Disclaimer: See Chapter Two.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Great Hall, Scotland, 12/16/1975

Harry sat at the teachers table and ate his breakfast, while deep in thought about his next moves and the events of last night. The mail delivery was due any moment but he didn't anticipate any mention of 'Malfoy Manor' for a few days at least.

School would be out in a few days and he would have a full house. The house him and Andromeda were moving in to was already picked out but they were just waiting on the warders to finish up. For Christmas Lily would be coming home with them, he had already planned for that.

What he hadn't planned for was Arcturus taking Melania to Paris for the holidays and leaving Sirius with Harry and Andromeda. Harry had a feeling they enjoyed the piece and quiet over the summer without Sirius and wanted to keep a good thing going.

Harry and the kids usually had a small Christmas they decorated the tree and Andy made holiday cookies, then on Christmas morning Harry made a big breakfast and the kids got to open presents before Christmas Dinner.

This year Andromeda had plans for a bigger celebration and was already planning out the decorating of the new house. Still he was looking forward to being home full time for two weeks, he wouldn't worry about his next actions in the war until then. Besides after 'Malfoy Manor' the heat would be turned up on all fronts.

His thoughts were interrupted by the mail being delivered, a Gringotts owl landed in front of his and extended it's leg. Harry quickly removed the letter and offered the bird a piece of bacon, the bird took the meat before taking flight. Unrolling the letter he read.

Mr. Black,

We have successfully completed the warding of your property in Northumberland, the wards will already recognize you as we have your magical signature on file.

As a token of our thanks for the work you have done for us in the past, we took the liberty of having your 'Floo' warded as well, the password is 'Gratis'. As always Gringotts thanks you for your business.

Account Goblin, Long Blade

Harry chuckled and rose from his chair, he wanted to get home and share the news with Andy. She would no doubt be anxious to get the house ready for them to move in, and Harry couldn't wait to see her face when he told her.

/C.o.t.R\

Nott Manor, Nottingham, England, 12/16/1975, 11:00

Lord Voldemort was apoplectic with rage, the 'Locket' and the 'Ring' were both gone! The 'Locket' being gone was a hit to his ego, it had taken him months to set the defenses in that cave up and when he entered the cave all of his enchantments were gone! The inferior had been disposed and it looked they way it did when he went there in nineteen thity-four!

The ring had also been taken from his mother's family home, though the protections there were minimal.

He had sent Bellatrix to check on the status of the 'Cup', hopefully that one was safe. He had instructed her months ago to place it in the 'LeStrange vault, so he was sure there was no way the thief could have gotten to it.

The door to his throne room opened and he could smell her fear the second Bellatrix entered the room. He could immediately tell she brought bad news and cut over the usual ceremony.

"What happened Bellatrix?" he demanded.

"The filthy goblins seized my vault, they said storing a XXXXX sentient dark artifact was a violation of the treaty of Twelve ninety-four, My Lord," Bellatrix said trembling.

"CRUCIO!" Voldemort roared in fury.

Bellatrix collapsed screaming in agony, her body spasm ed wildly and she lost control of her badder. The Dark Lord canceled the spell after a minute, Bellatrix remained on the floor panting. He might have put a little to much power into the curse in his anger, he really needed to work on that.

"Send a message to 'Markus' I must have him retrieve something from within the school. make sure he is here this Eve." Voldemort commanded

"Yes m-my Lord, it will be d-done" Bellatrix said having risen to her knees to give homage to the Dark Lord, though involuntary tremors wracked her body sporadically.

"That will be all, leave me Bellatrix". Voldemort said dismissively.

Bellatrix rose shakily to her feet and bowed before leaving the throne room.

Voldemort screamed in fury, he sent his own Horcrux to the Goblins, he had forgotten the treaty of 'Twelve ninety-four'. Basically the treaty stated they would not store any sentient artifacts that could harm their employees, any items discovered in Any Gringott's vault would be destroyed and the vault seized.

He had sent the Horcrux there thinking it was one of the safest places in the world. Now he was down to maybe two, he really hoped no one had discovered the 'Diadem', though after the cave it was a real possibility.

