Merideth and I had lost the massive appetite we had after that drawing. She did, however, gain a fuming saltiness towards Potter for his name getting called. We were one year older than the boy, and he somehow bypassed the age-limit rule. I merely told her to just steer clear of him in the Common Room and bid her goodnight as I stood outside the door to the Great Hall, waiting. I watched multiple Durmstrang boys come out and Beauxbatons after them. The entirety of all the students seemed to be broken into groups based on their schools. That was to be expected, of course. It was still the beginning of the year. However, I didn't plan to mingle very much with the foreign students, since I probably wouldn't ever see them again in my lifetime.

Aizik was one of the last few to come out from the Great Hall; he awkwardly tapped me on the shoulder to get my attention, giving me a nervous smile. I smiled at him. "Some drawing, huh?"

He didn't respond. If anything, he was a bit quieter than yesterday. He probably didn't understand. Again. I sighed. "Come on." I waved for him to follow me to the library, knowing that it was closing at moonrise. That really only gave us an hour to get him going on his classwork, not even that.

"Alright." I gave a heavy sigh as I smiled at him and sat the book down. He didn't return it (or look up from his paper for that matter) when I sat down next to him. The boy was too focused on the inscriptions for the letter H, lines squiggly and all. I had to say, I admired his persistence. I'm surprised I was even in my own fifth year with the number of times I had turned in half-worked assignments. Granted, it wasn't that often, but it was still surprising.

I left him be for the moment and pulled out the multiple-choice work for Charms from my pack, getting it done without much of a struggle. I had to take my book out for a single question but after that, it was everything else Professor Flitwick had gone over in class the same day. It was mostly about the difference from the levitation lesson we had our first year and the revision this year. I didn't see the difference. If anything, it merely--
"Cahms?"

I jumped, remembering at that moment that Aizik was sitting next to me still, the dried out quill in his hand while he pointed to the top of the worksheet with the other. He seemed completely unaware that he had just given me the slightest heart-attack; I returned with a nervous smile. "Charms," I corrected politely. "This is homework for my Charms class. I'm finished with it now."

"Carms." He gave a look of uncertainty. I pursed my lips, trying to put two and two together to show him what it was on paper. That sentence... How did Stoyan say it?

Well, I knew I was going to butcher it, anyway. "Pov-tar-yay zled men. Okay?" I gave him a smile, and that seemed to do it. He smiled back with a nod, shifting in his seat to face me.

"Chuh."

Aizik hesitated for a moment. "Chuh?"

I nodded. "Arms."

"A-Arms."

"Yes. Now, Chuh-Arms."

"Ch-arms."

He caught me a bit off guard, but I gave him a smile and nodded. "Yes, that's it. Charms."

He returned the smile and seemed almost relieved as I tucked my classwork away and motioned towards his bag. "You have classwork, yes?"

Aizik seemed to understand when he pulled it out; I found it to be the exact same work I had just finished. Things just felt a bit easier.

"Now look here," I pointed to the first question. "Do you know any of these?"

From that point, he was struggling again. The most he could tell me was the word "the." Only, t sounded more like "Zuh" than "the" when he read aloud.

"Zis... Zis I no... Under-ztand." He pointed to the very first word of the question. "Wuh-Hitch?"

"Look," I grabbed a piece of parchment, dipping my pen in the ink, and writing out "which." I finally underlined the two Hs, crossing out the first. "This H has no sound." He gave me a confused look. I tried again. "This H--" I made a zipped lips motion with my fingers "--no sound."

"No zound." He repeated.

I smiled. "Yes. Pov-tar-yay zled men. Which."

"Vhich."

I smiled. "Yes! That's right!"

I was starting to feel the slightest bit like a Ravenclaw, but the smile on his face made it worth it. "Okay, now." I pointed to the words, motioning for him to read them aloud; it took him a moment to realize that.

"Vhich ov zhe..." Aizik stopped, lips moving to find the right sound. I felt like a small nudge couldn't hurt. "Fah..." He didn't seem to understand.

"Pov-tar-yay zled-men. Fah."

"Fah..."

"Two Ls, what sound does that make?" I put my tongue between my teeth to give him a hint.

"Ull?"

"Yes. Then the O..."

"Fall-ow?"

"Not quite." Out came the paper again, spacing out the letters in "follow" and putting an X through the W. "No sound. 'O' sound."

"Follow?"

"Yes! Do you remember I-N-G?"

"Vas -ing?"

"Yes! So, follow and ing..." I motioned to the paper, glancing back to the librarian for a split second. We were starting to press time at this rate.

"Vhich ov zhe... following iz... Mm... Mah—Mazhing to zhe... Prompt?" He looked to me for approval, and I gave him a smile. "Have you been getting help?"

He had to force a sound out, it seemed. "Mm-My profez-or give me... B-book for... Practiz." Aizik dug in his bag for a moment before pulling out a book on the history of Quidditch. I almost found it fitting. "She say it help." He furrowed his brow. "Zhis bad?"

"No, no, that's great! You don't need just me to help you learn, Aizik." I took the book when he handed it to me, randomly flipping open a page and finding myself on a diagram for a Nimbus 1000. "Do you play?"

He nodded and took the book back. "Back 'ome for... zchool team. A Beater."

'Well that explains his arm size.'

"That's good. I've never played, but we usually have matches year round." I cleared my throat. "Now, let's knock out your class work."

———————

We were told to leave just before seven-thirty. Aizik didn't have as much to carry as I did; he only brought his small pack with the Quidditch History book, the few sheets of work, and his practice notebook (besides quills and ink). I kind of envied him. Granted, I had no idea what their "normal" was at Durmstrang. I remembered hearing Draco Malfoy go on about the school's teachings with the Dark Arts.

But what does an idiot like Malfoy know?

"I must... zhank you for 'elping vhen you deed-int haff to." Aizik snapped me out of my thoughts again as we crossed the main corridor from the library and down the steps, waiting for the staircase to move. "Zhe sked-ool said no tu'tring until... to-tomorrow."

We started down as quick as possible when the staircase came to a stop at our level, trying to move as fast as possible before the other case moved. "It's nothing, really."

We fell silent for a moment, and eventually we were out the doorway to the main hall. The doors to the Hall were closed off; some of the Durmstrang students were lingering around the door that went outside. Didn't they have curfew in a half hour? "Are you still struggling with speaking, Aizik?"

"A-A little." He says carefully. "My classmates... 'elp vith zhe verds some. Zhe all 'ad... class for Engliz."

I furrowed my brow. "Why didn't you take the class?"

"Letter for trip was lost by zhe... zhe..." He snapped his fingers. "Zhe owl. Arrived late."

One of the Durmstrang boys called for him by name. Aizik waved back to him. "Idvam!" He went to join them, stopping a couple steps down below and turning to face me. "Zhank you."

I waved at him to spare the headache of trying to translate, and he ran off to join them, going off out of sight. I figured he was going to the ship for curfew; I started my way back up to the Common Room.

What he had told me kind of bothered me. Late? That's Headmaster Karkaroff's fault, if you really think about it. He should've at least had some chance to catch up, let alone some basic terms to learn on the way here. And the fact that he wasn't able to put his name into the Fire because he was too young... Something didn't seem right.

I gave the password to the Fat Friar, and told myself not to worry about it. Next week, I wouldn't be tutoring. I won't.

I kept saying that. But part of me knew that wasn't going to be true.