Disclaimer: See other chapters, and yes, I know I'm cheating.

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I believe that this world believes in love.

I believe that this world believes in love.

Love.

We might never really agree

On anything about the lives we live

Between you and me

So differently

We don't always see things the same

We should agree to disagree

If we meet at love we can work it out

I believe that this world believes in love

I believe you and I will overcome

I believe you and I believe in love

Love.

Chapter four: An Alliance is Formed

(In a tree house)

Lily and James ran into the common room, grabbed a very confused and nervous Peter (is that different from normal?), and ran out again.

"Where are the others, Wormtail?" Lily said, as she stopped, realizing she didn't know where run next.

"How do you…?" Peter gasped; James glowered at him, gesturing to hurry. "Umm, okay, Sirius said he was going to send a letter to his mum and Remus went off after Clio, so I guess they're at the-"

"Old Oak tree!" Lily said taking off. They raced down the stair in the direction of the doors before they realized they had forgotten Sirius, and Thalia too, who was most likely with him. They burst through the doors of the owlry and were greeted by giggling, "What are they up to now?" Lily groaned.

"I think the giggling is rather self-explanatory." James said, not bothering to hide his smile

There was a, "Hey!" from the other side of the room where Thalia and Sirius evidently were evidently hiding. A crack was heard and a second later a raven came swooping down on James, dropping a large assortment of worms and insects on his head. The raven flew back to Sirius's side and there was another resounding crack, followed by Sirius laughing heartily. "Thalia Karasuko! That was childish!" Lily stormed around the wall dividing the groups.

"I know!" She giggled, "Whoa, what's up?"

Thalia become grim as she saw the stern look on everyone's faces, well Lily's at least. Peter could never pull off a stern look; he didn't seem to have enough spunk. As for James, it's hard to look stern when you're running around trying to get worms out of your ears.

Lily sighed, "Come on we have to hurry and find Remus and Clio." She swiftly turned around and ran out of the room, the others followed behind, the operative word being, behind.

"When did she get so fast?" Sirius asked Thalia, who merely grinned and sped up until she was next to Lilly. "What the…"

"I wonder if they can use some of their animal abilities without changing forms?" asked James.

All other communication was cut off as the guys sped up to the girl's sides. They stopped in front of the giant tree and panted, "Where - are - they?" before falling to the ground from lack of oxygen.

"Well, this is rather sad." A voice laughed from above.

"Moony, you coward, come down here and face me like a man, or a werewolf, or…whatever you are! Just come down!" Sirius said trying, in vane, to regain his breath. Remus and Clio climbed down fairly easily and stood over the panting group smiling.

"Wait! What has been going on here?" Thalia demanded looking at Clio's beat red face.

"I fell asleep." She said, but it came out as more of a suggestion.

"Sure, in the top of a tree, you and Remus, fell asleep?"

"Um, yes?"

"Um, no!"

"Um, drat."

"Um, caught ya!

"Um, can we discus this later?"

"Um, yes we will discus this later." Lily said, smiling over at Remus and Clio before she climbed up the tree. Everyone looked at each other confused, she poked her head out from the foliage, "Come up, I don't want to be over heard again."

"Again? Oh dear lord, what happened?" Thalia asked while swinging herself effortlessly up onto one of the highest branches. The others followed suit and they found that inside the tree it was surprisingly roomy. The branches were situated in the perfect seating arrangement. No doubt it was bewitched. "No wonder you two like this place, perfect for…"

"Ahem!" Thalia, surprisingly, cut off Sirius's train of thought. "We actually found it so we could watch you and make sure you didn't do anything stupid, well, stupider than normal."

The boys had enough sense to look properly abashed.

"Thank you for that proper introduction Thalia, now I will explain why you are all here." Lily went through all his or her stories once more, to make sure everyone understood it. She finally cam to a halt at, "and so, I'm almost positive that Snape now knows everything. And Because of our esteemed idiots over here, we could be in big trouble, even if he goes to Dumbledore. "

"But, Dumbledore is on our side. And even if he goes to other teachers, Dumbledore will just tell them to shut up about it or something to that effect. Other than making our lives a living hell, what could they do?"

"Yes that could happen, if Snape only told them the half of the story involving us. Evidently Dumbledore knows nothing about the guys being Animagi… Thalia, Clio, stop that, you'll only make their brain more damaged, if that's possible."

The girl of action, Thalia, and the normally passive girl, Clio, were both beating the boys with venom and screaming, "BOYS ARE THE BIGGEST BUNCH OF IMBISILES I"VE EVER MET IN MY LIFE!" in perfect unison.

"I agree, but that still doesn't keep us from getting expelled."

"If you would desist from beating us into a bloody pulp, I think I can solve this problem." Remus said trying to keep Clio from hitting him with one of her very large books. "We could tell Dumbledore about us before Snape does and the whole thing will just go away!"

