Chapter 47 Pesky Doxies

Harry's POV

"My head, that's what it could hurt!" Harry yelled as he batted away more of the little creatures that were trying to shoot tiny arrows at him. Those that weren't shooting, were pulling his hair and trying to take out his eyes. If they didn't have those long nails, which were scratching his face, it wouldn't be too bad. It was a good thing he still used glasses for his map, or it could be a lot worst. Poor Sirius was holding his arm over his eyes, trying to see under it. "What the fuck are these things?" the dark-haired teen yelled again, running out of the room they had just entered.

His head crew was laughing at him. They knew that the doxies posed little danger for our hero, so didn't erect the shield. Well, Data and Worf were giving him instructions, while Spock was telling him all the things they were doing wrong. So, no, the crew was not helping. He wondered what that meant to have his own mind laugh at him.

"They're doxies," Sirius said as he too came out of the room, slamming the door behind him and leaning against it. He could hear the small thunks of the doxies as they failed to stop in time. "I've never seen them act like that before," he added, brushing the tiny arrows out of his hair.

"What? Like an army?" the teen said sarcastically. They had too, it was very bizarre to watch. One little guy took charge, with its little arm raised and yelling directions as loud as it could. Platoons of these pest would swarm, retreat, and then swarm again. They were very organized.

"Yeah, they usually just hang around in drapery, until their removed. Sure, they bite and scratch but never have I heard of them using weapons. I mean, how did they do that?" the dogman said, leaning against the wall wondering what they were going to do about the pesky doxies. "I didn't think they had any sentience as all. They are also venomous, we should get the antidote from the potions lab. It's on the ground floor," he added feeling a bit woozy.

"Nay, I got this, just hold still," ordered Harry as he finally got the splinters of wood out of his hair. He then waved his hand and all the scratches, bites and venom disappeared off his face and hands, and out of his blood stream. He then did the same for Sirius. "It's probably all the dark magic in the air. It gave them a sense of being," he said when he'd finished.

"Thanks, Harry," the older man said, feeling much better. "You're probably right, this old house is seeping in it. Who knows what we'll find." He gave a full body shudder. It was bad when he lived here, he could just imagine what it was like now. Not good.

They had gotten to Grimmuald Place directly after leaving the Ministry, and Harry was no impressed. The whole building wreaked of dark magic, and it seem to be overrun with critters. The first thing they did was get rid of Kreature. Sirius had told the elf to go to the Malfoy's and to take nothing with him. It would server Lucius right to have that nasty piece of work in his house. Though, Malfoy might like the elf and his mumblings about half-bloods and blood traitors. He also informed the diminutive being that he was no longer a Black elf and could no longer answer to a Black's call. Even in disguise, the house elf had known who the man was. Not able to disobey the order he popped away, wailing something about not being able to fulfil Master Regulus last order. Sirius wanted to know what the elf was talking about, but it was too late, he was gone.

Since then, the two men had been attempting to gain control of the house. They decided to start on the first floor, since it held all the personal studies and libraries. This was the second room they had gained access to. The first was taken over by a boggart. It was easily taken care of, and Sirius did the cleaning of all the dark objects there. Harry was content to let his godfather get his practice in. He knew he could clean the house in a matter of minutes, but what fun was that.

"So, what are we going to do with this army?" the teen asked, looking at the door with a bit of distaste.

"There's a spray that will immobilize them. Then they are easy pickings. I don't think we have any here. I guess, I could call Winky, but then she'd want to take over the cleaning," was the thoughtful reply.

"We could have her clean the rooms we finish, and the ground floor. That way she'd have something to do while we work," Harry suggested. Thinking maybe Dobby could join in as well.

"That's not a bad idea. We also need to find the queen. Who, I'm sure, is in that room. Judging from the size of that swarm."

"Okay, you call Winky and get the spray. I'm going to call Dobby to do some reconnaissance on the other rooms. That way we aren't going in blind," Harry said, looking at the ceiling, wondering what was in store for them.

The two men did just that. Winky came into the house and physically cringed as how depressing and dirty it was. "Does Master Sirius wish for Winky to clean this house?" she asked with trepidation in her voice. She wasn't against cleaning it, but she didn't like dark magic, not after taking care of the Imperiused Master Barty.

Dobby bounced on his toes, eager to be doing something for his master. Working at Hogwarts was not exciting at all.

"No, we're going to use it to practice some magic. What I need from you is some doxy spray and then you can clean the kitchen and ground floor. If you want you can clean up the rooms we've finished," Sirius stated in a polite tone. He liked this elf, she was a godsend the first few weeks he had been in the Shrieking Shack. If not for her he would have never been in touch with Waters, and his name would not have been cleared.

"Winky can be doing this," she said with a firm nod and popped away.

"And what can Dobby be doing for Master Harry Potter, sir?" Dobby asked, still bouncing, ready to get started.

