Squinting at the spidery writing on the chalkboard across the room, Nico growled as the letters switched again, rendering the entire step illegible. He sighed, throwing in a handful of the same stuff Blaise was currently adding to his cauldron. As the concoction went an uncomfortable shade of pale green (a far cry from the shimmery grey it was supposed to be), he decided it was a lost cause.

Upon receiving his Hogwarts letter, he was delighted that he'd finally get to leave the Lotus Orphanage - it hadn't been the same there since his big sister had died. The staff had been equally glad to see the back of him, and he disappeared off, not to return until the summer holidays. The classes were, for the most part, as exciting as they sounded. Care of Magical Creatures - although the animals generally hated him; Transfiguration, which was challenging yet rewarding, not to mention Divination, Charms and Herbology.

Nico's downfall, however, was Potions.

He knew how to read, despite the taunting of Ron Weasley and his cohort, but the letters just wouldn't stay still. He'd originally attributed it to the magic. After all, if paintings and photos could move, why not words? Yet, no one else experienced the issues he did. Draco, for example, was excellent at Potions. He'd explained that as long as you followed Professor Snape's instructions, the potion would be fine. He'd also tagged onto the end that that was why the Mudblood Granger was acceptable at Potions - his words, not Nico's.

Chewing on his lip as time was called, Nico bottled his potion and trudged to the front of the class, where Potter's potion was vanished by the Slytherin Head of House. Nico was the last potion left, and virtually all of the other students had left, with the exception of Theodore Nott, who hovered by the doorway to wait for Nico.

'What do you call this, di Angelo?' Snape asked, voice soft but lacking the malice usually aimed at the Gryffindors. Nico's glance dropped down to the table as he shrugged. Readjusting the glasses that really did nothing to help, he finally glanced back up when Snape didn't continue, and was surprised to see the oddest expression on his face.

Concern?

'Sorry,' he muttered, fidgeting with the edge of his robes as Snape continued to stare at him, searching. Nico finally realised that Professor Snape was using legilimency on him, and promptly slammed up his occlumency walls.

'Impressive,' was the muttered response. 'It isn't ineptitude, then. Please explain what the problem is, di Angelo, unless invoking my... displeasure... is your ultimate aim.'

'The words move,' he blurted in response. 'I can't read them. I can't read the steps.' He could sense the confusion from both Snape and Theodore. Taking his glasses off, he presented them to his Head of House. 'Madame Pomfrey gave me these, but they don't help.'

After a quiet moment examining the black framed glasses, Professor Snape muttered a spell and handed them back to Nico. Hesitant, he put them back on.

'Italian,' he murmured, face shifting into a smile for the first time since arriving. In his native language, the words didn't move around half as much. Perhaps he wouldn't fail Potions and DADA after all. 'Thanks Professor Snape.'

'A temporary fix,' was the drawled reply. 'We'll talk more about this later with Madame Pomfrey.' Grateful to finally be able to see the class (so that was how many porcupine quills he was supposed to add!) he beamed at Professor Snape, before dashing off to Theodore to dinner.