Kara entered the Great Hall among the wave of Hogwarts-uniformed students, all flushed from excitement of starting a new school year. The Great Hall was a large, gorgeous room, with enchanted candles floating in the air, and the four long House tables. Her favorite part was the sky, bewitched to look like the outside. Tonight the ceiling depicted a clear, starry night, open straight to the heavens. She took a seat towards the end of the Gryffindor House table, with Lily on her left, James across from her, Remus across from Lily, and, to her dismay, Sirius on her right. Peter Pettigrew, another one of the four infamous Marauders, and a friend of hers, sat down next to James.

"Hey, Wormtail!" James greeted Peter, "Where were you on the Hogwarts Express today?" Peter looked down at the empty golden plate in front of him, and said nervously,

"Nothing".

"That's Wormtail talk for spying on the girls' changing rooms" Sirius said knowingly. Remus and James snickered, and so did Kara. Lily, however looked disgusted.

"Oh, Peter, you didn't did you?" she said disapprovingly as Professor McGonagall quieted the students down, and led the first years to the front of the Hall.

When the Sorting was over, Kara returned to her earlier discussion with Sirius about Quidditch, this time with James involved. Lily and Remus were discussing a book about werewolves. Peter listened to your conversation with his mouth half open, drinking in every word. As James and Sirius began talking about which team had the hottest girls, her attentions moved to the conversation of three newly sorted Gryffindors.

"Do you see him?" one girl moaned longingly.

"MMm hmmm." the second one replied.

"Delicious" she continued.

"Look at his eyes! So gorgeous!" the third girl put in.

"I wonder what his name is?" "I wonder if he's a good kisser" the second girl fantasized. The other two giggled. Kara laughed inside her head. Three more girls to add to the fan club. That second one would make a nice Barbie in a couple of years...She did have to agree with her though, his eyes were quite nice, 'I wonder if he's a good kisser... OMG! Why am I thinking this? Bad Kara, bad. Yes bad would be nice... STOP! This is Sirius Black! Conceited, womanizer...' "Kara? Kara? Are you okay?" Sirius was looking at her with an almost concerned look. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"I've been asking you to pass the butter for five minutes."

"Oh..." She grabbed the butter and gave it to him, hoping she was not blushing too much.

"Are you sure you're alright? You look a little red." Sirius was still looking at her. She blushed deeper.

"I'm fine." She said shortly. Why did he care anyway?

Sirius looked over at Kara. She was staring into space, looking a little disoriented. He waved his hand in front her face. "Hello?" oh well. Nobody home. He continued to stare at her. She was quite pretty really. With her long blonde hair that curled slightly at the bottom, and her eyes, which were a different color to correspond with her mood, which gave you something new to stare at while she wasn't looking... not that you were looking... much. Right? 'Stop Sirius! It's Kara'. He told himself. 'So what if she's pretty, and smart, and nice, and funny, and can pull pranks as well as-well ALMOST as well as you and James, and is a spectacular Chaser. Why should you like a girl like that?' 'Because she's a challenge,' he thought acrimoniously. Gods forbid a girl didn't throw herself at him. He liked that she wasn't a Barbie, as Kara called his fan club. Oh yeah, he needed the butter.

Dinner was over. Kara headed to the common room with Lily, the marauders not far behind, already discussing how to get Filch mad within the first 24 hours of the term. "I'm tired," Lily said. "Me too," James, Remus, and Peter said simultaneously. They all started for their dorms. Kara and Sirius stayed where they were, on the same couch. 'Why isn't he going with James?' She thought. However, she was interrupted by those first years from the Great Hall.

"Excuse me?" the leader, a brunette with a lot of makeup on (definite Barbie material, she thought), said.

"What's his name?" She pointed to Sirius. Sirius looked up, shook his head, and returned to his book. 'Book? He reads?' Kara snapped her head back around. She looked at the cover. "How to Prank a Prankster, Volume VI". Of course. Sirius looked up and grinned at the enlightened look on her face, and nodded his head at her. He returned to his sophisticated reading.

"Sirius Black" She answered the Barbie.