'Nagini' must be kept safe, thankfully she hadn't been able to take her human form In almost a decade, that would make her easier to hide. Now he just needed to find out if it was possible to split his soul anymore though he highly doubted it was. He had really pushed the limit when he made his snake a Horcrux last year. The book said the soul would heal over time so maybe in a decade or two he could safely make another.

This would take some researching to be sure, in the meantime he would send his army out to terrorize Britain for the holiday season. He had a list of families he wished out of the way. So while he was working on his own project, his soldiers could go out and purge some blood traitors.

It was time he made his presence known again, the wizarding World must fear him. His mark flying over the corpses of his enemies would be the best way to spread that fear.

/C.o,t.R\

Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire, England, 12/18/1975, 08:00

The 'Malfoy Manor' grounds was a circus thirteen dead and half of them pulled under the earth and mutilated beyond recognition. From the looks of it, they fell to some type of creature. Though no one could tell what kind.

There seemed to have been a fight in the entry hall and six men lay dead in various ways.

There was only one foreign magical signature that tested positive for casting the curses that killed every man in the manor.

Lord Malfoy was discovered in his study badly bruised and killed with a 'Killing Curse'. It looked like he was beaten before being killed.

The discovery was made by a Ministry aid who was sent to check on Lord Malfoy after the man hadn't answered post sent to his residence. They young woman made it a hundred feet past the gates before she saw a hand sticking out of the ground and panicked returning to the Ministry in hysterics. The Aurors were quickly sent out to investigate, she was now sedated in the ministry infirmary.

When the Auror team had searched the house they also found a trove of dark artifacts in the drawing room, hidden under the floor in a secret compartment.

However the most unsettling discovery had been finding over a dozen badly decayed corpses in the dungeons most likely muggles. They were tortured if the badly broke limbs was any indication and killed by magical means between two and six months ago.

Alastor was thoroughly disgusted especially since a few of them were far too small to be adults, the minister was close friends with this monster so it most likely would get swept under the rug.

Harold Minchum was a hardliner and over all an effective minister, but he still took a few kickbacks from the older families. He also regularly entertained Abraxas in his office at the Ministry, if the press found out about this shot would hit the fan.

Moody had a hunch this was 'The Reaper's' work, the fact that all the recently dead had a 'Dark Mark' on their left forearms made it pretty obvious. The Reaper seemed to hate the Dark Lord and was responsible for more than a hundred dead 'Death Eaters'.

The spook's from the D.o.M would confirm for sure but Moody was a good Auror and trusted his gut on this one.

If this was "the Reapers" work and if he ever met the man, he would heartily shake his hand for riding the world of so many monsters.

He was interrupted in his musings by Captain Bones "Sir, the 'Gray Cloak' confirmed it was 'The Reaper', but we have a bigger problem." She told him in her usual professional tone.

"What's the bigger problem Auror Captain?" Moody asked her noticing a beetle was perched on her shoulder, odd for November.

"One of the marked Death Eaters is a current student of Hogwarts, Damien Greengrass the Heir of the Greengrass family" Bones stated.

"Fuck! The press will be all over this. Send word to Dumbledore, maybe he will know how the kid got out of Hogwarts." Moody ordered.

"Yes Sir" Bones answered and left to carry out her orders.

'Well 'The Reaper' would be on the front page tomorrow. The Purebloods would be calling for his head but the public would hail him a hero' Moody thought wryly.

Still he would rather be scrapping Death Eaters off the ground then having them kill more innocent people.

/C.o.t.R\

Hogwarts Great Hall, Scotland, 12/19/1975, 09:30

Harry was expecting the paper to have bad news today, yesterday Dumbledore had called a full staff meeting to explain the circumstances of the death of Damien Greengrass. The staff had been baffled as to how he had got out of the school.

Harry had told them about the secret passages he had found in the past, he led them to believe he found them while curse breaking in seventy-three. He told them about the one on the third floor that appeared in a statue of One eyed Witch, then he brought up the mirror passageway on the fourth floor (that he knew Greengrass was using the night he died.) and finally about the passageway behind the statue of 'Gregory the Smarmy'.

