A Reason in Madness

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

Chapter Five: Fine, Fine Day

"I just don't get it, man."

"More like you don't get her."

"Yeah. Too true. I mean, yesterday she was great- friendly to me even! Then, last night, she spazzed out! Well, I suppose I said something I shouldn't've at this point. And, this morning, it was like she forgot all about it." James and Sirius were discussing his predicament with Lily.

"Looks like you're just gonna have to watch your mouth around your red-headed flower," Sirius suggested, with a strange glint in his eye. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly.

"Yeah, I gue- Sirius!" Sirius dodged a smack to the head from James but was unsuccessful.

Sirius eased up off of the common room floor, back onto the couch where he had been sitting before he had dove in an effort to get out of James's way. "Dude," he said, rubbing the back of his head where his best friend had smacked him- pretty hard, too. "That hurt!"

James snorted, and said, "Nah kidding! It was supposed to, you twit!"

His best friend looked at him beseechingly and replied, "What you gotta do that to a brother for, eh?"

"You are not my brother, thank François!"

"François? What? Who?"

James looked thoughtful for a moment. "I dunno...anyway, you are not my brother!"

Sirius put his hand over his heart and with a look of "utmost sadness" (oh, you know it) upon his face, fell backwards on the couch. "Prongs, why do you hurt me so? It just...hurts me so much that you don't think of me as your...your...brother!" With this, Sirius burst into "tears" and buried his face in his hands, rocking backward and forward, saying in between "sobs," "You don't love me! You don't love me!"

James shook his head and walked out of the portrait hole and headed towards the Great Hall, where dinner would be served in a few minutes.

Approximately five minutes later, Sirius finally looked up from his hands, and saw that quite a few people were staring at him concernedly. "Hey! How's everyone doing on this fine, fine day?" When no one said anything he said, "Yah-huh. That's what I thought. Bye!" and he raced out of the portrait hole after James.

*~¤~*

As James stepped through the double doorway to the Great Hall, his eyes were habitually drawn towards the Gryffindor table. The easily-spotted auburn hair of Lily Evans held his gaze for a moment. He shook his head to clear his brain a bit and strode towards the object of his affection.

"And how are you doing on this fine, fine day, Mademoiselle?" he said, as he sat down on her right.

Lily looked up from her stew and smiled at James. "Isn't that one of Sirius's lines?"

"I do believe it is."

She gave a slight giggle, and commented, "Don't say it then; it seems to lessen your IQ."

"Too true, ma chére," he replied after looking thoughtful for a minute.

Lily suddenly sat perfectly straight in her chair and made a reconnaissance of James before saying, "You always say that. What does it mean?"

James gave her a sly grin and said, "Ah, français est la langue de l'amour, et elle est trés belle, mais elle ne peut pas comparer á vous."

Lily raised an eyebrow in response. "O-kay, then...yeah. Anyway...oh! Thanks for the song lyrics by the way. You were right; it is a really sad song. I would have never guessed."

"Just curious...but..." James stopped hesitantly, as if embarrassed.

"But, what?"

"Okay, I'm just curious, like I said: What kind of music do you like, Lily?"

She jumped a bit at the random question. "Oh! Um...muggle music really. Anything I can dance to, I guess. And, honestly, I have a bit of a soft spot for classical. What about you?"

"Really?" When Lily nodded, James laughed and said, "I prefer muggle music, as well, although it is slightly harder for me to get hold of it than it is for you, I bet."

"What, no specific type?"

"Uh...I'm not positive, but I think it's called rock?" He looked at Lily questioningly.

She nodded and said, "Yeah. It's alright..."

"Oh, and I like jazz."

"Really!? Jazz? You?"

"Yeah, jazz, me. What's so surprising about that?"

Lily shrugged, "Nothing. It just doesn't seem like you, d'you know what I'm saying?"

"Not really."

She shrugged and again and said, "Oh, well, whatever."

Lily and James talked with each other for the rest of dinner, Keida and the other marauders beside them going unnoticed, and glancing at the pair curiously and in Sirius and Remus's case, furtively. Sirius leaned across the table towards Remus and whispered, "What do you think, Moony? How much longer?"

"Not much, Sirius, my man. Not much."