"Are you like dating him?" This gets Sirius' attention. Now it's his turn to snap his head in her direction. Kara is already laughing. "Me? Dating Hiccup Black?" She collapsed on the ground. The first years look disgusted.

"Why's that funny?" she asks. "He's too good for you?"

She stopped laughing abruptly. Sirius noticed her eyes turn cold, ice blue. 'Uh'oh'. He thinks. "Excuse me? Excuse me? What? Not good enough- for him? Excuse me? Oh... that was cold... him too good- for ME? What?" Sirius observed, not completely unamused, and thought he might have seen smoke rising from her ears as she continued. He loved when she flipped out. It was so cute. Unless it was directed at him. Then it was scary.

"Listen, you overdone, air headed, pompous, bigheaded..." Sirius was liking this. Kara was fuming.

"You're worse than him!" With that, she stormed off to her dorm.

"I guess that's a no, then," one of the other Barbies whispered to the Leader. They all shrugged and sat down next to Sirius.

'Oh. No.' Kara just left, and they were coming towards Sirius. And closer. Closer. Closer still. "Hey, Sirius. I'm Roxanne." The Leader said in an attempted sexy voice. It sounded like his Great Uncle Alphard to him.

"Hey." He said, scooting closer to the end of the couch. She followed. 'Oh, well. Nice try,' he consoled himself.

"Sorry, ladies, but it's getting late." He yelled over his shoulder as he ran up the stairs to the boys' dormitories. 'I'd like to see them follow me here,' he thought smugly. He hear footsteps behind him. Crap. He ran into James' bed, hoping to throw them off track. 'Predators, these girls'.

"Lily", James murmured, eyes closed.

"Sorry to disappoint, Prongs" he replied dryly.

"Padfoot?" James nearly screamed.

"SHHHH!" He put his hand over his mouth. "They're coming. They're coming!" James looks confused. The door to the room opened, and Roxanne and her Barbie posse walk in. James sat up, and seeing the girls, understood.

"Do you mind, ladies?" he says, "I'm kind of busy," he pointed at the lump in his bed that was Sirius.

"Sorry" the girls said quickly, and left the dorm without another word.

"Thanks Prongs" Sirius said, truly grateful.

"No problem, Padfoot, but never get in my bed again. Ever."

Kara woke up the next morning and read the clock on her nightstand. It read 6:30. She were always an early riser. She took a shower, and when she went back into her dorm, the other girls were awake. Once Lily was ready, the two of them headed down to the Great Hall in their matching Gryffindor uniforms: white blouse, red and yellow tie (for Gryffindor), gray skirt, and red knee socks. Kara wore sneakers and Lily wore clogs. The Marauders were already there. Kara slid into a seat next to Sirius, with Lily on her other side. Once Lily and Remus picked up where they left off in their werewolf book conversation, Sirius turned to her.

"Kara?" he asked softly.

"Yeah?"

"Did you mean that last night"

"Mean what?"

"You know, when you said those girls-"

"The Barbies?" she interrupted.

"No- not Barbies. Monsters. Bloodhounds."

"Okay... what about them?"

"When you said they were worse than me." She paused, trying to remember exactly what she'd told those girls- bloodhounds.

"No, I guess not." Sirius looked relieved.

"They're not as bad as you." She joked. Sirius laughed with her.

"I've heard you called many things, Sirius Black, but never a bloodhound. And never a Barbie." Sirius let a look of mock hurt take over his face.

"Are you saying I'm not pretty enough to be a Barbie?"

She couldn't stand it. She burst into hysterics. She was laughing so hard tears were running down her cheeks. When she could control herself, she replied,

"Well, maybe we could fix you up. With a bit of makeup and some hair spray you wouldn't look half bad."

It was his turn to laugh hysterically. Neither of them realized this was the longest civil conversation they'd ever had. The others did though.

"Ooh, what's going on with Sirius and Kara?" Lily asked out loud.

"They're just catching up to us babe." James replied.

"Potter, you little..." Remus and Peter shook their heads. Here we go again. Not even eight thirty and they're at it already. Just another typical morning at Hogwarts.