first year Gryffindor spoke again, she knew she had to come up with an answer. He isn't the only smart first year... she thought to herself. But alas, she couldn't think of anything and sat in her chair, fuming and feeling stupid, but not letting it show on her face.

There were some very quiet ones in this lesson and he was surprised to see that Hady was one of them. Did she just not have anything to add? Hmm? As for the young first year, he watched to see if she was confused by the Arithmancy aspect - did she do Arithmancy? - before moving on. If they needed help, they'd ask. Surely.

When it didn't look like anyone else was about to answer, the man gathered the attention of the entire class again. "Okay, so that was an interesting mix of answers but both Jaemin and Azura have answered the best, in this case." Smile. "For this particular box, as straight-forward as it might sound, you could always get a non-human to open it for you. According to the numerical values, it only affects human touch and magic. It doesn't say anything about affecting a house elf or another creature." Just saying.

"What makes curse breaking so difficult is that there is never a sure way of breaking the curse. You're going to be faced with the unknown: with a cursed object that has an unknown curse on it that you have to break. It's not as simple as casting a Finite Incantatem at the box and being done with it." Let's face it: if that was the case, then Curse Breakers wouldn't be paid that much, would they?

"Do you see the kernel of this curse? The part that says what the spell does?" he asked, pointing to the 080 part of the numbers, "Think of that as the weak spot. The pressure point, if you will." And anyone who'd been to his combat lesson last year would know exactly what he was talking about. "Once you've figured out the curse on the object, you need to use its counter curse and cast it on the kernel part of every arithmancy value for the curse. And bear in mind that not every curse will have the exact same countercurse. Some might, but not all."

Pause.

"The only exception is if the curse says that you're not allowed to do magic on it in the first place." Then you're doomed.

"We'll go through an example, okay?" he said, conjuring up some numbers onto the board:

Quote:

2 10 25 4 4

"With the basis being 2," The number glowed slightly. "it says that this spell affects humans. We're not so lucky with these curses, are we?" Har har? "With the kernel being a 1 and a 0, the curse does something that includes verbal expression as well as a sense of nothingness. So, you could say that the spell makes your verbal expression go down to nothing." Slight pause. "The 2 and the 5 in the range talks about humans and it mentions physical touch as well. So in short: touch an object that contains this curse and you'll be mute for a while. Quite a while, actually, because of the two 4s in the cline." Got it? Had he done the subject justice, Tiara? "That means that you need to cast a non-verbal countercurse on the kernel to counter it." Cue some more writing being conjured up.

Quote:

2 10 25 4 4

Basis (2) - spell affects humans
Kernel (10) - spell stops verbal expression
Range (25) - spell activated by human touch [not magic]
Cline (4 4) - complex and enduring


A non-verbal counter curse is required to break this curse.

Moving on? Yes please.

"Now, enough talking. Let's put this into a more practical approach, shall we?" And with that, he opened up the box he'd brought in earlier and started levitating certain smaller boxes with intricate designs on them towards each of the students. A few others were handed out by the man himself, which gave him an excuse to walk around for a bit.

"Your task is simple: each of these boxes have curses on them and you, being the great curse breaker that you are, have to try and break the curse and break into the objects themselves. If you're successful, you can keep the prize inside." And believe him, they weren't going to be disappointed.

"Ready? Set?"

Dramatic pause.

"GO!"


OOC: So much reading gosh I'm so sorry! Basically, this is the main activity! You can work in groups or on your own, I don't mind. The curses on the boxes are as follows:

Quote:

1) 52 525 71 9 9
2) 88 066 15 9 4
3) 32 037 72 9 9

Pick one, have your charrie use Arithmos Revelio Scindo (the separations are already up there for you), try to figure out what the curse is and then break into the box. It's as simple as that. ^^

We're going to give you guys roughly two-three days to finish this. So let's say until the 30th of June, 11:59pm EST. Make as many posts as you like! We don't mind.

