Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.

A/N: Written for the DEE Drabble Game. Prompt was: Regulus, a broken wand, a Marauder, Muffliato, and Snape.

Summary: Severus gets back at James and Sirius after they humiliated him by the Black Lake with Regulus' help…

Regulus glanced over at his brother laughing with James Potter across the Great Hall and scrunched further into his seat. Down the table, Lucius Malfoy noticed and smirked at the younger wizard. It wasn't fair! He should be one of the most influential people in Slytherin but he wasn't, and it was all Sirius' fault.

Not that Sirius cared how his actions affected other people as evidenced by the incident with Severus last week. Not only had he humiliated Severus, but he'd harmed Regulus' reputation by extension as his brother, and wrecked a friendship – not that Regulus knew what Sev saw in Lily Evans. She was a mudblood after all.

He sighed and shifted in his seat to look at his best friend and mentor in the seat beside him. Severus was still seething over the humiliation of being hung upside down by the Marauders – his brother and Potter specifically – after their Defense OWL last week. Luckily, Severus had been too busy revising for the OWL's to plan retribution but Regulus knew that it would be coming now that exams were over.

He sighed. He'd probably get dragged into the plot simply because Severus swore he knew what was going on in Sirius' head better than anyone except maybe Potter. Protesting that he and Sirius hadn't been close since Sirius had started Hogwarts didn't help.

"Look at the buffoons," Sev muttered under his breath angrily as Potter got up and conjured a flower for Lily in yet another public apology for his actions the week before.

"Shame he hasn't tried apologizing to you yet, huh?" Regulus joked.

Severus snorted and they both laughed as Lily doused Potter in a fountain of water. Potter sputtered angrily and stumbled after her as she flounced off – probably to the library.

"How's the apology front coming with you?" Regulus asked once she'd disappeared through the double doors into the rest of the castle.

Severus sighed and his forehead banged against the Slytherin table. Regulus snorted. "That well, huh?" he said.

"I would have thought that alone would be answer enough," Severus said snarkily, "I stood outside the her common room for three hours last night before she would come out and speak to me."

"You did call her a mudblood," Regulus said and watched as Severus' black eyes darkened with anger.

Sev hissed and glanced up and down their table to see if anyone could be eavesdropping. "Muffliato." he muttered before he hissed darkly, "Something I will regret until I die. She was my first friend. Possibly my only friend."

"I know, but even in an emotionally charged situation like that… it's not really advisable to cuss at your saviour," Regulus said, "And what am I? Dragon dung or something?" The scathing look Severus shot him was worth the dig.

"Did I have a choice?" Severus snarled quietly. The two boys leaned their heads together so it would look like they were having a whispered conversation and the Muffliato spell would go unnoticed.

Regulus winced. The air at Hogwarts was charged with tension this year as House rivalries – particularly that between Slytherin and Gryffindor – deepened. "Do any of us?" he asked, "You've what he's planning. He's recruiting right now."

Sev grimaced in response. "I know," he whispered back, "Shut up, ok? Even with the spell someone might try to overhear."

Regulus rolled his eyes and caught Lucius looking over at them curiously. When he noticed Regulus watching, he raised a blond eyebrow inquisitively and Regulus groaned because he knew the nosy bastard had noticed their spell and would question them about it later. "Uh oh," he whispered, "We'd better have a good reason… Lucius is watching us."

Severus swore. "No matter, we need a prank for the Marauders anyway," he muttered.

Regulus groaned. "Please no," he said, "The only thing you ever accomplish is irritating them and they retaliate with something ten times worse. Someone's going to get killed because of you guys some day, and you'll be the one blamed because everyone knows Dumbledore favours his old house."

"They won't even know it's us," Sev smirked and Regulus groaned again.

"That's what you said last time," he whined, "Sev, please."

"If I don't, I'll be the laughingstock of Slytherin," Severus retorted, "I have to."

Regulus sighed. "Fine, but no bodily harm to any of them."

*DEE*

Severus shoved greasy black locks out of his face as he sprinted through the library. "They're sneaking out tonight," he hissed as he dropped into the chair across from Regulus nd ignoring the scathing look Madam Pince fixed on him. Regulus grunted, focussing on finishing his page.

"So?" he asked after a long moment in which Sev twitched anxiously in his seat waiting for Regulus to respond.

"So, we can make sure they get caught," Sev said.

Regulus sighed. "And get caught ourselves… You know that's how this'll work out and they will know it's your fault."

"No!" Sev exclaimed excitedly, earning himself a growl from their draconic librarian, "I put a tracking spell on Sirius so we can track them after they sneak out. And then we place a Caterwauling Charm and on either end of their corridor so when they come back it goes off and they get caught."

"Sev!" Regulus moaned, only seeing the myriad of ways his plan could go wrong.

"You promised," Severus said.

Regulus groaned again. "I did. Fine," he mumbled, "But your plan had better be a lot more complex than that. I don't want to get caught."

*DEE*

The two friends sat in the Slytherin Common Room transfixed by the scene playing out on its surface. "I wanted to see their faces," Severus grumbled.

Regulus punched him the shoulder shushing him. "No, you wanted to gloat when they got caught," he returned, "And then get caught because you weren't careful enough. This is better." Severus sighed, very much put upon, and then grinned as he watched Sirius and Potter rounded the corner and walked straight into their trap on the mirror's surface.

*DEE*

"That was wicked," James laughed as he and Sirius returned to their Common Room. Sirius grinned at him and shook his hair out of his face.

"I know, right?" he chuckled. They both jumped as a shrieking noise like a dying cat started up.

"Damn it!" James yelled, "Caterwauling charm! Run!" Sirius tried to move from where he had frozen when the ruckus began but found he couldn't.

"Bloody hell," he snarled, "Sticking charms. Finite incantum." They both swore as their feet remained glued to the floor.

"We're going to get caught," James hissed as he tried everything he could think of to get the alarm to turn off and to unstick their feet. Sirius felt his stomach sink as he happened to look up and see two buckets of… something floating near the ceiling, above their heads.

"I think that'll be the last of our problems," he mumbled as the buckets overturned and green slime poured over the two. The force of it knocked Sirius to the ground and he heard a sickening crunch as he landed awkwardly on his side. He swiped the slime away from his eyes sputtering and stared in horror at the snapped wand in his hand that had been crushed under his weight.

"Fuck," he whispered just as Professor McGonagall rounded the corner and fixed a withering glare on the Marauder.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed. There should be a new chapter of "The Morrigan's Curse" up on Friday(ish depending on what time zone you're in) if you're following that (I've got about 2/3 of a chapter written so far). Writing is going well this week. :)

As always, reviews are appreciated.

Love,

flames