AN: I know I'm not revealing much about this story. Most of the important bits will become apparent soon. I just want to give at least some of you the feeling of reading a book, meaning, you won't know the pairings or how things will turn out based on the summary or character search just now.

So, here goes nothing!

This has been on the works for years and years, yeah, I know. I'm trying to find it in myself to just put all I have out there. Let's see how it goes.

Keep in mind, if you're coming along for the ride, this is going for the long haul. This story is a monster of a story. I've plans for more than 60 chapters and I'm not entirely sure how many will come out when all is said and done, so…

You've been warned.

Siriusly Wicked.

...

Sunday, November 25, 1989

He had been on assignment three weeks with no contact from home. For two of those weeks, he'd been sitting in the middle of the woods, alone and with very little food to sustain himself.

The suspected Death Eaters he had been tracking had disappeared not long after he found them and he was now guarding what he supposed was their abandoned camp. He'd tried to contact base a week after their disappearance, to ask if he should abandon the mission. His instructions, however, remained the same: stay the six weeks he'd been assigned.

It was nearing the end of the third week and his patience was growing thin. The suspects were nowhere to be seen and hadn't even tried to come back for the things they had left behind. They had simply up and apparated away. Perhaps he had been made or someone had tipped them off about being watched.

The loneliness was starting to get to him.

Three weeks without speaking to another human being had him at wits end. It was raining, he was cold, and an animal of some kind kept wailing somewhere nearby. He looked around, trying to see if he was in any immediate danger. He had put up the customary protective charms but still looked around, just in case. It wouldn't do to get attacked by a wild animal.

After five minutes he finally got up to investigate. He heard something move and turned around quickly, only to find himself face to face to the ugliest, strangest bird he had ever seen.

The bird looked sickly, yet its eyes were sharp and threatening. Its beak was small and rounded, and its body was thin, patches of missing feathers in several places. The feathers that remained were bright yellow and green, most of which were ruffled. Overall, it seemed to have been through a rough ordeal and was clearly in a very bad mood, but appeared otherwise harmless.

The wizard's first mistake was to turn his back on the wretched thing.

As soon as he turned his back, the bird landed on his shoulder. Merlin knows how the thing could fly, with half of its feathers missing, but it immediately starting pecking aggressively at the wizard's head. The rounded beak, that he had thought harmless a moment before, was so hard, it half-succeeded in denting his head as he tried to get the bloody thing off of him.

"Ow, fuck. Fuck! Get the fuck off!"

Finally gathering his wits, he managed to get his wand and cast a bubble charm around his head before the bird could get another peck in. That was his second mistake.

For a moment there was nothing, but then he realised the bird was inside the protective bubble. Suddenly the beast was trying to peck his eyes out, somewhat ineffectively, but did manage to scratch up his face..

"What the fuck? Off! Off, you wretched creature!" he yelled as he cancelled the bubble charm and at last threw an Incarcerous its way.

The wild thing struggled with the ropes that confined it, a savage look in its eyes that seemed out of place in the eyes of what looked to be a half dead parrot.

"For fuck's sake," he said, trying to regain his breath. The bird let out a squeaky growl-like-sound that made him jump. "That's it! Fuck this," he said to the empty camp.

He picked up everything he could find around the camp, shrunk it, and into a bag it all went. With a glare at the still restrained parrot and one last look around, he was gone with a crack.

Once he arrived at the Ministry, he had a quick look at what he had collected, then put protection charms on the bag and hid it. He decided to apparate straight to Headquarters, knowing that if any of his friends were not on assignment, that's where they would be.

He landed on the front lawn of a great manor. He almost felt at peace, watching the calm exterior of their war base. It had remained unharmed, which was more than could be said for some of their other safe-houses. Unable to wait any longer, he swiftly entered through the front door. Upon entering the kitchen,he was rewarded with a series of excited smiles and yells.

"Sirius!"

"Glad you're still in one piece, Black!"

"No hurting those looks of yours, aye?"

He smiled and greeted everyone politely, disappointed to see that his friends were nowhere to be found.

Dorcas noticed his disappointment and smiled sweetly at him. "They're plotting in the living room," she said. Sirius shot her a dazzling smile as a thank you and almost skipped his way back out of the kitchen to find them.

The animagus found his friends huddled in the corridor that led to the library. Dorcas had described them accurately, for they looked to be cooking up some mischief or other, heads bowed together in a quiet discussion. Lily was reading quietly on a sofa in the nearby living room.

Lily noticed him first, she stood up and hugged him without saying a word. They remained like that for a long moment, savouring the now rare times together. Missions were becoming more and more frequent and they were rarely off duty at the same time.

"I've missed you, Lils," Sirius said. And he had. She had become an important part of his life, even if he had been somewhat reluctant in the beginning.

