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CHAPTER FIVE: Schism

Nymphadora was chatting to Beverley in the common room the next morning when Bradley dropped a copy of the Daily Prophet onto the table. "Have you seen this?"

Nymphadora looked up at him and Gemini. "Aren't you in the wrong house?"

"Maxwell let us in,"Gemini explained.

Nymphadora picked up the paper and read the headline: Boy Who Lived Condemns Ministry. The article contained a fairly accurate summary of Harry's impromptu speech, interspersed with a few quotes from Ron's own press conference. It seemed designed to stir up as much controversy as possible without actually giving an opinion of its own.

"Your dad's out of line,"Gemini stated simply.

"He's just saying what he thinks is true,"Nymphadora snapped. "Did your grandad really think people were going to be happy about this?"

"So he goes to the Daily Prophet? He hasn't even tried to talk to Grandad!"

"Well, maybe if Uncle Ron had spoken to him first, Dad would have done!"

"Let's not fight about it,"Bradley suggested. "It's bad enough the rest of the wizarding world's gearing up to take sides."

"Have you spoken to your dad?"Beverley asked.

Nymphadora shook her head. "He's seemed a bit too angry for that."

"Maybe you should try,"Bradley suggested.

Ron was also looking at the paper. He was in his office with Parvati, Rose and Scorpius. The article made for extremely depressing reading. "I can't believe Harry would say this." His and Harry's friendship had been strained to the point of being non-existent since Hermione had effectively left him for Harry, but he'd always felt they respected each other. Harry's comments suggested otherwise.

"We knew there'd be opposition,"Parvati reminded him. "Perhaps from Harry most of all."

"Opposition, yeah. But this is a personal attack."

"Maybe we could organise a public debate,"Scorpius suggested. "You and Harry."

"That could be dangerous,"Parvati admitted. "A lot of the public still see Harry as a hero. Drawing attention to the fact he opposes the Ministry could turn a lot of people against us."

Ron gestured to the article. "Well, it doesn't look like it's a secret now."

"Then maybe we could talk to Harry in private,"Scorpius suggested. "Convince him of what we're trying to do and get him to retract it."

"He has called a meeting of the Order,"Rose pointed out. "As far as I'm aware, we're all still members."

Ron nodded. "Guess that's the first battleground then."

Nymphadora knocked once before entering her parents' quarters. She found them getting ready to go out and looked from one to the other quizzically. "What's going on?"

"We've got a meeting of the Order,"Hermione explained.

"Is Uncle Ron going to be there?"

"Well, he's invited, same as everyone else."

"We'll see if he dares to share his face,"Harry commented.

Nymphadora swallowed hard. "A lot of people are talking about your statement."

"Hopefully it'll make a few of them think."

"I think they're mostly just shocked that you said it. Is Uncle Ron really a bad man?"

"No, of course not,"Hermione reassured her. "But he is doing a bad thing."

"Well, I guess we've got a chance to bring him to his senses,"Harry proclaimed.

Grimmauld Place, the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, was more full than it had been at any time in the last decade, maybe even more so than during the True Way incident. Harry and Hermione had arrived and taken their seats one side of the meeting table. A few people had grouped around Harry, Luna among them. When Ron had arrived with Parvati, Rose and Scorpius, they had taken up their seats at the opposite end of the table, the Ministry supporters gravitating towards that end. Harry looked over the sea of faces. Emily was there, and her brother Martin with his wife Susannah. Susannah's sister Helena and her husband Timothy Wood. Hermione's son Hugo and his girlfriend Marie Lucas. Seamus Finnegan and his wife Hannah Abbott. Cho Chang and her husband Michael Corner. Oliver Wood, Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, Lee Jordan and Alicia Spinnet. Parvati's sister Padma. Ron's surviving brothers Charles, Percy and George, along with George's wife Lisa. Harry's daughter Lily Preston and Albus' old friend Owen Spink. Ernie and Angela. Teddy and Victoire, and Victoire's aunt Gabrielle. There were a few absentees, notably Neville and James who had stayed behind at Hogwarts, but the meeting should be enough to get a read on everyone's views.

