A huge thank you as ever for the reviews and follows!

A few thoughts/explanations/justifications on why I'm portraying the Order and the Ministry as more or less evenly matched. Don't forget, many of the Ministry supporters were members of the Order just a few weeks previous. It makes sense for them to be on the same level. Also, this is more or less a time of peace: We're over ten years on from Rodulphus Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy reviving the Death Eaters and over thirty-five years on from Voldemort's time. The Order aren't a combat-hardened group, many of them have only limited experience and very little of it is recent.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: The Third Option

Harry was pacing back and forth in the mansion in a fury, prompting worried looks from Hermione. "How did I not see this coming?"he asked.

Hermione sat nearby, trying to be supportive. "It seemed like a good plan, Harry. We all agreed to it, me included. We had an opening…"

"Ron provided us with an opening,"Harry replied. "Again. After all the years we've known each other, he knows us as well as anyone. How did we not see that it was a trap?"

"We knew there was a chance,"Hermione argued. "But there was also a chance to get rid of the Purification Device. We had to take it."

Harry sank into a seat. "And Ron turned out to be cleverer than us."

Hermione moved to sit by her husband and put her arms round him. "We all knew the risks, Harry. We all took them willingly. We still trust you."

They kissed and Harry melted into the kiss, melting in the touch of the woman he loved. He wanted to carry her into their borrowed room and make love to her, to forget about the wreck the wizarding world had become and his part in it. But there were things that needed to be done and he needed to do them. He pulled back, resting his forehead against hers. "We need to do something else,"he said at last. "Something that Ron won't be expecting."

"Like what?"

A smile spread across Harry's face. "He's taken some of ours. Let's take some of his."

James looked around the Room of Requirement. It was a strange feeling being there. He'd heard the stories, of course: Everyone of his generation and quite a few of the one below had. How his parents and their friends had formed their own group, originally just to teach people defensive spells when the Ministry was in denial about Voldemort's return, but eventually they had played a key role in resisting Voldemort's takeover of the Ministry. He hoped history wasn't going to repeat itself. But in a way it had, with the room providing the same training ground it had provided all those years ago.

Nymphadora, Bradley, Gemini and Beverley were lined up in front of him, along with Maxwell and Flavia, who they'd brought along to the party. James looked them up and down. "I've not brought you here because I want you to fight,"he told them. "But the way things are going, if we are going to do something, then we may need to fight."

"Fight who?"Flavia asked.

James sighed. "Well, that's something we'll have to discuss."

"But you are going to teach us some decent spells?"Bradley asked. "Like Reducto?"

James gave him a severe glare. "I'm not going to teach you anything that could do serious harm. This is purely for defence."

"Can the few of us do anything though?"asked Beverley.

James considered this. "Pass the word around your houses. Know anyone in Ravenclaw?"

"Edward Atkins,"Maxwell suggested. "I've partnered him a few times."

"Okay. But only people you can trust." James cleared his throat. "Okay, show me how good you are at basic disarming spells."

Padma, Anthony and Terry were making their way through the streets of London towards the entrance to the Ministry. As they passed by a warehouse, strong hands grabbed hold of all three of them and pulled them inside. Harry gave them an apologetic look. "Sorry about this."

The three Ministry employees looked around at the group surrounding them: Harry, Hermione, Lily, Teddy, Victoire, Michael, Cho and Li Corner, the latter two's son. The trio all raised their hands cautiously. "So what are you going to do now, Harry?"Padma asked.

"Kill us?"Terry added bitterly.

Harry gave him a disgusted look. "Is that really what you think of me?"

"You're not giving us much reason to think anything else."

"You're hostages,"Hermione told him. "You're holding three friends of ours: Gabrielle Delacour, Susannah Longbottom and Owen Spink."

"It's a trade,"Lily continued. "You for them."

"The Ministry doesn't negotiate with terrorists,"Padma replied.

"They're all being held in Ministry cells and eventually they'll be sent to Azkaban,"Anthony added. "Where you'll join them."

