How to use Arithmancy in everyday life? Pretty simple wasn't it? You used it to get expectancy as to what would happen in your near or not so near future. Wasn't it? That's how Nessie thought of it, she also thought that Arithmancy helped you found out who you were as a person. It would tell you things about yourself that you never realized before and sometimes didn't even believe.

This was all what she would have answered, but when someone a few seats away from her spoke, she paused and pouted as she thought some more. Milton had a good answer and even if it was not very like her, she agreed with him. Which may have been because she still wanted to spy on Dylan.

"Yeah, Professor can we do what Milton said?" she gave him a small rude look. Mhhm. If he wanted to compete with spying and all then she was in, no problem at all. "I mean Arithmancy does guide you as to what is going to happen, and it does tell you what people are like. So wouldn't it be able to guide you with quidditch things too?" It should. Right?

The captain looked at the Professor and waited for an answer.

Sarah was going to say baby naming... then she remembered that one did not usually name a baby everyday... so she skimmed through her textbook until she saw something that caught her eye. She raised her hand and said "curse breaking" she was not going to provide more information because that was all the textbook provided...

Meanwhile she wrote some notes

Kurumi tried to turn her attention back to her parchment, but she felt the eyes of a certain FAKE!Ravenclaw staring at her. What had she done now?! It wasn't like she was trying to tell him how a steam train worked or anything.

Oh, wait, he was just asking about numbers and how it could relate to Quidditch. Since he was staring at her, implying that he was also expecting an answer, so Kurumi turned around slightly in her seat to look more at Milton. "In a sense, yes," Kurumi nodded. "For example, let's say you are playing against a team whose members have a majority of people who are having a Personal Day Number of 7. That is a day that you are supposed to rest, so you could conclude that your opponent won't be in their best shape. Or if you are having a Personal Day Number of 2, it is probably a good idea to look over rosters and scout because you are having a day where you are especially patient and paying attention to details." Of course, one also had to take Personal Month and Personal Year into consideration as well, but that was the gist of it really.

Elijah really hated this class, and even bringing his canary yellow abacus with him for show had lost it's novelty after last term. He quickly raised his hand as the Professor asked her next question, sure that he could at least answer this one, "I use Arithmancy to work out whether or not I am too young for a hot girl or woman. The forumla is, you take the older person's age, divide by two and then add seven. That's the youngest person they can make out with. It's basic Arthimancy, really," Elijah had NOT been thinking about Professor GORGEOUSface from COMC at alllll. Nope.

Laura looked at the professor and then put her wand away before looking at the Professor and answering the question. "Professor it tells you all about numbers so maybe you can use Arithmancy to win the lottery or win in a Quidditch Match." Laura smiled, had anyone actually tried that before.

Nigel had to think about this question. He did like the answer about the lottery and stuff.

"Well, Professor. If you're going to make a love potion. It be helpful to know what day they're more likely to drink it."

Not that Nigel would ever do this. But it was a evil and genius idea.

This class was already giving her a headache. Everything that she could think of somebody had already said. It was pretty much fortune telling right? Only supposedly this was not guess work because numbers didn't lie. Hannah wasn't so sure about that but she keep the comments to herself.

She jotted down some things because she was paying attention and all and she knew that she was going to need all the help that she could get in this class. "Professor if you know how a day might turn out you can be ready and plan things accordingly." That was about all that she could say about that. At least she had participated that counted for something right?

What are some practical uses for Arithmancy? Hmm..

Messer was going to say Life Path Number but Ella was preceded him. Darn!

Then he heard the Ravenclaw Captain said something about numbers can figure out other Quidditch teams tactics. Now that got his full attention. His eyes went from the Captain to Kurumi while they're doing a little discussion about that matter. He decided to listen to them while waiting what Professor Hadley would say since he's never really good with Arithmancy.

Ira listened to others answer and Professor, as she doodled on her blank parchment. Not that she was getting bored, the class was just not interesting enough yet. Maybe it would be?? Yep, knowing Hadley, it would. Because Ira always ended up enjoying Arithmancy lessons!

So.. practical uses. Were there any? Ira liked the subject, but that didn't mean that she actually considered it useful. Because she herself didn't use Arithmancy stuff in daily life. She listened to others answer before her.. finding love, quidditch. Wait. Quidditch? Ira sat up a bit straighter and listened to Kurumi & Milton exchange their views. Really? Hmm..

Ira raised her hand up and answered, "I have read that, Arithmancy is useful for the Curse Breakers. Some curses are based on the magical properties of numbers and their meanings, so I think, it makes sense that you would need the magical meaning of numbers in order to break those curses. Which means Arithmancy." Though Ira had never seen someone break a curse using this method, but still.. She HAD read it somewhere. Maybe it meant that using Arithmancy for a spell would heighten its effect? Or reduce it even? Oh yeah.. then the possibilities could be endless if it was true...