If you have any comments, questions or concerns, please come to me or Emily (hpluvr037) and we'll get back to you asap ^^

*keeps this here for you guys' reference*

Text Cut: Number meanings

Basis - What the spell affects (the first part)
Kernel/Core - What the spell does (second part)
Range - What/how the spell is activated (third part)
Cline/Type - What kind of spell it is (last two parts)


0: Decay, nothingness, cessation
1: Beginning, independence, innovation, leadership, verbal expression
2: Harmony, unity, relationships, collaboration, duality, humans
3: Imagination, house elves/house elf magic, complex thought
4: Endurance, sober-mindedness, practicality, complexity
5: Change, freedom, physical world, physical touch
6: Balance, nurturing, family focus, domestic and work issues, stability
7: Analysis, wisdom, spiritual focus, magic
8: Authority, self-mastery, fluidity, movement
9: Endings, metamorphosis, power/strength, short-lived, immediacy

One of the smaller boxes Professor Hirsch distributed around the room was now sitting in front of Arielle. Now this class wasn't her cup of tea, but that wasn't going to stop her from participating. Standing out of her chair, Arielle took her wand and pointed it at the cube. "Arithmos Revelio Scindo" she said rather timidly. The box did nothing. Did she forget something? She thought that she could have said the incantation a little more confidently. Confidence is key, right? So she exclaimed, "Arithmos Revelio Scindo!" but still nothing happened. Arielle suddenly regretted not practicing the spell earlier when she was given the chance. There was something else she was forgetting... Thinking back to what Professor Tanner was demonstrating earlier, it hit her. The wand movement! What was it? Once again Arielle pointed her wand at the intricate box and started saying the spell. As she started speaking she moved her wand downward and circled around upward in a spiral. Golden numbers suddenly appeared. "I did it!" she announced excitedly. Of course, the other students in the room had already done it, but that didn't matter to her. She turned her attention back to the numbers.

52 525 71 9 9

Arielle got out a piece of parchment and jotted down the numbers at the top. Looking back at her notes, she started trying to decode the numbers.



After scratching down a few words she thought might have to do with the numbers, Arielle looked at her notes. So far the only thing she had worked out was that the curse was activated by a verbal spell-she was sure of it. For the kind of spell it was, all she could work out was that it doesn't last long, and that the effect occurs immediately. But was that really a type? None of it made sense to her, especially the kernel part, where the only thing she was able to write down was "change", thinking that maybe the spell changes something. But what? Harmony? Unity? Duality? What does that even mean? Even the basis part she wasn't completely sure of yet, all she knew was that the spell affects humans and has something to do with physical touch.

Arielle rested her head on her fist and stared at her notes. She didn't think Arithmancy was going to be this hard. She continued to think about the puzzle and hope she could work it out.

How did people understand all this mumble?! Spells and numbers. Numbers with meanings. Large numbers broken down into single numbers and then given a meaning and then all the meanings put together to figure out the curse. then a counter curse was needed and just...

GAH!

It was a headache on parchment and an even larger headache out loud. Kudos to cursebreakers. Seriously. Hady gave them props right now for not only being able to break the curses on items but for understanding all this mumbo jumbo stuff. Maybe if this was something she was truly interested in she would be doing much better but alas this wasn't her hearts passion, for that was reserved for Creatures and Music.

Letting out a breath slowly the brunette went right back to taking down ALL the notes. Everything Hirsch and Tanner had said was written neatly on the parchment before her. Did it make any sense... nope not really. Broken down and step by step maybe a little but only time would tell if she would be able to do this on her own.

The small box with the delicately engraved cravings was set on the desk in front of her. Hady did nothing but stare at it for a full minute before setting down her quill in exchange for her wand. Clearing her through quietly and pointing her wand at the small box on her desk she began the wand movement, the clockwise spiral up towards her shoulder, "Arithmos Revelio Scindo!"

32 037 72 9 9

Floating brightly above the box was golden numbers. Perfectly clear too. Hady grinned brightly at the small accomplishment in having been able to do it on the first try this time.

Now to get the information onto her parchment and work on the meaning for the numbers.



Quill still held in her hand Hady looked down over her notes re-reading everything she had written. Some of it made a little sense but other parts didn't. Maybe she had messed up somewhere and the meaning were wrong or something.