"I guess you all know why we're here,"Harry observed. "Ron and I have been having a bit of a war with words in the press recently."

"You're the one raging war,"Ron argued. "I'm just stating facts."

"And you really think that using something like the Purification Device isn't going to cause upset?"

"You must have known that this was wrong, Ronald,"Hermione declared.

Ron glared at her. "You know, one thing I haven't missed over the last fifteen years is you telling me off. I'm not going to let you start now."

"Let's not make this personal,"Hannah suggested.

"You think Harry saying I'm as bad as You-Know-Who to the press isn't personal?"

"That was going a bit too far, Harry,"Seamus agreed.

"Maybe it was,"Harry conceded. "But I stand by what I said. This is dark magic and it's wrong."

"Do you really think the Ministry would use it if that were the case?"Parvati asked. "You're judging it on what happened over ten years ago."

"We've studied it hard,"Padma continued. "We've made it safe. We know what we're doing."

"If you're using something like that, you don't know what you're doing,"Lily argued.

"It does seem preferable to having evil wizards roaming the countryside,"Hugo pointed out.

"Doing something bad is not going to lead to something good,"Luna remarked airily. "And I really thought the Ministry plotting to take over the world was a thing of the past."

"You should listen to Harry,"Cho insisted. "He knows what he's talking about."

Ron scoffed. "It took him seven years to realise that Snape wasn't the enemy."

"Now who's getting personal?"Hermione returned.

"Don't make me your enemy, Ron,"Harry snapped, leaning forward. "I'm not going to let this go ahead. Your trials with the Purification Device end now. I want it destroyed."

Ron leaned forward as well, so there was just a few inches between them. "And what if I don't?"

"Then I'll destroy it for you."

For a moment, Ron seemed shocked by the boldness of the statement. Then he shook his head. "You're bluffing, Harry. You've got nothing to back you up. The Order of the Phoenix was a great organisation once but you're not needed anymore. Kingsley Shacklebolt might have relied on you to hunt down Death Eaters but I've got a Ministry I can trust and they're behind me, not you. Declare war on us and you're the one who'll come out the loser." He stood up straight. "I'm leaving. Anyone who still supports the elected officials of the wizarding world, come with me."

Harry knew some of those present would stand up but he was shocked at how many. Charlie, Percy, George and Lisa were no surprise, neither were Parvati and Padma. Scorpius stood up, followed a moment later by Rose. Hugo and Marie, Ernie and Angela, Seamus and Hannah, Timothy and Helena, Alicia… and, after a long pause, Oliver.

Katie looked at her husband in shock. "Oliver!"

Oliver sighed. "Ron's right, Katie. Harry's going about this the wrong way." He waited for her to join him. When she didn't, he sighed and went to stand with the rest of the Ministry supporters.

"Sorry, Harry,"George commented. "But you've never won a battle without the Weasleys by your side." He and the others followed Ron out.

Those that remained – Hermione, Luna, Lily, Emily, Martin, Susannah, Teddy, Victoire, Owen, Gabrielle, Katie, Lee, Angelina, Cho and Michael – looked at Harry. "So now what?"Lee asked.

Harry sighed. "I have to admit, I didn't think that far ahead."

A moment later, an owl came flying through the window and landed on the table. Hermione took the message from it and scanned it. "It looks like we've got another problem, Harry. Someone else has decided to follow your example."

Neville stood outside Hogwarts in front of a crowd of reporters, much as Harry had done a day earlier. He hated what he was about to do but it was the lesser of two evils. "There's a lot of controversy about at the moment,"he told them. "Controversy about Ministerial policies. There are a lot of people who oppose the Ministry's plan to use the Purification Device and some of their arguments are persuasive." He paused. "But that has nothing to do with Hogwarts. This is a school, a safe environment. As Headmaster of Hogwarts, I need to stress that the views expressed by one of our staff members, Professor Harry Potter, are not indicative of the viewpoint of Hogwarts and those that run it but purely his own views as an individual." He hesitated, knowing that his next words could shatter a friendship. "Hogwarts continues to recognise the authority of the Ministry of Magic and the legality of its policies."