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Saturday, December 17th, 1977.
It was the start of the Christmas holidays and life was going well for Archer Reyes, despite the weather getting even colder and his study load growing even heavier than before. With the end of year exams and graduation fast approaching, it seemed like every professor was handing them more and more work to do. Archer was handling the load, but just barely.
The decision to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays had been an easy one. This was his last year at school, and his time spent here was limited. How many more times would he eat in the Great Hall? How many more trips to Hogsmeade with his classmates did he have left? Come this time next year, he would be out of school and he would be expected to be doing something important with his life. It was a scary thought.
The decision to stay had also been a group effort—Dhruv was supposed to be staying, too, but at the last minute had to go back home after his grandmother became ill. It had only been a day since they had parted, and yet despite this, Archer felt like he had a million things he wanted to update his best friend on. Their dormitory was quiet without him.
Christmas was supposed to be a time of celebration and joy, and yet, here he was... melancholic.
He supposed his surroundings didn't help. The cold, overcast weather outside didn't allow for much natural light to enter the Hogwarts Library, especially not at this time of day. The sun had vanished behind the clouds and left in its wake a growing darkness that startled to settle over the sky.
Archer shivered.
He made a mental note to wear a thicker jumper when he came back tomorrow.