Echo looked at her choices of which box she wanted to open.. Sticking her hand to her face she started to play with her lip until she moved over to the middle box.

Taking out her wand she did the correct movements and said ”Arithmos Revello Scindo” and numbers appeared above it.


88 066 15 9 4

”cool” so far so good right that was the first step to get the numbers. Feeling very pleased with her self Echo took out her quill and parchment and wrote down her notes.

The first thing she thought she would do besides breaking it down was to figure out what the spell affects. Looking through her notes she stopped when she got to her number meanings. ”eight….. Authority, self-mastery, fluidity and movement…..hmmmmmmm” which one could it be? Not wanting to pick just one she just added it to her notes until it started to make sense.


Time to work on the Kernel, to see what the spell did.

A smile..

She actually got a smile from Professor Hirsch in answering one of his questions.. Azura.. kinda felt a little melty inside at that.. and she managed a small grin back at him. Good.. She hadn't disappointed him. And he mentioned her name as well!

The small teen was nearly giddy with excitement on the inside! Outside though all she had was a small smile and bright eyes..

Fwoopers! That had felt good! All right, now to attempt to focus on the lesson and attempt to learn how to break a curse herself.. She paid careful attention as she scribbled down what he said.. She hoped that the boxes he had given them to open didn't require non verbal magic, because she didn't know any!

She stood up and looked around, wondering if anyone wanted to work together.. "Does anyone want a partner?" She asked curiously.. But so far she didn't see anyone who did.. So she stood up from her desk, stationed herself in front of a box and took a deep breath. She started to spiral her wand upwards, and then said "Arithmos Revello Scindo." Her wand ended at her shoulder level as it had earlier and she smiled happily.. as she looked up at saw Golden numbers above her box.

Yesssss!!

32 037 72 9 9

Okayyyy! The teen moved back to her desk and started to look at her notes.

SPOILER!!: notes

Okay.. So..

Basis - What the spell affects

That was 32

Kernel/Core - What the spell does

That was 037

Range - What/how the spell is activated

That looked to be 72

Cline/Type - What kind of spell it is (2 single digits)

Those two digits were 9 and 9..

Now onto what the numbers all meant.. She looked back down at her notes and kept scribbling..

SPOILER!!: more notes

Okay 32(basis): Affects Humans and house elves

037 (Kernel/Core): Seems to be a spell that affects your mind, stopping complex thought... Perhaps a Jelly brain jinx?

72 (Range): Seemed to be magic and human touch.. Okay..

9 9 (Cline] Happens immediately.. but is short lived..

Azura looked up from her notes.. So.. huh.. If it WAS a Jelly brain jinx.. What was the counter curse.. Somehow she doubted Un-jellify would work..

Well he hadn't been expecting that. The small Slytherin blinked at Hirsch's rather excited-ish looking smile, for a moment unsure if he was just teasing or if it was actually genuine. He hadn't expected his answer to be one of the right ones, much less that it would be one that Hirsch pointed to as 'one of the best in this case'. He'd just been hoping that Hirsch wouldn't tell him he was the wrongest wrong, really. Jaemin sat up a little more in his seat, listening intently as Hirsch continued on with his example, eyes following the numbers he'd put up for the example and the explanation for each.

...hopefully the box Hirsch gave him wouldn't require anything non-verbal. That was something Jaemin hadn't even considered tackling yet, because... well, he was only 13. He would wait until he was at least 13 1/2 to start pushing for that, thank you. He tilted his head and squinted at the box in front of him on his desk, leaning in a bit to look at it but careful not to touch. It didn't look dangerous, but... often, things that were, did not. Rude, that.

First things first... he had to do the spell he had not yet been able to actually do. Frowning a bit, the small boy picked up his wand again, and pointed it at the box.

"You better show me your numbers," he said rather sternly, before going into the incantation again. He did his best to duplicate what Tanner had done when she'd first shown them the spell, and spoke the spell as clearly as he possibly could. "Arithmos Revelio Scindo."

...why was this not working. Jaemin let a rather frustrated sound slip out and slapped his hand down on his desk, wand smacking against the surface. Everyone else could do it already. Like... everyone. Why couldn't he get it to work too?!

