Lesson 1: Getting to Know You

[Caleb Renneau]

Caleb set his briefcase down on the desk in front of him. A briefcase was a bit pompous even for him, but he was proud of the thing. Ethan had given it to him in honor of his new teaching position at Hogwarts. Sliding his fingers reverently over the black leather casing to the golden lettered CR, he pressed inward at the latch and lifted the top side to retrieve his lesson plan inside.

Thumbing through the pages he refused to be nervous or anything of the sort. Sure he was young to be teaching, and his students would be only a few years younger than him, but he was a respected professional among…well not his peers, but his step-father’s associates all respected his aptitude for learning, and his professionalism. He was determined not to fail.

Leaning back in his seat he crossed his legs over his desk and charmed a piece of chalk to write his name on the board, at the same time he began making changes in the room to suit his needs and own personal taste. The change in atmosphere made the room more welcoming and warm, there was something subtly encouraging and enigmatic about it, just like the new teacher himself.

He had another fifteen minutes until his very first class occurred, he glanced at the clock to make sure that statement was correct and then amused he sighed “Bring on the Darkness.” for that’s what this next year would be. A year of proving himself, a year of uphill battles with students and possibly other faculty members, unexpected challenges always inevitably arose, but there wasn’t a challenge yet he hadn’t met and defeated. Slowly his lip curled upwards at the corners into a small smirk, yes, bring it on indeed.

[Hallie Monroe]

(Just a warning: I may be your only student, unless someone rearranges their schedule.)

No matter how long Hallie had been a student at Hogwarts, she still managed to get lost. It was almost pathetic, how many times she had wandered around the hallways, looking for one class or another. The stupid moving staircases didn't help, either. This time she had taken the stairs up and found herself in a completely unfamiliar hallway that seemed to repeat itself over and over and over again. She passed the same suit of armor 4 times before she started to get desperate.

Finally, she asked one of the paintings which way to go to get to her class and was able to find her way. Unfortunately, one of the bathrooms had overflowed, probably as a result of Moaning Myrtle, and she slipped in a large puddle of water and fell over backwards.

Great. Now she was running late, AND she was wet. At least no one was around to witness her most recent accident. Seriously, were all Ravenclaws this clumsy?

Wringing out her hair, Hallie stepped into the classroom. No one else was there, except the professor. "Hi, Professor," she greeted him, wincing at the squishing sound her shoes made as she walked.

[Caleb Renneau]

He heard the "squishing" noise and wasn't startled when she came in the room, he was however startled by her appearance.

"Morning miss..." he returned then picked up his roster to check for her name, there weren't many on his list of students, then again arithmancy called for a certain type of brains. He wouldn't be surprised if most of his students were from Ravenclaw.

"Monroe?" he guessed.

[Adele Graham]

(Nah, my Ravenclaw is here)

Adele had grabbed the wrong book for class, and had to turn back halfway to class to get the right one. It was ridiculous, she thought... she was too scatterbrained today to claim association with Ravenclaw.

So great, she was running late. She probably looked like a mess, too. She had been so busy working on an essay for another class that she hadn't taken the time to really look presentable. She didn't much care. Her hair was pulled back in a pony tail, and at least her robes were free of wrinkles.

She opened the door quietly, in case class had already started, and aimed for a desk in the back. She set her book and her bag down and took a seat, all without looking up right away.

[Caleb Renneau]

He wouldn't have noticed her right away either, after welcoming Miss Monroe into the class, he himself spilled his coffee over his desk, more importantly over his lesson plans.

Cursing to the high heavens inwardly he reminded himself that there were quite a few pros to being a wizard, he could clean the mess, but it didn't detract from the annoyance hardly any. Thus while proceeding to clean his desk off he was aware of someone entering the room, but not who it was, "Your tardiness has been noted Miss-" he had turned to face her, at first he only saw the ponytail, but a flash of delicate features told him that it was indeed a miss. When he did get a look at her face he paused for words.

[Adele Graham]

Adele looked up, wincing at the words and sincerely praying that he didn't detract any house points. It woul only be fair, she supposed, but-

Even her thoughts caught in her throat, and her eyes widened. "Oh, bugger."

It was the creep from the cemetary. He hadn't been lying; he was a teacher. And therefore, probably not the creep she thought he was. And she had almost hexed him! She's threatened to, anyway, and that did not help matters. Had she made an enemy for the rest of the year?

[Caleb Renneau]

His lips curled into a slow smile, "Miss.." he said in a softer amused tone waiting for her to fill in her name.