"Dobby, I have a very important mission for you. Behind this door is an army of doxies. We were caught off guard and don't want to be again. So, what we need from you is to go to from room to room and find out if anything has taken over," Harry said to his little friend in a voice of importance.

"Does Dobby needs to be getting rid of what he finds?" the little guy asked with wide eyes.

"No, no, just let us know. If we need something like doxy spray, get it and leave it outside the room for us. Can you do that?" Harry asked, putting his hand on the elf's shoulder.

"Dobby can be doing anything the Great Harry Potter bes asking," Dobby said with his usual exuberance.

"Great! Thanks for your help, Dobby."

And with a nod of eagerness Dobby popped away.

"I will never understand how you get so many people to worship you. Not that you're not a great guy, it's just that you're just a kid," Sirius said with a shake of his head. As long as he had known Harry, people just seem to have two extremes around him. Hate or Worship. Well, not his friends, but even they were awed by the boy. Sure, the magic he could do was unheard of, but so few people knew of it, that that couldn't be a factor. He never heard all the tales of Harry Potter while in Azkaban, so he didn't know that people had built up a living legend on the boy's shoulders.

"Don't look at me, I don't have a clue either. Amnesiac, remember?" Harry stated as Winky popped back into hall with the spray they needed.

"Right, sorry. Thanks, Winky," Sirius said taking the spray. "So, do you think you can magic up that nifty shield?"

"For some reason my magic doesn't think we're in danger. So, no, I can't," Harry grumbled, still miffed at his crews laughing. "I mean, I could, but if we're not in danger, then it's best to just brave the army without it. Besides, weren't you a Gryffindor? Where's that courage, man?"

"Fine," the dogman pouted.

Together they faced the door, squaring their shoulders and taking deep breaths they went to battle.

Amelia's POV

While she was still staring at the map, Amelia was going over plans on who to get to investigate the tunnels. She decided to try once more to get Moody to take her call. She put the map in her a drawer in her desk and went to the Floo. "Alastor, can you hear me? It's Amelia. Look, I know your mad at me for leaving you in Poppy's care, but I really need your help," she called to the flames, waiting for the paranoid man to respond. She hoped that by bring up Poppy he'd know it was her. Just when she was about to give up, Mad-eye's face appeared in the fire.

"What?" was the curt question.

"First off, how are you?" she asked kindly.

"Fine. What do you want?"

"I have something I think you'll like. Can you come over?" she asked, with a gleam in her eye.

Alastor thought long and hard about it. He was berating himself for hiding away. He needed to get back out there and do something. Albus had asked him to rejoin the Order, but when he found out that they were only going to look for Potter, he declined. He wanted to be doing something against Voldemort, not babysitting a kid who didn't need it. "Fine, I'll be over in a moment," he said gruffly. He wanted to make sure he had his backup wand, and the backup to the backup. You can never be too careful.

"I'll be waiting," she said, moving back to her desk. Potter said that only the head of the DMLE could use the map, but did that mean that someone couldn't see it if she wanted them too? Well, she'd test it out on Mad-eye.

Suddenly the Floo flared and Alastor stepped out. Thumping his way to her desk, he threw himself into a chair. "What do you want, Amelia?" he asked for the third time.

"I was just given something that could do wonders in protecting the Ministry. However, it must remain a secret between you and me," she said slyly, hoping to tweak his interest.

"This room is secure?"

"Judge for yourself," she offered, knowing that that would be the only way to appease the man.

Moody waved his wand around and did his own deep scanning. Finding nothing, he nodded his head for her to continue.

"I was just in a meeting with a young man, and he offered to help beef up security. This," she held up the parchment she took out of her desk, "is a map of the entire building. Including the tunnels no one knew about. I do wonder how your eye missed it," she said as the thought just occurred to her.

"What tunnels?" he demanded, a bit angry that the building he had worked in for many years had passages that he never knew about. Granted by the time he learned to control his eye, the war was over, and he never had reason to look for such a thing. He was more interested in what was in people's pocket, or under glamors, than what was in the walls.

"Fudge came out of one the other day, right before he kidnapped Harry Potter…"

"What!? The Potter boy was kidnapped!? How the hell could this have happened? And by Fudge of all people?" he asked, leaning forward in a demanding way.

So, she told him about what had happened the day before, and how the Minster had done it, with the help of his Undersecretary, so she suspected. Then she got back to the point. "We're looking into it. Meanwhile, this needs to be explored. I thought maybe you could take a look. No one is going to think twice about you wandering around the building with a piece of parchment. If it works for you," she said enticingly.

"Let's give it a try," he said, holding out his hand. She handed him the map and waited to see if it worked. "Amelia, this is a report on cauldron bottoms," he sniffed.

"Try looking at it with your eye," she proposed.

