You Made Me What I Am

Chapter 13: Planning and an Attack

Hermione had decided to fight from within the shadows and only to safeguard Harry if any one of the circle tried to betray them and to kill him despite the repercussions it would cause to them. She had earned the respect of the Circles, but Harry and Hermione knew many still resented her abilities due to her blood status, and would not be above trying to kill either of them.

It had been nearly five months since she arrived; Tom and Harry were now getting along better than before, but still had not mated. Hermione had trained rigorously in this time, and had proven herself valuable to Tom's cause. Harry was considering blood-bonding to her as her brother for real; but, he hesitated as he had no idea how his Incubus blood would react to this. He was researching it and hoped to find the answer soon.

Harry had been nearly assassinated three times since her arrival there and during training. Twice it had been on missions where she had covered him from the Order when they decided to try and raid the stronghold, and then once more by a minor/lower ranked minion in the Inner Circle for some reason. He had been killed for the attempt as had the Order members, but on different reasons.

It was now the beginning of May, and Tom was eagerly getting ready for the assault on Hogwarts Castle with Harry leading the men and women who served them there, and the battle itself until Tom needed to be present.

The Death Eaters were better trained now than they had ever been thanks to Harry's time spent in Auror training and having taught them what he had learned or how to avoid certain things. He had effectively reorganized the death eaters into groups based off of their skillsets and what they were best at.

Tom had been utterly amazed at how well raids had gone since he had done this. The Order was floundering around now and not knowing why they were so well prepared as it was. Tom suspected heavily that Albus knew why they were so organized now; yet, he hadn't deigned to inform anyone. Harry had not been seen in any of the raids; but Tom knew that Albus likely suspected he was here considering Harry's touch to how they had been taught.

Currently, they were all waiting for Harry to return from a scouting mission with news of the ward Albus was trying to place into the wards of the school. Hermione bit her lip; something felt off in this though she had not said anything yet. Having trained in medical combat spells and the ways of a wizard who was both a spy and an assassin; she had the odd feeling Harry was not coming back or at least not directly.

Tom seemed unconcerned right now, but she knew that would change soon. An hour later, Harry wasn't back and Tom was getting unsettled.

A scout burst in unannounced and out of breath.

"Where is Harry? Where is he or so help me..." Tom asked him coldly with red eyes that were furious with anger

"Mercy my lord, it was a trap. Albus designed this ward specifically to draw him out of hiding and to seek the castle to investigate it. We were caught off-guard as the explosions started. I heard Harry screech and hiss all kinds of things before he fell over in pain, and then there was a noise of chains being summoned to him and some smoke surrounded us. Everyone blacked out as Harry was being dragged away from there and furiously fighting the chains." He said

"Most of us were left stunned and out in the forest unable to move due to the paralyzing smoke. Harry was gone by the time it wore off, my lord. I think they took him captive because they wanted him for something and so they took him into the castle. Why, I can't say." He said slowly

Tom stood and his eyes were hardened in rage as the sadness for his mate's suffering came to him. Feeling pained and frustrated in knowing that he had not been there to help him; as he should not have been for this.