Open Alphabet Madness

[Doroteya Melnik]

The library at Hogwarts was torn directly from a fairytale. Unfortunately, it was not a Russian fairytale, and reading English was considerably harder than speaking it. Doroteya had pulled a book down at random from the history section over half an hour ago, and she was still trying to translate the first paragraph. Why did different countries need to use different alphabets, anyway? It was so unnecessarily complicated! Besides that, wizards seemed to have an entire vocabulary of their own, making the task of distinguishing what she ought to know from what nobody her age knew additionally cumbersome. She smacked her head with her hand repeatedly. She wasn't stupid. Her reading comprehension - in Russian - was above average, so she had been told. But her objective intelligence would mean nothing when she was sitting in class, unable to read the textbooks, barely following what the professor was saying. She had to learn to read English, fast. Faster than was humanly possible. She was totally doomed.

 

[Eoin Armati]

If there was one thing Eoin was pleased about when it came to returning to Hogwarts, it was that he could go to the library again. Muggle libraries just didn't compare to the massive one Hogwarts had, not to mention the information stored in all the books he just couldn't get his hands on anywhere else. The sorting hat made no mistake when it placed him in Ravenclaw, that was for sure. Almost tripping over his own feet as he tried to peer over the top of the stack of books he had plucked off the shelf for some light reading. That was when he passed a table with a younger-looking girl just in time to see her smacking herself in the head multiple times with her hand. His feet came to a stop as he blinked down at the girl from behind his glasses, tilting his head to try and get a quick glance at what she was reading. "Are you quite alright?" He offered after a moment, shifting the books in his arms as he tried not to drop them.

 

[Doroteya Melnik]

Doroteya startled and looked up. "Yes," she said. "I can read." Only after the words left her mouth did she realise the boy in front of her hadn't said anything about her ability to read. "Wait - help me. I need book, Russian book, uh, what is it? Russian here, Angliyskiy - English here. Do you know? Where is book? I had one, since two years, but boy in Russia stealed it, he put it in fire. You give me book, yes - help me."

 

[Eoin Armati]

"Er... right," he responded just a little uncertainly at the strange response the girl gave him. As far as he was aware, he hadn't asked anything about her reading ability. But she had felt the need to try and defend it all the same. And then she kept talking and Eoin just blinked at her, frowning as he tried to actually work on what she was trying to ask him. It was quite clear at this point that English was not her first language. Something he supposed he could relate to just a little, even if he had grown up speaking and learning English, before moving to Australia he only really used Italian. "I have no idea what book you're asking for. You're probably better asking the librarian for help."