When Hermione returned to Grimmauld Place at Malfoy's alert, she expected to simply receive a parchment and a short goodbye, not to be handed a thick tome and envelope. She looked at the book then up at Malfoy skeptically, not sure if he was still upset from their last meeting or if this was somehow relevant.
"I found out what wards are placed around Newcastle," he explained. He gestured to the book and said, "They're all bookmarked and the letter is my own notes on what I tried in my lab."
"You've been testing the wards?" she asked. Malfoy nodded. "How?"
"I ran a test on the Newcastle property to determine which wards were in place to prevent apparation and if there were any that gave alerts about intruders," he told her. She flipped open the book to the first bookmark and skimmed over the words as he said, "I made a miniature version in my lab at home and used rats to run the tests. I wasn't able to complete the work, though."
"This one is based in potions," Hermione read, looking down at the ward listed in the book.
"I think if you can figure out a potion that counteracts it, you should be able to get past all the wards without problem," Draco told her. She closed the book again, tucking the envelope between the pages, and looked up to see Draco handing her a scroll of parchment. "That's all the information on the bases in France and the battle plan for Switzerland. I won't be around for at least a week or two, but if I hear anything, I'll write it in the notebook."
"Where are you going?" Hermione asked. She'd gotten rather used to seeing him almost every other day and even if the last time they'd left on not so great terms, she didn't want him to disappear.
"Switzerland," he answered. Hermione frowned. "My aunt has raised worry about me not being given enough chances to rise in rank, so I'll be joining her."
"On the battlefield or elsewhere?" Hermione asked. Draco pursed his lips and she had her answer. "What will you be doing?"
"Executions, most likely," he murmured, not meeting her eye. "It's easy work and when I do it, I can guarantee they don't suffer."
"I'm not sure the Order will see it like that."
"The Order won't care when they discover they've regained control of France," Draco replied, waving off her concern. Changing the subject, he said, "I'd like to take you to Newcastle so you can see the property before you do your own research. Having an idea of the property layout should help."
Hermione nodded, but she didn't expect him to hold out his hand.
"Now?" she asked. Draco nodded, so she took his hand and braced herself for the apparation.
They landed smoothly and just within sight of a large estate. It couldn't have been more than three levels tall, but it stretched out long and was fairly wide. Hermione didn't dare move forward in case she triggered a ward, so she committed the image to memory where she stood.
"The dungeons are there," Draco told her, pointing to the west of the house. "They extend from the entryway to the tower. The revels have been held directly above them to prevent another incident."
"Have you been inside?" she asked, glancing up at him. Draco nodded.
"It's secure, but if I can get you inside, I'm certain you can navigate the dungeons easily," he replied. She nodded in agreement. She'd once read somewhere that all pureblood estates had similar dungeon layouts and while it seemed wise to them, she considered it a fairly obvious design flaw.
"Do you have a floorplan?" she asked. With a smirk, Draco cast a model of the floorplan in front of her and she compared the estate she was seeing with the much smaller model. "Should be easy enough. When you come back from Switzerland, I should have a potion for getting through the wards."
"Don't rush," he told her. "I'll be gone for a while."
"If your notes are as helpful as I think they'll be, it shouldn't take me long," she said. She looked at the estate one last time then nodded to herself. "Alright. I can work with that."
Draco held out his hand again and they apparated back to Grimmauld Place. After making sure he didn't have any other news for her, Hermione returned to the Order and stuffed the book and parchment under her blanket to keep them hidden from Ginny.
When the morning came, she covered the book with her pillow and grabbed the parchment to take to Kingsley. He wasn't in his tent, so she spelled the parchment to stay sealed until he opened it and left for breakfast.
"Morning, Hermione," Ron said, falling into step beside her. "Any big plans for the day?"
"No, I'm afraid it's just the same as usual," she replied. She glanced at him and asked, "And you?"
"Kingsley said something about an attack on France," he said, looking up at her as well. "I thought Riddle already had France though, so I don't know what the point is."