Everyone looked at each other, Clio kissed Remus on the cheek, and "Perfect, it's so simple!"

"But, Dumbledore will make them fill out forms and stuff, they'll have to be monitored and then people will find out Remus is a werewolf." Thalia said pointedly.

"Shit." (James)

"Damn" (Sirius)

"Booger" (Peter)

"Bitch" (Remus, only to complete the saying of course.)

"Well, what now?" James asked hopelessly.

"Students, and to think I thought you were going to be my brightest bunch!" They looked up to see a twinkling eight-inch version of a human floating above them.

"Professor?"

"The one and only," she transformed into her human form, "actually there are several professors at this school, but only one like me!"

"Do you have an idea, or what?" Sirius said, who was getting rather tired of her sparkling entrances and one liners.

"Yes, I do. It's really quite simple, just get something on Snape, before he tells on you."

Everyone blinked, "Is this the type of advice a teacher is supposed to give to her students?"

"Probably not, but I'm Lily, Thalia and Clio's friend before I'm their professor, so it's just advise from a friend who's been around a few hundred year and knows how the games played."

"But, what can we get on Snape, everyone knows he's all about dark magic, that he is rude, causes fights, and sets people up to take the fall all of the time. But they never do anything about it!"

"Then it's simple, set him up to take a fall."

"But how! He's to good!" the girls wailed.

"I see this wizard training has addled your brains! You used to be so good at thinking up traps for your and now look, you can't even think of a simple set up when it's staring you all in the face."

"Of course!" Thalia jumped up, smacking her forehead, "Ouch, I really shouldn't hit myself anymore."

"You really shouldn't hit anyone." Sirius said, having received enough of her blows to know.

"Can you please tell us what this plan is, before Snape comes running in with the ministries Miss-use of magic office!" James said, more disturbed than Sirius at Midnight's presence.

"Okay! I'm telling, I'm telling! We'll just twist the present situation around so Snape is really in our grasp!"

"What?"

"Just think about it, Snape won't tell a teacher right away, that's the problem with evil geniuses, they're to cocky for their own good. He'll want us to stew for a while, mutter things in the hall ways to us about werewolves and full moons and the naturals, and how it's illegal to be an Animagi without telling anyone, about Professor Mid-"

"Get on with it!"

"I'm getting, I'm getting! He will also want to get more information. He's been trying to get stuff on us for years! He won't settle with just getting us expelled, he's going to want the whole wizarding community pissed at us."

"Oh, joy." James said.

"I fail to see why that's good news." Peter agreed.

"Don't you see?" Lily said jumping up next to her friend. "He's going to be using every spell he knows to eavesdrop on us trying to get more information! As much as I hate the guy, I know he's smart enough to realize that A) there's got to be more to the story than he heard, and B) that he needs some proof. Dumbledore and Mcgonagall will just say he's lying if he doesn't have any."

"That's true! And what can he do, even if the whole Slytherin house and head is against us, he has no case at the present time." Clio was looking really excited about this, but didn't leave her position on Remus' lap.

"Oh, great, so now the Sliytherin's have a new excuse to hate us, besides the fact that we keep kicking their buts at Quidditch, now they know that one of us is a were wolf, three of us are Animagi and three of us are Naturals, Perfect!" Sirius steamed.

"But they don't have any proof." Remus pointed out.

"So we can't transform or have any fun of any kind until we graduate two years from now, goody!" The boys refused to be happy about this idea.

"Girls, you had better explain." Midnight gently said.

"Don't you get it! We'll keep feeding Snape such horrendous crap that by the time he comes out with his "great scope," he looks like an idiot! Plus, if we're careful enough, he still won't have any proof."

"I get it!" The guys said jumping up.

"He'll have a really lame story and no proof-"

"So every one will be suspicious but not really believing"

"Then we'll add in the common knowledge that he hates us-"

"And Snape will look like an idiot while we look like Hero's for making Slytherin a joke!" All of the guys were jumping up and down, the girls exchanged glances before shrugging their shoulders and doing the same.

"Calm down!" Pixie Sensei said waving her hands and braking up the kids. "This plan could go wrong in a lot of places, but if you're careful, the whole thing will blow up in Snape's face, not yours. If I can be of any service, just let me know, nobody knows the castle like me, and I know several secret passageways to all of the common rooms, including Slytherin. And how to get into the kitchen if you're hungry, but I'm sure you found that out in your first year."

They nodded, "But the common room one is new."

"I'll tell you later, I have some work I must be getting to, don't forget. Tomorrow's the full moon. Have fun!" She hopped out of the tree and was gone.

"That is some Professor you got their Clio." Remus said gazing in awe where Pixie Midnight just stood.

"She's yours know too!" Clio said hugging him.

"Okay, when you too are done with the mushy gushy stuff, we can start planning for tomorrow night." Sirius said while rolling his eye

"What exactly happened with you two anyway?"