Minerva really wasn't sure of the answer. She thought of it for a second then put up her hand, "Professor, like I can't remember which lesson it was, but we learned about our own personal traits. Which I do remember being surprised on how much it really did hit my personality. Seeing this could help us learn more about ourselves and how to better our lives and ways." She hoped that was what she was meaning at least.

Pffft. Elliot had no clue what to say! Merlin. She tapped her quill a bit on her desk, and..thought? When COULD someone use this in real life? Is that what the professor was even asking?

Gurrrr.

She raised her hand, though, deciding to give it..her best shot. "Well, since Arithmancy is the prediction of patterns, couldn't it help you decide when to best take someone on a date..?" She blushed a bit..."Since it will most likely tell when a certain person will likely with in the best of moods." Did that make sense AT ALL?!

Eh, who cares? Elliot did..!

Hadley just listened as the students babbled off answers about how one could use someone's strengths and weaknesses and talents. "All that is well and true, yes, but is it practical to expect to calculate someone's numbers every time you wanted to find information about someone or something?" Hadley challenged, as she turned toward the Ravenclaw captain bringing quidditch up....



Listening to the banter back and forth a moment, she slowly nodded. "Yes, technically speaking, you can use Arithmancy to determine lottery numbers or the best days to spy on quidditch opponents, but I do NOT, under any circumstances advocate that you do so." She let this set for a moment, before adding quietly, "However, what I don't know..." But no, she wasn't going to advocate to cheating or spying on tactics...

OH finally there were some students thinking outside the box in terms of practicality! Beaming at the two young Gryffindors, she nodded. "Curse breaking is INDEED one of the main professions that uses the magical properties of numbers. And I don't know about you, but I can't think of much more practical uses of numbers than in curse breaking. And cryptic codes."

Before Fina went on though about cryptic messages, she heard what Elijah had to say about practical uses for Arithmancy and frowned. "That's not Arithmancy, and I would prefer if you keep discussions of romantic pairings outside my classroom. Or better yet, outside the castle walls." And that was ALL she was going to say about that discussion.


Back to the class at hand.

"So first, before we talk about breaking curses, which if we don't get to that this lesson, then we have the whole term..." Hadley continued. "We need to know what is a curse? And how to recognize when someone or something has been cursed. So what's a curse?"

Ella beamed when she heard Hadley ask about curses, excited that they were kind of tying Defense Against the Dark Arts into this lesson. That was one of her favorite classes so she was quite ready to share what she knew about the subject. She raised her hand, trying not to look too eager. "Professor, a curse is the worse type of dark magic." Shudder. "It is used with the intent to harm someone or something else." So yeah, pretty dodgy stuff, curses. As for how one could tell whether someone or something has been cursed, Ella wasn't exactly sure. She'd let someone else answer that one and simply take some notes.

Cursebreaking...that certainly sounded interesting. Gideon's curiousity was piqued as he listened to what was being discussed however there was as side trip. One that took them to the mention of actual curses. Those he knew something about though he wished he really hadn't the knowledge. So the seventh year raised his hand to speak up and break his relative quiet in the class. "Curses are a type of spell used to cause harm and even mortal danger to a person. "

Nigel thought this was Arithmancy not DADA. Well they basically went over this same question in the other class. So it was fresh in Nigel's mind.

"Professor, a curse is worst kind of Dark Magic. Curses are used to causing harm and even bring death to people. One example is the Cruciatus Curse."

This might be a interesting class after all. But he still liked Elijah's answer to the last question. He made sure to write it down.

Curse breaking....

Were they going to have to try and open up walnuts again? That had been a rather complicated activity in her fourth year - not that Kurumi hadn't minded it. Just number pairings and all that had gotten a bit to her head and everywhere she had looked after the lesson she was trying to decode thing to see how to 'break their curse' as it were.

Since the basic definition had already been given out, Kurumi raised her hand to offer up a little something else. "Most curses, on top of what others have already said, are designed to react to certain spells. A few terms ago you brought in a box that caused a person to freeze when they tried to use magic on it or physically touch the box," Kurumi began, somewhat eyeing Professor Hadley and then glancing at the candy on the tables. SUSPICIOUS! CURSED PEPPERMINT! "You taught us Arithmos Revelio to use on cursed objects to show us the numerical representation of the curse to help us figure out the nature of it."

Yeah...Kurumi wasn't touching her sweet any time soon...

Alex sighed and raised his hand. He had had to answer this question so many times over his last six years at school, he could practically do it in his sleep. Which was good, because that meant POINTS which equalled GOOD GRADES...something Alex wasn't very good at achieving, sadly.

"Curses are spells that are cast on someone with the intent to cause harm," he explained. "They're worse than hexes or jinxes, which cause minor physical discomfort or embarrassment...curses are SERIOUS, like you-could-probably-die serious," he said, nodding his head seriously.

