AN: Inquiro is like Imperio except that you can only make people say things, not jump off a cliff or anything.

Chapter 12: Inquiro

James' POV:

Sirius and I walked into Transfiguration, our plan running through my head.

I looked around until I found Eve Charters, the shyest girl in our year. Professor McGonagall walked in, and I flicked my wand at Eve, whispering "Inquiro."

I nodded at Sirius, and he began distracting other students, making a loud noise and causing McGonagall to shout over the din. I waved my wand again, and Eve stood up and started screaming at everyone else.

"Shut up! Shut up right now!"

Everyone went quiet, staring at Eve.

McGonagall cut in, "Charters, please do not utter that word in my classroo-"

Turning to her, Eve shouted, "You shut up too! I'm sick of this class!"

It was at this point that Sirius and I began to laugh (me more forcedly (sp?) than I used to), and I made a big deal about stowing my wand away. Eve had clapped her hands over her mouth, horrified at what she had just (unwillingly) said.

"Potter! Black! Detention!" McGonagall turned to glare at us.

Nevertheless, I felt better than I had in weeks.

Sirius' POV:

The first part of the plan had worked perfectly; now we could only hope that McGonagall wouldn't put us in separate detentions.

We walked up to her desk after class, eyes glinting mischievously.

"Well, Potter, feeling better then?" James looked up, a blank expression on his face.

"I guess so, Professor."

"You're lucky today, Potter, and you too, Black. I'm quite happy that Potter's feeling better, and so though I won't pardon what you two did today, I will have you do detention together."

James almost grinned, then stopped, either by McGonagall or the fact that he wasn't used to grinning – he hadn't in a few months, at least.

Our plan was a success.

Later:

"Hey, Lily?"

"What?" she snapped at me. Across the room, I saw James look up, curious.

"I just want to say sorry about yesterday-"

"Not interested," she cut in, but I plowed on, "I'm sorry and I've decided to talk to James."

A look of joy crossed her face and she leapt up and hugged me. James turned back to his homework. "Oh, Sirius, that's wonderful! When?"

"We got a detention in Transfiguration, so I'll talk to him then."

"You didn't have to get detention, you idiot," she said, her arms still wrapped around my neck, gazing up at me.

"Yes I did." James glanced up, then quickly glanced down again. Hopefully this wouldn't be too much of an issue for him – me and Lily being together.

"No you d-"

"Lily, detention was the time that James and I used to talk, really talk. So I figured it would be good to talk to him then."

She sighed. "Oh, I'm just glad you're going to sort this all out," she said, kissing me, "I got so worried about him, moping around all the time, and, well, you know…"

"Yeah, I know. Look, I'll see you later. I have a detention to go to."

She smiled. "Well, try to sort this all out." She kissed me again, then went back to her homework.

I gazed at her for a moment, and then walked over to (a pained-looking?) James and tapped him on the shoulder. "C'mon. Let's go."

AN: Remember, reviews equal love. And I did just give you two chapters. Plus, my hits vs. reviews is terribly low. 823 hits, 16 reviews. -winces-

kthanxbai.