"What happened to your face?" she asked, concerned. Lily's eyes suddenly grew sharp as she took in his appearance and turned him around to check his back and his legs, then back around again to inspect his arms and chest.

Sirius had yet to look himself in a mirror, but he guessed the bloody parrot had left some scratches on his face.

"I had a little run-in with a wild animal, nothing to be concerned about." She looked at him skeptically, so he gathered her in his arms again and reassured her by saying, "I'm fine. I promise."

Immediately, Lily relaxed into his arms and after a moment said, "I can't believe we're here, all at the same time! Peter is leaving this afternoon, though. But we'll get a good couple of hours together before that." Sirius could feel her smiling into his chest, the feeling filled him with warmth; it made him feel like he was home. "I thought you were staying for another three weeks."

"I was supposed to, but I finished off early. I think something big has happened, something the Death Eaters didn't expect, because they suddenly stopped what they were doing and disappeared in the middle of it. Left everything behind, too." The Death Eaters he had been tracking through Ireland had been working on some sort of research, all written down in code. Sirius hoped the intelligence he had brought back would be enough to crack it. If not, he had wasted weeks of his life, weeks he could have spent with his friends. He couldn't bear the thought of it.

"I shrunk everything I could find and disapparated. Took it all to the Ministry in case there was a tracking charm," he continued. It was getting harder to force his Order agenda into his Auror duties. Having to pretend he had secret informants and making up information in order to leave, to follow the leads of the Order, was becoming increasingly difficult.

Times were dangerous and trust wasn't easily earned. He was lucky in that Moody was one of his superiors, yet lying on public record and forging information so as not to alert the enemy wasn't only a necessity, but it was also dangerous. It could land him in Azkaban if he wasn't careful.

"Not that I think we'll get anything out of it. It looked like right gibberish, strong spells, too. Hopefully Dorcas can prove me wrong. If anyone can crack it, it's her," he said with a smile.

"So, the mission wasn't a complete waste and you're back early. Today is shaping up to be a great day!" Lily's bright demeanour was so contagious. He couldn't help smiling back and hugging her again.

"I'm glad that we can all be here," said Sirius, looking over at his mates.

"Oh, so you're done having a private audience with my wife? Ready to acknowledge your measly friends, are you?" The three men that were distracted before, were now all facing him in a row, two smiles and a fake scowl on their faces.

"Why would I pay attention to you pathetic mutts when I can be talking to this vision in red?" Sirius scoffed, hiding a smile. "We're planning on running away together and leaving all your sorry arses. Particularly yours, Prongs. We're thinking the Bahamas is as good a place as any to start over and have a litter of our own."

"Mutts! He dares call us mutts! The gall of him! Can you believe it, Moony?" James huffed indignantly.

"That's the bit he protests. Unbelievable." Lily rolled her eyes at her husband, staying in Sirius' arms.

"Oh, I know you'd never leave me, my Lily flower! I know my messy hair and charming good looks have gripped your heart beyond repair," James said, removing her from his best mate's arms and dipping her low, sprinkling kisses on her neck and her jaw.

"Get off, that tickles! James, you'll drop me!" The redhead couldn't help the soft laugh that escaped her.

"Never!" He grabbed her harder, lifted her up and started twirling her around. The other three watched, happy for their friend. It was moments like these that made them feel like no time had passed since they'd graduated.

As the couple fought for dominance, Sirius took a chance to properly greet his other two friends standing patiently near the hallway.

Remus looked almost grey, but the smile on his face could have lit up an entire dungeon. It was clear his own missions had taken a toll on him. Sirius took a quick inventory of the new scars his friend carried on his face and arms - and those were only the ones he could see. When the animagus went to embrace him, Remus moved forward to greet him back, and Sirius noticed a slight limp on his left leg. A strong hug and a couple of slaps on the back reaffirmed the certainty that they were equally happy to see each other. Seeing Remus was always cause for good humour.

Peter was trying to appear at ease. His body language, however, gave him away. There was a restlessness in his watery eyes that unsettled Sirius. The war was affecting their small friend in ways the other three couldn't understand. They had to protect him at all costs; Peter was too pure for the likes of war. He wouldn't make it on his own. Sirius hugged the other animagus with gusto, making Peter squeak a bit, and Sirius smile.

"See? She'd never leave me for the likes of you, Pads," James said, marking his statement by kissing Lily soundly on the mouth. Apparently, the tickling war was over and they were free to notice the rest of the world once again. Lily simply smiled into the kiss, knowing that he spoke the truth. However, she couldn't let him know that.

"Don't worry, Sirius, we'll leave tonight when he falls asleep," she stage whispered over James's shoulder.

"Oh, you'll pay for that!"

The tickling war resumed for another minute before Lily ended up sitting over James's chest, his arm twisted at a painful angle and being forced to surrender. The other three just watched and laughed at the result.