Tag shook his head as he heard the Professor continuing on talking. Had he really dozed off or had he just gotten too into his daydream? Well, whatever it was his mind was back in the class and he barely caught onto the Professor's last question. Maybe it was just him but he felt like this question was asked in all his classes-or maybe it was just him thinking that. "When the caster of the curse has the intention of harming whatever the spell is aimed at." But the second question seemed to be something he couldn't put his finger on. Wasn't there some requirement list or something that told wizards and witches they'd been with a curse? "Don't people interprete being cast with a curse all differently? Like, what I think may be a curse cast on me could be different from a curse cast on Ella-for example? Depending on how we think of it."

A curse was clearly having Hadley as a Professor if she didn't realise that his perfectly adequate answer wasn't Arithmancy. He'd read it in some magazine somewhere. He was certain of it's truth.

Elijah had noticed Nigel had copied down his answer (a little bit of well practiced peering-over-the-shoulder) and this had perked him up considerably. Nigel was starting to become one of his favourite people to be around. He liked the kid.

Raising his hand, "As well as all the horrid magical nastiness my fellow students have offered, a curse can also be a bad word used to describe someone. I can give you some examples if you like?" he certainly had a few curse words he could use to describe Hadley after her dismissal of his previous (AWESOME) answer.

Alright Arithmancy as a prediction tool he can understand. Its pretty straightforward.

But Arithmancy as a counter-curse? Or even the curse itself? A numerical manipulation to affect someone?

It was an unusual concept, which naturally got this Ravenclaw all curious at how this will go. Having heard his response to the Professor's questions answered by others, Vickers added a few more notes to his parchment as his mind started to wander on what he had learned about Arithmancy throughout his stay in Hogwarts that can be twisted into a curse or a counter-curse.

Well, hmm... she hadn't learned much about curses so far at school. She should add that to the list of things she and Edmund would go over in an attempt to catch her up so next year she could come back as a 5th year with the other kids her age.

Sutton did kind of have an answer, though. Raising her hand, she responded, "Well, in the Muggle world, we would always talk about curses as they related to superstitions. Like... if you break a mirror, you'll be cursed with seven years of bad luck. It's also sort of used when someone is mad at another person. They'll say, like, 'Curse youuuu!' And there are also stories about creepy places being cursed with evil spirits or some such thing. So, I suppose from what I know, a curse is some sort of misfortune knowingly delivered upon a person or place by someone." There were too many ambiguous words in that definition, but it was the best Sutton could do...

Curse Breaking?! Travis loved curse breakers, they were so cool! He scribbled notes on his parchment as different people spoke, fixing his mustache so that it would stay in place.

'Curses harm' he wrote down on his parchment. he then thrust his hand into the air. People already said what it means, so Travis was going to go on. "Professor." he said. Breath. Pause. "Most curses can be recognized by human senses. Even if it's not obvious, it leaves behind a trace. like maybe odd tints, or maybe ancient wizard used strange markings." Second pause. He needed a breath, but he then continued. "Umm... My dad also told me that experienced curse breakers and really any experience wizard could sense when a curse is near more strongly than to most other people. So if something or someone doesn't seem quite right, they most likely aren't."

He took a third breath, and finished. Curse breakers were so cool. They went to distant places, and learned so much about different wizarding cultures.

Travis continued to flow his quill across his parchment, but now instead of the spoken word of his class mates, he drew little pictures personifying curses.

Oakey was taking his time jotting down notes as Professor Hadley was answering questions. He stopped midway when someone brought up Curse Breaking. Did Curse Breaking really involve Arithmancy too? Oakey fumbled through his things and placed a second more personal notebook down in front of him as he took note of this, it didn't make much sense to him how numbers would break curses. So he raised his head from the new note book in front of him. "Professor I thought that Ancient Runes was more suited for a Curse Breakers Profession?" That's what Mr.Gibbins told him anyways when he asked what occupations best fit around that subject. "I don't see how decoding numbers will help me..us...them I mean, break curses?"

Ira beamed as her answer was correct. So yes, Arithmancy was useful in breaking curses. And in delivering cryptic messages too. Assigning numbers to letter would be puzzling to someone who was unaware.

What were curses? Ira knew the answer now.. Suddenly the class was becoming more interesting! And yeah, now that Kurumi mentioned about the freezing box, Ira remembered the lesson. The had figure out the code or something. Looking back, it might have been one of the most interesting lessons!

Ira raised her hand up and answered, "Curses are dark magic, spells used to harm someone on purpose." But how to recognize if someone has been cursed or not? "Sometimes it is obvious.. But sometimes we just have to rely on our senses. I mean, if we know the person enough, then we can recognize if he has been cursed or not if his behavior becomes suddenly weird or different."

Looking towards Kurumi, she nodded. "And when some THING is cursed, you yourself taught us that spell to reveal the code." She must look it up again in the library. It could be useful.

Curse breaking? WUT? Vivi popped out of her lounging position and leaned toward the professor with obvious interest. Pseudo-divination class just got very practical, and the professor had her full attention. A tool to be used in dealing with curses was very handy, indeed.

"Professor, a curse is a spell with a negative outcome cast against another person. I think there are varying degrees of severity, from a jelly-legs curse all the way up to the Killing Curse, which leads me to believe the term is more of a catch-all."