A/N: this story will be a series of chapters that will not necessarily be in any specific order, each chapter will have a time skip of some sort and since I'm really lazy the exact time won't always be specified. I am hoping that it makes sense as the chapters will not all be in chronological order.

This is set in the late seventies so I am trying to be authentic, I know I get a little overexcited sometimes but this time era is my favourite from the music to the fashion (i know, not a popular opinion). as I am trying to be real to the time there will be the causal use of drugs and mentions of AIDS etc because that is what the reality was living then, I may cover more difficult topics later on but for the moment we shall see what happens.

Chapter 1

I was humming to a popular Iggy Pop song as I walked down the train looking for my best friend, the insufferable redhead had been too impatient to wait for me at the platform so here I was, having to search the whole bloody train with a raging headache and uneasy nausea in my stomach. Catching the eye of a second year I smiled at the younger boy, knowing full well that my white miniskirt was bright against the dark tan of my legs which was enough in itself to make the poor lad blush. Catching sight of his flushed face I smirked and carried on the next compartment, only to be spun around by a warm hand on my wrist. Looking up to see who had demanded my attention I came face to face with the 6-foot plus enigma that is Sirius Black. He must have had another growth spurt since I saw him in the summer, his chin reaching my forehead now instead of my nose.

"Scaring off the first years already are we Peyton," his voice was still as insufferably smug as it was last time we spoke, making my stomach pool with warmth at the husky tone. Trying not to look up at his stormy eyes and no doubt sinfully tousled hair I replied quickly.

"He's a second-year Sirius,"

"Even worse, cradle snatcher." Despite myself I couldn't help but look up, yup, I was right, it was sinfully tousled.

"Hypocrite," right okay you can breathe, "I'm pretty sure that you purposely run your fingers through those, what was it, 'luscious locks' in front of your little fan club just for an ego boost." Okay and relax, the initial monthly shock of his good looks completed.

"Mason- I'm wounded, why would I do such a thing?" his reply incredulous as his infectious smile made my lips twitch despite the pounding behind my eyes.

"Piss of you dog, my head is still pounding from last night, honestly that was a rager."

"Haha, can't take the alcohol can we Mason- too much of a lightweight?"

"I have you know that I can drink you under the table any day Black- is that your keeper I hear calling you? Don't want him to think you've got back to your untameable days, do we?" slipping into easy banter wasn't on my list of to do things this morning, so I turned and started weaving my way through the crowd again, searching for Lily.

"Now it's your turn to piss off Mason." Quietly laughing I turned my head, looking over the younger years around me.

"I'll see you tonight dog breath." I was effectively lost in the crowd now, his tall stature visible but not enough to see the shake of his head or the smile planted on his face.

I caught a flash of red out of the corner of my eye and immediately braced myself, wincing but also smiling when a squeal hit my ears. It was my own fault really, I shouldn't have gotten completely hammered last night leaving me like a living zombie today, the oversized circular sunglasses on my face crooked and my eyes bloodshot.

"Oh my God, I nearly didn't recognize you, c'mon were just a few compartments up!" The green-eyed beauty didn't look back or even wait for my reaction as she dragged me into the small space, helping me get my trunk into the space above our heads.

"Looking rough Peyton, take it you went to Anna's after all." Came a giggle from behind me. Realising it was my other best friend already seated on the bench behind us, Marlene McKinnon was a brash, outspoken girl, gorgeous, rich and absolutely hilarious. Her long mahogany hair was half up half down and her hazel eyes were seductively outlined in dark liner. She was already in her uniform, teasing her admirers by wearing her hold ups low, visible when she moved a certain way.

"Shut up you," I giggled as I leaned down and gave her a hug whilst removing my sunglasses, baring my tired eyes to the world.

"Bloody hell girl you went hard last night didn't you! You sneaky bitch how much did you drink!" her loud laughs were enough to knock Lily out of her disbelief.

"Peyton Mason I can't believe you went to that party, you promised me you wouldn't! I am so annoyed right now!" Her fiery hair shimmered as she shook her head at me disapproval stamped all over her face. I slowly sank into the bench opposite her, shooting a small knowing smile her way.

"Only because I went without you! Sorry but I got a bit worked up with y'know and I needed to chill and Tyler was going anyway so I just tagged along." I laughed as I said this, I knew Lily would be unable to disagree with that point and like that the three of us were settled into a train journey to my second home, Hogwarts. "Anna's throwing another one next month anyway, except I'm pretty sure that it's going to be a neon party this time."

"What's a neon party?" I heard from the door, Christina had joined us in the cabin, her shoulder length hair pulled back into an intricate braid.

