Easy - The Girl who Lived Forever (Harry Potter's Sister)

The Adventures of Draco Malfoy the Ferret

The storm had blown itself out by the following morning, though the ceiling in the Great Hall was still gloomy; heavy clouds of pewter grey swirled overhead as Ginny, Kella, Aubrey, Matilda and I examined our new timetables at breakfast. A few seats along, Fred, George and Lee were discussing magical methods of ageing themselves and bluffing their way into the Triwizard Tournament. 

As expected, Matilda and Ginny figured it out the second they saw our timetables. They didn't even have to say anything, I can tell when Ginny's figured something out no matter how hard she tries to hide it.

"What have you got first?" I asked Kella, who was studying her own time table.

"Divination, Muggle Studies and Arithmancy, what about you?" Kella asked Aubrey.

"Same," Aubrey grinned, holding up her time table. She'd taken all of the available subjects like Hermione had.

"I have Arithmancy and Muggle Studies. I didn't take Div because Hermione told me Trelawney couldn't go five seconds without predicting Harry's dreadful death," I laughed, the other girls joining in.

"Today's not bad . . . electives first . . . Transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs . . . Herbology with the Ravenclaws . . . and finishing with electives," Matilda noted.

"At least we never have to suffer through double Potions," Ginny grinned.

"Morning," we turn to see MJ, Freya, Pietro and Bridget behind us. "Mind if we borrow Kella and Aubrey?" Aubrey, MJ and Freya went over to the corner and began whispering quietly, Kella, Pietro and Bridget leaving the hall entirely.

We ate breakfast before Ginny and I headed off to Arithmancy (Matilda was taking Divination). The class was in Classroom 7A, and was taught by a strict Professor Septima Vector.

When we got inside, Professor Vector was already seated at her desk, and a few students from all four houses sat around the room. Ginny and I sat down behind Maye as the rest of the class filtered in. When everyone had arrives, Professor Vector called the roll. There were only 22 students in the elective.

"Welcome to Arithmancy class," Professor Vector told us. "Arithmancy is perhaps the most analytical and challenging branch of magic. It is not for those who are looking for an easy O. But it is also useful in ways that other forms of magic cannot hope to match. Most modern spellcrafting and even some potions innovations are done by arithmancy. It forms the foundation for curse-breaking, magic reversal, spell detection, and spell analysis. It is an integral part of alchemy and advanced astronomy, and an excellent aid to improve rune-based magic and wards. It is also used for statistical prognostication, which, in my humble opinion, is far more reliable than any other form of divination because it can be backed up with hard numbers, although I'm sure Professor Trelawney would disagree."

"We will mainly focus on arithmantic prognostication this year, since that requires the least complex mathematics, but we will also cover the mathematical and magical foundations of spell analysis and spellcrafting. These things can be quite tricky and must be done with great care, so I expect a full and focused effort from each of you. In particular, there is to be no fooling around with untested spells. Doing that is far more likely to land you in the hospital wing than anything else." 

Everyone nodded. Professor Vector's reputation regarding fooling around was similar to McGonagall's.

"I would like to begin the class with a short quiz," Professor Vector continued. She began to hand out pieces of parchment. "You will not be graded on it, and, indeed, most of you will probably not be able to finish it. It is merely to ascertain your level of mathematical instruction. I do this because students often come into this class with very different backgrounds in the subject. In fact, I've noticed that maths is the one area in which muggle schooling consistently outstrips our own," she added. "Please begin. You have ten minutes."