It is Christmas break again. Harry looked out his window and Harry felt loneliness creeping upon him. Fluffy white snow was raining down the sky, blanketing the ground like a white carpet. Cheery chatters rang through the dormitory followed by the sound of wheels. Every student was busy packing their bags to go home for the holidays with the exception for Harry. Christmas, despite being a happy celebration, did not spare Harry from the constant bullying by his aunt and uncle and also being his cousin, Dudley's rag doll. Thinking about the spending the entire break with the Dursleys makes Harry's skin crawl. Harry would never get used to their presence, and he never felt like part of the family despite their family ties. He decided to stay back in Hogwarts this year, and he is certain that the Dursleys would be thankful for that.

Well, what better way to spend Christmas alone doing anything and everything I want, thought Harry. Any plan is probably better than spending time with the Dursleys. Harry sulked, his mind starting to conjure plans of what there is to do in Hogwarts all alone when Ron walked in.

"HEY, HARRY!" Ron boomed.

Harry jumped out from his chair. "RON! You gave me quite a scare."

"What are you thinking about? You seem to be in deep thought."

"I…." Harry sighed deeply. "I don't wanna go home for Christmas so I'm stuck in school all by myself. What a wonderful Christmas I'll have."

"Who says you'll be alone?" Ron asked.

"Huh?" Harry said, bewildered.

"I'll spend Christmas with yer, Harry." Ron clapped Harry's back.

"You can't do that! Your mother would be mad!"

"I think I can decide for myself, thanks. I can do without seeing Aunt Muriel this year."

"BUT your mom-"

"Geez Harry, calm down. I'll just tell mom that you and I are gonna work part time in the sweet shop and travel around town on our own. I mean, we're already 17."

"That's not a bad idea. Are we really going to work?"

"'Course not. I'm sure we can think of something fun to do."

Ron and Harry furrowed their brows and stared at the cackling fireplace. Looks like a plan needs to be in order.

On Friday night, the boys crept through the Great Hall under the invisibility cloak. The place was eerily empty as most teachers and prefects are already back home, including Dumbledore. However, Harry and Ron knew Finch never takes a day off. Nobody has heard about Finch's family. They even think that Finch has never set a foot out of Hogwarts ever since he settled in. So, wearing the cloak is a must in case they got caught red-handed.

The boys finally reached the library. After checking the corners and making sure there is no one in sight (especially Madam Pince), Harry removed the cloak.

"Remind me of all places, why are we in the library?" Ron groaned.

"Ron, aren't you interested to learn new spells? I mean, what we learned in classes are alright. What if there are other spells that the school excludes from the curriculum? Like, ya know, creating our own whiskey from water? Or turning a cat into a unicorn?"

"SHIT. That'd be super cool! I've always wanted to have a pet unicorn."

"Exactly. Now's the perfect time to raid the restricted section for super cool spells!"

Harry scanned through the shelves. There were books of all kinds, both thick and thin. Some titles were boring such as "Memoir of Bumbug" & "Spells for accountants", which Harry had no idea why they were restricted. Then, there were eccentric titles like "All things Candyfloss", "Bear and Human" and "Loser's Guide to Quidditch". Ron grabbed the Quidditch book and started flipping excitedly.

"OMG! There's this spell that allows your snitch to dodge all obstacles by itself!"

Harry, on the other hand, poured over several useful spell books. Some spells were hard to execute so Harry penned the instructions down in his handy notebook so he could practice it later.

Two hours later

Ron was practicing a morphing spell on a book. He attempted to transform a pot of plant into a, well, vampire but failed miserably.

"I think human DNA is required for this spell to work." He sighed.

Harry was sifting a few heavy volumes of book in the far end. A particular book caught his eyes. The words "Future Times" was emblazoned in gold. He sucked in a deep breath and open the book.

Past, present, future. Each era has brief description of the people and places.
Time manipulation - how it works.

Surprisingly, the book left out the most crucial part - the spell.

He was so engrossed in the book that he did not realize Ron was talking to him.

"HARRY!"

"H-huh?"

"I think we should go now. It's getting late."

"Not yet…Check this out."

Harry showed Ron a page full of illustration of people in strange outfits. He went on to explain about his exciting, newfound discovery. Ron's mouth was gaping at the end.

"THIS IS SO COOL. Harry, we gotta try it."

"Are you insane?! How do even do that? I can't find any spells in here…"

"Can we take this book back to our dorm? Maybe we could ask someone?"

"HELL NO."

The boys continued to read the book. Facts, facts, pictures, hypothesis, more facts.

Ron squinted at a light scribble at the corner of page 181. The weird, foreign words is written in cursive letters.

"Iter facio futurum relicus saeculi. Eh, what the heck does this mean?!"

As if on cue, the ground started to jerk violently below their feet. Ron swayed as he lost his balance, hitting his forehead on the desk. Harry's eyes widened as reached out to grab Ron but a huge wave of dizziness consumed him. Before he could steady himself, he collapsed to the ground.