Throughout December, the young witches and wizards-at least the first-years-became far less focused on their studies. Almost everyone had their minds on the approaching Christmas holiday.
For eleven-year-olds, being away from home for more than three months was certainly a novel experience, but homesickness was inevitable.
Even a top student like Hermione would talk outside class about going home and telling her parents all about school.
Tris was the only one still keeping up an intensive schedule of studying, exercise, and magical practice.
Hermione and Ravenclaw's other high achievers worked very hard, but they lacked Tris's intense sense of impending danger.
So, with Christmas approaching, even their minds inevitably began to wander. Only Tris, ever conscious of the danger, kept increasing the intensity of his training.
All right, that was bullshit.
The reason Tris's training kept getting harder was that the system had increased its intensity again. It was now roughly thirty-five percent more demanding than it had been at the start.
Although it was still within what Tris could handle, he was honestly getting a little nervous about how fast it was increasing.
Ron had also received a letter from Molly and told Harry about their plans to spend Christmas together in France.
Harry was, of course, thrilled. He had received a letter from Sirius too. To be precise, Sirius and Lupin would be taking Harry and the Weasley family to France for the holidays.
It was worth mentioning that they would be staying at a property belonging to the Black Family once they reached France.
The Black Family had lost quite a few properties during Voldemort's reign of terror, but they still had plenty left. In Paris City Center, for example, they owned a house that, while not as grand as 12 Grimmauld Place, could easily accommodate a