Azura was still puzzling over her notes..

Okay, so. the Kernal was 037, and she thought that meant to stop complex thought and magic.. So in other words a spell to make her brain for wonky and for her to be unable to do magic..

She supposed that made sense.. If you can't think, you can't really do magic could you? It HAD to have something to do with the brain.. and she was betting it was a Jelly Brain Jinx or something like that.

But the Range was what had her puzzled..

Magic and humans.. Welp.. How was she supposed to do a counter-curse to something that.. reacted to magic.. She couldn't touch it.. and she couldn't do magic.. Right? Was that what she was figuring out?

HELLPPPPP.

"Professor Hirsch, Professor Tanner.." Either one of them would work!!

"If I'm figuring this out right.. It says the range is activated by magic.. and humans.. so..How am I suppose to perform a counter-curse if magic activates it?"

Also.. Jelly-Brain jinx yeah? Did she get that right?

Fiyero stared at the box in front of him for a moment. Now came the fun part! He was a little worried, though, since he still hadn't quite got the hang of that number-revealing spell Professor Tanner had taught them. Still, he was going to give it his best shot! "Arithmos revelio scindo," he said, twirling his wand in a spiral shape. Nothing happened... what a surprise.
Come on, Fiy! Get it right! he silently berated himself. He hoped it wouldn't take him all the time they had left to do this spell! "Arithmos revelio scindo!" he said again, this time a little louder. A series of gold numbers appeared above the box:

88 066 15 9 4


YAY! He finally did that spell! So what's next? Fiyero quickly jotted down the string of numbers before consulting his notes on the numbers' meanings:

Text Cut: Fiyero's notes

0: Decay, nothingness, cessation
1: Beginning, independence, innovation, leadership, verbal expression
2: Harmony, unity, relationships, collaboration, duality, humans
3: Imagination, house elves/house elf magic, complex thought
4: Endurance, sober-mindedness, practicality, complexity
5: Change, freedom, physical world, physical touch
6: Balance, nurturing, family focus, domestic and work issues, stability
7: Analysis, wisdom, spiritual focus, magic
8: Authority, self-mastery, fluidity, movement
9: Endings, metamorphosis, power/strength, short-lived, immediacy

Basis: 88
Kernel: 066
Range: 15
Cline: 9 4

Okay, so the first set of numbers was 88. That was self-mastery and movement, so that meant the spell probably affects one's ability to move on their own. Maybe it makes your movements erratic? Satisfied with his answer, Fiyero moved on to the kernel. Well, the 0 definitely meant the spell stopped something, but the 66 part was a bit harder to figure out. Balance and stability, maybe? That could be a lot of spells, like a leg-locker curse... or maybe a jelly legs jinx.

Fiyero was just about to start working on the range when he heard someone ask if anybody wanted a partner. His blond head whipped around in the direction of the sound toward Azura. Picking up his notes, he crossed the room to the Ravenclaw girl. "Does the offer to partner up with someone still stand?" he asked.

Genny found herself quite skilled in sleeping with her eyes wide open and jaw hanging open as she leaned on her desk. Second year wasn't as exciting as she thought would be, and it was all Sam's fault for being so hung up on books and boring things.

Anyway, back to the lesson. She 'woke up' when the small box landed on her desk. It was pretty. What... was... oh, yeah. Watching her friends cast the spell, Genny got excited over the concept of using her wand in this lesson (finally! That was what DADA was for anyway).

"Arithmos Revello Scindo," Genny's clear incantation and determination helped her succeed. Her box did roll around a couple of times but the numbers were visible:

52 525 71 9 9

"Woooow," she got distracted for a few seconds then quickly snatched a parchment and etched them down.

Now what? Ugh, she had to go to her book. Genny gave it a nasty look before she flicked the pages with her finger to get them to open. Ugh. Maybe someone else would help? Her eyes moved to those sitting next to her.

Ah, a question! Good good. Tiara walked over to Azura. "Yes, dear?" she asked.

