Here we go again! Things are really going to get moving here... Thanks for the reviews!

He just continues to screw himself.

I laugh every morning when I get The Daily Prophet delivered and see the headlines. Now the bastard's going and looking sleazy with younger women! Well, the reporters certainly ate that up. I'm reading the paper now. Basically it's informing everyone that Lucius Malfoy gets guiltier and guiltier in his actions just by showing the world his newfound 'affectionate' side for other women while I'm missing. Is this Thomas woman anything to him? Absolutely not. I'm 100% sure of it. But I am sure that his stupidity and obliviousness to others and the world around him are what's going to get him tossed away into Azkaban. Isn't this the lesson I'm trying to teach him? That the world does not revolve around Lucius Malfoy alone? I think it's hitting him hard. He never was a particularly good student. He just charmed his way to his teacher's marks.

Draco and I are finally settled into a delightful little cottage just far enough away from civilization, but still in a small community of dwellers that enjoy a peaceful living outside the chaotic disruption of the post-war world. The cottage came furnished (although not what we're used to) and we go out to the store for food every now and then. Draco has taken a liking to cooking for me. It's nice to see him smiling again. He doesn't beam, he doesn't laugh, but he gives a gentle little twitch of the lips as he tells me to step away from the stove and sit down in a chair. He then goes and begins making all sorts of things for dinner—and I must say, they're quite good. He's clearly earned a culinary talent from me. We eat together every night, then we go and talk about all the strings of newspaper headlines we've saved out; sometimes I get a little afraid that Draco is nervous about seeing his father get sent to jail again. He tells me some things about it, but mainly they're just guilt-related sentiments that I can quickly dispel by reminding him of the first time Lucius was locked up, and how Draco had to take on the impossible task he was given by the Dark Lord. He cheers up a bit after that. Sometimes he even adds to the conversations—it's always interesting to play the 'let's-predict-the-next-stupid-Lucius-move' game.

The cottage is a small one-room arrangement, so Draco and I have to share a bed. Neither of us mind, of course. He admitted he feels a little safer sleeping right beside me. It's a really special thing, to be a mother and have a son that is in his late teens, and still have him wanting to curl up beside you like he was a little boy again. It makes me feel like less of a bad person. We've been living here for several days now, and it really couldn't be going any better. Sometimes if we're feeling brave, we leave the cottage and go for a walk through the little community. There's a swimming pool here, a nature trail, a recreational center, and lots of friendly people. So far we just like to walk. The neighbors really like Mildred and Roger Vane—they invite us over for tea upon several occasions. Draco is incredibly nervous the whole time, so I had to spontaneously add a detail to his character's 'story' to make it seem less suspicious.

I tell people now (only the ones we're a little close to) that Draco, or Roger, for that matter, is partially deaf. He only has a quarter of his hearing left, so that's why he can't answer any of their questions and why he appears to be so nervous—he doesn't know what's happening around him. It's because he got deathly ill as a baby, and me being a single mother couldn't afford to get him proper treatment at St. Mungo's. He had Dragon Pox. It ravished his poor infant body and left him with little hearing, but he survived. He is my miracle baby. He lived.

And they actually buy it!

Of course, whenever they ask about my husband, I always tell them that he cheated on me and left after I told him that I was pregnant with his child. The idea of having a baby was too permanent for him—he was a very noncommittal man. So he left me all alone for his newer, younger mistress, and I had to fend for myself and my unborn child alone. What a horrible story! But parts of it could count as true. Lucius did leave me alone. Maybe not in a cheating way, or something as devastating as leaving his pregnant wife for a younger little thing, but he left me in ways that are even deeper. He left me for a man. An entity. The Dark Lord. Lucius no longer strived to be the family pureblood man that he longed to be for so long—after the rise of the Dark Lord again once the Potter boy came around to the wizarding world, Lucius desperately wanted power. He wanted acceptance. He wanted the same thing I warned him about that had caused my sister to be thrown into Azkaban herself; she got so wrapped up in trying to please the Dark Lord that she became reckless. She got caught. And I knew the way that Lucius was going (fighting to maintain a good image while doing horrible things, the screw-up with the Weasley girl's diary, the lobbying in the Ministry) his ticks were almost up. It was only a matter of time before he faced the same fate. But he didn't care. He just kept going, thinking it was really getting him somewhere. He forgot he had a wife and son to love more.

I'm sitting across from Draco in one of the small chairs by the cottage fireplace. He's reading the paper from this morning, I've got the evening edition. Ah, good. They've got Molly in for questioning. This plan is going just as I expected it to! I'm sure you're wondering what a pureblood Malfoy had to do with one of the Weasleys—in fact, there's a good reason.

I made a friendship with Molly when I was at Hogwarts—just a casual, friendly relationship where if I ever looked lost in my first year, she'd point me in the right direction. Or if I got stood up by my date at a ball, she'd call me over to laugh with her and her friends. We kept in touch over the years—I told her of my struggle to conceive Draco, I told her of the miracle when he was born, I told her that we had to stop communicating because Lucius had ordered it. Of course he had. It wasn't a lie. But it wasn't entirely the truth either. I sent her my patronus (a beautiful swan, which I'm quite proud of) holding a distressed message that told her my husband was forbidding any more communication, and that I was so sorry that our years of friendship had to end the way it did. Was I planning this grand fake death all those years ago? Of course not. But I knew Lucius was getting a little too big for his britches. I knew I would someday want a divorce. And anything that would make him look as controlling and manipulative as he was would be great findings. He told me that we didn't want to be associated with such a disgraceful family—so I relayed the message to her. I got a reply from her patronus that was tearful, that told me to be strong, and that reassured me that if I ever needed her for anything all I had to do was call. Molly Weasley is a very good person. I'm sure she would've acted the same way towards anyone that told her of what was happening at home. She's just that nurturing kind of person.

Now, it's just opportune for our past friendship to be made public.

Because she's in questioning—she's going to tell the Aurors a whole slew of things that Lucius wouldn't know, or wouldn't be able to accurately match. She's going to expose his tyranny. He'll have nothing to defend himself with. He'll only have the notion that she and I haven't spoken in several years, which is correct, but all she has to do is bring up the patronus story and everyone will lose their minds at the sadness of it all. They'll turn against him. Every time he opens his mouth he'll just be digging his grave deeper. I never lied to Molly. No. I never even stretched the truth. All I did was unload the truth to her at specific and well-timed intervals in case I ever needed a divorce. She would always back me up. I knew it. I did the same with Severus for the same reason—told the exact same stories, had the same reactions to Lucius, everything. But unfortunately he passed away in the war.

I never go without a backup plan.

Molly is just that. I feel a little guilt for throwing her into this, but from what the newspapers are saying, she's apparently just absolutely desperate to find me alive—she's crying, hysterical, making handmade posters to find me and my Draco. It's all real, that's for sure. She doesn't want to be laden with guilt or regret either. And I'm sure she's afraid of Lucius and what he's become. It all works for me. The Daily Prophet said they're going to post her entire interview tomorrow morning. I can't wait to see what she said.

I can't wait to see the headline that reads "Ex-Death Eater Convicted of Domestic Murder".