Ain't Love a Kick in the Head?

"She's done it again!" Hannah Underwood moaned dramatically as she flung herself down beside Lily.

Lily sighed. "What did she do now, Hannah?"

Who "she" was not a question on Lily's mind. Lily knew Hannah was talking about Cassandra Connell.

"She's dating him!" Hannah practically yelled.

Who "he" was? A stupid question as well. It was Sirius Black. Hannah had had a crush on him since her fist year. This, being their sixth year, was pretty pathetic.

"No offense, Hannah, but you never exactly said anything to him," Lily pointed out.

"That's not the point! Lily, what am I going to do? Sirius is the handsomest, funniest, and overall best guy I know! Now that Connell cow is going out with him. I don't stand a chance!" Hannah sulked.

"You could try telling him how you feel. But that's just off the top of my head," Lily said, waving a hand.

Hannah looked shocked. "WHAT?!" Hannah regained her composure after a moment and smirked. "Just like how you've done with Potter?"

Now it was Lily's turn to be shocked. "What?! I do not fancy Potter!"

"Oh, sure. So you really hate him?" Hannah rolled her eyes.

"Don't use that word. It's such a strong word," Lily said, using her scolding voice.

"Whatever, Lily," Hannah said, lying down beside Lily under the tree.

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On the other side of the grounds, the Marauders were around. They were bored as usual, and when they were bored, bad things tended to happen.

"This school is a dump. Nothing ever happens here," James complained, skipping rocks across the lake.

Remus ignored this comment and continued to do his homework.

"I don't think it's that dull here," Peter said timidly.

Sirius walked up to the group. "Hey guys."

"We don't wanna talk to you, Padfoot," James said, tossing rocks into the lake.

Sirius smiled. "What'd I do now?"

"Going out with that Connell girl? Tsk tsk!" James said, shaking his head.

Sirius grinned and took a seat beside Remus. "It's not that big of a deal. She'd burned through pretty much every guy in the school already." Sirius said casually.

"And she had to go after a Marauder to say she had snagged one!" James chucked the final rock in his hand into the lake. The Giant Squid blew bubbles up to the surface of the water.

"Oh, sorry, mate!" James called to it.

"You hit that thing again?" sighed Remus.

James shrugged the comment off and turned his attention to the steps. "Evans is heading up. Let's cut her off. Who's that girl with her?"

"It's so obvious you fancy her, Prongs. Too bad she's too good for you," Sirius said, getting to his feet.

"The girl's Hannah Underwood," Remus supplied.

The four started towards the steps.

"And how did you acquire this interesting bit of information, Moony?" Sirius asked, poking Remus in the side.

"She's a prefect like me. That's all," Remus defended himself weakly.

"You and lover boy over there could double date!" James said, making his voice high and squeaky, in a poor attempt at a girl's voice.

Sirius grinned at threw Remus's book at him.

"Hey! That's the school's!" Remus bent down to recover his book.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist, Moony. They can repair it," Sirius said.

"Repair? Oooh! That's such a big word for you, Sirius!" James said teasingly.

"I can throw it again, you know," Sirius warned James.

"Uh-oh!" Hannah said to Lily on the steps. "Hurry. It's Potter and his gang. I can't bear to look at Sirius!"

Lily rolled her eyes and opened the door to go inside.

James flicked his wand and closed the door. "Stop right there, Evans."

"What do you want now, Potter? I'm really not in the mood."

"Is it that time of the month?" Sirius asked in mock coyness.

Lily's eyes flashed dangerously. "Say that again, Black, just say it."

"Don't hurt him!" Hannah whispered frantically in her best friend's ear.

Lily clenched her fists. "Come on. Let's go, Hannah."

James made no move to stop them now. He watched them disappear into the castle.

"Padfoot! Why'd you have to go and say something rude like that?" demanded James.

"It's not like you've been a perfect gentleman to everyone, either," Sirius said, folding his arms across his chest.

"Yeah. I know. Sorry, sorry!" James threw up his hands.

"Can we go now? I have to put the books back before dinner," Remus said.

"Yeah, we can go," agreed James. He gave one last look at the door and walked away.

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"I don't see how you can like him, Hannah! He's so obnoxious and rude!" Lily fumed, throwing her book bag down on her bed.

"Potter's not the friendliest guy, either!" barked Hannah.

"Can we NOT discuss Potter for TWO SECONDS?" Lily yelled.

Slightly taken aback, Hannah shut her mouth and sat down on her bed. "Sorry, Lil."

"It's not your fault, Hannah. I just get so...Stressed, sometimes. And for future references, can we not bring Potter up when we're in our dorm? It creeps me out."

"Lily Evans! How could you possibly relate James Potter to a bed?" she said, trying to wear an expression of utmost horror.

Just then, an owl flew in and landed on Hannah's lap. "An owl at this time in the day?"

Hannah untied the message and the owl flew off.

"Who sent it?" Lily walked over to Hannah's bed.

"It doesn't say," Hannah looked over the envelope. "Reckon someone sent me a hex or something?"

"Why would they do that? You've never given anyone a reason to."

"No. Except I filled Narcissa's bra with tadpoles, once," Hannah reminded Lily as she opened the letter.

Lily peered over Hannah's shoulder and read.

Whenever you're feeling down or blue

Use this poem to remind you,

There's someone out there who loves you

"Well, he's no William Shakespeare. But it's cute all the same," Lily said.

Hannah held the letter at an arm's length. "What do I do with it?"

"What do you do with it? Keep it, of course!" Lily exclaimed.

"But...It would be weird. I mean, I don't know who sent it!" said Hannah, wrinkling her nose.

"Still, you can keep it in an old wand box and reminisce on it when you're old." Lily pointed out.

"True, I guess I'll keep it," Hannah said, putting the letter under her pillow.

"And who knows, maybe Black sent it," said Lily, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"No, he wouldn't," Hannah said, dismissing the thought.

"Why not?"

"I'm no Cassandra Connell," Hannah said, giving Lily a sideways glance.

Hannah was entirely different than Cassandra. Hannah had short, mousy brown hair, while Cassandra had long, curly black hair. Hannah wasn't that tall, and she wore glasses, while Cassandra practically towered over most of the boys, save Sirius.

"You're just as good as her. Where will looks get you, anyways? You've got brains, Hannah," Lily tried to assure her friend.

Hannah smiled a little. "Thanks, Lily. Let's go to dinner, okay?"

"Sure."

The two girls walked down the steps and to the Great Hall.

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"Thank you," Remus returned his book to the library.

"That's funny," the librarian said. "There's a page missing out of this book."

"Really? I wonder where that came from."

"It's no trouble, Remus. You're always so good with books. I'll let it go this time."

"Thank you, ma'am."

Remus exited the library to find Sirius pressed up against the wall by a girl. Remus cleared his throat and the two sprung apart. The girl was Connell. He reddened slightly as he saw Connell pull down her shirt.

"Ah, Remus, we were just....." Sirius tried to explain.

"No, no. It's okay. You don't have to explain," said Remus, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well, um, see you later," Connell said, giving Sirius a quick kiss on the mouth.

Sirius and Remus stood in silence for a while. After a moment Sirius burst out laughing.

"Next time, mate, I won't do it where everyone can see, okay?" promised Sirius.

"Good idea."