Ah yes, that was a conundrum. "You just told me that the curse is only activated by human magic. Can you think of no other way to open a box besides using magic?" This was one of those 'so simple it's hard' scenarios. Even the greatest witches and wizards could be fooled by a simple task if they didn't use logic, after all.

Okaaaaay, so Esme was struggling to stay caught up.

She sort of got it though? Maybe?

Time to see how good she was at the whole curse breaking thing because she had to do just that. No pressure... If she approached everything slowly and thought hard on what the Professors had explained to them she would be able to open the box. Working with a partner was a possibility, but she wanted to see how well she could do on her own. It could be so hard to give up her independence but right now she didn't care in the least. Nope. It was time for her to figure out what curse she had to deal with and in order to do that she needed to get a bunch of numbers to appear. "Arithmos Revello Scindo!" she called out loudly as she performed the elaborate wand movement. Esme smiled as she saw the numbers:

88 066 15 9 4

Now she needed to figure out what this meant... Turning to a new page in her notebook, she jotted down the numbers and then set to work determining what the different sections were:

SPOILER!!: Esme's Notes

88 066 15 9 4

Basis: 88
Kernel/Core: 066
Range: 15
Cline/Type: 9 4

Time to figure out what that all meant.

Azura looked up at Professor Tanner as she spoke and she sighed softly.. "I thought it meant human touch as well, so it's just human magic." Wowwww.. She was overthinking it a bit.. "So I can just go over and open it then." Which would make perfect sense actually. The Professor's would know what they were capable of magic wise and probably wouldn't give them things that were TOO hard..

"Thank you Professor Tanner, i guess I was overthinking it a bit." The teen gave the Professor a warm smile as she looked up at her.

She then stood up and walked over to the box and opened it.. because if it was activated by human magic and not touch.. she should be safe.. yeah? No Jelly Brain curse on her!

She took what was inside, before heading back and smiling as she heard Fiyero talking to her..

"Of course it does! I would be happy to partner up with you." She said with a warm smile..

Arielle was still having trouble coming up with the kernel. She knew so far that the basis of the numbers meant that the spell affects physical touch and humans. So that must mean that it affects the physical touch of a human. The range, what activates the spell, she knew was verbal magic, so she could not use a verbal spell on the box to open it. The cline numbers meant that the curse is immediate and short-lived. The kernel she was still having trouble with, and looked back down at the number meanings to try and figure it out. So far she had change written down, so the spell must change something... And physical touch was what it affected, so maybe physical touch was also what it did? It could change physical touch and... something with a 2... humans? The same as what the spell affects? Arielle gathered her thoughts and jotted them down in her notes.



Looking up from her notebook Arielle glanced around the room. Her eyes stopped when she saw a box with the same golden numbers as hers. It was the only one like hers in the room. Maybe the girl had some ideas? But she looked more confused than Ari. Maybe if we worked together... Ari thought. Deciding to go over to her, Ari picked up her notes and her box and strode over to the girl's desk, the numbers above the box gliding with them.

"Hi, I'm Arielle," she said, and sat her box on the girl's desk. "My box has the same numbers as yours so maybe if we work together we can figure it out." Arielle sat down and spread her notes out on the desk, immediately jumping into an explanation of what she had worked out so far. "Okay. So. So far I know that the spell affects physical touch of humans. And I'm pretty sure that the kernel means the spell changes a human's physical touch, which I think means that the curse is a jelly-fingers curse. But I'm not sure. I do know for sure that it's activated by verbal magic, and that the effect is immediate and doesn't last long." Arielle stopped to take a breath and see if the girl was following. "Anyway, half of the assignment is to break the curse, and I don't really know the counter curse for a jelly-fingers curse. I don't even know how to cast a jelly-fingers curse, I've only heard about it. But the other half of the assignment is to open the box, and since the spell is only activated by verbal magic we can just physically open it, right? I mean, as long as we open it we should get half credit..."

Maybe Arielle wasn't as confused as she thought she was. Explaining everything out loud seemed to help her connect everything. She glanced down at her notes and then back at the girl. "Do you have any ideas?" she asked. She could have been wrong about what curse it is and she could be wrong about physically opening it. And maybe the girl knew the counter curse. Arielle finally shut up and waited for her new partner's input.