Perhaps she hadn't made an enemy for the rest of the year, but finally the tables had turned, she was the one embarrassed and he had the upper hand. He was relishing the moment that his character was vindicated in her eyes. Perhaps it was perhaps it wasn't, but at least she knew he was honest about being a teacher, and now he had her in his clutches. He frowned inwardly at that thought, perhaps he was a little perverse, but only in the strictest sense of the word revenge.

Oh hell, it was petty he knew that, but some part inside of him registered glee at her discomfort now, the way she had made him uncomfortable the day before.

[Adele Graham]

"Graham," she said, almost miserably. Why had she changed her schedule to include this class? Because it sounded interesting?

She felt like she was giving in, surrendering when she told him her name. One look at the roster, and he'd have her first name as well.

She glanced at Hallie, trying to gauge if he'd been kind to her thus far, but then again, Hallie probably hadn't threatened him.

She sat straight in her seat, trying not to let him see how completely embarassed and taken back she was by this turn of events.

[Caleb Renneau]

"Graham." he repeated silkily, again he could hear the perverse thrill in his own voice subtle as it might have been, and had to tamp it down as he said her full name, "Adele Graham." he nodded then turned his back to her without another thought.

"I am Mr. Renneau. Welcome to Arithmancy Miss Graham." he said before writing a few numbers and then letters on the board, it was a standard diagram for his class. But he had an exercise for the students, that might have entertained them.

Then because he felt like picking on her, he wrote her name on the board, "A-D-E-L-E G-R-A-H-A-M" he spelled then proceeded:

Character Number: 3
Heart Number : 4
Social Number: 8

Then he turned to face his students, "Now, who might believe that it is with numbers our destiny's are outlined for us?" he looked at them all, "For all of those who said no, get out of my class." he teased then smiled.

"With Arithmancy we can in fact learn a lot about a person, about the future...about most anything." he nodded, "Take Miss Graham for instance. Her character number, three, represents the idea of completeness or wholeness, as in the threesomes past-present-future and mind-body-spirit. Three indicates talent, energy, an artistic nature, humor, and social ease. Threes are often lucky, easygoing, and highly successful, but they can also be unfocused, and easily offended." he almost chuckled as he stressed the last part.

To the rest of the class it might have seemed that he was picking on her because she was late, only they knew better.

[Amy Icefire]

Amy became caught up in finishing a bit of homework and didn't realize what time it was. Luckily for her, Sirius wasn't going to be in her next class. Bounding out of the Gryffindor tower, Amy started to run down the corridor with her long red hair flowing behind her.

Never in her life had she been late for a class. Why did this class have to be the first? Of course, of one person. His name was Sirius Black. Sure, she had been working on her homework last night, but her mind drifted off. This wasn't helping her at all. She couldn't focus on her school work because of it. Amy knew that she needed to move on, and she was trying the best she could. She couldn't help that sometimes her mind floated elsewhere.

As she continued to run down the corridors with her hair and robes flapping behind her, Amy finally made it to class. She walked in out of breath. "I-am-so-sorry," she panted out trying to catch her breath. Not even looking at the other students, she walked over and took a seat.

[Hallie Monroe]

Hallie noticed the odd tension between the professor and Adele, but didn't quite understand it. Although they were in the same house, Hallie didn't know Adele very well at all. So it was difficult to imagine what possessed her to act like that. She wasn't really all that interested, though, and spent the entire conversation using a drying charm on herself, so she wouldn't continue to drip on the floor.

She was taken by surprise as the professor began the lesson and she quickly scrambled to get out a quill and parchment and begin taking notes. Looking up, she saw as Amy rushed into the room, looking frantic. Hallie could identify with that, although usually when she did it, she ended up falling.

[Adele Graham]

She scoffed at what he claimed her number meant. Lucky, she was not. Unless you counted the fact that the people around her had bad things happen to them, and not technically to her, but that was almost worse. Her humor was sarcasm, so she supposed that counted. And she hadn't been offended by him. Just terrified out of her wits.

This was going to be an extremely long class, she decided, taking out paper and a quill and avoiding looking at the professor.

[Caleb Renneau]

He looked once more at his roster for the late attending then nodded towards the seats, "Go ahead and take a seat Miss.." again he waited for her to fill in her last name. He was good with names and faces. To perhaps Adele's misery, he never forgot a face, or a first impression.

