[Arithmancy] Intermediate Lesson II: Prediction

The second month of classes had officially kicked into gear and Tim was excited to finally get really into the swing of things. Now that most of the introductory things had been handled, he could get into the thick of things with his usual flow of teaching. He still hadn't quite shaken his lingering feeling of nervousness for the things happening outside of the castle, but he was doing a far better job of keeping it buried down and out of view of his students.

The first lesson for the intermediate students had gone exceptionally well, but he was much looking forward to this lesson today. One of his favorite things to teach was prediction and it tended to be one of the classes that the students liked best. For this go at the topic, Tim had chosen to focus on the properties of seven as it was one of the most commonly used numbers in Arithmetic Prediction. Since the number would be the primary focus of the lesson, he had the room set up in all sorts of increments of seven.

He kept the tables in the same triangular formations that he'd used for the Advanced class (Twelve desks set up in triangular formations around the room. Three desks were push together corner to corner in the triangular formation. Each desk was capable of sitting two students side by side meaning that there would be six students at each triangular pod of desks, a total of 24 seats.) However on these desks were sets of seven. Seven sweets arranged in the form of the number seven at each seat, seven small strips of parchment about six inches long and three inches tall, and slip of parchment with numbers one through seven written in a row that appeared blank for the moment, though they would not remain so. On Tim's desk were seven goblets, on the blackboard's chalk tray were seven pieces of chalk, and floating above the desks were seven clear orbs.

Tim left the door to the classroom open as he usually did and got busy sorting some papers into files at his desk as he waited for students trickle into the classroom. A note was written on the board for all students to observe as they entered:

Have a seat anywhere you like and help yourself to the sweets at your seats. Leave your supplies off the desk and please refrain from touching the parchment. Class will begin shortly.

Oh, the joy of a class she was actually good at! Pixie didn't find the idea of arithmancy as exciting as charms or transfiguration, but weirdly, numbers came to her much more easily than reading or writing words and she'd discovered that being okay at something kind of made it more enjoyable. It still felt strange for the girl to actually look forward to a class and pay attention, but the days with arithmancy on her timetable seemed to be better ones. She wasn't even late for class, didn't need to skitter in at the last possible minute with a flimsy excuse.

Last lesson had been great, partially recapping what they'd done last year and she felt like she'd even understood everything. Pixie walked in with a cheerful "Hi Professor Winchester" and picked a seat over to the left side of the classroom. Naturally, the first thing she noticed were the sweets, and she glanced over to the next desk across to see if they were arranged differently there. As usual, she dumpd her bag into her lap and started pulling things out of it until a quick whisper from someone nearby caught her attention. Glancing in their direction, the other student indicated something written on the board. The fourth year grabbed her glasses and put them on, the coloured lenses making the words remain still enough for her to read them.

Oh. Pixie's cheeks coloured slightly but she carefully put everything back into her bag, pretending she'd only been removing things in the first place in order to find her glasses. She put the case neatly on her desk, off to the side of the rest of the equipment. At least she hadn't started fiddling with the pieces of parchment, which undoubtedly would have happened if she hadn't read the instruction. Instead she idly started eating the sweets, eyes flitting round the room as she did so. Eventually she looked more closely at the teachers' desk, and then back to her own.

"Everything's sevens..." she murmured thoughtfully.

Jari slipped into the Arithmancy class among the small crowd of students, not early, not late, but just on time. He followed them through the open door and took a seat next to his cousin and year mate. Giving her a little smile before he lobbed his bag onto the floor, Jari took a second to read the board. He'd gotten nearly all the way through the instructions before noticing the candy sitting out on the desk. Never one to turn down free candy, he let go of his bag's strap and settled into the seat. Leaning in toward Pixie, he whispered quickly, "Can we eat this?" He asked, and he nearly waited a whole second before realizing she was already doing so. Jari smiled again, still a bit hungry even after the last meal, and unwrapped one of the candies. It was butterscotch colored, but that meant nothing in the wizarding world. It could have been something creamy and delightful like caramel, or it could have been something awful. That was just the chance a wizard took when eating sweets.

Jari was up for the challenge.

Taking a daring bite out of the candy, he began to survey their surroundings. He hadn't noticed before, but the tables were set up differently this year. It was more of a group setting, which the Hufflepuff hoped would mean more students working together. He absolutely adored group projects and when they were allowed to be social in class. While he wasn't a regular class clown, Jari did enjoy having a bit of fun between learning things. It made the whole day that much better. Stuffy classes full of quiet reading and note-taking were his least favorite. It was part of why he enjoyed Arithmancy; the professor always invited discussion about whatever topics they were working on, it was excellent.