Defining Choices

Prologue

"'No, Draco,' said Dumbledore quietly. 'It is my mercy, and not yours, that matters now.'

Malfoy did not speak. His mouth was open, his wand hand still trembling. Harry thought he saw it drop by a fraction --

But suddenly footsteps were thundering up the stairs, and a second later Malfoy was buffeted out of the way as four people in black robes burst through the door onto the ramparts."

What if Draco Malfoy actually had time to take Dumbledore up on his offer. What if the Order was able to hold off the Death Eaters long enough for Draco to actually have a chance at redemption. What if Dumbledore quickly sent a patronus to an Order member and had Narcissa removed from the manner that night and placed in a safe house where Draco soon joined her. What if Dumbledore sent Draco to the safe house before the Death Eater's showed up in the tower. Dumbledore still dies at Snape's hand but Draco gets his chance at redemption.

oOoOoOo

Several months later

Draco Malfoy stood in the corner of a crowded sitting room wondering how he ended up here. Many of his classmates were seated around the room, listening to Remus Lupin prattle on about some mission as always. He knew he should be listening but he couldn't ignore all of the fleeting gazes that kept settling on him. He met every gaze with extreme boredom etched all over his face. His patience was running thin and it had been a long summer. Him and his mother had been staying with his Aunt Andromeda whom he had never met until the night he faced Dumbledore on that tower and everything changed.

That night on the astronomy tower with his wand pointed at Dumbledore, he had been offered something he never had before, a choice. Right or wrong, dark or light, Voldemort or Harry Potter, good or evil. It was a choice he got to make himself and he wholeheartedly knew he made the right one. Even if none of them made it out of this war alive, he knew that he would go down fighting on the right side, fighting for what was right, making a difference. That was the choice he made for himself and it was a choice he was proud of.

Around the sitting room of Grimmauld Place sat various members of what used to be Dumbledore's Army, Draco knew very little about the secret group that was formed in their 5th year. He noticed that most of the people in the room were in his year with the exception of Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood. He rolled his eyes at the thought of having a mission with all of his former Hogwarts classmates who he knew didn't trust him at all. He had only done a few minor mission's with Remus and Sirius throughout the summer. Otherwise, he had steered clear of his classmates up until now and he could understand why they would be questioning his presence in the Order Of The Phoenix's headquarters.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Hermione Granger who stood up abruptly from the couch where she was sitting. "Wait," she said with a shaky voice that he'd never heard her use before. "Are you saying that I won't be joining Ron and Harry on their mission, which Dumbledore himself gave the three of us?" She looked outraged. Draco perked up, waiting for her usual explosion of claimed injustices. She was trying so hard to hold it together that she had her arms wrapped firmly around her as if she would unravel if she didn't. Ginny reached up to try to pull her back down on the couch but Hermione stood firm, waiting for Remus to answer her.

"Yes, Hermione. That's exactly what I'm saying." Remus answered quietly, looking guilty. He looks away from her and all she does is sit back down on the couch in a daze just staring at the wall across from her. Draco was slightly disappointed there was no explosion but keeps listening to what Remus was saying, "It is important that ALL of you return to Hogwarts this year. I know it's not what any of you wanted but it's in the Order's best interest. We need to have eyes and ears everywhere, in every house." he says the last part as he stares at Draco and nods slightly.