Hermione didn't open the parchment Malfoy had given her until she woke up the following morning. She waited until Ginny left for breakfast, making up an excuse about working on the counter curse for a bit before joining, then pulled out a blank parchment sheet and unrolled the one Malfoy had given her. It took a few seconds for the full plan to appear but even before it was fully finished, Hermione had started scribbling down as many notes as she could.

Whoever the leak was in Sussex, they'd been busy relaying safe house information to the Death Eaters. Four of their safe hours in England were listed and one in Wales. There were a few other scattered attacks that were supposed to be over safe houses, but not close enough to any that Hermione was worried. She'd hardly finished writing when the parchment began to dissolve on her bed. With wide eyes, she watched it completely disappear and glanced down at her notes to make sure she'd scribbled down all she could.

There wasn't anything else she could do now that the parchment Malfoy had given her had dissolved, so she rolled up her time-consuming parchment and headed down the stairs to find Kingsley. It was likely he would be in his designated office, so she wasn't surprised to walk in and find him hunched over a map and muttering quietly to Moody. They both looked up at her as she approached, however, and the conversation abruptly stopped.

"What can I do for you, Hermione?" Kingsley asked. As it had the day before, the map rolled itself up quickly before Hermione could catch a glance at it.

"I need to talk to you," she said, holding the parchment at her side. As she eyed Moody, she added, "Alone."

Moody glanced from her to Kingsley and Kingsley nodded. With a grunt, he moved away from the table and left the room. Hermione waited until the door had latched and she was certain the wards in the room were secure once more before handing over the parchment.

"Our contact provided anticipated attack plans," she informed him. He unrolled the parchment and looked over her notes as she told him, "The dates aren't set, but the attacks should be carried out sometime this week. Several of our safe house locations have been leaked."

Kingsley hummed and nodded, looking over the parchment for a full minute before rolling it back up.

"I fear we may have to abandon all current safe houses and move to entirely new locations," he said. They couldn't very well keep moving each week, but moving the full Order to new, secure locations was more than just a one day task. "Most of our members will be dispatched this week in an attempt to level a Death Eater base in Wiltshire. We won't have many around to find and secure new locations."

"It's too risky to send a battalion anyway," Hermione told him. "I can go."

Kingsley eyed her warily but Hermione gave him a hard stare. It was clear he was keeping her out of the battles for one reason or another, but there was no excuse as to why she couldn't be the one to secure new safe houses. After all, she'd been responsible for securing over half of the Order's locations before and with the possibility of a leak, it was too risky to have an army of Order members knowing the various new safe house locations.

"Fine," Kingsley agreed, albeit a bit reluctantly. "You'll secure new safe houses for those in danger now. If we get word next week more locations are at risk, you'll arrange for those too."

"That's fine," Hermione said. If she wasn't going to be sent into battle, she'd make good use of her time by securing extra safe houses anyway. At the very least, they could come in handy if they needed to expand their operations in the future.

"I'll alert them all today," Kingsley said. She'd need to leave immediately if she was to secure at least one location before tomorrow, but that wasn't much of a problem. "Notify me as soon as you have a new location."

Hermione nodded once and at his dismissal, she left the room. She hurried to the makeshift dining hall and rushed through her breakfast, snagging bits of food to take with her during the day. Ginny was nowhere in sight but neither was Harry, so she knew they were both escaping the safe house while they could.

"Where are you headed in such a hurry?" Ron asked, bumping into her as she rushed down the hall.

"Kingsley's sending me to secure new safe house locations due to the leak," she answered. She told him she'd likely be gone all day and possibly into the morning. If anyone worried about her, he could tell them she was out collecting supplies. "No one's to know about the new safe houses, but if Ginny or Harry ask, tell them."

"Stay safe," Ron said quietly, pulling her in for a short hug. She promised she would then ducked away to finish gathering her things from her room.

She made sure to bring her satchel with her, stuffing extra robes, her food, and the journal Malfoy had given her inside. After she was certain she had enough supplies to get through what was going to be a very long day, she left the grounds and apparated to the first location she could think of.

* * * * *

There wasn't anything interesting around an abandoned property in Helmshire, so Hermione chose that as her first location. She, Ron, and Harry had stumbled upon it while hunting for Horcruxes and the only reason she remembered it was because they'd been camping within sight of the building when the locket had first appeared to them.

She spent hours setting up wards and wandering far out of sight of the building just to ensure the wards were large enough. The inside of the building would take hours as well, but her biggest priority was the security around. It had to be impenetrable without being detectable. If anyone felt even the slightest inkling of magic nearby, the spot would become an immediate target in the next Death Eater attack.

