Chapter Three – Playing With Numbers
Advanced Arithmancy was not usually as exciting as my other classes, and I rather liked that. I was on my own, for one, since Sirius, Remus, and Peter had elected to take Care of Magical Creatures instead. I had discovered that the cool logic of numbers was something I enjoyed a great deal. Never mind that it was a load of rubbish; it calmed my mind, and to be honest, I liked having one class to myself. It could be tiring spending each and every class with them, and Arithmancy let me work on my own for once.
I tucked into my usual place in the back and settled down to listen to the lesson. Professor Wenlock was wearing shaggy red robes dyed with multi-colored swirls and several sets of bead necklaces. He had long grey hair that he tied back in a braid and wore tiny glasses with a yellow tint. The classroom always smelled distinctly of mallowsweet, and Professor Wenlock frequently seemed a bit too…mellow.
Today was no exception. After greeting us in his typical hazy fashion, he started class by going over the previous week's charts and then demonstrating our next project. I sat up a bit straighter as I heard the words "Valentine's Day" and groaned as he gave out the assignment: not only were we to create our future love chart, but a profile for our 'one true love' as well.
Glancing around the small class, it was immediately obvious that the girls were far more excited than the boys about the assignment. Next to me, Jackson Robertson raised his hand. He was a Ravenclaw and a flash git, and I could guess what was going to come out of his mouth before he even said it.
"Sir, what if we don't have one true love?" he asked, his voice laced with skepticism. Around me, several other boys nodded in support. Professor Wenlock grinned and took off his yellow glasses, peering at Robertson through bright blue eyes.
"Nonsense," he declared, waving his glasses in the air melodramatically. "Everyone has one true love. You may not have met them—you may never meet them!—but there is still one person whose profile will match yours perfectly, and that is the chart I want you to create, my friends."
Another male hand shot up. "Couldn't we look at our career or something instead?" asked Alan Diggory, the Hufflepuff Keeper hoping to go on to a career in Quidditch.
The girls behind me twittered. "He's just worried Carin O'Connell is his perfect match," whispered Anastasia Harrison, a pretty if petty Ravenclaw.
Diggory gave them a smart reply, and they stopped with one last giggle. Anastasia looked straight at me and licked her lips even more enticingly than Lily had done in Potions. "I know who mine is," she whispered. I swallowed and turned back to the front of the room, ignoring the implication.
Professor Wenlock replaced his glasses and started some old Muggle music, one of his many quirky habits. It was his favorite group of bugs, and they were singing about a girl named Lucy. We'd heard it dozens of times, but it still didn't make sense.
"Career status is for next week, Mr. Diggory. Today is Valentine's Day and love is in the air. Now, page 67, please."
I opened my book and started drawing up the complex series of numbers that represented both me and my relationship status. I still found it odd that my entire life—my likes, my dislikes, my entire personality—could be summed up by a random assortment of facts and figures. I had discovered, however, that each time I drew up a new chart, it was always fairly accurate. I almost dreaded what this particular assignment would tell me about my future.
Professor Wenlock drifted about the room, quietly going over everyone's work as he hummed to himself. He was a strange old bird, but we liked him. On the one hand, he was brilliant when it came to Arithmancy; on the other, he often seemed locked in a time and place long gone, wrapped up with his memories and mallowsweet and the Muggle music he loved so much.
Every so often someone would moan over what the numbers showed them. Wenlock would clap them on the shoulder, reassuring them once again that they might never even meet the person whose numbers appeared on their paper. He dropped strange bits of advice like, "If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with." Anastasia Harrison caught my eye again and rolled her eyes at Wenlock; I couldn't help but grin before returning to my chart.
Soon enough Wenlock came to my table, and looking over my parchment, he nodded appreciatively. "Good work, Potter," he complimented me. "Mind if I share this with the class?"
He turned to the group before I could protest. "Mr. Potter here has drawn up quite a interesting chart." And he proceeded to detail my future love life to the entire room, down to the last prime number.
"Sensitive, modest, intelligent, and imaginative. Also cooperative, loyal, and fair. Can be self-conscious, indecisive, and dependent." Wemlock paused and glanced down at me with a pleased grin. "Lovely soul mate, Mr. Potter. Have you met him or her yet?"
"Him?" I asked, confused. I didn't lean that way, so surely my soul mate would be a her?
