Disclaimer: This story starts in 1977 and the Marauders will finally graduate in 1978. I wasn't alive during those years but I've heard a lot of stories and read Eric Clapton's autobiography. This fic was originally going to be much darker to reflect the extremes of the 1970s but I decided to tone it down – for instance, I was originally going to quote lyrics from Eric Clapton's song "Cocaine" for this chapter. I will only mention alcohol and gillyweed (magical weed, I've seen this in other fanfics before so I decided to use it as well) but if you want to let your mind wander outside my writing, assume the worst. Also, people smoked a lot of cigarettes back then (and still do) so that's why Gemma is a chimney.

However, I am not encouraging you to smoke or drink, I'm just trying to be historically accurate.

"Baby, I can't stay, you got to roll me and call me the tumblin' dice." – The Rolling Stones, 1972

"You're sure they're coming, right?"

"Yes, Moony," Sirius Black groaned as he threw his hands in the air, "for the last time, Gio said he'd be here."

Remus shrunk at his sudden outburst and various other party guests tittered as they tried to eavesdrop on their conversation. Sirius grimaced and then drained the shot of firewhiskey in front of him; the alcohol blistered his taste buds, but he reached out for another.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap."

He slammed the second shot onto the table, gasped as he wiped the sides of his mouth and tried to reach for a third before his friend stopped him.

"I better take that one," Remus said raising his brow, "before you hurt yourself. Remember, not too sloshed." Sirius watched as he tipped his head back and poured the whiskey down his throat; the werewolf showed no emotion as he consumed the fiery liquid. He gently placed the empty shot glass down on the table and nodded to him slowly before leaving his side. Sirius sighed heavily and rubbed his temples.

The night was not going as planned.

He eyed the bottle of firewhiskey next to him as he felt a familiar burn rush through his veins. He was impatient. As he reached to fill his glass, there was a small rustling under the door and Sirius' grimace turned into a grin as a Jack skipped across the stone floor and landed in front of him.

"Sorry for the delay, folks!" Gio boomed as the rest of his band poured into the room with their equipment.

As Peter rushed to close the door, the rest of the students cheered for the night's entertainment as they climbed up onto the makeshift stage. Gio was wearing black and yellow, wide striped bell bottoms with a black leather vest without shirt and his female back up singer Kaia wore something similar. She had teased out her hair into an afro, matching her brother's hairstyle; he donned deep purple velvet pants and a destroyed black t-shirt over them. Kieran passed a cigarette to Gregory, who ripped several strands of his denim jeans when climbing down to check the floorboards. He vaulted up back onto the platform and almost ran into Ethan who scowled at him as he unbuttoned his flowery long sleeve shirt. Sirius pushed past several people to get to them and jumped up onto the stage.

"What took you so long?" he growled in Gio's ear as the boy wrapped his painted guitar strap around his body. Sirius could smell the alcohol and gillyweed on the Hufflepuff's breath.

"We didn't see the time change until just now, you originally told me 10!" Gio cried as he began to warm up, his fingers flying over the frets. He nodded his head in the direction of the door. "I've had success with the Oculto Mihi concealment charm to make it look like this room is empty." Sirius glanced over towards the only door in and out of the room and saw Remus and Peter begin to mutter several spells as they held out their wands.

"I'm sure they've got it covered," he barked as he playfully slapped his friend's back. "You just make these people dance."

Gio saluted him with a large grin and turned back to his band as they finished setting up. The Gryffindor then hopped off the stage and scanned the room. Now where was she?

To his right, James was reenacting the last Puddlemire game for Frank Longbottom and Alice Cooper and next to them, William Upton was trying to chat up Miranda Fletcher, who looked extremely bored. She glanced over at Sirius and licked her lips sensually. He quickly looked behind her to avoid her gaze and spied Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadows taking shots of firewhiskey with each other as Lizzie Richardson cheered them on. Remus took the bottle from the group of girls and poured a shot for Marianne, who sipped it slowly.

Sirius thought he saw the mass of blonde hair he was looking for, but she turned out to be Persephone Davies, the first Gryffindor he'd ever shagged. He grimaced, noticing that she had become increasingly thin and sickly looking; whatever substance she was using to keep up her beauty standards clearly wasn't working. She wiped under her nose, sniffled, and then caught his glance. Her smile brightened and as she began to make her way through the throng, Sirius quickly turned around to find a hiding place.

"And where do you think you're going, Mister?" Rose purred as she put a hand on his shoulder. Her green dress dipped generously in the front and she flipped her dark hair over her shoulder as she thrust out her large chest. He moved his lips to formulate a reply, but glanced over her shoulder to see Gemma casually leaning against the wall next to the stage. Her periwinkle, halter jumpsuit accentuated her curves and as she tipped her head back and exhaled cigarette smoke, her wavy hair cascaded down her open back.