He had to try again... He had to get these numbers to show up somehow. Still frustrated because the spell wouldn't work for him, Jaemin picked his wand back up anyway, squeezing it lightly in his hand. He needed this to work... so he could properly learn how to do cursebreaking. Just in case it came in handy in the future, even though he didn't plan on being anything but a regular everyday SuperHerbologist... he was getting sidetracked. The boy frowned and pointed his wand forcefully at the box, starting to say the incantation as he moved his wand a little less like Tanner, and a little more in a way that felt comfortable for him.

He was a full second away from giving up when the numbers slowly shimmered into existence above the box. They flickered a bit, not showing up very strong at all, but he could read them... and that was all that mattered. Jaemin quickly snatched up a quill and scribbled them down.

52 525 71 9 9

...now he just had to figure out what they meant. The small boy wrote them out separately in his notebook, on top of each other instead of next to each other, so he'd have more room to make notes. The easiest thing would be to start at the beginning, which meant... the basis.

52. Five two.

He looked between the number on the page and the numbers in his Arithmancy book, chewing on his bottom lip absently and tapping on the page with his quill. There were little inkmarks left behind, but... he'd live.

"Maybe the five means physical touch... and the two means humans," he muttered to himself, jotting those down with question marks behind them. "The spell would affect physical touch?? And humans specifically..."

Text Cut: notes

5 2: physical touch? humans?
5 2 5
7 1
9 9

That seemed plausible. There were spells that could affect a person's ability to touch things... He left the question marks, and moved on to the next set of numbers. This was the important one right? Because it told you what the spell did? Jaemin squinted at the numbers critically, chewing on his lip. It shared numbers with the basis number, and he wondered if maybe the meanings were supposed to be the same. It was possible... so he copied the same meanings over, question marks included. The last five, he wondered... did it mean 'change'? Or maybe 'physical world'? Did the curse change a human's ability to physically touch things, or did it cause them to lose physical touch with the physical world?

Hmm.

Text Cut: notes ii: the notening

5 2: physical touch? humans?
5 2 5: physical touch? humans?
-- physical world? lose ability to physically touch physical world
-- change? changes ability to physically touch
7 1
9 9

This was hard. He wasn't sure he liked this. Jaemin looked up from his parchment, at Hirsch, and gave him a long look before directing his gaze back down. Better to finish figuring out his numbers and then ask Hirsch or Tanner to... check his work so he didn't hurt himself. Right? Right.

The next numbers were the range. And they were not encouraging numbers. He looked back and forth from them to his book a few times before scribbling down what felt like the most likely meanings.

Text Cut: notes iii: the notes' revenge

5 2: physical touch? humans?
5 2 5: physical touch? humans?
-- physical world? lose ability to physically touch physical world
-- change? changes ability to physically touch
7 1: magic? verbal expression?
-- spoken spells only?
9 9

So that meant... he could touch the box, but not cast on it, maybe. At least not out loud, which meant not at all really, in his current state of being 13. He stared at the note for a good long minute before moving on to the next one. The last one. The cliiiiiine. Pesky pesky cline.

Text Cut: notes iv: new anotenings

5 2: physical touch? humans?
5 2 5: physical touch? humans?
-- physical world? lose ability to physically touch physical world
-- change? changes ability to physically touch
7 1: magic? verbal expression?
-- spoken spells only?
9 9: short-lived? powerful?
-- spell that doesn't last long, but is strong?

...what in Merlin's shiny pants. The small boy frowned and put his hand up in the air. "Professor?" One of you? Any of you? This curse could either mess with his senses or mess with his body and he wasn't chancing either until one of them came over to tell him for sure what he was to do. Nope. Nu uh.

Skylar understand all the theory behind the numbers, but in terms of putting it to practical use was where she struggled still. But focused as ever to at least MAYBE get this to work, the first year scrunched up her face as she thought about the incantation and what she wanted it to do. She knew from her parents and older friends and siblings that when you want something to work, you have to deliberately focus on that something. Which was exactly what she was doing, as she moved closely to the front and eyed the box furthest to the right; it seemed to have the least amount of students crowding it which was good because she didn't want to bother anyone as she was trying to focus.

