The following morning, Hermione apparated about half a kilometre south of the coordinates Malfoy had given her. She walked the remaining distance, reapplying the disillusionment charm on herself every few minutes. It may have seemed a little excessive, but Hermione hadn't breathed a word about where she was headed to anyone in the Order and the last thing she wanted was to be careless. She had no desire to end up in the hands of Death Eaters and no possible way to let the Order know where she'd last been.

It was lucky the base was located at the bottom of a hill. She climbed to the top, transfigured a clump of grass into a bush to help her blend in better, and crouched behind the small row of shrubbery. If there hadn't already been a small tree and another small bush, Hermione would have found transfiguring a new bush to be too risky. However, the current vegetation would not be a sufficient cover and it was unlikely anyone would notice one extra bush.

Hermione wasn't sure what to expect, but she supposed she shouldn't be surprised that the base seemed abandoned. She considered casting a spell to check for any nearby or surrounding magic, but if there were Death Eaters inside and they'd cast any sort of wards, it was likely such a spell would trigger them and she'd be discovered. Instead, she resolved to stay there for most of the day and watch for any sign of inhabitants.

Nothing happened all day. Hermione stayed well hidden, but she couldn't help the impending boredom that seemed to take over before the afternoon even began. As she glanced at the building again, she sighed and raised her wand. She could cast the spell and apparate before anyone found her. It would be quick and she'd be untraceable. It would also keep her from wasting the rest of her day.

Hermione had hardly cast the spell when she felt magic ripple through the air and knew she'd triggered a ward. Scrambling for her bag, Hermione didn't even bother to check the results of her spell before apparating to the first place she thought of.

When she landed in the entry of Grimmauld Place, her heart was racing. She hadn't expected a ward to go off like that and knew she'd be unable to return to the base that night. Even if there wasn't a battalion of Death Eaters there, it was likely they would extend their wards now and she'd have to be more careful. However, now she knew for certain that someone had taken up residence near the Dortmouth base and she needed to keep an eye on them for the Order's sake.

"Bastard," Hermione grumbled, pulling the notebook from her bag and checking it for any new notes. Malfoy hadn't written a thing, but she knew she could expect something later on after he'd heard about the wards being triggered at the coordinates he'd given her.

Although irritated and worried slightly about whether the triggering of the wards would cause the Death Eaters to attack Dortmouth, Hermione apparated to the northern coast where she spent the remainder of the day searching for yet another secure location.

She was unsuccessful in finding an actual building before nightfall, but when she finally apparated back to the steps of Dortmouth, she'd found a good area that could offer great coverage should the Order need a secure place to set up a camp. She'd been on her way to tell Kingsley about the possible location, but as soon as she'd stepped inside the safe house, she stopped.

The entire building was burned on the inside. The outside had appeared completely normal, but the inside was charred and empty. She could see remnants of walls and what looked like human skeletons. She inhaled sharply as something behind her shifted, but when she turned her wand to the sound, it was just the door that had come off its hinges.

Everything was eerily lit with the moon and her wand as her only light source. Some rooms were still smouldering, but whatever had happened at Dortmouth had clearly happened a while ago. Why she hadn't gotten a warning or a patronus about it, she wasn't sure.

As she stepped through the front door again, she paused. It was almost too soft to notice, but she could feel something tickling her spine. She held her breath, listening around her for any movement but heard nothing. When she stepped out of the doorway, the tickling disappeared but she could feel the prick of something very small and very warm on her lower back.

"Fuck," she cursed. It was a tracking spell, she knew it. Whoever had destroyed the place either knew she would be coming back or expected someone to stop by and she'd been stupid enough to trigger it.

She apparated further into the forest, knowing wherever she went the caster of the spell would know, and attempted to remove it. The first time she tried, she was almost crippled by the hot pain that cut into her like a knife. She grit her teeth and reached toward the nearest tree, steadying herself as the pain pulsed through her body for several minutes. As soon as it disappeared, she tried another counterspell only for the same thing to happen. Nearby, Hermione heard several apparation cracks and grimaced. Whoever had attacked Dortmouth was back and she had no way of outrunning them with the stupid trace on her.

"Over here!" a voice yelled.

Hermione pushed herself off the tree and raced further into the forest, racking her brain for any idea on how to break the trace. Whatever spell had been used, she wasn't familiar with it. It likely had roots in the dark arts which meant until she could stop and analyse what it was, she would be stuck with it.

Thinking quickly, she pulled out her wand and summoned a patronus. It was a little blurry, but it would do.

"Tell Harry I'm in the forest north of Dortmouth," she told her otter. "Whoever attacked Dortmouth is back and I've been hit with a trace I can't get rid of."

