"It would do me no favors to pass over things just because someone was rude. I'd be spending most of my time avoiding society then," Z said. "I do appreciate and accept your apology, Professor."
Z took another bite of her sandwich to give her a bit more time to work out how to answer Nolan's question. She didn't exactly know what she wanted to do with her life anymore, she just knew she needed her NEWTs to do anything. Apparently top scores in exams the American magical education department developed and administered didn't count for much across the Atlantic. Z was still bitter about this.
"Arithmancy makes sense to me in ways most magics don't," Z finally said. "It's not even the order and neatness of it-numbers just speak to me. I know what to do with them in spellwork. I like that Arithmancy is at the core of a lot of magic and if you understand how it works it's like playing with pure magic. I'm not limited to what's in the spellbook. The divinatory aspects of the discipline are interesting and I'm good at them, but that's not what I'm fascinated by. That's just the introduction to the-the everything, it's-" Z waved expansively, trying to encompass the ideas the field contained.
"Numerology is the beginning of understanding the complex relationships between magic, semiotics, the physical world and what you can do with all of these things. The equations are beautiful-" Z closed her eyes, remembering the first time she'd made the connection between the exercises and essays about the significance of place-names she was doing in her Arithmancy class and the spellwork a housemate had done to enchant a mirrors to allow him to communicate with his Ravenclaw boyfriend after curfew. He'd needed to draw on his sixth year Arithmancy work to combine three wildly different spells to create a self-sustaining enchantment.
She opened her eyes and shrugged helplessly. "I can do amazing things with the subject."