"Arithmos Revello Scindo!" Sky pronounced clearly, flicking her wand appropriately. Expecting , as before, the spell to not work, Sky's light blue-gray eyes may have bulged slightly from their sockets at seeing golden numbers appear ever so faintly before her ...

32 037 72 9 9

Not strong enough to read, but there was something, which meant she was making PROGRESS! With that confidence boost within her, the first year quickly cast again, "Arithmos Revello Scindo" and grinned more broadly when the numbers appeared thicker than before!!! She was getting there and even though it wasn't quite as sharp colouring as some of the others, it was deep enough for her to be able to decipher the numbers.

32 037 72 9 9

Quickly jotting down the numbers in her notebook, Sky returned to her seat to figure out what the numbers meant. She could go back up to attempt to break it, once she knew what she was dealing with.

Basis (32) what the spell affects: humans, house elves/house elf magic.
Kernel/Core (037) What the spell does: nothingness/ceases complex thought, imagination, magic, wisdom
Range (72) What/how the spell is activated - activated via human magic. so by casting a spell on the box ?
Cline/Type (9 9) What kind of spell it is - short lived. immediate acting, probably a hex or jinx

So how to break it? It was activated by human magic, which meant what exactly? Somehow it seemed like it was more obvious an answer than what she was trying to decipher. She couldn't cast a spell on it - not that she knew many anyway - because well that was magic. Wait could she just go and open it? No, that would have been way too simple. Besides, it might have been locked and if it was locked, then she wouldn't have been able to cast alohomora on it because that would have been magic, would have activated the curse...

Oh heck, why not. Biting her lip, the first year approached cautiously and tried to open the box ... waiting ... hoping...

Glancing at her textbook, Esme began working out what each number meant. This would let her know exactly what she was dealing with. Biting her lip in concentration, she added onto her notes.

SPOILER!!: Esme's Notes

88 066 15 9 4

Basis: 88 (8: Authority, self-mastery, fluidity, movement)
Kernel/Core: 066 (0: Decay, nothingness, cessation) (6: Balance, nurturing, family focus, domestic and work issues, stability)
Range: 15 (1: Beginning, independence, innovation, leadership, verbal expression) (5: Change, freedom, physical world, physical touch)
Cline/Type: 9 4 (9: Endings, metamorphosis, power/strength, short-lived, immediacy) (4: Endurance, sober-mindedness, practicality, complexity)

That finished it was time to work out what each bit meant in terms of the curse she needed to break in order to get the prize inside the box:

SPOILER!!: Esme's Notes

88 066 15 9 4

Basis: 88 (8: Authority, self-mastery, fluidity, movement)
<- effects movement and fluidity
Kernel/Core: 066 (0: Decay, nothingness, cessation) (6: Balance, nurturing, family focus, domestic and work issues, stability)
<- ceases stability (makes you lose balance???)
Range: 15 (1: Beginning, independence, innovation, leadership, verbal expression) (5: Change, freedom, physical world, physical touch)
<- speaking (incantation?) or touching the box
Cline/Type: 9 4 (9: Endings, metamorphosis, power/strength, short-lived, immediacy) (4: Endurance, sober-mindedness, practicality, complexity)
<- complex, powerful, and short-lived

Okay. From what Esme worked out, the curse effected movement - specifically balance - and was triggered by speaking or touching the box. It was also complex and short-lived. Of course she could be completely off the mark on all this... She would see shortly. First she needed to determine what the specific curse was.

In reality, the man wasn't too surprised if some of the students found this difficult. It wasn't an easy topic, just like Arithmancy and Defence weren't easy subjects. What he was surprised by were the number of numbers that were popping up here and there and the fact that they weren't giving up with this task. Most people would.

And then he heard a familiar voice calling for a Professor.

Since he was nearby, Hirsch went over to Jaemin and glanced down at him first and then at his notes. He even bent down a little to talk to the boy better and not make his neck suffer. But then again, craned necks were the last of his worries. "What's wrong, Jaemin?" Because he wouldn't have called a professor over just to say that they liked their glasses, would he?