November at Hogwarts was barely a mysterious affair, with the chill in the air and students playing with the last autumn leaves. The deciduous trees were starkly denuded by the end of the month, stripped of their crispy foliage. The evergreens stood tall and proud, though, eagerly anticipating the upcoming Christmassy snow. Red and gray squirrels scurried up and down branches in fright, trying to fill up their wintry underground food stores with enough supplies to help them survive the nippy plight. 

Students were seen practicing spells on the Hogwarts grounds as usual, getting their hands dirty in the greenhouses, challenging each other to friendly duels in various students' clubs, and arranging for meetings and study dates in the Hogwarts Library and the Common Rooms.

Quidditch practice and the official Quidditch matches continued as per the yearly timeline, with the ground bleak and bare due to the chilly and biting cold. The Quidditch pitches were warmer than the other places at Hogwarts, because of the large number of spectators cheering and crowding up together, huddled close to each other.

The fireplaces saw each flame fueled a notch higher to keep the temperature cozy and warm.  

Books were read, classes continued as usual, and students discussed their essays and study notes to try and excel academically. Many students, now being three months into the academic year, paid more attention to their studies, focused on their lessons and asked questions of the Professors and their Assistants to gain more insight into the academic materials in the lectures. Students tried to earn more marks and thus more house points for winning Professor Plumb's monthly House Point Competition and for the annual Hogwarts House Cup.

However, despite the usual hustle and bustle of daily life, most students were in a lighter mood this month, preparing for the Christmas festivities. The ones who missed their families dreamed of their homes, where they would go back for Christmas vacation. The others who would be staying at Hogwarts over the winter imagined the Christmas Eve celebrations at Hogwarts and the Christmas feast, and anticipated sweets in their socks and choice gifts inside the Wizard Crackers. Students and Professors alike planned and packed gifts for their friends and family members, hoping that their granny wouldn't send them yet another weirdly designed and old-fashioned Christmas sweater. Almost everyone started wearing scarves and woolen hats, going all out on fixing up what they would wear to Christmas dinner, deciding who they would spend Christmas Eve with, smiling at the recurring thought of who they would kiss under the mistletoe, and preparing in their own ways for the festive season.

- Hiya Debnath, Journalist, Compiler, Publisher, Editor, Hogwarts Monthly Magazine.