"I have to make sure the band's set up," Sirius responded as he brushed past Rose towards the stage. His mouth turned upwards into a seductive smirk as he weaved his way to Gemma's side. When she noticed his presence, she looked up at him through her blunt cut fringe and took another drag from her cigarette.

"So what's your last name? And what instrument do you play? Gio never really explained …"

"Rawnsley. And I'm not in the band," she said coolly as she exhaled her smoke. "By the way, you blokes don't have a filtration system set up. It's going to get hazy in here soon." Sirius glanced around and noticed that most of the ashtrays on the tables were full.

"So what do you propose we do, love?" he grinned as he put an arm up against the wall and leaned towards her. "Tell people they can't enjoy a smoke?"

"That would cause a riot," she snorted as she graciously blew her next exhale away from his face. "I always use a simple Erasure Spell to clear the air." She flicked off some ash from the end of her dwindling cigarette and then put it back between her lips.

"Well yeah, but you'd have to do that periodically throughout the night," Sirius mused as some of his long black hair fell into his face. "It would be easier to cast a repeating Transfiguration spell to turn the smoke into fresh air."

"I guess I'll have to finish my Sixth Year after all," she laughed and then coughed to clear her throat as she put out her cigarette in an ashtray. "I have no fucking clue how to make a spell repeat itself. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to have to get a drink. I'm parched."

"Sorry! Sorry! Alright, here we go. Ahem. One, two, three, four - "

As Gio's raspy voice echoed throughout the room and people began to head towards the stage to dance, Sirius watched Gemma slide past him and move to the drinks table. He spied a large trellis of red roses that was tattooed onto the skin of her upper right shoulder. As the notes pulsed through the air, the flowers magically moved to the beat. Sirius felt his jaw drop. He had honestly never met a more interesting girl at Hogwarts. She was beautiful and seemed to walk on the wild side without a care in the world; in fact, she didn't even seem to notice she was a wild child. It was all just normal for her.

He narrowed his eyes as he watched Peter look her up and down and pour her a drink. She thanked him, took her shot, and as Gio stepped back from the microphone and started his guitar solo, disappeared into the crowd.

"Fuck," he breathed. "I need some bloody whiskey."

As the party raged on, Sirius couldn't keep his eyes off Gemma, even when the party goers began to couple off on the dance floor. The Hufflepuff kept her distance, dancing by herself right next to the stage. She sashayed and swayed her hips back and forth to the sound of Gio's guitar and Kaia's harmonies and when a male approached her, shooed him away. She wasn't interested in anything but her friends.

"Ohhhhh, that's the reason then."

"Huh?" remarked Sirius, shaking his head. He had been watching Gemma go up on stage to dance with Gio.

"This isn't for me," James smirked. "It's for her. I suppose that makes sense, I didn't really understand why you wanted to do this whole thing in the first place … Moony did say your logic was a bit backwards and now I know why."

"What are you on about?"

"This party. You didn't do it to raise my spirits. You only planned it so you could chat her up, didn't you?"

Sirius felt a rare blush creep into his cheeks. It was true. When passing out the invitations, he'd dallied with Rose in a broom cupboard, but even his old flame's lips couldn't sidetrack his new obsession; he couldn't stop thinking about Gemma.

"How did you know?"

"Because I've been trying to bloody talk to you for the past 10 minutes and all you've done is look over my shoulder at her!"

"Oh …"

"We're going to take a twenty minute break but when we come back, we'll take Muggle requests!" The students cheered and immediately, several conversations broke out about how impressive the band was. During all the commotion, Sirius' eyes zeroed in on Gemma as Gregory helped her off the stage. She let out an ecstatic laugh and lit up a cigarette as she made her way to a nearby table.

"Well carry on then," James winked. He hit Sirius in the shoulder and made his way over to Remus to give him some space. Sirius took the opportunity and ran with it.

"So if you're not in the band," he asked with a sly grin as he settled next to Gemma, "how do you know Gio?"

She snorted softly, inhaled, and blew the smoke upwards; Sirius could see the small beads of sweat forming on her cheeks and she gathered her long blonde hair into a messy bun to cool herself down. He felt his pulse race and the alcohol burned through his veins.

"They started Tarantellegra one day at my parents' joint," she replied and transferred her cigarette to her other hand in order to take a bite of food. "My family owns a small, magical music hall in Islington and 2 summers ago, those vagabonds made a habit of showing up there every weekend. They would go by the Underground station, see the famous muggle graffiti, and smoke gillyweed before shows. They clicked."

"What's the name of the hall?" Sirius said, trying to put the pieces together. Islington was a hop, skip and jump away from 12 Grimmauld Place, his childhood home. He wasn't surprised that he didn't know about it, though. When he wanted to escape his family, he chose to go to the Potters instead of prowling the nearby streets.

"The Blue Note," she smiled.

He was a bit taken aback. She had dropped her cautious attitude from before and he wanted her to keep sharing. The carefree and slightly crazy energy she had gained from dancing was driving him mad. He reached over to the firewhiskey bottle next to him and the liquid sloshed out of the small glasses as he over poured them.