Looking at the parchment with his enchanted eye, he saw that there was more to it, but he couldn't quite make it out. He took out his wand and tried to dispel the charm keeping him from seeing, but nothing. "No good," he said, handing it back. "Maybe you have to give it permission or something."

She tapped the map with her wand and said, "I, Amelia Bones, as head of the DMLE, give Alastor 'Mad-eye' Moody permission to use this map for the good of the Ministry." Then she handed it back.

"That worked. I'll just get started on this in the Minster's office. There might be one there and that would be how he got Potter out of the building." He stood and made his way to the door.

"Let me know if you find anything," she said as she watched him go.

"Right," was all the answer she got.

With him on the job, she went back to the problem with the horcruxes. Her team was already searching, but she just had an idea. Grabbing the ball out of her safe, she told Debra that she was going to be out of the office for an undetermined amount of time and Flooed to the Leaky Cauldron. Making her way to Diagon Alley she proceeded to Gringotts. Waiting for the first available teller, she fidgeted. She didn't like the fact that she was carrying a horcrux among the goblins. She had no idea how they would react.

Dumbledore's POV

Albus was looking at the ring box in a house that he had hidden away for times such as this. He always knew there would be a time he needed to be safe. Heroes always fall hard and fast, it was a historical fact. The box was sitting on the table in front of him, and he very much wanted to open it. However, without a Mediwitch or Severus to undo anything that might befall him, he was cautious. He waved the Elder Wand and dispelled a few of the curse. As the last one fell he felt and overwhelming need to open the box. That was not good. He backed away until the feeling disappeared, which was almost out of the room. Perhaps, he would need some help after all, but he didn't know who he could turn to at the moment. Slughorn came to mind. He was a good Potions Master. Not as good as Severus, but a worthy man in his own right.

He went to the living room to ponder on his dilemma. Harry needed to see what was in that box, of that he had no doubt. But the boy was not going to be so easily found. And Albus was sure he was far away from Hogwarts. Tapping his finger against his chin, he continued to deliberate. With the Order looking for the boy, perhaps it would not be that long. He would need to get someone to watch muggle London. Harry survived there on his own for a whole week without help. Maybe he should check Sirius' old home. They might be holed up in there. There was a slim chance the boy returned to the Dursleys, but that was very slim.

Coming to a decision he returned to the kitchen, waved his wand to place a ward on the box, and pocketed it. He'd go to Grimmuald Place. Now, if he could just remember where it was.

Neville's POV

After classes the group met up in the RoR. They decided that Hermione and the twins needed to practice their dancing. If they were going to make it look natural, then it would take a bit of work. Luna had found an old Wizarding Wireless radio and set it up in the clear space.

"Do you two know how to dance?" Hermione asked skeptically.

"Well, we've never had lessons, if that's what you're asking. But, Mum's taught us a thing or two," Fred said, taking her hand in his and starting a simple waltz.

George shadowed the couple on Hermione's side. Mostly mimicking his brother. When a twirl came Fred seamlessly spun her around until she was in George's arms. They continued like that for a good ten minutes, until Hermione could follow their lead.

"That looked like so much fun," Luna said, clapping her hand. "I want to try," she demanded, nudging her friend out of the way.

Fred just smiled and started a different dance, that had no set steps. They twirled and twisted, passing her back and forth, just having a great time, laughing all the way.

"Wow," Neville said when they were done, "I'm not sure I can beat that. A few things, huh?"

"Mum really likes to dance. And you now us, we do pretty much everything together," Fred said, sitting in one of the chairs.

"Not that, Luna, get your mind out of the gutter," George said, seeing her smirk. He took the seat next to his brother.

"Our resident pervert has left, someone has to take his place," she said snootily, playfully putting her nose in the air and flouncing to the next empty chair.

"Yeah, but that's downright disgusting, that is," Fred said with a grimace.

"Sirius said it was fun. He was telling me all about the twins he picked up…"

"Stop," George all but shouted. "We don't need to"

"hear about that man's," Fred picked up.

"conquest," they said together.

"Especially, not from you," Neville added with a shudder.

"Boys," Hermione sniffed. "They can dish it out, but they can't take it."

"What?" all four purebloods asked confused.

"It's a non-magical saying. Never mind," she waved dismissively. "Do you think Harry is at Sirius'?"

"No," Luna answered thoughtfully, tilting her head. "The nargles say they are fighting doxies right now."

"Doxies? Why would they need to fight doxies? I mean, you just spray them," George asked, knowing all about ridding houses of pest. The Burrow, being a magical house, attracted many of them and it was the kids' job to dispose of them.

"I don't know, but they are having fun, so I'm not worried," the little blonde stated, listening to something only she can hear. "Too bad someone is going to crash the party," she pouted, folding her arms. She would never deny Harry having any fun, and the gatecrasher was going to spoil his night. He'd get some nice presents though.