Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of J.K. Rowling's characters/plots/places. I just own my original plot and characters.

A man cannot free himself from the past more easily than he can from his own body. -André Maurois


To my Little Weasel,

There are many things I'd like to say to you that I have never had the courage to say. I've spent a lifetime telling myself that even when I was with you, I could never love you the way that you wanted me to...

Now that I'm dead, there are several things I need to tell you that I never could have...

Our daughter, Laurie, is the best thing that ever happened to me, not only because she's mine, but because I was able to see her grow up outside of the world I was raised in. I'm sorry I was never there as often as I should have been.

You... I never could understand my obsession in you... I was forced to submit to you even after we were married and that was something I never wanted to do. Power was the only thing I had complete control over and you took that away from me the moment our lips touched. I let myself become controlled by you... I allowed myself to need you in a way that I've never needed anything else and I allowed myself to love you against my better judgment. For that, I'm sorry. I would have killed you myself if I had known how bad things would have gotten.

Now for some confessions...

In my life, I've killed three hundred and ninety-two people. Whether or not they deserved to be killed is left to interpretation. I have deflowered two hundred and sixty-seven girls and women, but I have never raped one of them. You are the only one who has had the misfortune to raise my child. I have ruined the lives of seven hundred and two people through blackmail, extortion, murder, and other forms of less than legal status. I have never been found guilty of any of my crimes.

Now... I sit here, waiting for death to finally release me from the hate, the guilt and the pain that has built up in side of me since I was five...

Ginny.

I never wanted to love you. I never wanted you to have my child. I never wanted the last words that came out of my mouth to be 'I love you.'

But I do. And you did. And they were.

So, as things begin to dim and my life finally comes to a merciful end, I only ask for one thing.

Not that you love me... but that you forgive me.

Draco

Draco Malfoy folded the letter up and tucked it in his pocket, glancing to his side at Severus Snape, who had been watching him carefully the entire time he had read the letter silently to himself. Severus gave him a weird look before turning to talk to Dumbledore.

Draco sighed and turned to the breakfast in front of him while the teachers around him chattered idly. In front of them, students moved in and out of the Great Hall, talking loudly about their schedules and Quiddich as well as their summers. He scanned the Hall quickly and caught sight of two girls coming in, both smiling and attracting a lot of attention from the male population.

One of them was tall, beautiful and looked nothing like her shorter, pretty counterpart. The older one's long curly auburn hair clashed with the younger one's extremely short blonde hair as well as the differences in eyes. The older one had laughing bright blue eyes while the younger one had stormy grey eyes that somehow managed to be happy and intimidating at the same time.

Rayne Malfoy-Weasley and Reilly Weasley.

Rayne led Reilly to a group of Gryffindors sitting in the middle of the table and they sat down, talking with all of them. Reilly would occasionally glance up at Draco, but she kept the glances short and in very little supply.

Her attendance at the school was already driving suspicion within the student body due to her uncanny resemblance to the new DADA teacher. She knew better than to draw even more attention to their previous arrangement…

"You know anything about curses, Weasley?" he asked.

"A little," she stuttered, startled by the way he had used her last name.

Draco looked up into her bright grey eyes before he stood up. She stood up as well, waiting for him to speak. He wrote down something on a piece of parchment and handed it to her.

"Since it's your first year, I'm not legally permitted to teach you anything good, but come by after dinner twice a week."

"Why?"

His eyes met hers.

"So big brother can teach you how to defend yourself."

"She's going to have an interesting road ahead of her, Draco."

The young man turned to see that Minerva McGonagall also had her eyes on the little girl. He shrugged and returned to his food.

"I suppose…"

McGonagall glanced over at Draco before standing up.

"I hope you don't plan on leaving her like you did her mother," she said before walking away.

Draco watched her leave before glancing over at Reilly again.

She was laughing with Rayne and the others around her about something. He shifted his gaze over to the Slytherin table and could instantly see hatred in some of the eyes of several of the students. Students who had been told by their parents about what Draco had done eleven years ago… students who would not stop until something was done to correct that mistake…

No…

He would not leave her like he did her mother…

Not yet anyway…

A/N: I KNOW! I woke up this morning and I thought, holy crap! I've got to start a sequel, so I wrote this quickly and decided to put it online so that you all would know that I'm at least starting. Please don't expect thorough updates though. My first priority is Be My Escape, because I did say I would finish that first. So please be patient. It may be a week or even more between updates. I'll do my best.

Enjoy!