"It's really hard to explain, they have like special lights and you wear neon clothes and they, like stand out and you can paint your body and face with special paint… You know it's going to be easier to show you a picture," I was already reaching into my handbag to find the polaroid that Tyler had caught of me with some of my muggle friends last Christmas. Kyle, the 18-year-old who had given me my first fake ID, was stood on the left with an arm around his girlfriend who had the most amazing body paint depicting a dragon wrapped around her arm with its face sat above her collarbone; there was another girl stood in the middle of the group with myself and James Potter making up the other side. Both of us had matching paint; stripes on each cheek and a peace sign in the middle of our chests, just below the collarbone. Hair loose and natural with a large smile on my face, the picture made me nostalgic.

"That's not James Potter, is it? When did this happen? Honestly Lils why don't you just give in already, especially if he looked like that at sixteen." Marlene's suggestive tone towards the very topless boy in the picture made me giggle, Lily just gave the dark-haired girl a glare before huffing as she returned to her seat opposite me, having moved closer to see the small picture better.

"Yeah Pey, since when did you party with Potter?" It was Lily that spoke this time, her voice inquisitive, eyes wide and honest.

"It was last winter and to be honest with you girls I don't really know, we bumped into each other. I think Remus was there as well, maybe Sirius? The only thing I clearly remember from that night was making out with a really, really good-looking guy before Elvis came on and we ditched to dance." It had been a rough holiday for me, my sister had been emergency rushed to hospital after some guy from her secondary school put marijuana in the brownies at a fundraising bake sale. Messed up, I know. Mel had a reaction and fell, hitting her head and ending up losing a whole load of blood, resulting in an emergency trip to ER. As a result of that, I had found out that I was adopted, and my search for truth revealed that my birth father was dead and my biological mother was on her deathbed after contracting HIV in the sixties.

My smile dropped for a second as I thought about the anxiety that had swept me up in those few months, I hadn't told the girls, Tyler, not even my sweet little sister Mel knew. It was something that I just couldn't bring myself to tell them, almost as though by keeping it to myself I was preventing it from being a reality.

"What a great tragedy has befallen us this summer, we lost a true King." Christina's voice cut through the giggles of the other girls and prompted us to sober up for a moment of respectful silence before we raised imaginary glasses to toast the death of Elvis.

After Lily left for her prefect/ head girl meeting it was only a matter of time before us Ravenclaws started talking about the educational or more sophisticated side to our summer. Marlene had gone on her usual family holiday; as the youngest of four and the only girl, she was the only one able to wrangle her brothers together to go on the annual holiday with their mother, her dad had run away with a young Quidditch player when she was nine. Marlene's mother, Dancia, had been devastated and her eldest son Mark had created the family holiday tradition to remind her that her children would never leave her, their family was slightly unconventional but honestly stronger for it and I envied my friend for that. After my younger sister failed to have enough magic potential to get a place at Hogwarts and the truth about my adoption had been pried from my parent's lips my own family was tense and the atmosphere was always brittle, the perfect façade ready to break at any moment. This year the McKinnon's had gone to Egypt and Marlene was easily sweeping us up in the hypocrisy of the Romans and how they prided themselves on being multiracial and accepting whilst branding Cleopatra and the Egyptians as savages with their 'snarling' gods. She was tugging on her hair as she questioned their actions, ending in all of us in a heated debate about just how 'multicultural' the Romans, and later the wizarding world, really were.

Asha had stayed at home but remained oddly fascinated with the northern Leopard Frog's ability to swallow prey using its eyes, explaining the science behind it and comparing it to the Green Toed Toad whose toes were, in fact, a common potion ingredient. Christina and I mainly brought the conversation back round to the latest fashion and I added in an anecdote of my weekend spent at the seafront in south England, having roller skated down the seafront only to be ambushed with a group of children who also had skates on. Me, being the loving and maternal person I am, flinch at any child younger than eight years old, unsure and slightly scared as to what they will do. I wasn't scared of young children, rather just avoided them as much as I could.

"Why is it that we spend all summer reading and looking at historical or biological studies but always leave it to the train to finish our summer assignments?" Christina exclaimed ten minutes later as we all got lengths of parchment out to compare and complete the holiday projects.

"Hun, Ravenclaws are known for their desire for knowledge, not do homework," I replied whilst digging out my potions book. We all tittered at my reply before returning to silence the only sounds being 'pass the ink' or 'is it spelled with an I or a y?'.

