A Reason in Madness

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

Chapter Twelve: Love Bunny

"One foot on today's lesson~ extra credit given if you supply an extra foot on how to become a registered animagus," McGonagall informed the seventh year Gryffindors. She cast a glance at her watch. "You are dis-" The bell cut her off, but she completed the word after the tone ended. "-missed."

Lily gathered her parchment, books (Advanced Transfiguration: Level Seven and Are You Ready for the N.E.W.T.s?), and other belongings before exiting the classroom.

Instead of heading straight to the Great Hall for lunch as most of her classmates had done, she turned left, her destination the Head Lounge.

Lily had just laid down her things on the same desk she had worked at the previous night when a memory struck her like a ton of bricks: James carrying her to her dorm without climbing flights of stairs. Obviously, there was some sort of passageway to her room from this one. To a degree, it angered her that James knew something of that sort that she was not currently aware of. But, then again, this was James Potter: marauder extraordinaire, one of the top students, Hogwarts' favorite heartbreaker... Although he seemed to have denounced this latter title...

Lily gave her head a little shake and tried to concentrate on where this passageway could be.

Looking around the room, one would see a few paintings on every wall- as was typical in most of Hogwarts. In this room the majority of paintings consisted of landscapes. The absence of portraits was probably meant to recognize the space as more "studious"- some portraits could be quite talkative at times.

However, the absence of portraits probably also symbolized that wherever this passage began, one would most likely not need a password to enter it.

Commencing to the left of the small bookcase against the wall up against which Lily and James' desks were located, Lily tugged at both bottom corners of each painting.

This game of Tug-of-War hadn't gone on long before one landscape- which looked as if the painter had been in a valley looking up at a mountain range- swung open as if on hinges (though none were visible). Entering the room, the painting would be on the left-hand wall. Lily glanced nervously over her shoulder before stepping over a slight ledge into the dark tunnel. She pulled her wand from an inside pocket of her robes and lit it with a simple word: "Lumos."

In under a minute, Lily reached a dead end. Sighing, Lily leaned against the wall at the end of the tunnel. But before she could reach the conclusion that the wall was definitely not solid, it gave way and she collapsed onto a carpeted floor- a maroon-colored carpeted floor.

"Lily?"

*~¤~*

"You coming, love bunny?" Sirius questioned James after Transfiguration. The title didn't cause the addressed to bat an eye, but a few Slytherins passing by glanced over their shoulders at the Marauders with audible whispers of, "I told you!"

"No- I'll get a bite later. I'm going to go take a bit of a nap- didn't get much sleep last night."

James waved off his companions down the corridor on the right as he took a left towards the Head Lounge and the quickest route to his dorm.

Upon seeing auburn hair in front of him, however, he changed his mind and slipped behind a tapestry of Ungry the Unbearable (affectionately known as "Ungry the Ugly")- the fastest way to Gryffindor Tower from his current location.

"Opera phantom," he supplied to the Fat Lady upon reaching her frame. He let Lily choose all necessary passwords other than his own dorm's. She apparently had a "thing" for choosing them from her favorite muggle novels; the current Tower password had been chosen from The Phantom of the Opera.

After climbing the stairs to the boys' dorms, James continued to the door bedecked with the plaque reading "Head Boy."

"White stag." He never claimed to be original or creative!

As soon as the entrance had closed behind him, James flung himself onto his bed. He lay on his back staring at the maroon canopy above him. He hadn't gotten much sleep the previous night due to the fact that he had been up berating himself.

He still couldn't believe he had kissed Lily- even if it had just been on the forehead! What if she had awoken? It hadn't seemed like it, but how could he be so sure?

If she had been awake, how had she taken the whole situation?

Just as James began to contemplate the possibilities, his thoughts were replaced by absolute shock.

After all, it isn't every day that the girl of your dreams falls out of your mirror.