Carey had decided that he wanted to stay home this break. His brother was going to be at home this year and he just overall would rather be here then there. It would be very lonely compared to the Christmas parties he was so used to, and his mother was absolutely furious, but whatever...

Carey was sitting at one of the long tables across from some other students that he'd become acquainted with that were staying as well. A plate of food was beside him and a wizard's chess set between him and another boy. He took a bite of a sandwich and stared at the pieces. He slowly reached his hand out, moving the piece forward. As he stopped his piece he took another bite of food, watching the other boy carefully. The other boy moved and then Carey sat up straight, knowing the game was coming to an end.

With a few more well placed moves from both sides, Carey smiled, landing his last piece and ending the game. He nodded to the boy, "Good game." The other boy smiled back and he and his friends then left, saying they've see him later. The finished chess game sat there as he continued to eat, a few people still coming in and out of the great hall.

Halcyon was not going home that Christmas. No way. His parents were in a complete disarray because of a party they were hosting, and no way was he going to spend his Christmas running around everywhere to do their errands so they could relax. He was sure they'd deserve to relax as well, but heck, they were the one hosting the party, not him. He frowned deeply and wondered why on earth they would want to host a party in Christmas time. They'd never get a moment's peace.

He walked into the Great Hall, seeing only a few people who wanted to remain at Hogwarts. He knew his mother was a bit upset that he wouldn't return, but his father was very pleased about it, and told him to go prank someone or something. Make new friends, and maybe even enemies. He had of course been thinking of the Matthews family then. Halcyon wanted to roll his eyes at the stupid feud between the Dumbledores and the Matthews. And speaking of the Devil...

Carey was sitting by the Slytherin table, seemingly not on his way to go home. He seemed to be playing chess with himself, or had just played chess with someone else. Halcyon contemplated whether or not to walk over to him. He didn't want to be an intrusion, but he didn't want to have an 'enemy' either. He seriously didn't want to grow up to become just like his parents and continue the childish feud. So he took a breath and walked over, sitting down before Carey could say anything.

"Who's winning?" he asked calmly, noticing that the king on his side was crushed by one of Carey's pieces. In other words, Carey won. "That was a stupid question. You clearly did. Do you want to play against me?" he asked kindly enough.

Carey had a feeling that at the very moment his mother was scrambling around trying to get everything ready as she always was. Or maybe not cause damned Ripley was there and being the perfect person he is he'd take care of everything. Carey rolled his eyes, pushing his half eaten plate of food aside, no longer hungry. He took a sip from his cup of pumpkin juice looking over as Halcyon sat down. He frowned, setting the cup down. It didn't seem like he was going home either. Well jsut great...

He raised his eyebrow at him when he asked who was winning. Seriously? He nodded taking another sip from his drink when he said it was a stupid question. "Yeah, it was." Carey still didn't know what to think of him. It would have been nice to just easily be friends, but everything wasn't so easy all the time. He didn't want an enemy though... maybe he should just give this a try. After all, Halcyon seemed to be trying really hard to make things go well between them.

He sighed. "Yeah, sure, you set up the board then." he then smirked. "I'll have you know I'm really good at wizard's chess." Beating against that other guy wasn't too hard, maybe Halcyon could give him a bit of a challenge.