This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
House: Hufflepuff
Year: 4
Category: Drabble
Prompt: [Location] Paris
Word Count: 574
Beta: HectaA & Aya
School: Durmstrang
Year: 4
Grammar School Round 8
Word Count: 574
Doxy Queen
"What is a Doxy?" Jacob queried as they reached Paris.
"It's also called a Biting Fairy," Newt said and saw Jacob's eyes widen.
"Oh come on, why can't we ever go anywhere without something wanting to bite us?"
"This isn't a holiday, buddy," Newt replied easily.
"I know," Jacob said nodding.
"You could have stayed home with Queenie," Newt said, and one didn't need to be a mind reader to tell what Jacob was thinking.
"She's been quite moody lately," Jacob responded by way of explanation.
There wasn't much time to see the sights, like the Eiffel Tower or the Notre Dame Cathedral. They needed to get to the home of a French witch that was showing them her Doxy infestation. Her house was practically buzzing with them. In this case Newt was finding it easier to let the woman believe he wanted to get rid of the pests rather than just study them for his book.
Jacob was walking around the house while Newt was stuck in the kitchen with her; he hadn't been fast enough to deny her when she had asked if he wanted a cup of tea.
Jacob was wearing Basilisk skin gloves to protect him from Doxy venom or infection. He could see movement behind the long Victorian-style drapes, and pulled them away to find an army of little Doxies. One went towards Jacob to attack him, and he caught the little creature by the wings before it could latch onto his finger. The Doxies were small purple creatures with black hair, translucent wings, and beady eyes.
"Naughty, naughty," Jacob chuckled at the angry little beast frantically trying to free himself from Jacob's grip.
He was curious how one could tell the Queen from the rest—Newt told him she could lay over five hundred eggs at once. When Newt appeared from the kitchen with his cup of Earl Grey tea, he explained that the Queen would be underground if she was nesting.
"Come on, let's go look in the cellar, the woman insists she has seen them down there," Newt said. The lady showed them to the stairs, she didn't want to go down herself, she had the anti-venom potion on hand, but the bites still hurt, and she wanted to avoid the Doxies if at all possible.
They walked down the rickety stairs to the wine cellar and Newt lit his wand with a soft: "Lumos."
Jacob gasped. There was a nest made completely of fabric, like a patchwork quilt, stuffed with cotton wool to make it nice and soft. Nestled in the fabric nest was the queen Doxy, her beady eyes watching their movements.
Newt left a piece of red cloth on the floor, trying to lure the nesting queen away from her brood. She inspected the offering, considering the value the cloth would add to her next, and then she quickly darted over to grab it before flying back to her nest.
This gave both men a view of the hundreds of small off-white and almost translucent eggs appearing to have a purple blob in the centre.
Then something amazing happened: there was a soft crunching noise below the queen, and tiny Doxies appeared from underneath the body of her. The eggs had all hatched. This left the grown men staring at the small creatures in awe, before they decided it was time to leave. The mother needed some time to tend to her little ones.