Intermediate Arithmancy: Lesson 3

[Rebecca Davenport]

Becca rushed into the room, sure she was late and somewhat surprised to find she was actually early. Once again, it seemed as if the turn of the year brought misfortune and it had put Becca more out of sorts than usual. Last January those awful Deva people had invaded and it was this time around that most of the school had come down with Pox. Becca had never had the disease, and had avoided it this time around as well. There were links to certain other animal diseases and she wondered if it was one of those that had built up her immunity. Either that or it was the fact that she tended to avoid large groups and preferred to socialize with her creatures instead.

At least this was a good class she had coming in. She had high expectations of this particular group and knew they would be expecting a more challenging lesson than the snooze-fest lecture she had been forced to give last time. Yes, Pythagoras was an amazing man, but she doubted most teenagers agreed.

The board was blank for now and Becca took a seat behind her desk, feet propped up and nose in a book. The door was open, waiting for the students.

[Tallulah Skeffington]

Tallulah was quite ready for Arithmancy. She made sure to leave her common room at a good time as to miss the rush that was inevitable. Tal hated to have to rush to class because of someones dropped something or some other boring problem. It's not what she needed today. She was late for one of her classes and got some points docked. She didn't want that to happen again. Entering the Entrance Hall she scanned the people who stood there. No one special. Taking a glance at her watch she noticed she had about fifteen minutes to get to class. She had some time to dawdle but she didn't. Turning on her heel she walked the other way toward the stairs that lead to the second floor.

The stairwell was deserted as Tallulah walked up. She double stepped, skipping every other step as she walked up to the second floor. Making it there in recored time she looked at her watch again. Five minutes. She sighed contently as she started toward her classroom. She made it there without any stops or frustrations. Walking over to a window she checked her appearance, making sure she looked nice. Happy with what she saw she turned back and walking into class.

The class was empty, save for the teacher. Professor Davenport had her nose in a book, not even noticing Tallulah enter the classroom. She walked forward, making her way over to a desk in the front. Setting her things down she took a seat. "Hello Professor!" She said sweetly to her teacher. She liked this teacher. She was very nice and pretty fun when class started.

[Rebecca Davenport]

"And how are you today, Miss Skeffington?" Becca asked, snapping her book shut as the bell chimed the hour and the start of lessons. Her classes seemed to be dwindling with each meeting. Ah well, she figured it was for the better. The serious students were the ones that stuck around, right? (she tried to convince herself)

"If you're ready to start, we'll be mixing things up today. We've been focusing our attention on the most common form of Arithmancy, the Pythagorean system, but today, we'll be working with the older and more accurate Chaldean System."

With that she flicked her wand at the board and an unfamiliar chart appeared:

She stood back a moment and let the new information sink in for a moment. "It's considered more difficult, but more accurate because with this system, instead of using your given name as you do with the Pythagorean system, we'll be using the name you most commonly go by or are most comfortable with. For example, I'd be using Becca Davenport instead of my full given name, Rebecca. We'll start with the basics and find our character, heart, and social numbers."