A Reason in Madness

"There is always some madness in love. But there is always some reason in madness."

Chapter Two: A Brunette Blonde

When James had said, "We have some business to attend to," Lily had assumed that James's "business" consisted of trying to jump, snog, and seduce her- in that order. And it wasn't that she just automatically expected this kind of behavior from James. She had a reason. The previous year, he had walked in on her (fully clothed, thank a baboon named François!) in the prefect's bathroom (he had undoubtedly gotten the password from Remus Lupin, Gryffindor prefect and close friend of James) and had said that he had "business to discuss" with her. Lily guessed that he had just been tired of being rejected by her and had just decided to go for it. Idiot.

Anyway, Lily was once again shocked when James retrieved some parchments from a cabinet next to the window.

"Okay, prefect meetings...how often?" he asked, looking at the first parchment.

Lily shook her head slightly to bring herself back to reality. "Huh? Oh, uh...first Wednesday of every month okay with you?"

*~¤~*

The Head Girl and Boy went through their paper-work (or parchment-work) fairly quickly, and with no arguments. Lily got over her James-Potter-Not-Being-An-Arrogant-Prick! induced shock fairly quickly as well. It wasn't until they reached Hogsmeade Station that she realized that she had ridden the whole way with a guy she had despised for six years- and had had a good time with him, too.

"Oh, train check, James." She had just remembered that as the Head Students, they had to check the train after everyone had disembarked. Wait. James? Since when did she call him James?

"I know; I was fixing to remind you, actually," he laughed. Lily wasn't the only one who noticed that she wasn't calling him "Potter."

*~¤~*

"Dear Lord, I looked everywhere for you on the train! Where were you?" Keida Brennit questioned Lily at the Welcoming Feast.

"Ké," Lily pointed to her Head Girl badge, "I was riding first class style, remember?"

Honestly! She had owled Keida the day she had received her badge!

"Oh, yeah!" Lily rolled her eyes at her brunette best friend's blondeness. "So," Keida continued, "who's Head Boy?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"It's not a Slytherin, is it? I'll have to kill some random person if it is!"

"No, no...it's far from a Slytherin..." Lily cast a glance down the table towards James, who happened to catch her looking at him. He winked at her and turned to reply to something Peter Pettigrew (a scrawny-looking boy who hung out with James, Sirius, and Remus) had said.

"Oh, my toes! James Potter!?" Apparently, Keida had discovered at whom Lily had been looking. "And- and- he winked at you! And you didn't try to murder him! I missed something! What's going on!?"

"Mother of a guinea pig, calm down, Ké! It's just...so...weird. He didn't hit on me once, the whole train ride...He didn't brag about anything... I don't remember him playing with his hair at all and I didn't see his little friend snitch once..." she looked down at the table and realized the desserts had appeared. She helped herself to some chocolate cake.

Keida, looking dumbfounded, replied, "Are you sure it's really Potter?"

"I suppose we'll see, eh?"