Returning to Hogwarts was like returning to a warm bed after running out to turn the hallway light off because someone *cough* Tyler *cough* was too lazy to get off his arse and do it himself. The feast was mediocre as per usual, the Marauders annual first-day prank being the only case of interest as that poor black haired Slytherin ran from the hall, fire at his heels and pink highlights adorning his hair. James had followed his laughter with a rather ominous warning, his eyes shifting towards me with a sharpness I'd never seen before.

"That was nothing for what we have in plan for the last Quidditch game of the season. Now, THAT will be hilarious." He was quickly shushed by his merry little band of Marauders as the first years entered.

The sorting was long and uneventful, the new first years small and wide-eyed with their new hats falling over their eyes. Having left my glasses in my trunk I couldn't actually see the newbies that well, only identifying Christina's younger sister by her height, which was about a foot taller than the others around her.

"I haven't been able to have a smoke since London, I'll be back in twenty," I spoke to the organised room, I had just finished unpacking all my bags, Ash was already face down in bed nearly asleep.

"Hey wait, I'm coming," Marls replied, as I expected she had already grabbed few fags and her favoured silver lighter and shoved them in her pocket.

"Okay, Danny is meeting us in the common room by the way," I said, smiling once my face had turned away from her.

"What? Really, Peyton? We've only just got back and you're already on the good stuff?" Dan was the only Ravenclaw who managed to get good pot at decent price, if you wanted to get anything else than the Hufflepuffs were the ones to ask, but Danny was local and reasonably priced making him a favourite to Ravenclaw and Gryffindor students who could not be bothered to trek all the way down to the bottom floors.

"Actually Marlene, I was invited by him for a roll-up, not a joint." My reply was quick as I pocketed my own things.

"Ooohhhh you're getting invited for a 'roll up' by dealer Dan, are you sure you want me to come?" her voice was teasing but slightly strained. We all knew that she and Dan had a bit of a thing, despite our evident disapproval. Dan was a nice guy and all but her real on and off boyfriend Chase was so, so much better for her.

"Shut up Marls, I'm pretty sure he invited me because he knew you would come,"

"Ah, maybe it's you that should stay back here then."

"Ew gross, I hope you're not being serious," last I heard her and Chase were 'on' again.

"Haha, the look on your face Pey," eyes shifting with slight discomfort, discovering from her expression that they were in fact 'off' at the moment.

"Hilarious, Marlene." I tried to keep the tone light as we left our dorm room and made our way up the stairs, my friend was evidently uncomfortable about the topic.

The lake was beautiful in the evening and the air was still warm with the lingering sun of a hot day, if you looked close enough you could see the mermaids playing in the warm top water of the lake on the Western side. A stag drank his fill on the edge backing onto the forbidden forest next to a small herd of Unicorns, which was strange because they usually never ventured this close to the castle. Glad I had grabbed my glasses I took a double take as I saw a smaller animal was perched on the Stag's shoulders. Squinting I moved a few steps to get a closer look. Was that a rat?

"What are you doing?"

The voice startled me into dropping my cigarette and spinning round, only to lose my balance and begin to fall backward. My arms wind-milled as I teetered on the edge of falling in the lake. These shoes were Italian leather and I did not want them ruined on my first day.

"What the hell Sirius?!" I squealed as Remus reached out from beside the taller boy to help me regain my balance. "Thanks, Rem," smiling at him as I sighed in relief and moved forward a few steps to separate me from the water's edge. Glancing quickly over my shoulder I saw that the stag and small rodent were gone, as where the unicorns, with a frown I looked back at Sirius' face, his smirk amused and eyes shining.

"Why I just wanted to come down and join you for a smoke is all." His reply made me soften a bit, never able to stay mad at the Gryffindor for long. Despite his annoying demeanor.

"Well you didn't have to give me heart palpitations to do so, I see you've finally corrupted Lupin then," I gave the fairer brunette a shrewd look, half expecting him to be holding a fag to his lips the same nonchalant way Potter and Black did.

"Peyton I actually came to make sure things like that didn't happen." The response made me smile at him, glad he wasn't adding things on top of his already prominent health problems.

"Oh... thanks Remus, y'know I need more friends like you, Marlene pissed off and left without so much of a glance in my direction,"

"Dan or chase?" Came Sirius.

"Dan," I said with distaste.

"Oh." He spoke with the same expression on his face.

"Yeah, I know."

We both laughed as he offered to light the freshly rolled smoke I now held between my lips. The three of us sat there watching the rest of the sunset before James and Peter joined us. It was a couple of hours later that we made our way back to the castle, drunk from laughter and skin warm from the setting sun.