Classes had just finished for the day, and Josh was tired. He had been up since 6AM, and it was now 9PM. Why History had to be held  from 8 until 9 he had yet to figure out, but there you are. Having given the password to the portrait hole, he walked tiredly to one of the sofas, one of the best ones near the fire, and sat down with a sigh of relief. "Finally! Why History has to be that late, I have no idea." he said to himself.

Kirby Gracean made her way up the moving staircase towards the seventh floor. She had been in the library reading as usual and as it was nearly time for the student curfew. She decided to make her way back to the commonroom inside the gryffindor tower. She casually strolled towards the entrance portrait and whispered the password before entering. Once inside she walked towards the common room and tripped over her foot being the usual clutz she had always been. She looked up hoping that no one had been around to see her stumble. Her crystal blue eyes fixed on the floor noticing she was not alone. "Great!" she whispered to herself slightly embarrassed.

Josh had seen Kirby come in, he had seen her a few time around the library, and in class, but had never really talked to her. This could be his chance to get to know her better, he was always on the lookout for new friends. "Hi Kirby" he called out to her. He knew that she could be a bit of a klutz, but didn't particularly care most of the time. True, it could get annoying at times too, but he doubted she could help it.

She looked at the familiar face as he greeted her. Kirby had seen the dark haired boy about the library or in her lessons but had never really spoken to him in conversation. She wasn't one to be the best at making friends. Sure she would answer when she was spoken to but she never go out of her watched to talk to someone. She smiled at him kindly being polite. "Hi... Joshua" she replied warmly after searching for his name in her mind.

Josh smiled back at Kirby, then asked "How was your summer? I spent most of mine on the Egypt trip.",  thinking back to his summer. Giving advice to Ayla about how to mend the relationship with her sister, the Egypt trip, meeting Daphne again, there was a lot to think about. Especially since he was still slightly irritated at having missed the SAWS meeting where they met Zephyr. unfortunately, he had forgotten to keep control of his bag, and it had rolled too close to the flames that warmed the Common Room.  One corner of his bag caught fire. "Damn it"he muttered, quickly pulling his bag away from the flames and putting the fire out on his bag, fortunately, it was small enough to put out with his hand.

Kirby listened curiously to Josh. She had never really spoke to him before so this was all new to her. She was really interested in what he said about his summer vacation in Egypt and once he asked her about hers she had to think slightly about what she had done over the summer period. "I visited my grandparents in the south of England. And i had a holiday with my family. We went to Tenerife. I enjoyed it actually." she replied slight excitement lighting up her crystal blue eyes.

A curious expression passed over Josh's face when Kirby mentioned visiting her grandparents in the south of England. sure, it was probably somewhere like Devon, but... "Where exactly do your grandparents live?" he asked, wondering if they lived anywhere near him. "Tenerife, I remember going there once. brilliant place, although it's a holiday in France after 2nd year I'll always remember" Josh said, his expression wistful.

Kirby smiled as Joshua asked her further questions. She found it strange to be sat talking to him as she took a seat beside him. Not that she was bothered that they spoke. "They live in Salisbury. And i went to Cannes a few years back but i would love to travel to Paris the city of romance" she smiled at the thought.

"Paris is OK, but it's the french countryside that's the best. I'm probably biased though, since I preferred the sites of the battles of Agincourt and Crécy. The two battles where longbows proved their worth against armored Knights. That, and there's less Muggles about, so less of a concern about the Statute of Secrecy. I've never been to Cannes though, what was it like?" Josh asked, looking wistful when he spoke about longbows.

Kirby listened to what josh said casually hearing the excitement in his eyes and voice as he spoke about the battles and the bows. It reminded her slightly of her history lesson back when she was in school with muggles like her family.Kirby smiled at the emeritus even though it had been years since she had been there. "Canes is beautiful. Very quiet. I love the quietness and peace there" she smiled getting goosebumps wishing she could return there some day.

"Most of the french countryside is, kind of surprising considering the numbers of wars they've had over the past hundred years.[1], the countryside hasn't been torn up as much as you would expect." Josh said, true, the area around where the muggle First World War was fought was changed severely, but less so for the more recent World War.

1.	I imagine the Second World War at least would have been known to the wizards, if for no other reason than the Blitz has to have threatened to expose the Ministry building.

"You know something. I never really thought about that Joshua" she replied truthfully as she thought about all the blood that had been shed on the French soil yet it was still utterly beautiful as it had ever been. "Yet it remains beautiful. Its beautifully tragic don't you think?" she smiled thinking about tFrance still. How could some where so beautiful also be so tragic in its past? She didn't understand. She pushed her blonde hair over her shoulder and out of the way realising a faint smell of vanilla into the air.

"True.  Especially since most of the deaths were caused by the folly of the leaders of both sides. Most of the wars of Medieval times were caused by the egos of the leaders, and the First World War ended up across the street from where ti started. It makes me angry sometimes when I think of it. War might be necessary sometimes, but too many have died in wars that had little to no reason." Josh said, vehement at the end. Senseless waste of lives had always horrified their family, and Josh was no exception.

Kirby agreed with what josh had stated but she could not help but think how he felt about it all. It hurt him dearly that was clear by his facial expression and tone of voice. It upset him. She could not help but place her hand on his shoulder an instictual action of hers as she tried to give him comfort. "Surely over time they learnt about how to behave and not let their hugely powerful egos take over their minds" she whispered to him. Her voice almost like a velvet chime.

Josh laughed hollowly at Kirby's reply. "Nope. Look at Cornelius Fudge, the Minister in power when Voldemort returned. Didn't want to believe it, so started a witch-hunt for those who believed Voldemort was back, which was a major reason for the Thicknesse Ministry. Hell, his last year, he was using decrees to try to wrest control of Hogwarts, and only failed due to Voldemort appearing in the Atrium of the Ministry itself! There's a saying. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Nowhere is it more applicable than the leaders of nations." Josh said passionately. This was something he knew a fair bit about, and was vehement in his hatred of those that would pervert powerful positions to their own ends, since he laid the blame for the loss of his Aunt on the problems caused by the Fudge Ministry.