"You soul mate need not be your lover, Mr. Potter," said the professor, eliciting more sniggers from the class. "They are simply the one person in the entire universe with whom you most connect. The one who completes you. The yin to your yang."
"That'd be Black." Jackson sniggered in front of me.
"Of course not," said Penny Pinkerson, a dark-haired Slytherin sitting to my left. She was one of the girls I had tripped over the previous year. "Everyone knows who Potter's got a thing for."
"Oh, we do, do we?" asked Wemlock, handing me my parchment with a wink.
"Lily Evans, of course." Penny smirked at me, clearly enjoying my discomfort. "They've even got a lunch date."
The class laughed, although Anastasia Harrison narrowed her eyes at me like I'd done something wrong and insulted her. Wenlock just nodded thoughtfully as I glared at Penny. "Perhaps. There's more, though." As he continued to predict my future, I couldn't help but slink lower and lower into my chair.
"Whomever the lucky lady is, you will unfortunately have a hard road to wooing her." Wemlock gave me a sympathetic look. "You will suffer injury and heartbreak, and should you win her heart, your life together looks short and tragic."
"You mean, he's going to die with Lily Evans?" squeaked a Hufflepuff from the front of the room.
Wemlock shrugged as if my life didn't much matter. "If that is what the numbers mean."
The class was still, somewhat stunned by my dreadful future. Of all people, Jackson Robertson was the one who broke the silence with a snort. "It's rubbish, Potter. You'll live-maybe even with Evans."
I just stared at him, speechless, while Professor Wemlock clapped me on the back with an understanding smile. "That may be true too, Mr. Potter."
"I thought numbers never lied," said Penny Pinkerton, who seemed pleased to learn my fate.
"Arithmancy predicts what might happen, not what will happen." He glanced around the class; everyone was clearly rattled to hear the first chart we'd done that predicted death. "The numbers do not show us truth or lies, they only show us the possibilities. They are constantly influenced by shifts in time and space. You may face this untimely end, Mr. Potter, or you may indeed live a long and happy life with Ms. Evans and a dozen children flying broomsticks overhead."
That broke the spell, and the class laughed nervously. I didn't know if I was more anxious about dying or having children.
"Now, it appears that Mr. Potter may have found his soul mate here at Hogwarts. Anyone else?"
No one offered an answer, and I didn't pay attention after that. I tuned out the rest of the class and stared at the numbers in front of me. They did indeed seem to point to Lily, and it did indeed look short-lived. It was both reassuring and frightening, knowing that as per the laws of magical math, she was destined to go out with me at some point. Learning that it could come to a quick end cast an aura of gloom over any small hope the numbers offered. Yet Wenlock had said many people did not end up with their soul mates; some never even met, yet alone lived happily ever after. I wasn't sure what to do with the information, and simply sat there rolling the numbers over in my mind until class was dismissed, wondering what my fate would be.
Anastasia Harrison tried to get my attention as I packed up. Ignoring her, I hurried toward the Entrance Hall and made my way down to the school greenhouses. It was cold and cloudy, with several inches of snow covering the ground. I shivered without my warm cloak. I tried to put Arithmancy behind me; I needed to find Lily some daises for lunch and not worry about my gloomy future.
Unfortunately, there were three large greenhouses and I had no idea which one might house the daises. So I decided to go for the direct approach: I found Professor Bourgeon trimming a large pot of Devil's Snare and asked him. He gazed at me through a pair of goggles as if he couldn't believe I had interrupted him. When he wondered why I needed daises, I told him. He rolled his eyes and directed me to greenhouse three, muttering about humans and the vulgar nature of cutting flowers on Valentine's Day.
"Watch out for the Venonmous Tentacula!" he added as an afterthought as I left. "It's teething and feeling rather grumpy today."
I nodded and filed it away as I hurried to pick a bouquet for Lily. As I wandered the greenhouse, however, I was distracted by the distinct sound of a couple snogging nearby. Actually, it sounded like there was quite a bit more going on than just snogging; I hurried the other way, not wishing to interrupt a lover's tryst and completely forgetting Professor Bourgeon's warning.
I ran straight into the Venonmous Tentacula.
Herbology was not my favorite subject; in fact, I had dropped it in favor of Advanced Arithmacy for N.E.W.T.s. So as the plant lashed out at me, my mind went blank. I yelped and leapt backwards, tripping over a shovel and landing in a pile of leaping toadstools. The Venonmous Tentacula did not stop to laugh, but grabbed me around the ankle with its clinging vines.
