Chapter 2

Alex walked into the cottage. He sighed in relief and leaned against the door. He closed his eyes briefly, relishing in the quiet.

"Hard day?"

Alex opened his eyes to see his twin poking his head out of the kitchen. Harry wore his usual attire, scarf and all. A silver colored clip clipped his long bangs back. Harry had obviously been doing something when Alex came home, most likely brewing a potion or doing something else.

"You could say that," Alex said, dropping his disguise.

He ran a hand through the now black strands of hair.

"Got an unexpected visit from Hermione and the others today," Alex said.

Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? Did they bring their children? What are they, almost second years? Are they annoying?" he asked.

Alex blinked at him.

"I never told you any of that," he said finally.

Harry grinned eerily.

"You didn't have to tell me anything. I have my ways~" he said.

Alex sighed tiredly, already feeling a headache coming.

"Of course you do," he muttered.

Harry's grin faded as he studied his twin.

"You look exhausted. Go take a nap." he said.

Alex nodded. His reflexes kicked in and caught something Harry tossed to him. He recognized it as Dreamless Sleeping Potion.

"I cook something up for you later," Harry said. "Go sleep for now."

Alex dragged his feet over to the bedroom. There was one main bedroom and then there was an entire underground floor to the cottage that served as Harry's room and lab. That way, if they had visitors, nobody would question why Alex had two bedrooms.

Alex shrugged off his coat and robes, kicking his shoes off. He downed the potion in one go and collapsed onto the bed, falling asleep immediately.

It was evening when Alex woke up feeling quite refreshed now. He sat up, stretching and yawning. He shuffled out of his bedroom and into the living room. Harry was reading one of the books Alex had gotten earlier that day. Of course the younger twin would find the books almost immediately.

"Food's in the kitchen," Harry muttered, not even looking up.

Alex nodded in thanks as he walked into the kitchen. Once he finished eating, he sat on the couch beside Harry.

"So, when are they coming over to visit?" Harry asked.

"I stalled by telling them I needed to clean up a little," Alex said.

Hedwig jumped into Alex's lap, meowing. Alex petted her, causing the cat to purr in content. Harry's sickly green eyes glanced at the cat settled on his twin's lap.

"That was a poor excuse. They know all too well how good you are at magic," Harry said.

"You think I don't know that? It was something I came up with at the spur of the moment. I was a little startled by their arrival." Alex said. "If they see you, even in your cat form, they'll be suspicious. And what about Hedwig? I can't just say I somehow found a cat that looks identical to Hedwig. They'll never buy it."

"I'll take care of it," Harry said. "Don't worry about it."

"How will you take care of it?" Alex asked. "Not to mention, if they find your lab, they'll find out you're still alive."

"I said I'll take care of it, so I will," Harry replied calmly.

Alex stared at his younger twin for a few long seconds before sighing.

"Fine," he said. "I'll leave it to you."

Alex paused. He pet Hedwig nervously. Harry closed his book and looked at him.

"What else?" he asked.

Alex continued to pet Hedwig.

"What about Hedwig?" he asked softly. "You can't keep her alive forever, Harry. Living Horcruxes are poor choices since the living being will age and die, killing the Horcrux along with it."

Harry set his book down and grabbed another one.

"Don't worry about it," he said once again.

"How can I not?" Alex asked. "You've been keeping Hedwig alive through the link between the Horcruxes and dark magic I've collected for you all this time for the past fifteen years. As soon as you pull back, she'll die instantly, killing the other half of your soul."

"I know perfectly well what will happen," Harry said. "I knew what I was doing when I made Hedwig a Horcrux."

"Did you?"

Harry fixed his sickly green eyes on Alex. Those unnaturally colored eyes seemed to pierce directly into his soul; Alex resisted a shudder.

"Don't worry about Hedwig. I will take care of her," Harry said in a low warning tone. "As for how, I will tell you later. Now isn't the right time."

"Just like your other plans," Alex said. "You never told me anything until the last moment."

Harry gave a slight smile.

"Everything I do is done for a purpose," he said. "You know that, Alex, better than anyone else. And you know I will eventually tell you everything. I could never keep anything from you after all."

Alex was silent for a second. Then-

"How do you feel?"

Harry blinked at the unexpected change of topic.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"How do you feel? How is your magic? You and I both know there are side effects to absorbing dark magic like you've been doing for the past year," Alex said.

"I feel fine," Harry said.

Alex narrowed his eyes at his twin.

"Harry..." he warned.

"I said I'm fine!" Harry snapped.

The windows shattered.

"I'm fine," Harry repeated, calmer this time. "Just leave it. If I experience any side effects, I'll tell you."

Alex studied him for a long moment. Then he reluctantly nodded, letting it go for now.

"Fine." he replied.

"Do you guys find it strange that Alex's excuse for us not visiting his place is because it's messy?" Ginny asked. "From what I know about him, Alex is not a messy person."

"Not only that, but he could clean everything up with barely a flick of his hand," Eric said.

"You think he's hiding something from us?" Ron asked.

"Since when is he not?" Ginny asked. "Alex counts us as friends, but he doesn't trust us."

"The kids are in bed, right?" Eric asked.

"Yes, I checked on them a little while ago," Ron said. "It's pretty late now and they're dead tired from the time zone change."

"I bet," Hermione said, sighing. "I'm pretty tired myself."

She stifled a yawn.

"What do you think, Hermione? About Alex's weird behavior today?" Eric asked.

"I honestly don't know. It was pretty suspicious, but...that's pretty normal for him." Hermione said.

"Out of all of us, you were the closest friend to him," Eric said. "You would know better than the rest of us if something were up with Alex."

"I'll think about it more after I get some sleep," Hermione said, failing to stifle her yawn this time. "I'm so tired right now."

Ron chuckled.

"We should all get to sleep," he said. "Tomorrow, we can talk about Alex more."

"Sounds good to me," Ginny said.

The two couples went to their separate rooms for the night, the light being waved out with a flick of a wand.