The little otter nodded then raced off through the forest. Hermione ran in a different direction, hoping whatever trace she had on her wouldn't extend to the magic she cast. She didn't want to put the Order at risk.

Hermione heard someone apparate nearby and threw herself to the right, dropping down behind a tree even though she knew the trace would alert them to where she was. Her heart pounded in her ears and she was breathing heavily even though she tried to stay quiet. A light appeared in front of her and she tried to crouch lower but was startled by a stag patronus dancing around her head. The light shone in her direction and she blinked up at it to see Harry reaching down for her quickly.

"Are you alright? What happened?" he asked, grabbing her arm and hauling her to her feet. Her legs tangled in some branches and she stumbled forward, but Harry didn't let her fall.

"I returned to Dortmouth," she explained vaguely. Harry frowned and extinguished his wand. "Someone cast a trace on the doorframe and whatever I do to try and remove it just feel like a knife to the back."

Harry nodded and cast impressive disillusionment charms on them both.

"It's probably the same spell Kingsley warned us was used at Sussex," Harry explained. Hermione frowned and Harry paused. "The one that traced half the surviving Order without their knowledge. You know the spell. Kingsley said you broke it."

"I did no such thing," Hermione insisted, already thinking of what she'd say to Kingsley the second she saw him. "But it can be broken?"

"Yeah, just give me a second. It's kind of complicated," Harry grumbled. He raised his wand at her and concentrated, scrunching his forehead in determination. Behind them, the sounds of Death Eaters growing closer made Hermione want to run but she held still.

Just when she was about to ask Harry what he was waiting for, she felt a cold tingling at the base of her spine and twisted around to see a small white light floating behind her. The light shot through the forest and disappeared, but Hermione didn't care where it landed. She couldn't feel it on her anymore and knew Harry's been successful with whatever spell he'd cast.

"All good?" he asked. Hermione nodded and he grabbed her arm, apparating them away without another word.

They appeared in a small clearing that was protected with so many wards Hermione could feel them as soon as she arrived. There was an area dedicated to the hospital wing and Hermione could see many transfigured tents protecting the injured. Across the clearing were more tents Hermione assumed to be living quarters. Harry walked her through the camp, pointing out where they'd set up the cooking and where she and Ginny were now staying.

"Ron and I share the same tent," he mumbled, looking a little red as he admitted it. "There was enough space, but after the attack, Ginny was pretty hurt and neither of us wanted—"

"Ginny was hurt?" Hermione interrupted. Harry nodded and they rerouted to the shared tent instead of Kingsley's.

Hermione burst into the space to see Ginny fast asleep on a bottom bunk with Ron lying on a bunk across from her. He looked up when they both walked in and jumped to his feet to hug her.

"Where the fuck did you go, Hermione?" Ron demanded as soon as he'd let her go. "We were attacked and you were nowhere to be seen."

"Kingsley's had me setting up safe house locations, I told you," she reminded him. Ron frowned, but she didn't give him time to argue. "Is Ginny okay? I heard she was hurt."

Ron grimaced and stepped aside so Hermione could walk over to where Ginny was sleeping. There was a bandage around her head and gauze on her arm, but she was breathing and that's what mattered.

"What happened?" Hermione asked quietly, turning back to the boys for an explanation.

As they explained, Hermione knew it had been her fault the safe house had been attacked. She'd triggered the wards on the nearby base just before noon and the attack had occurred not too long after. They thought it had been out of nowhere and Hermione didn't correct them. It had been in the middle of the day, however, so they hadn't been sleeping and the casualties were low.

"Only you and five others were missing when we managed to leave," Ron told her. Ginny had been by the front door when the Death Eater had first arrived. She'd been hit in the head with a slicing curse and narrowly dodged an avada. Someone had managed to get her away safely, but not before her arm had been broken and she was unconscious due to the hit to her head.

"Madam Pomfrey said she'd be okay," Harry murmured, staring at Ginny. "But she won't be back to normal for several days. Kingsley won't let her fight again for two weeks due to the head injury."

"She'll hate that," Hermione said, smiling softly at the thought of Ginny being forced to stay on the sidelines.

"Oh, she does," Harry chuckled. Apparently, she'd argued with Kingsley even as her head was being bandaged and Madam Pomfrey was setting her arm. "I'll probably still worry about her though even once she's been cleared."

"Don't let her hear you say that," Ron teased. Hermione snorted and Harry rolled his eyes.

They stayed in their tent for the remainder of the night even though Ginny didn't wake up. Hermione cast a few extra charms to speed up the healing process and tended to her carefully like she would have if Ginny had been a patient in the hospital wing. When she finally curled up in her bed above Ginny's, she pulled out the notebook Malfoy had given her and checked its pages. It was empty like usual, so she stuffed it back in her bag and rolled onto her stomach and fell asleep.