Disclaimer:

It's JKR's world, I just play in it.

THIS IS A MAJOR SPOILER BOTH FOR THE CONCLUSION OF GHOSTS AND FOR GABRIEL'S SORTING. TURN BACK NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW.

REALLY.

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My Gabriel --

I do not know where to begin, but perhaps with you I have never known where to begin. I did not expect to have a child.

I am so sorry -- sorry that I will not be there for the life spread out before you and sorry for my many failings, both as a man, and as a father. It is with fear, awe and reverance I have loved you and if this ever seemed not to be the case, I assure you, the fault was not your own.

Your Sorting was one of the proudest moments of my life and the tentative smile you gave as you took your place in Gryffindor broke my heart, although the reason for this is other than you have been led to expect. Sometimes the Hat chooses your place, not based on what you have, but what you will need. That night foretold, to both your mother and my self, the fate I go momentarily and too soon to meet.

I have done many terrible things in my life, Gabriel, and only some, a very few, were out of necessity. I have both seen and been the worst of men and the life of a spy is neither glamorous nor wholesome. In the days to come this will no doubt be made far too clear, far too publicly. Trust that your mother and the Headmaster can no longer be shocked by who I have been and that they can perhaps help you make some sense of this life that has so confounded me.

Please take care of your mother, please help her, I do not even know what to ask of you. She is so very strong, and sorely deserves the opportunity not to be. I hope you two will have the sense to give each other the room you need to grieve.

This pendant is, as you well know, the token of our wedding pledge. I promised your mother, my wife, that I would never return it to her and so I pass this memory of who I was and who we were, to you.

You may spend much of your life trying to out run fate, most of us do. Now that it finally comes for me, I will tell you it is a warm fear. I am so glad to have had you in my life; you give me cause to regret leaving it.

While redemption may indeed be possible for us all, please honor me by never having need of it.

Your Father,

Severus Snape.