Stalin could have changed.  It wouldn't have unfilled the graves he created with his victims.  For the purpose of the story I accept that she loved her son, but to quote Goodman Grey, she evidently was a piece of work.

But apparently she did redeem herself, she was well on the way to Hell according to Chauncy, "but the Dark Prince lost her in the end."  Chauncy also mentions "redemption," and the "unnatural death of both father and mother."  So Margaret apparently paid for her sins and redeemed herself, true, as far as the deaths she caused goes, you cannot unring that bell, but there is such a thing as forgiveness.

Nothing about his birth was random. Not the when or the why.  Malcolm may or may not be a scion.  But she was moving to a point.  She may have regretted doing to Harry whatever she did.  But the operative phrase is "she did".  So Harry was meant to be born on Halloween.  Margaret couldn't control conception but she could control time.  She could lay up in the Nevernever and come out when the time was at hand.

I doubt that Malcolm was a scion, Eb says he was merely a mortal vanilla human with one of the best souls he ever saw.  No, nothing was random about Harry's conception or his birth, that is why his parents feel guilty, Harry had no say in a lot of what is going to come down on him because of what he is.  Oh and conception can be controlled,  I imagine that Margaret was very in-tuned to her body and her cycle, she'd know exactly when she was fertile, and marking when the stars were aligned exactly for the conception of a star child to be possible.   

While it wouldn't surprise me if Murphy died, I don't see the Grim Reaper standing over her (and Eb's) shoulder(s) like everyone else seems to.

  I'd hate it if Eb died, his character still seems to serve it's purpose.  However if it is a step necessary for Harry to continue to evolve into what he needs to become to lead the fight or be a key component in the BAT, so be it.  Not sure if it has to happen just yet though.

I see Murphy dying because she has become awkward as a character for lack of a better word since
she left the police force.  The tough punk rocker look as head of the Justice League, seemed weird to me.  She may have worked out as a Holy Knight, but that concept got blown out of the water.  I don't see her as lover to Harry for very long either, for a number of reasons.  So best she die heroically, Harry can mourn her and it will be another step in his evolution..
 

Whatever was done to Harry she felt guilt over it.

That one isn't hard to figure out, it is the same guilt that Malcolm felt.  They conceived a star child,  that put a huge burden on Harry before he even drew his first breath.  The fate of mankind could very well rest on his shoulders someday, and he didn't ask for any of it.  That is the kind of thing that makes a loving parent feel guilty.

@Mira: I'm thinking that Margaret was starting to regret how her life turned out before she met Malcolm and wanted out but needed some type of plan for it. Then she met Malcolm and fell for him.
Yeah that 'plan' was never really elaborated on, but I could very well be wrong.
I think we're in agreement about the ways of killing Malcolm are many. . (I shouldn't put a smile-y there, he dies after all, lol)
@g33k: Better show that thread to Harry, lol.

  However there is no evidence that Margaret regretted her life before she met Malcolm.  But you could be right, the way it is written in Blood Rites is a bit ambitious.  Eb says she turned away from her old life, Justin etc, was on the run for a couple of years, Wardens had orders to arrest her on sight for immediate trial and execution, Eb also had orders but he never said what they were.. Harry asks what happened?  Eb simply answers that she met Malcolm and what a good soul he had. 

However it isn't clear why she began to run,  did she truly begin to regret?  Or was the heat getting too great and she had to get out of the kitchen?  Did meeting Malcolm begin her transformation or merely finish a job well on it's way?

Not necessarily:

• Margaret could easily have grabbed a fair bit of cash and/or other resources, in departing from Papa's.
• As an experienced and powerful WC practitioner, she may well have had accounts she had set up in case she needed resources.
• Last but not least, the perennial "how do wizards earn money" thread(s) give us lots of options whereby Margaret could have easily earned plenty to live on.

But it's strongly implied that Malcom was pretty poor, as Harry was growing up.  So all of Margaret's financial contributions -- if any -- were on an ad-hoc basis, rather than investments/accounts that could be used on an ongoing basis.

Maybe, but she may have lost all her finances when she gave up her old life.  Also I am willing to bet
that Malcolm is who Harry gets his old fashioned ideas about how to treat women from.  Malcolm would want to be the bread winner..  Not only that, but it sounds like Margaret wasn't pardoned by the White Council, so she'd have to keep a pretty low profile.

The 'plan' they keep talking about is from 'Changes' IIRC. Arianna, Lord Raith, Margaret, and Eb were all at a dinner party that was hosted by Lord Raith. Margaret and Eb got into an argument and from there, Arianna realized that they were related b/c they fought like family. I don't think the books ever got more specific about what said plan was but I bet it had to do w/ running a con on the council, as a way to get them to change their laws. Eb disagreed and it might be that b/c of that, it fell through.