During the conversation, Terry's hand had started drifting towards his wand. Teddy saw him and fired a mild Stinging Jinx, causing him to withdraw his hand. "Don't try that again."

Nearby, in the Ministry, Scorpius hurried into Ron's office. "Ron, those wands we've been tracing. One of them's been used. Close by."

"Harry?"Ron asked.

"No, Teddy's. It was in a warehouse across from the entrance to the Ministry."

"Across from…" Ron thought hard. "It's Harry. He's using an old trick, one we used before to get into the Ministry. Get everyone you can, quickly."

"Every time someone comes out in public as one of your followers, they get automatically added to the list of wanted criminals,"Padma was explaining. "The longer this goes on, the more people it's going to be for the worse for."

Harry smiled. "Well, I guess that depends on how it ends, doesn't it?"

Hermione was following the exchange but then she sensed something in the air. Something dangerous. "Harry!"

With a crack, people apparated in all over the warehouse: Ron, Parvati, Scorpius, Neville, Ernie, Angela, Oliver, Charles, Percy, George, Seamus and Hannah. Within moments, the air was crisscrossed with Stunning Spells. The Order members had to turn to face their new attackers, leaving their prisoners unguarded. The trio took the opportunity to finally draw their wands. Padma fired off a Stunning Spell that struck Cho full-on, sending her flying into a wall. Hermione turned and yelled "Stupefy!", swinging her wand in an arc and knocking all three out. Then Parvati was in front of her, firing off a battery of jinxes, and Hermione was on the defensive.

Michael and Li had taken up position guarding Cho and were duelling with Charles, Percy and George. Harry levitated a metal bar that struck Seamus on the side of the head, taking him out of the fight. Ron fired a Disarming Charm at him which he dodged, firing a Full Body-Bind Spell in return that whizzed past Ron's ear.

Lily was firing off spells with deadly accuracy. A Leg-Locker Spell took Oliver down, followed by a Full-Body Bind Spell on Ernie and an Impediment Jinx that knocked Angela aside. Hannah aimed her wand at the younger woman. "Levicorpus!"she snapped, levitating Lily and smashing her into a wall. Teddy and Victoire instantly rushed to guard her as Scorpius joined Hannah in pressing home the attack.

Angered at his daughter's injury, Harry turned on Ron. "Sectumsempra!"he snapped…but he felt more sick than triumphant to see the cuts appear across Ron's body as he fell. Neville let out a roar of rage and dashed to Ron's defence, letting loose a stream of spells that Harry only just blocked. "Diffindo!"snapped Neville and this time the slashing movement caused a deep cut across Harry's forearm.

"Protego!"Hermione snapped, putting up a shield that cut most of the Ministry personnel off from the Order members. She ran to Harry's side. "Harry, we've got to get out of here!"

Harry nodded. He saw that Teddy has picked up Lily and Michael had picked up Cho. Together, they made a fighting retreat out of the warehouse.

Parvati made to follow but Neville stopped her. "That's a muggle street out there,"he pointed out. "We can't use magic. Look to the minister."

Although his home was still in Hogsmeade, James had use of the Head of House's rooms in Gryffindor Towers, which were useful for catching up on work before heading home. They also meant it was easier for students to find him, which was how Nymphadora ended up walking in on him. "Do you have a plan?"she asked.

James raised an eyebrow. "Get straight to the point why don't you, Dora?"

"Sorry. But do you?"

James put his quill down and sighed. "No,"he admitted. "I'm just trying to get as many people on our side as possible for when we actually need a side."

"You want us to join Mum and Dad? Or Uncle Ron?"

"Hopefully neither. I meant what I said, I'm neutral in this. Ideally, I want to get them round a table, talk this over, come to some sort of compromise… They've all got clear ideas what they want but maybe there's a third option."

Nymphadora smiled slightly. "Maybe we're the third option."

James smiled back. "Yeah. Maybe we are."