Chapter 62

Alex walked out of the bank, waving goodbye to his fellow Curse Breakers.

"Sanders!" a voice called.

Alex turned to see an Auror running towards him.

"We found another cursed object. Have a moment to spare?"

"Yes," Alex said. "Where is it?"

Alex followed the Auror back into the bank. The goblins ignored them. They went into another room. The Auror nodded at a second Auror. The second Auror uncovered an object on the table. Alex could feel the dark magic radiating from the object. It was a necklace made of gold with a single emerald in the middle lined with tiny diamonds.

"Give me a moment," Alex said.

The two Aurors nodded and left the room. Alex studied the objects with a piercing gaze. Gently and carefully, he extracted the dark magic with a practiced hand, careful not to touch it. Then Alex pulled out a simple silver ring. The ring absorbed the dark magic quickly and then Alex placed the ring back in his pocket, hiding the dark magic with his own magic. He looked at the necklace. It really was quite beautiful. Alex turned and left the room.

"It's done," he told the two Aurors.

"You really are one of the best, Sanders," the first Auror said. "I don't know how you do it."

Alex smiled secretively.

"A trade secret," he said.

The first Auror laughed as his partner gathered the necklace up and stored it carefully.

"Well, have a good day," the Auror said.

"You too," Alex said, nodding.

Alex left the bank. As he walked down the street of the alleyway, his mind began wandering a little. He knew his friends back in England would be suspicious to why he hesitated when they asked if they could visit him in America, especially Hermione. She knew him well enough to detect even the slightest of the hesitation; the others wouldn't notice as much. But they had to believe Alex was teaching at a muggle university. Knowing his true profession as a Curse Breaker would make them want to know why he was still meddling in dark magic.

Nobody else knew what Alex had been doing for the past fifteen years and nobody would ever know if Alex could help it. It was a dangerous secret. If anyone knew he had been searching for dark artifacts around the world for a singular purpose, they would find out his secret. Anyone who did manage to get close to the truth, they were eliminated immediately. Alex couldn't take any risks. While he had mellowed out throughout the years, he had no qualms about killing if necessary.

A year ago, he had settled in America after finding what he needed to find in order to build an object that would do as needed. He had become a sort of Curse Breaker several years ago and decided to keep doing it, for real this time. He had grown rather fond of the job and it paid well. But it served another purpose as well. It wasn't uncommon for Curse Breakers to ask Aurors to leave the room during an extraction of dark magic from a cursed object. Therefore, nobody knew Alex hadn't been destroying the dark magic but instead collecting it in another dark object he had found a while ago that could store dark magic in large amounts.

Alex got a few books from the bookstore, waving goodbye to the clerk as he left the store. He turned on his heel and Apparated out of the alleyway. He appeared in front of a medium sized cottage. He quickly checked the wards around the cottage before going inside. It was a peaceful area, but rumored to be cursed. Alex bought the cottage, knowing it was a good location to stay hidden. If nobody approached the area, it was only good news for him. Nobody would come looking for him here if they were too afraid of the rumors surrounding the area.

A black cat jumped into his arms as Alex entered the door. Alex caught the cat effortlessly. The cat purred as it settled down in his arms. Alex smiled slightly and stroked the soft black pelt. He closed the door and locked it with a spell. The cat looked up at him with glowing green eyes, as if asking him how his day went. Alex's smile widened slightly.

"It went fine," he said.

The black cat meowed before hopping down to the ground. Alex took the ring and books out of his pocket and set them on a nearby small table before going to his room to change into more comfortable clothes. He got rid of his disguise and went back into the main room, dressed in sweat pants and a t-shirt.

Alex went into the kitchen and made two mugs of tea. He carried them into the living room. He set one mug down before sitting down, the second mug in his hand. He grabbed a book and began reading it. A couple pages in, a black cat leapt into his lap, meowing. Alex gazed into the golden eyes and smiled slightly, moving his book. The cat purred in satisfaction and settled in his lap.

"How are you, Hedwig?" Alex muttered, stroking the cat's silky black pelt.

Hedwig meowed in reply and licked his hand once before going to lick her paw. Alex stopped stroking Hedwig, instead resting his hand on her back. After a few moments, Hedwig laid her head on top of her paws, closing her luminous golden eyes, purring softly. The black she-cat was as young as she was fifteen years ago, having been kept alive, healthy, and young.

Alex felt the couch drop slightly on the other side. He lowered his book slightly, his ice blue eyes piercing.

"How are you holding up?" he asked.

"I'm fine. Thanks for the dark magic again."

"No problem," Alex replied. "Are you satisfied with everything that's happened?"

Glowing green eyes met his, slitting briefly.

Harry smiled as he twirled the silver ring between his fingers. His eyes dropped to fix on Hedwig, who was sleeping peacefully on his twin's lap.

"Everything worked out perfectly~"

~Fin~

Hello everyone! Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Now then, there are a few options for my next project.

Option 1: a sequel to this story

Option 2: another Harry Potter fanfic

Option 3: a story from a different fandom

Let me know what you think. :)