Hermione and Gellert were in the dining room enjoying breakfast when Harry started yelling and screaming. With war-honed senses, the two of them were rushing into his bedroom with wands drawn before he'd even finished his first round of cursing.

The clear noises of a struggle came from the bathroom and Hermione was only fractionally behind Gellert as he burst into what could only be described as a comical scene. Harry was thrashing in his bathtub, the broken taps spurting water across the room. Tangled around his very naked body was a massive snake which struggled to extricate herself from the polished wet bath. Unsure what to do, Hermione pointed her wand into the tangle, temporarily petrifying both of them. She quickly averted her eyes as Grindelwald rescued Nagini from the mix and levitated the snake into the living room whilst Gellert revived Harry.

She revived the Maledictus and Nagini started urgently hissing at her. She held out her hands speaking up over the snake.

'Nagini, calm down, I can't understand you, you'll just have to wait until Harry gets here.' She tried, Nagini paused, then started hissing again. Gellert joined them mid way through whatever Nagini was trying to say and pointed his wand at her.

'Nagini is essentially human with fully human brain functions in the body of a snake, similar to an animagus. Legilimens' He cast and both man and snake froze.

When he lifted the spell, Nagini seemed considerably more relaxed and she curled up in the warm patch of sunlight that shone through the windows as the dark wizard explained what she'd discovered.

Voldemort had taken refuge in one of the Malfoy bolt holes, he'd reinforced the heavy warding already there with his own, allowing only his most trusted to know of his location. The entire Malfoy family was imprisoned to stop the Order using the same tactic to get in again. Harry joined them as Grindelwald described what Nagini had shared, painting a dire picture.

'So how can we get in?' Hermione asked disparingly.

'The traditional way.' Grindelwald answered, 'Brute force. We need to brew offensive potions, get as many wands together as possible. The more those wards have to block, the faster they'll give way. If we can get anti-apparaition wards up before they realise we're there, they'll be sitting ducks.'

'We need to go before he realises Nagini is missing.' Harry pointed out.

'You're right. Send a patronus, get the order together.' He ordered, 'Harry, send a second patronus to the potions master, we'll need every offensive potion he can find.' Hermione had sent off her first patronus, and Gellert turned back to her. 'We'll need those protean charmed coins of yours, see if you can get three of them.'

Hermione could tell that he was very familiar with this process so she simply followed his orders, sending sending a brief explanation to Slughorn and then sending another patronus asking Ginny, Neville and Luna to bring their coins. Within minutes, the auditorium outside was beginning to fill up and the excited murmuring was becoming a load roar. Grindelwald shut the intelligence file that he had open at the Malfoy bolt hole with a sigh.

'McGonagall says that everyone is here.' Harry said as a silver cat delivered its message. He shared a look with Hermione and together the three of them walked down the corridor and into the packed auditorium. A sudden hush fell over the crowd as Gellert pushed Harry forwards to take the stage.

'Er... Hi everyone. Hope you've all been well. So the reason we're all here is because this time, we're going to strike at You-Know-Who first. We received intelligence this morning with his location and yesterday we defeated the final safeguard on his life; for the first time he is fully human, we can finally kill him and end this and we will take this opportunity.' He paused and stepped backwards. Grindelwald stepped forwards in his place.

'You-Know-Who has taken refuge in one of the Malfoy bolt holes, it is heavily warded and he lets only his closest followers in to see him. The is no way to bring down the wards, so we will have to use brute force to break them. It will not be easy but it is very possible, I have done it before and You-Know-Who did it to Hogwarts. We need to exert as much force as possible in the shortest time possible; Professor Slughorn has amassed every offensive potion in our reserves. He will take the east corner with the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students, we expect very little retaliation from that quarter but we are operating on an old set of blue prints so keep your wits about you.'

'The Gryffindors will take the south west corner with Kingsley. Send every spell you can think of at the shield, just remember that you'll still have a battle to fight afterwards – don't exhaust yourself. Be prepared for your spells to be reflected. The rest of the order and myself will take the front entrance. The most important thing to remember is that we have him cornered, he will try to escape. The first person to see him, send a patronus to Harry or Hermione. Professor McGonagall, you will be in charge of the anti apparition jinx as soon as we arrive, if you need students to help you, pick whomever you need. There are port keys under your seats, please try to keep these with you and if you get wounded, use them to return to the castle.' There were no questions, the plan was simple and straight forwards.

'Please say your goodbyes and return here in half an hour ready for battle.'