It was stronger than I remembered. As it hoisted me in the air, the leaping toadstools scampered away. I tried to pull my wand from my robes, but the angry plant shook me around, and my wand went flying into a pile of very familiar looking sneezewort. I could feel the venom from the vine burning into my ankle and knew I needed to do something fast.
I grabbed wildly for the shovel I had tripped over and began hacking at the vine wrapped around my ankle. That only made it more incensed, though, and I could see its tiny new teeth chomping toward me. One bite would put me in the hospital for a week; that would certainly ruin my chances with Lily, even if she did understand it had all been for her. My Arithmancy chart seemed to be coming true already.
Suddenly the venomous vegetation froze. I fell four feet to the ground and landed with a grunt in the dirt. Looking up, I found Remus standing above me with an amused smile on his face. Next to him stood his Hufflepuff girlfriend, Elizabeth Finch, with her wand raised and a frown on her face.
"You could have hurt it, James," she admonished before even asking me if I was injured. "You should have just immobilized it."
"Bloody thing shook my wand away," I mumbled as Remus helped me to stand. He called for my wand and handed it to me with a cheeky look.
"This wand?" he asked innocently.
I mumbled some thanks and tried to put some weight on my injured foot. Unfortunately, it had already started swelling and my leg buckled beneath me. I bit my lip as the pain flared.
"You'll need the hospital wing," said Remus, putting his arm under my shoulder to help support me. I shook my head and gritted my teeth.
"I need some daises," I replied, determined to follow through with my plans.
Elizabeth frowned. "What for?" she asked. "I mean, I know it's Valentine's Day and all, but wouldn't the roses in greenhouse two be more appropriate?"
If I hadn't been fond of Elizabeth before, I definitely did not like her now. I rolled my eyes and hobbled away with Remus struggling to support me. "This girl gets daises," I replied shortly. "Now, will you help me find them or do I have to do it myself?"
"She just saved your life, you know," Remus pointed out under his breath. "But if you're more concerned about flowers than your leg, then they are that way." He motioned behind him. "We just passed them. We were, ah…" He trailed off, slightly embarrassed.
"I heard you," I mumbled. "No need to go into detail." I swore as my ankle throbbed even more. Waving my wand, I cast a quick spell I'd learned on the Quidditch pitch to play through an injury during a game; it dulled the pain enough that I could move with a slight limp.
"Go back to your bush," I told Remus and Elizabeth. "I'm okay." I hobbled in the direction of the daises, leaving them behind. "And thanks for your help."
"You'll still need to go to the hospital wing before the venom spreads!" Elizabeth called.
"After lunch!" I tossed back. I found the daises and picked a large handful for Lily. Conjuring a green ribbon, I tied them together and quickly left the greenhouse, ignoring the renewed sounds of snogging from behind a large flutterby bush.
I moved as fast as I could, but I was limping quite a bit by the time I arrived at the kitchen. Apparently the healing spell worked better in the air than on the ground. I was also fairly late, and Lily was pacing the corridor waiting for me. She looked only slightly less irritated than she had in the common room that morning.
"I'm sorry," I gasped, hobbling to a halt in front of her. "But I promised you daises, and I don't break a promise." I held them out to her, my chest heaving and my ankle throbbing worse than ever. I felt dizzy and slightly light-headed as well, but ignored it as she accepted the flowers with a small smile.
"Thank you." She paused and frowned. "Are you okay? You're pale and out of breath. Did you run all the way here?"
"Sort of," I replied in between heaving gasps. I couldn't seem to get enough air. I felt ridiculous: I was on the Quidditch team, for Godric's sake, and a simple limping sprint from the greenhouses shouldn't wind me. I stumbled as my ankle suddenly gave out and a slow flush crept up my body.
"James, what's wrong?" asked Lily. "You're scaring me. You didn't eat anything from Sirius again, did you?" She caught me as I fell to my knees. I laughed rather hysterically at the reference to what had, until then, been my worst Valentine's Day ever.
"No, I got roped by a—" And then it hit me: the venom was traveling through my body, shutting it down. After the longest morning ever, I was about to be taken out by a grumpy green vine.
The numbers hadn't exactly seen that.
"—Venomous Tentacula," I finished as I fell flat on my face and remembered no more.
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End Notes:
Well, that was quite a ride. I do like to beat up Mr. Potter. ;)