Fixing the inside of the building was not Hermione's favourite activity. The magic was basic yet time-consuming, so after making sure it had stable enough walls to withstand several minutes of an attack, she sent Kingsley a patronus to alert him to the new location. As soon as Order members began to arrive, the location would be protected with a Fidelius charm and Hermione would need to be gone. Rather than return to Dortmouth as Kingsley suggested, she apparated to a new location and began the search for another safe house.

For a long minute, Hermione just stared at the building in front of her. It had been her grandparents' summer house and while it had been filled with fond memories for years, Hermione hadn't visited since their death. Her parents had kept the house but done nothing with it. At one point, they'd considered selling it but now, as Hermione began to construct the strongest wards she could think of, she was glad they'd never had the chance. The house had been her safe place for many summers and now it would serve as a safe house for Order members as Death Eaters raged through the country.

Hermione again spent hours constructing wards and perfecting them to be undetectable. By the time she felt the house was sufficiently protected, the sun had risen and her fingers were stiff with cold. She hesitated before sending a patronus to Kingsley and decided not to. This place would remain a secret until necessary. If it became apparent the Order needed another safe house, she would offer it up. Until then, it would sit here protected and waiting.

* * * * *

Hermione had spent the next two days in search of a small town that could offer refuge for the Order. Her first stop had seemed promising, but she'd noticed too many eyes on her as she walked through and knew it would not be a good place for several unfamiliar faces. It wasn't until early afternoon that she was able to begin setting up wards around a new location.

She worked quickly, but even then, it was dark when she finally finished. Rather than work through the night to find a fourth safe house, Hermione returned to Dortmouth so she could sleep for just a little while before continuing. She didn't expect there to be so many people up and about when she returned, though.

"Where have you been?" Ginny asked, appearing from around the corner with a scowl. "Harry said you'd gone off and Ron was as useless as ever."

"Kingsley sent me out, Gin," Hermione answered, darting around her and grabbing a nearby plate. "I thought the boys would tell you."

"Well they didn't and I've been worried," Ginny said. The two of them walked up the stairs to their room as Ginny told her, "Another safe house was attacked this afternoon. Ron's been gone all day and Kingsley's only just managed to find a place for the survivors to stay. It seems like whoever the leak was, they knew about a number of our safe houses."

"Either that or the Death Eaters have been watching us longer than we thought," Hermione said. Ginny hummed in agreement and locked the door behind them.

Hermione sat on her bed and ate her cold meal while Ginny went over what Kingsley had mentioned in a meeting that day. Not to Hermione's surprise, the attack on the safe house had been precisely where Malfoy had lined out for her. Unfortunately, the occupants had only been warned of an attack, not vacated from the area. There were fewer injuries and most of the Order members had escaped mostly unharmed, but Kingsley had sent a few members from Dortmouth to assist in the damage control.

"I'd ask if you were one of them, but they only left a little bit ago," Ginny said. She glanced at Hermione as if she expected her to tell her where she'd been, but Hermione did not.

"Is that where Harry and Ron are then?" she asked instead. Ginny nodded and Hermione had half a mind to ask why, but if the injuries were mostly minor, then the boys would have the basic skills necessary to help.

The room was silent for a few seconds as Hermione finished up her food. As soon as she'd finished, she cast a scourgify on the plate and sent it back to the kitchen. It was late enough to go to bed, but Hermione didn't particularly feel like sleeping even though her body felt exhausted. Even so, she saw Ginny change into her pyjamas and lay on her bed, so Hermione followed suit. She turned off the light and pulled her blankets over her head before lighting her wand.

She'd forgotten to check Malfoy's notebook while she was away and she knew she wouldn't be able to rest until she did. As quietly as she could, she pulled the little book out of her satchel and flipped it open.

To her surprise, there was a quick note scribbled down that began to fade as soon as the book had been opened. Even though she should have known there was the possibility of something being there, she was still surprised to see coordinates listed in front of her next to an impressively ominous note.

They're watching you.

With a frown, Hermione closed the notebook once the writing had disappeared and stuffed it back in her satchel. She knew the coordinates of Dortmouth and the place Malfoy had listed was not far. Even though his note of warning was vague, it was obvious what was meant by it and Hermione knew she'd be stopping by there first thing in the morning. She'd have to take a day off from securing safe houses to see what Malfoy was talking about. If it was as important as it sounded, she'd need to tell Kingsley about it. A Death Eater base so nearby could spell trouble.