The staff minus Filch were shocked at this news and when McGonagall asked "Why didn't you tell anyone Hadrian?"

Harry just answered "I thought you all knew about them, Minerva."

Once the shock wore of and the meeting broke up Dumbledore and Filch (Who admitted to knowing three more passages Harry hadn't mentioned) went to go and permanently seal them off.

Harry's Reminisce was broken by a swarm of silent flying mail owls, dropping off letters, sweets, and unfortunately 'Daily Prophets'. Harry could tell when the papers started unrolling because the chatter of students excited about going home for the holidays stopped almost immediately' Angry chatter could be heard at the Slytherin table. harry sighed and payed his own patiently waiting 'Prophet owl' before unfurling the paper'

Thirteen Dead in Malfoy Manor Massacre, The Reaper has Returned!

Twelve Muggles found Dead in Malfoy Basement, Ministry Tries to Cover it Up!

Greengrass Heir Found Dead at Malfoy Manor, Was suposed to Be at Hogwarts!

The Reaper is he a Hero or a Monster?

Harry sighed internally and read the article under first head line, in addition to the Greengrass heir he also killed the Rowle heir and of Course finished off the Malfoy line. The purebloods the "Daily Prophet' interviewed were beyond furious, however the average citizen seemed to be quite glad 'The Reaper' was getting rid of monsters that dwelled in pureblood society and ultimately seemed above the law.

The next article went into detail of what was found at the crime scene, they found a large compartment in the drawing room packed full of dark artifacts, But the real shocker had been in the basement dungeons bodies of badly decaying muggle corpses. The Ministry was trying their best to cover it up but the cat was already out of the bag before they could get a lid on it. Harry could hazard a guess as to who found this scoop and how they got on the scene undetected.

The next article was not very complimentary to Headmaster Dumbledore and wanted to know how a student snuck out of his school right under his nose. They then questioned if any of the students were safe and why the Headmaster couldn't keep track of such a prominent student. Harry thought the whole article was the Minister trying to share some of his bad press. It was next to impossible to keep an eye on every student even with the house elves, paintings and ghosts. the Ministry was known to pay for articles to be placed in the paper in his timeline, so he wouldn't be surprised if that was happening here.

The last article retold all the things the public was aware 'The Reaper' had done and their was a debate as to whether or not the he was doing a service for the community, or maybe he was some vigilante monster that was set on taking the over Ministry, and all these attacks on known death eaters was his way of taking out the competition. The latter view was in the minority but it was still there.

Sighing he got up he from the table, he had been assigned to watch over the students while they boarded the train home today. Professors 'McGonagall' and 'Slughorn' were riding the train to watch the students in route home. Thankfully he was taking Lily and Sirius home directly from Hogsmeade.

/C.o,t.R\

Grifindor Table, Great Hall Hogwarts

James Potter was not in a good mood, he had found out last night that his supposed best mate was spending the whole two weeks of vacation with Evans! Apparently Blacks grandfather was going out of town and leaving Sirius with Andy and Hadrian, who happened to be Evans new guardian. He wasn't mad they were staying under the same roof, he was annoyed that Sirius hadn't mentioned it to him sooner. He was however green with jealousy and also afraid as he knew exactly how Sirius was with girls. Maybe he could talk Sirius into inviting him over during the holidays just to keep an eye on the Padfoot.

/C.o.t.R\

Slyherin Table, Great Hall Hogwarts

Markus Mulciber was dreading his return home he had been summoned two nights ago to the to meet with the 'Dark Lord'. He was given a mission to retrieve an object from Hogwarts. The Dark Lord had instructed him to retrieve a Tiara from a room on the seventh floor across from some barmy wizard trying to teach trolls ballet. He was then told to pace three times in front of the wall and ask for the 'Room of Hidden Things'. The final step was to cast a spell ' Homo fractum Revelio" spell and find the Tiara, then bring it to the Dark Lord.

Simple right? Not fucking likely!