Encouraged that his late student would pick a seat, he marked next to her name a T for tardy. Then he continued on and explained what the four meant in her romantic life "Like a table that rests solidly on four legs, four indicates stability and firmness. Fours enjoy hard work. They are practical, reliable and down to earth; they prefer logic and reason to flights of fancy." here he paused in thought before continuing, " They are good at organization and getting things done. Like the cycle of the four seasons, they are also predictable. They can be *stubborn*, *suspicious*, overly practical and prone to *angry outbursts*." This time he couldn't help but chuckle.

[Adele Graham]

Her jaw clenched for the whole of that little explaination, and her eyes narrowed when he chuckled. How dare he? What was she supposed to think? He had scared her to death, followed her, taunted her... and it seemed the taunting wasn't ending. How utterly fabulous.

She said nothing though, and to be honest, the 4 had her covered spot on.

Finally, daring to call attention to herself, she raised her hand.

[Caleb Renneau]

The girl had pulled a wand on him after he had politely escorted her home. This is after of course she shunned him when he asked after her well being. In his mind the day before had been quite different.

Still he couldn't blame her for being upset, which if her hand was any indication, then she might have been. Instead he calmly called on her. "Yes?"

[Adele Graham]

"I'm just curious, *Professor,*" She said, emphasizing his title. She still couldn't believe that she was sitting in front of him, that he actually was the teacher he claimed to be. "How Arithmancy is any different from Astrology, or any other fortune telling practice. They all seem to be basic enough that they would describe anyone."

She paused, but decided to take this one step further bcause she felt the need to defend herself. "In fact, only about half of the characteristics you mentions really pertain to me."

[Caleb Renneau]

He almost asked her which half, since all the ones he knew to be true, at least where he was concerned, seemed to be accurate, and they were less than flattering. He caught the slip just before he shocked his classmates, but he raised an eyebrow in clear challenge straight to where she was sitting.

"In answer to your question Miss Graham, there are many people who believe Arithmancy to be a more technical approach to divination, perhaps these answers are too broad for your tastes." and perhaps they're dead on accurate and that's why you don't like them, he added silently to himself, " However take into consideration that on a broad scale names are how a person identifies themselves. One of the biggest insults is to purposely get a person's name wrong, we highly value our names, so we automatically place more importance on it." He set his chalk down and went to sit on his desk as he continued his explanation.

"Does a name affect your personality? Would you be a completely different person if you were named Tiffany? Would you be treated differently? Would you treat others differently as a result of how you would be treated were your name Tiffany?"

He stood and pressed on, " And if we conclude that a person's name shapes their personality, then Arithmancy has everything to do with who you are." he ended placing his hands in his pockets. Then he shrugged, "On the other hand, there are many people who believe in Arithmancy, intelligent people who decided to make it a class inside this institution and since most of my students are from Ravenclaw I would assume that there is merit yet within the system."

[Hallie Monroe]

Hallie was taking notes furiously. Of course, they were barely legible, but it hardly mattered. She'd probably be able to figure them out later.

As she scribbled down pretty much every word that the professor spoke, she started to wonder about her name. Did the numbers in her name add up to mean something to the effect of "clumsy geek?" Or maybe "walking disaster?" If so, then maybe she really was cursed.

"Um, Professor?" she asked. "Are we going to be tested on this?"

[Dorian Knight]

Ryan had been sitting in the back, the only student who had shown up on time, it seemed. The two Ravenclaws had both rushed in late. He didn't expect anything from the Gryffindor, but the two who were supposed to be known for being studious surprised him.

He wasn't taking notes, nor did he have to. Even if he answered Hallie's question to the affirmative, Ryan would do just fine on the test.

His eyes traveled to Adele, giving her a curious look at the tension between her and the professor. He wondered what their story was.

[Caleb Renneau]

Caleb looked up quickly at Hallie and shrugged, " Perhaps." he smiled, "I'm not a fan of tests to be honest, but presentation and understanding. Tests, often see how well you can memorize your work, not necessarily how well you understand what you're learning. I will however ask that you memorize this chart...it's fairly simple, and be able to tell me what letter corresponds with which number without peeking."

"Your first assignment will be to Define your name according to Arithmancic Numerology. You can read more about it in your textbooks on page fourteen."

He turned and faced Adele again, " You can find out what your last Social number means and write a short essay on how you think it applies, and how it doesn't apply to your person. If you don't want to pick your social number then you can pick either your Character or Heart, but I would like for you to read about your social number anyway." The tension on his end was gone, and he was back in teacher mode, oh they would clash every once in a while, but he was a professional.

"Any Questions?"