Disclaimer: I don't own it.

AS OF 8/20/15 - There is a new summary and chapters are being reloaded as the editing is completed. Hopefully the grammar police will rescind the arrest warrant. My only excuse is that I wrote the first 18 chapters on notepad.

There are two short companion pieces to this story. Reaper is a short explanation and filler between chapters 1 & 2 of this story. The other one is an off shoot tangent that I will undoubtedly follow up and integrate somehow later on.

It is not my aim to 'bash' anyone in this story. I will try to keep characters like Ron, Molly, and Dumbledore human - which means they make mistakes too. They are not evil, annoying? sure. But not evil.

This chapter is rated T. Future chapters should have a lower rating.

Life is full of Choices. No matter what your choice is, there will always be consequences. Some good, some bad, others you never see.

Choices Made Always Have Consequences

Chapter 1: Sins of the Father

April 12, 1998

Lucius Malfoy had seen better days. Point of fact he was starting to miss the good old days of annoying interfering privacy impinging Ministry raids searching for dark artifacts. The good old days before his Master's return and days when his wife was happy and his son was young and innocent.

There was to be a gathering today. The entire inner circle plus several middle management Death Eaters. His home, his splendid ancestral home, had been appropriated by his Master. As with so many things under the Dark Lord's service there had been no volunteering. It was done because his Master wished it. His home and his wand were no longer his own. He and his family were now prisoners in their own home. Lucius knew that once his Master arrived he and his wife would be required to present their son and give an explanation for his sudden illness and anti-social attitude.

His son, his little dragon. The only child they had conceived and not lost to miscarriage or still birth. It had been four weeks since his son and only heir had last spoken to him (with one notable exception). It had been one week since that same heir had become an adult and come into his magical inheritance. It had been 27 minutes and 32 seconds since his wife's presence had been requested by their son and she had been popped into his room with the assistance of little Muzzy. Poor little Muzzy wasn't really old enough to serve yet but had been left with little choice after Bellatrix had killed all the other elves in the manor.

Four weeks ago Muzzy became an orphan and was ordered by Bellatrix to bury the three adult elves as a lesson against any possible future indiscretions. Dear old Bella had raged for hours after the security breach and then gone silent shortly before she tore off to the kitchens. Narcissa had told him after the fact that her 'dear' sister had reasoned 'since an elf had helped the prisoners escape then an elf could have stopped it'. That was all the explanation the Malfoys received for the extermination of their household staff.

A week ago at the minute of the anniversary of his son's first breath Mr. Malfoy's deepest secret fear was realized. His wife, who was already upset with him about a great many other things, was ready to feed him to the Peacocks when he finally came clean about his not-so-pure-after-all blood line. The little family of three was gathered in Draco's bedroom. Lucius was hurriedly trying to explain to his panicked wife about the uncertainty of the diluted blood asserting itself. There was no guarantee, after all the blood had been dormant for four generations. Draco was on his bed screaming in agony but he must have heard enough of what his father told his mother. After three weeks of silence and with fire ripping through his veins Draco told his father in a pained hissed whisper, "I hate you".

Lucius and Narcissa had silenced the room and after the worst was over Draco had fallen into an exhausted sleep. When they had tried to check on him the next morning they found the door barred. Lucius was unable to breach the wards and it took little Muzzy to explain that since Master Lucius had abdicated mastery of his own home the magics of the family estate had passed to his son. The only way anyone was getting into that room was with Draco's permission.

Narcissa and Muzzy did not return but the hall was filling with Death Eaters. The Dark Lord was due to arrive any minute. There were plans for a major counter offensive. Potter and what little remained of Dumbledore's ragtag Order of the Phoenix had become more bold in their rebellion to The Dark Lord's new order since Bellatrix had visited Hogsmeade four weeks ago after executing the Malfoy elves. His psychotic sister-in-law had returned from the kitchens, grabbed the girl's dead body, and left for Hogsmeade. A present, she said, for those blood traitors.

Looking around Lucius realized that everyone of note or rank was here. The Dark Lord was not a fan of tardiness and took every opportunity to punish for the infraction. He was not a Master to be kept waiting. Quiet descended on the hall's population like a fog rolling over London. Heads turned searching for the cause and some confusion was plain when it was not their Master that was commanding such presence. Instead of the Dark Lord there was another dark presence standing at the top of the staircase. With his head half bowed this dark figure surveyed the rooms population, some 40-50 individuals, through half closed eyes that were black as night. Lucius had just turned to the stairs when the figure began to descend. He was perhaps the only one there that knew that this person was not some new dark creature ally that the Dark Lord had bargained with.

Pale blonde hair hung lank and loose around the figure's face and bare shoulders. With a height of about 6'2" and a physique to make most young witches faint and drown in their own drool, the man that entered the room was quite impressive. He wore black slacks low on his narrow hips and his chest and feet were bare. Lucius looked upon him and despaired.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs he kept moving with purposeful steps into the center of the gathering. Death Eaters in their dark cloaks shifted aside on instinct allowing him to pass through unobstructed. When he reached the center of the room he stopped and turned his head slowly until his eyes came to rest on Lucius. At that moment what had appeared at first to be a dark cloak on his back began to shift and move on its own. The dark mass on the figure's back lifted separated and spread out. Like a living thing it unfurled into wings with a rather impressive spread. The lights in the hall flared and bright light flooded the room and reflected off the wings highlighting the definition and dimensions from shoulder to tip. Shadow brought to light revealed the individual feathers which appeared to be made of onyx tipped in silver.

"Son." Lucius was lost. The family journals had never mentioned anything like this. Something horrible had happened to his little dragon. His hastily constructed plans to locate and bring his son's mate to the Manor now lay on the edge of a knife. The ancestral blood magic should have, according to the journals, presented his son with a vision of his mate shortly after the transformation was complete. They should have been making plans to retrieve the young woman five or six days ago.

When Lucius addressed him Draco raised his head to look his father square in the face with his black eyes. He flexed and fisted his hands by his sides and his wings stretched and shivered.

"Father." His tone cold and flat.

"Son, we need to talk later about your vision. We'll find her and bring her to you, I swear it."

The silver tipped onyx feathers glinted in the light and there was a rather ominous silence before Draco responded. "My Mate, my angel, my wife is dead. Your choices father, have ended your family line. The Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy ended four weeks ago. My angel died by my hand."

Lucius was stunned and after a moment to process what Draco told him fat tears rolled down his cheeks. In sad resignation he nodded his head once to his son and sank to his knees with his head down. The Malfoy patriarch found an odd moment to be grateful for his wife's absence and could only pray that the summons to Draco's room meant she was held blameless to this tragedy.

Draco's head then turned and slowly located certain individuals. Bellatrix, Greyback, and Dolohov to name a few. His mind had carefully crafted a list of those he knew had hurt his angel. He relaxed his fists, lifted his hands, and with a quick flip of both wrists, sealed the Manor. No one would be getting in or out. Instinctively Draco knew what his wings and dagger like feathers were capable of. The silver tipping would come in quite handy with Greyback in attendance.

The self-styled Lord Voldemort and proven Dark Lord was more than a tad irked when he could not apparate directly into Malfoy Manor as was his custom. He found himself standing outside the main gates. The manor itself was ablaze. The roof was collapsing while huge flames with suspicious animal like characteristics feasted and fed the huge pillars of smoke into the sky. Tom Riddle felt it when the wards failed right after the second and third stories crashed to the ground floor.

TBC

a.n. Ok, hard part is done. The story cheers up after this. How is that you say? Well, there's no where to go but up of course. Please review.