The first two steps were simple, but when he cast the spell it did nothing whatsoever. He searched the room as best he could for the last two days using the picture his master had given him of the item in question. He couldn't find it anywhere! Though admittedly he had barely been able to search a quarter of the room, the room was fucking enormous! Markus Mulciber was terrified of going home having heard stories of what happened to Rudolphus LeStrange. "I am so Fucked!' he thought as he got up to head out to the train.

/C.o.t.R\

Headmasters Office, Hogwarts,

Albus Dumbledore was having a very bad week. The fact that 'The Reaper' had killed over a dozen more people had upset him greatly, the fact the one of them had been a student who should have been in his school devastated the old man.

Then he found out two people on his staff knew multiple ways to leave the castle without detection and hadn't informed him, That had been a true test of his patience, not to mention his temper. He had sealed all six secret passages. He had even warded the one Mr. Lupin used for his monthly transformation, so only him and Madam Pomfret could enter at either end.

He was trying to stay ahead of this situation, because he knew when this mornings 'Prophet' went out a shit storm of epic proportions was headed his way (which was why he didn't take breakfast in the hall this morning). Sure enough immediately following the paper was a summons to appear before the 'Board of Governors', he had already been questioned by the Ministry yesterday morning so he had that behind him at least.

Looking out his office window he scowled at seeing a rather large flock of owls and most were clutching red letters in their talons. Sighing he conjured so earmuffs and prepared for a very frustrating morning.

/C.o.t.R\

Black Residence, Northumberland, England, 12/19/1975, 10:30

Harry appeared onto the drive leading up to his new house with Sirius and Lily in tow. The new house was a two story brick construction, with a slate roof. It was right at the edge of the 'Kielder forest' and it was fairly close to his old house in Durham (about seventy-five miles or so).

This house however was a complete wizard property and had wizarding amenities such as magical stove and charmed pantry and icebox. With seven bedrooms, five bathrooms and a much larger floor plan than his old house, he was quite happy with it.

They also owned five acres of field they could fly a broom over since they didn't have a neighbor for miles.

"Wow! Harry this is very nice" Lily gushed.

"Thanks, the old place was getting a bit tight and the new baby will be here in May." Harry told her simply..

"What are you doing with the old place?" Sirius asked curiously.

"I stripped the barn of enchantments and put it up for sale, I already sold the twenty-seven acres I was renting to Conolly's. Jim was using it to raise feed for his herd so he had no problem buying the land." Harry answered.

Before any one could say anything else Nymmie came running out and Harry scooped her up "Hey daddy mommies is waiting for you before we decorate the tree" she said in a rush.

"And where is your brother?" Harry asked mock sternly.

"Helping mommy make cookies" The pink haired girl explained.

Harry set her back on the ground, "That means Andy let him lick the the spoon after she mixed the cookie dough." Harry explained for the teens.

"Hello Nymmie how are you?" Sirius asked his little cousin.

"I'm good Daddy said he was going to teach me to fly a broom soon." the girl exclaimed.

Lily scowled "Isn't she a little to young for that Harry?" Lily asked her tone disapproving.

"I am not to young, I'm almost five." Nymmie protested.

"It's a training broom and I'll be with her." Harry said casually as he led the three towards the house.

Harry wad really looking forward to teaching the kids to fly that's the main reason he wanted someplace sucluded, though it had taken a lot of reassuring on his part before Andromeda would agree to let him teach the kids to fly.

Entering the house Iggy ran up to him, he still had smears of cookie dough on his cheeks.

"Dad, can we decorate the tree now please?" his son begged.

Nymphadora soon joined in the begging and then much to his annoyance Sirius.

"Nymmie and Iggy we will wait until your mother is ready." Harry told his kids gently " Sirius shut up or I will have Andy run you through hand to hand traning for the rest of the holidays, when the beg it's cute. When you do it, it annoys me." Harry said flatly.

Nymmie stuck her tongue out at Sirius.

"Nymphadora Black, that is not how young ladies behave." said a stern voice from Harry's right.

"Hello Lily. Hello Sirius, Harry will show you to your rooms, then you can help us decorate the tree." she said before kissing Harry's cheek.

Harry smiled to himself he was really loved having a family to spend Christmas with. Before he came back in time he never had anyone, and now he felt like the luckiest guy in the world.