Arithmancy Lesson 1: The Pinnacles
 

Professor Shackleton propped open the door to the Arithmancy classroom and glanced around. She probably should have done something to spruce up the place before holding the first lesson, but the start of term had been so busy that she hadn't had the chance.

Everything in the room is so plain and boring. The walls are flat and white. There are no individual desks for the students, but instead seven long tables with several chairs behind each to accomodate the ladies. The tables are completely devoid of character, with nothing interesting atop them to spruce up the place. The only thing on each table is a folded card with a large number on it and the word 'year' written above it. The table closest to the front has a card written 'Year 1', the second 'Year 2', and so forth. The room appears hollow and without warmth, very different from Professor Shackleton's former classroom at Hogwarts.

At the front of the room is a podium, a small table, and one small blackboard. Professor Shackleton is situating her things on the table as you enter. She greets you pleasantly and requests that you take a seat by class year as the cards indicate. All-first years in the front!

OOC: The lesson will begin shortly. You may greet your classmates but please keep excessive chatting to a minimum.

Celandine made her way into the classroom cautiously; immediately noticing the 7 long tables. She brightened when she noticed that she would be sitting near the front; her favourite spot.

"Hello Professor," She dipped her head respectfully, "I'm Celandine."

Cela slid into a seat in the direct centre of the front table, sitting up expectantly.

Steelsheen walked into Arithmancy class, and greeted the the Professor a warm "Hello!" She took her place near the front, next to Cela.

Cela smiled brightly in greeting at Steelsheen and wondered briefly if the professors called her by her nickname too.

Destiny stepped into the classroom, and glanced around.
She smiled at all of her classmates. "Hello professor," she said and looked at professor Shackleton once.

Usagi stepped inside the classroom, and sighed with relief when she sees Allie there. She greeted the professor: "Good day to you, Professor. I'm Usagi Ginno, first year Gryffindor. And I can't wait to learn about all the meanings that numbers held."

And it was time for yet another class! And this time, it was something that interested Melina greatly. Well, at least it did from what she had heard about the subject and the little she had read about it was, to say the least, quite interesting.

"Hello, professor," The first year say shyly to the older woman as she took a seat in the front row. Interesting subject or not, Melly had still not totally overcome her fear of older, more knowledgeable people.

Not wishing to waste another second, the girl looked around the classroom in search of someone she knew to no avail. Not one of her friends (could she call them friends already?) was there. Oh well, they'd come around soon, wouldn't they? They knew how much they needed those house points so they just had to come. Meanwhile, she'd just take her stuff from the bag and wait. Yes, that's what she'd do and that's what she did.

Professor Shackleton smiled and returned the greeting of all the students who had entered. She'd held off starting the lesson because she waiting for more students to arrive, but then she remembered that all her classes were going to seem smaller than she was accustomed to because all the boys would be missing.

A little sad, Professor Shackleton explained, "Good morning, ladies. I'm going to wait about 10 more minutes for some of your classmates to arrive and then we shall begin. In the meantime, I'd like the first years and any student who does not have their Arithmancy journal from last term to come up to the table here and obtain one." Professor Shackleton gestured to a stack of leather bound journals resting on the table beside the podium. She explained, "I'd like for you all to take all your notes and complete all your homework in these journals. You will hand them in for grading periodically at my request and then I will distribute them back to you with your homework grades. The purpose of these journals is for you to have a resource to look back on when your education is complete, and also so that you have a complete Arithmancy profile for yourself by the time you graduate. I hope you enjoy them."

Via entered the room and saw her fellow Gryffindors.
"Good day professor." Via said with a smile, she went to sit beside Usa.

Cassandra had taken a seat at the front of class as usual. She took her notes out and opened them up... She liked professor Shackleton... but Arithmancy was a subject she struggled with.

Listening to what the professor had to say she walked up to the desk at the fron and picked a journal up, sitting at her desk again she wrote her name on the front

Daphne hurried into the classroom. Of course she had take a wrong turn and ended up on the wrong floor. She was relieved to see class hadn't begun yet. Looking for an empty seat, and quickly grabbed on near the door and sat down. Breathing slightly heavily, she smiled to the professor and got out her things, including the arithmancy journal. It was slightly beaten from three years of use, but it still held together and worked well for the class. Resting her elbows on the table, she patiently waited for class to start.

Celandine's eyes had lit up during the professor's little speech. She stood and made her way to the table taking one of the leather journals.
"Thank you professor." Cela beamed, making her way back to her seat next to Steelsheen.

Professor Shackleton clapped her hands together and begun, "Well ladies, welcome to Arithmancy! For those of you who don't already know me, my name is Macadrian Shackleton and this is my third year teaching Arithmancy. Prior to filling the Arithmancy post, I was a curse breaker for Gringotts and completed quite a bit of research in the field. My most recent research project was just completed over the summer and will hopefully be published later this year. But enough about me! Let's get to business!"

Professor Shackleton stepped out from behind the podium and began pacing the front of the room in her usual fashion. "This term we are going to be learning Predictive Arithmancy. But before we get into that, let's start with a brief introduction about what the subject of Arithmancy truly is. Arithmancy is essentially number science. It is applying the information told to us by each number in our everyday lives to achieve our goals and reach our destiny. The numbers are very powerful and when read appropriately can guide many of the major and minor decisions we make in our lifetime.

"Now, if you've all done the reading, you'd know that Pythagoras is credited with the birth of Arithmancy, teaching it in his school in Southern Italy. Who can explain to me Pythagoras' theory of all of life relating to mathematics?"

OOC: Please refer to the textbook thread for the duration of the lesson. Thanks!

Once she heard the professor's voice, Melly got up from her seat and took one journal. That reminded her of her muggle school, where they too kept a journal for each subject. At once, she let out a sigh. She kind of missed that school. At least there she could be with the boys, even though they were all a bunch of jerks. Except Allie of course and another one she had had a crush on once.

It was only when she was back on her seat that she noticed that she was flushing. Great. Now she had to blush out of nothing. Ugh. She must look like a fool!

Thankfully, Issy seemed to be always around to shake her from her thoughts. Breaking into a grin at the sight of her friend, she nodded. "I think so. It seems very interesting from what I've heard and read. A new prespective of numbers... I like that," She nodded again.

Hearing the professor again, the girl fell silent and started to try to remember exactly what she had read.

Cassandra raised her hand and said "He believed that the higher an object’s vibration, the more spirit force it contained, hence the more positive its nature. Likewise, the lower an object’s vibration, the less force and more negative its action. When taken all together, the vibration of everything in the universe creates an absolute, undivided unity. These beliefs led to his system of Arithmancy, in which the numbers 1 through 9 are symbolic representations of the nine stages of the human life cycle."

Shumeeta raised her hand.

"He believed that everything was related to mathematics and that numbers were the ultimate reality and, through mathematics, everything could be predicted and measured in rhythmic patterns or cycles. According to Iamblichus, Pythagoras once said that "number is the ruler of forms and ideas and the cause of gods and demons." He believed that all is number."

And then, she remembered.

"Professor, Pythagoras believed that the higher an object’s vibration, the more spirit force it contained, hence the more positive its nature. So, the lower an object’s vibration, the less force and more negative its action. When taken all together, the vibration of everything in the universe creates unity. That led to his system of Arithmancy, where the numbers 1 to 9 are representations of the nine stages of the human life cycle," Melly nodded.

Hopefully that was right.

raising her hand and nodding at what the others were saying Cela added, "He believed if you could understand yourself you could better understand others."