"So, what were you lot up to earlier? It looked like proper mischief! Leaving me out, are you?" Sirius asked, teasingly.

Forgetting all about his humiliation by Lily, James quickly got off the floor and said, "Mate, you've got no idea." Grabbing Remus and Peter, Sirius quickly found himself a part of the huddle he had first witnessed upon entering the living room. "Something is going on. We don't know what exactly what, but something is definitely going on."

"What do you mean?" asked Sirius, his interest piqued at once.

"A lot happened while you were gone," said Peter.

"Caradoc was following Bellatrix, she was taking a package of some kind to Gringotts. On her way back home, she spotted him and they dueled. He said she almost had him, but then, just as she was about to strike, she grabbed her mark and apparated away," James explained.

"When was this?" asked Sirius, thinking about the strange behaviour of his own targets.

"About two weeks ago," replied Peter.

"Yes! Shit, that's exactly what happened with the Death Eaters I was surveilling!" Sirius interrupted. "Around the same time they all just up and left. Left everything behind too. At first I thought they were onto me following them and wanted me to take their stuff, give us false leads or something. I took precautions,I left it all at the Ministry in case there was a trace, still, I don't think they left it there for me."

"Yours weren't the only ones. Similar reports came from other people in the field. All reported or known Death Eaters vanished around the same time. I think we can assume they were all at the same meeting," added Remus with a knowing look..

"We suspect He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named sensed a magical outburst and called in all his dogs." At Sirius' glare, Peter tried to rephrase. "I mean…"

"Wait, a magical outburst?" asked Sirius, confused.

"What Wormtail was trying to say is, not long after you left, there was a major magical incident. Immediately afterwards, they all disappeared, all of them, for a few hours. It took us a week to figure out this all happened at the same time and another week to account for all the Ministry employees who suddenly vanished," continued James. "They didn't all leave at the same time. Only those who bear the mark vanished without notice. But then there was a swarm of other employees that took leave for some reason or another."

"Padfoot, they're all over. It wouldn't take a huge effort on their part to take over the Ministry. Every department has at least five of them and spreading, they're like Dragon Pox. We knew they had influence or had a presence there, but never could we have imagined something of this scale," Remus said in a worried voice.

"It all suddenly makes sense. The silence about the Muggle and Muggleborn cases around the Ministry, and their general incompetence; the non-existent coverage in The Prophet about the disappearances, all of it! This is how, this is how all those things have gone under the table," half-shouted James, forgetting that they were trying to be secretive.

A strong shush came from Lily, who didn't even bother to look up from the book she was reading.

"Speaking of the Ministry's incompetence, they only released a statement yesterday about the magical disturbance. A singularity, they called it. A magical outburst that hasn't seen it's equal in recorded history. They've declared that no harm came from it, but Flitwick says no magical activity of that kind can happen without some sort of cause or reaction," James continued in a whisper.

"For fuck's sake, I can't go away without the whole world falling apart. I can't leave you lot unsupervised!" Sirius laughed half heartedly. "Shit, but is this progress? Have we gathered any other useful intelligence, other than their current presence at the Ministry?"

"That's no small feat, Sirius," defended Remus.

"No, other than that, we know nothing new about the incident or the Death Eater's activities whatsoever," James replied, sounding frustrated.

"Pettigrew!" a voice suddenly bellowed from the kitchen. Peter jumped and looked over his shoulder nervously.

"Better be off. I'm supposed to go on assignment in a few. It was good to see you guys," said Peter with a watery smile. Goodbyes and hugs were exchanged, Lily came over to give him a kiss on the cheek, and after a moment he left the room. His friends had offered to walk him out but Peter was not one for long goodbyes.

"I'm worried about him," said Sirius, once he was gone.

"He's had a rough few months. His mum keeps writing these nasty letters telling him he's abandoned her, that he's an ungrateful son and should be ashamed of himself," Remus said.

"I swear, if I didn't have Walburga as a mother, I would say Pete's mum is about as wretched as they come," said Sirius heatedly.

"He's one of the few who is actually allowed correspondence. Dumble— Dumbledore! Mate, we forgot all about that!" exclaimed James.

"What? What about Dumbledore?" asked Sirius, alarmed.

Remus looked at him straight in the eye before saying, "Padfoot, Dumbledore is missing."

…

AN: I've taken up doing Recs, and todays is an oldie but extraordinaire-ie. A Long And Winding Road by Ceredwen. Most of you have probably not been around long enough to follow as this brilliant writer updated her stories like I did, but she's a fucking legend for most old Sirimione readers/writers. This story in particular is a Sirimione one-shot that made me hurt, ache, long, love and JKALFBHALB. Fuck if that isn't a devine read. Enjoy!