I think I may have misunderstood, because the plan I was thinking about was the plan to give birth to a star born. 

don't really like the idea of Malcolm being anything other than a stage magician who is interested in 'actual' magic. But I do think that Margaret planned on having a starborn before she met Malcolm, only to fall in love w/ him once she realized what a kind person he was.

I doubt it because Margaret didn't begin to change until she met Malcolm and fell in love with him. 

Maybe they went to DC to meet Morgan?  They could have met under a flag of truce, and b/c she was pregnant, Morgan decided to hear her out. From there they worked out a deal. The photo could be the few times Margaret steps out of Winter to go do something. So maybe she wasn't quite living w/ Malcolm at the time or he lived w/ her?

Perhaps, though I believe that she was married to Malcolm and they lived lovingly together.  However as a professional magician, even a mediocre one, he had to be on the road a lot to make a living for her and the child.

The only thing is, that if Malcolm and Margaret were in love, then Lara or any other WCV wouldn't be able to feed from him. Though Lara could use a catspaw to assassinate him, so the point still stands. I like this idea a lot.

No, but that doesn't leave out other ways of murdering someone.. Lord Raith didn't kill Margaret by feeding upon her.

Malcolm may be on the side of the angels after he met Margaret, b/c Uriel saw an opportunity to help bring Harry into existence.  Lea putting a hit on Malcolm could be what supposedly makes her come into conflict w/ Harry down the line, per WOJ.

What is that WOJ exactly?  Just because killing Malcolm and promising to protect Harry seem to contradict each other.

I have never read about a photograph, from the timeline.Eb may have soul gazed him, but the question is, when?

Margaret is a busy little honey bee in her last days. She ditches Papa Raith, wires Thomas as a doomsday device, runs down a husband, gets pregnant, goes to DC, meets Morgan and has nine months of married bliss. All before dying in the delivery room.  One presumes that she performed some kind of service either in the former here and now or prior to the events, with Lea.  She's a little energizer bunny.  A one hundred and seventy year old energizer bunny.  I'm trying to connect all of those dots.

   Since she was still able to conceive children, apparently 170 years for a wizard isn't that old in vanilla human terms, even if say she was the equivalent of 45 vanilla years.  She also spent quite a bit of those years in the Nevernever, that time may have also affected the physical aging process. 

Perhaps when Eb first met Malcolm, which is very plausible, after all here is this ordinary vanilla human, his daughter falls in love with him and is trying to change her ways.  He'd want to know just who in the hell this person was, so yeah, first meeting, soul gaze.   It is significant and good evidence that he says it is " as good a soul like few I've ever seen."  He doesn't talk man, he talks soul and no doubt Eb has soul gazed and seen a lot of souls in his lifetime. 

I have never read about a photograph, from the timeline.

I am thinking it was Changes after his apartment burned, that Harry talks about the photo.  But he
talks about a photo of them in Washington D.C. and she is pregnant and happy.

Margaret is a busy little honey bee in her last days. She ditches Papa Raith, wires Thomas as a doomsday device, runs down a husband, gets pregnant, goes to DC, meets Morgan and has nine months of married bliss. All before dying in the delivery room.  One presumes that she performed some kind of service either in the former here and now or prior to the events, with Lea.  She's a little energizer bunny.  A one hundred and seventy year old energizer bunny.  I'm trying to connect all of those dots.

One doesn't "run down a husband,"  that implies something of convenience, cold and calculated.  Eb in Blood Rites is very clear on that, she fell in love with a vanilla mortal of no consequences except
he had a very good soul, that influence changed her.  I'm thinking the changes were significant before she ran into Morgan, and that is why he spared her in the first place. 

Here is the order I think things happened..

1] Margaret meets Malcolm, where or why, unknown, she instantly falls in love with him.  Now
was that the result of an inadvertent soul gaze?  Who knows, but meeting him changes her perception about humanity.  She begins to think it might be worth saving after all.  She becomes a better person for Malcolm, and he falls in love with her.  This gives her the strength to leave Raith and her son, little Thomas.  Why leave her baby?  Perhaps she felt he was lost to the Hunger at some point, or if she took him Raith would never leave them alone. 
2]  She introduces him to her father, who also soul gazes him.  Tells her what he sees, very much the same as what she sees, then she begins to form her plan.  Somehow I doubt that she let Eb in on it, does Eb even know at this point that Harry is a star child?

3] She is happy with Malcolm which cements her plans, she is worried about Raith though, so she lets the Winter Court in on her plans,  a bargain is struck and Lea is named the godmother of the child that Margaret will conceive.   She gets pregnant, her and Malcolm visit D.C., there she meets Morgan, hell, he may be the one that took the photo, and asks him to also watch over the baby.. 
We know the rest.   

Political acumen and connections - no and not exactly.

Yes, he does actually, to both..  He showed political acumen when he bested the Merlin in a debate
at Molly's trial, though he also made an enemy there.  And he does have connections both on the Senior Council and outside of it, powerful ones.