They shrugged and everyone else sighed deeply, if Clio and Remus weren't going to talk now, they probably never would.

"I say we just go up to the Gryffindor common room and act normal, we can act out our regular plans tomorrow." James said beginning to pace up and down on the tree trunks.

"And they are?"

"We'll sneak out under James cloak, you guys can fly out the windows, we'll meet Remus in the shrieking shack and then start to explore the grounds, I think we should devote the entire evening to giving Snape some near misses." Sirius got up and joined James pacing, the rest of them fought not to laugh.

"Not at all wise Padfoot." Remus said, "I think we should get to know each others forms first that way if trouble ever comes, we'll know what to do. The girls can show us any passageways they've found wand we'll show them the ones we perfected. But, we'll have to figure out a way to give Snape the slip."

"Well, let's think about this logically."

"There's no room for logic in this situation, Clio." Thalia said dryly.

"There's room for logic in ever situation," Clio said waving her hand impatiently and joining the pacers. "That's why most situations go wrong, people ignore logic and it comes back to bite them in the ass. Now Snape isn't dumb enough to forget that Tomorrow is a full moon, so he'll be listening for our plans. We are going to stay in the Hogwarts ground right?"

Everyone nodded.

"So then we'll let him overhear us say we're going to Hogsmead. Then we'll say that about half of us are refusing to go because we think it's too dangerous. So he'll only be on the lookout for half of us. He'll get cockier than before because he'll think we're scared." Clio was shining with triumph, as if they'd already won.

"Sounds good, but think about this, which half of us are we going to say is staying behind? The Animagi or the Naturals?" Thalia was pacing now.

"The Animagi are more noticeable and you have a bigger grudge with Snape. Snape just hates us because we're Gryffindors and we keep beating him at Quidditch. I'm sure he suspects we've pulled pranks on him but we've never been caught." With one eyebrow raised Lily eyed the boys before standing up and stopping around the inside of the tree as well. "I think we should say that us girls are staying behind. The Slytherins think of girls as wimps anyway, we'll let them keep that impression; that way they won't know what a real threat we are until too late. They also know that the guys will want to stay with Remus even if it's dangerous, as far as they know, girls are fickle and will cast someone aside to save their own skin, guess they've never met a Gryffindor girl before." She said with her hands clenched.

"Okay, so as far as Snape knows, we are going to meet Remus as usual and you are going to cower behind in the Gryffindor tower. But He's probably going to have those slime balls Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle tailing you." Peter said joining in the fun of circling round the tree, he made sure to hold on to something, or someone, so as not to fall.

"I know, but they're idiots. We can give them the slip for sure. Snape will want to tail you guys personally so be careful. Of all the rotten things he is, he's not easy to divert." Lily grimaced.

They all nodded solemnly.

"Now, he knows your knick names now, but not your forms, so we'll keep that as tight as possible. He knows what we are, but not quite what we look like. So we're still a little safe. Oh man, the sun set. We better go before Mcgonagall starts to look for us."

"You're right, but first, wands out." Everyone drew out their wands and they held them out in a circle so that the tips were touching. "Does everyone agree to the plan?" Lily asked solemnly. They nodded and all silently made a packed; a packed that only true heirs of Gryffindors' could make. One of all the attributes of their house, borrowed ones from the houses were friendly with. Ignoring the one they weren't. A silent prayer more than a packed, they prayed to always be together. A simple request, not so simple granted. They all looked away when they finished, embarrassed

"Do you realize that the one who breaks this will have the most serious of judgment on his soul?" Clio asked concerned.

They all nodded rather gravely.

"That doesn't matter. Because none of us would ever betray each other, true as steel doesn't come close to us!" There was no question in Sirius's voice and everyone knew that the boy named after the stars was being earnest for possible the first time in his life.

In a very sedate fashion they climbed down form the tree and made their way back to the castle. Along the way back to the Gryffindor tower they surprised people with the looks of intense concentration on their faces, looks of honor and friendship. People were wondering if the girls had finally gone off the edge, or if the marauders had made them join a new scheme, either way the next morning they were seemingly back to normal, but with a sense of purpose. Defend their friendship and get back at Slytherin for all they've done, and wanted to do.

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Whether you think I'm so confused

Or if you feel the way I do

So don't give into this hate within

Living in this world of pain

Don't let it bring you down

The world is a ghetto

I believe that this world believes in love

I believe that this world believes in love

I believe you and I believe in love.

Love.

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A.N. ::Sniff:: Ah loyalty. So wondrous a thing… I wanted to make it clear that they all really were close, I hope I accomplished that. I think I must apologize though, this chapter is very Mary Sue and therefor sucks. Someday I'll try and re-write it I think, but for now I'm still focused on the overall picture. The song is "Ghetto" by P.O.D. from their "Satellite" album. Still have any money? Buy that one too. Another shout out again to my Beta readers THANKS YOU! I'd be lost without you guys.