"Careful there, Black," she teased before lifting the glass to her lips, "you're showing signs of drunkenness and haberdashery."

Sirius finished his drink, felt the effects of the firewhiskey he had consumed and blinked several times. Gemma brushed several stray hairs out of her face and then grinned at him after putting her cigarette between her lips. She took a drag, put a hand on her hip and purposely blew smoke into his face. Sirius felt his stomach lurch.

He wanted to capture her pretty lips with his own. Normally he loved the pursuit more than the actual sexual act itself but this time, he felt jittery and anxious. He wanted to fast forward to the part when he had her alone in a broom closet.

"Let's go somewhere else," he blurted out as he placed a hand on hers. She took a step back and looked him up and down; for a moment, she hesitated. And then Gemma smiled, threw her cigarette into the ashtray, and intertwined their fingers together.

"Lead the way."

They snuck out of the party without anyone seeing them and roamed the halls, looking for a private spot. At one point, Gemma started dancing down the corridor and he had to stop himself from picking her up and twirling her around. Her laugh was infectious and soon, he felt a grin permanently plastered on his face. He whooped, not caring if anyone heard him, and began to join her as she made the carpet her own dance floor.

They fell into a fit of laughter and continued to dance, flailing their limbs about. Every time she brushed past him or touched him, his skin prickled in anticipation. As he spun around in place, Sirius thought he saw someone at the end of the hallway and stopped abruptly.

"Fuck!" Gemma shouted and quickly darted to the left towards a secret door under an ancient tapestry. Sirius grinned and followed the Hufflepuff into the dark abyss. She raced down the long, curvy passageway and he almost ran into her when she suddenly stopped. Her proximity was electric and his arms snaked around her waist as she turned towards him. Unable to contain himself, Sirius let go of his inhibitions and hoisted her up against the wall.

Their affair was brief. Both of their chests touched as they heaved several times in unison to catch their breaths. Sirius felt his brain turn to complete mush as he nuzzled his face against the hot skin of her neck. Time slowed down and he inhaled, closing his eyes; she smelled like cinnamon with a touch of cigarette smoke. He hoped to Merlin that he remembered her natural perfume in the morning. It was exhilarating.

"Alright, Black," she whispered after pulling away from him, "time to put me down."

He gently placed her on the floor and she retrieved her clothes as he drank in her natural pear shape. She turned her back to him and as she tied the halter of her jumpsuit, he noticed that her tattoo was actually a lot bigger than he thought; he traced it with his fingers from the top of her right shoulder to the bottom of her right lower back. He could feel the goose bumps on her flesh as she shivered in delight; the roses were now a brighter shade of red than before.

"Merlin, that feels good," she said breathlessly and he began to gently massage her shoulders.

"Where did you get that piece of art?" he murmured in her ear.

"Friend of my dad's," she replied as she straightened out the periwinkle fabric that now covered most of her glistening white skin. "He charmed it to mirror my mood. Mum was furious, but Dad knew it would help me figure out -"

She whipped around, her eyes wide with alarm. He reached towards her as she moved away to throw her hair back into a messy bun, but her cool attitude was back.

"Right … I'll see you around then, Black. Night."

"Wait, Gemma!" he desperately called out as she moved away from him even further. He had never felt this way about a girl before and he couldn't bear the thought of being without her. She was too intoxicating, too enticing - too crazy. "Y-you don't want to stay here for a bit?"

"Shit, I left the party with you was because I thought you weren't a 'talker' after a shag," Gemma said, her brows lifted. "I've got to get back to my bed, my head is going to kill me in the morning."

"I could walk you there. I'm an expert in avoiding authority," Sirius smirked as he tried to convince her by wrapping his arms around her waist.

"I think McGonagall would beg to differ," Gemma snorted as she brushed his hands away. Sirius felt her euphoric warmth leave his body and he longed for it to return. He still felt enraptured by her bubbly laugh and as she turned to leave, he whimpered in an attempt to stop her.

"Look darling, I'm a rolling stone – I don't stay in one place very long. I'll see you around, Sirius. Night," she repeated. He watched her swish her hips back and forth down the secret tunnel and when the darkness enveloped her, he felt his heartstrings snap.

Sirius Black was starting to really fancy her and it scared the shit out of him.

Author's Note: To me, Sirius is totally a young Ben Barnes when he has long hair. Mmmmm.

As for Gemma … I was reading a magazine when I was getting my hair done and saw these pictures of Taylor Swift with bangs. The article is called "Taylor Swift wears the pants" (or something along those lines) from Harper's Bazaar if you want to look the pictures up. The funny thing is that I really don't like her and Gemma is the complete opposite of Taylor Swift but I'd say they physically look the same with bangs.

Also … if you're curious, the Islington graffiti I referenced is "Clapton is God" :)