Josh flopped down under a tree next to the lake, thankful it was lunchtime. Mondays were always a headache, since he had so many classes then. Still, he at least didn't have only classes today. He had Professor Storm next, though, so he got out his Defense textbook out, he wanted to read up on what they might be doing next lesson. Professor Storm was strict, and Josh didn't want to be on his bad side.

Mai hadn't long rolled out of bed; after a long night of sleepless tossing and turning, she'd finally fallen asleep a little before sunrise and had slept right through breakfast and most of the morning. Thankfully she didn't have any classes on Monday mornings and so she'd resignedly bathed and dressed and headed off to get a very late breakfast/lunch.

A groan bubbled up from her lips as she reached the Great Hall, though; one glance at her loud, almost obnoxious peers eating lunch was more than enough to turn her off from eating here. So with a sandwich and a goblet of orange juice, she headed out onto the lawn for a bit more privacy.

The lake was gorgeous and she found her feet heading that way, not seeing the boy already sitting there until she was already there. Knowing better than to turn around and awkwardly turn away, she fixed her eyes on him and spoke while readjusting the strap on her messenger bag, "Do you mind if I sit?"

Josh noticed Mai Clark approaching. This could be interesting. Mai...could be infuriating, but Josh suspected there was more to it than Mai being an ass. "Sure, I don't mind. It's better out here than in the Great Hall." Josh said, he had been in the Great Hall to eat his own lunch. It had been louder than usual.

"Sure, I don't mind. It's better out here than in the Great Hall." She nodded in agreement and dropped her bag from her shoulder to a spot below the tree ninety degrees to the right of Josh. Sitting down beside her bag, she took a sip of the orange juice before balancing the cup on the grass and eating her sandwich, her eyes out across the lake as she chewed, thinking to herself.

It didn't last long though; she caught herself dazing out and her eyes flicked over to the Gryffindor, spotting the Defense textbook in his lap. "We're in the same class next period, aren't we?" She knew he was a Gryffindor (his school robes gave that off) and the Prefect badge was obvious enough; this was Joshua Harcroft if her memory served her well enough from the list of Prefects this term. She'd never really interacted with him though-no real need to bef0re, she supposed.

"Yeah, Defense.I figured I may as well try to read up on what we might be doing- I'd rater not get on Professor Storm's bad side." Josh said. "Still, he's not too bad if you don't irritate him." Josh said, it was obviosu that he didn't exactly mind the Defemse Professor's strictness. "Keeps some of the rowdier students down a bit, though. " Josh commented.

"Yeah, Defense. I figured I may as well try to read up on what we might be doing- I'd rater not get on Professor Storm's bad side. Still, he's not too bad if you don't irritate him. Keeps some of the rowdier students down a bit, though." Mai offered a soft hum of agreement in response, taking a sip of juice to wash down the last bite of sandwich. "He's admirable," she agreed, relaxing into the tree a bit, her free arm crossed under her chest as she leaned back. "He pushes you to your limits; he's tough but he forces you to improve. I enjoy his classes."

"True. I'm not 100% sure he needs to be so strict, but he's pretty reasonable." Josh replied, smiing slightly. "It's hjrd keeping up with everything sometimes, though- I've got NEWTs, Quidditch and my Prefect duties. Merlin knows I may have to give up Quidditch next year- between homework, Quidditch practise and Prefect patrols, I don't get anywhere near enouhg sleep." Josh added, yawning quietly.

"True. I'm not 100% sure he needs to be so strict, but he's pretty reasonable. It's hard keeping up with everything sometimes, though- I've got NEWTs, Quidditch and my Prefect duties. Merlin knows I may have to give up Quidditch next year- between homework, Quidditch practise and Prefect patrols, I don't get anywhere near enough sleep."

"You seem to manage well enough, though," she replied simply, her eyes roaming across the lake while she spoke. "Better than most in your position, actually." An almost compliment; the Ravenclaw was actually fairly toleratable this afternoon despite the rough start she'd had to her day. Joshua Harcroft wasn't making it difficult to be polite, thankfully. But even so, Mai wasn't the best conversationalist and Harcroft seemed a bit busy so she could easily see their conversation stalling at this point. It annoyed Mai that she couldn't hold up conversations that lasted more than five minutes with people due to her own social ineptitude; things tended to get awkwardly quiet in discussions with her.

Josh chuckled quietly when Mai said he seemed to be coping well enough. "It's not that easy, though. It helps that I drink tea in the mornings, not pumpkin juice like most people- it helps me stay awake. That, and you eventually get used to insufficient sleep." Josh said, he honestly was usually tireder than he looked. He seemed to be able to function on less sleep than you would expect, though, so didn't really question it.[1]

1.	in RL, I can function fairly well on 6 hours sleep ad a cup of tea, so I'm not taking Josh's ability to function without enough sleep out of thin air.

"It's not that easy, though. It helps that I drink tea in the mornings, not pumpkin juice like most people- it helps me stay awake. That, and you eventually get used to insufficient sleep."

"That can't be healthy," she quipped, idly braiding strands of her hair together during the silence that followed. "Maybe it would be best to drop something next year, then."

" I can cope. I get far more sleep during the summer holidays and I don't end up with that little sleep. I miss about an hour a night. As I said, you get used to it. I'm not actually sure i even could sleep a full night at this point." Josh replied. " That, and the most dangerous time to be half-asleep is when you're flying, and the wind whipping at your face helps there. There's not much that's better than having winds of a couple hundred miles an hour to wake you up." Josh added, smiling.