"I'm sure Kingsley will explain before you leave," she assured him. They stepped into the tent and made their way over to where breakfast was being served as Hermione said, "How many are you taking?"
"Oh, I'm not leading," he said, shaking his head at the thought. "Bill is and I'm his second. I think we're taking fourteen others with us, though, if that's any help."
"Harry or Ginny?" she asked. Ron nodded as he grabbed a bowl of hot cereal.
"Both," he answered. Hermione wasn't sure if she would be glad to have the tent to herself for a few days or not. On the one hand, it would give her more freedom to work but on the other, Harry wouldn't be able to cover for her if she disappeared for the night.
"How long will you be gone?" she asked. "And when do you leave?"
"Leave in three days, I believe," Ron told her. They found an empty table to sit at where they could face the tent entrance and Ron shrugged. "Not sure how long we'll be gone. Up to a week, maybe. Couldn't tell you."
Hermione nodded and they both fell into silence so they could eat. Ron finished his oatmeal first and with a smile, he said goodbye and left. Shortly after, Hermione finished as well and made her way to the medical tent for a few hours.
As there hadn't been any major ambushes or battles recently, the medical wing was emptying out. There wasn't much she needed to do and with an hour until lunch, she was let go for the day. She only wondered what to do for a second before making her way to the tent and pulling the heavy book from under her pillow. She argued with herself over whether to read Draco's notes first or the information about the wards first, but settled on the latter. Once she had the information, she could compare Draco's notes with her own thoughts afterward.
There were only three wards that had been bookmarked, but they were not for amateurs. The first one was a specialised anti-apparation ward that she knew was there to prevent the apparation of those without dark marks as Draco had said. The second and third wards seemed to complement each other in an attempt to warn those inside the area of any intruders. Both were advanced, but Hermione could already see how they had roots to potion work given how they both required specific plants to be present where casting them.
She was reading about the second ward again when the tent flap opened and someone walked inside, making her jump.
"You missed lunch," Ginny said, eyeing the book she was holding. "What's that?"
"I got it from Grimmauld Place," Hermione told her, tucking Draco's envelope between the pages and closing it up. "It's to help improve the Order's wards around safehouses."
"Wouldn't most books from the Black house require the dark arts?" Ginny asked. Hermione shrugged but Ginny didn't look like she particularly cared anyway. "Kingsley set you up to this? Is he finally over you killing that one Death Eater?"
Hermione barked and shook her head.
"Absolutely not," she laughed, tucking the book under her arm. "He has no idea I even went to Grimmauld Place. This is more of a personal project."
Ginny seemed to accept her answer and sunk down onto her bed below Hermione. She sighed into her pillow and Hermione opened the book up once more, picking up where she left off. She'd just flipped back to the third ward when Harry and Ron walked in.
"Where'd you get a book?" Ron asked, drawing Harry's attention to it as well. Before Hermione could answer, Ginny did for her.
"She says she found it at Grimmauld Place and it's for a personal project," she replied. The bed shifted and Ginny's voice sounded less muffled as she warned the two boys, "It's probably best not to disturb her."
"Thank you, Ginny," Hermione said, eyeing Harry and Ron together. She returned her focus to her book and after she'd finished reading the third ward again, she opened Draco's notes and skimmed through them.
He hadn't gotten far, but what he had discovered would be a great help. It would save her at least two days of work and time was precious when it came to answers.
Gathering the book and the notes under one arm, Hermione climbed down from her bunk and pulled on her robe. She grabbed her bag from her bunk as well then turned and came face to face with Harry, Ron, and Ginny. All three of her friends looked at her quizzically, but it was Harry's gaze that seemed to convince her to tell them she wouldn't be going far.
"Just to the forest," she told them all. "I'm working on new wards for the Order and I can't very well practice in here. I'll be back by dinner."
"We'll save you a spot," Ron promised with a grin. Hermione smiled back and left the tent quickly, already racing with ideas on what to try before nightfall.