Guiltiness

Epilogue

A period of calm had finally arrived for Harry and Draco. It was the holidays again, and their sons had successfully passed their exams with unexpectedly excellent results. Harry was the happiest he'd ever been. He was now living with Draco at Malfoy Manor (!!!) and enjoying his vacation. He lay beside Draco in bed, showering kisses all over his body. He stopped momentarily when his mouth touched the one part of Draco's body he had been avoiding. It was the left arm on which the dark mark was still clearly visible. But this time, Harry decided to continue. He loves Draco whole, with everything that belongs to him. He gently kissed the snake emerging from the skull. The pain that ignited the scar on his forehead at that moment almost paralysed him.

Draco gently moved him away from that cursed place. "Harry, you don't have to...."

But Harry didn't give up. He kissed the dark mark again and again, even though it felt like it was going to burn him alive. Because he noticed a miracle - the mark under his kisses became increasingly pale until some parts of it disappeared completely. It took an incredibly long time, or so it seemed to him, before Draco's arm was once again pristine, white, without any trace of anything evil.

Draco looked in disbelief, first at his healed hand and then at Harry.

"I don't know how you did this, but I will never stop being grateful."

He pushed the hair away from Harry's face so he could look into his eyes better. "Harry, your scar – it's gone!" He froze in surprise.

Harry stared in disbelief at the mirror on the wall. The scar determined him almost as much as Draco his dark mark. A scar that excluded him from normality and made demands on him that he could hardly meet. A scar that separated him from the community of ordinary magicians and bound him to things that he often did not understand. His destiny, his commitment, his curse.

"Now, if only I could get rid of the Potter name and live like a normal human," Harry sighed.

Draco gave him a teasing look. "I would know of a solution if you don't mind being called Malfoy."

Harry looked at him in disbelief.

"Will you marry me, Harry Potter?" Draco asked in all seriousness.

Harry remained silent.

"Are you scared, Potter?" Draco asked with a nervous laugh.

"No, yes," stammered Harry. "I am not scared, and I will marry you, Draco Malfoy."

From behind the bedroom door came the muffled laughter of two boys.

"If you gave Dad a basket now, you'd get the Cruciatus."

"No, Scorpius," Harry countered. "If I had made a different decision now, I would have deserved Avada."

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