It's Filthy!

[Scoleciphobic]

Limping up the hill that was on the border of the Weasleys’ property, you couldn’t wait to find Bill and heal your sprained foot. It was a long trip from Azkaban and you hadn’t gotten to see any newspapers to know if their house was under surveillance or not. You wouldn’t have cared if you had known, however.

Reaching the border at the top of the hill, you saw the end of the woods in the form of bushes. You didn’t care as long as you got to see him. That was the only thing you did care about anymore.

Getting near the bushes, you realized you were making a lot of noise. It didn’t matter, who could hear you anyway? The birds? Right.

“Who’s there?”<br>
The sound of Bill’s voice made your little fox heart leap into your throat. Instantly, your black tipped tail started waving in happiness, but suddenly something hit you. Bill’s voice was clogged with tears. He must know I’ve escaped, you thought. He’s obviously isn’t happy about it. I could be wrong, though. Just stay a fox!

“Lumos!”<br>
Blinking at the sudden light, you slowly moved out of the bushes into the light of his wand. If you were human, you wouldn’t have been able to control the gasp of shock. He was, if possible, even more handsome than the picture of him in the Daily Prophet depicted him as. You realized he was looking you over, and whimpered, tucking your tail between your legs and looking cute.

“You remind me of someone,” he said absently. “She just escaped from Azkaban and I know she’ll come here. She hasn’t got anywhere else to go, but I hope she won’t come. She’ll be caught and taken back if she does. Stupid Ministry. Her name’s Erinn and I loved her.”<br>
You whimpered again. He used to love you. He said it in past tense. Snap out of it, Erinn, you thought angrily. Like he would really wait for a criminal! You started shivering, not having any idea why. Possibly from fatigue, but not necessarily.

“Oh, geez. You’re so skinny! Weren’t you limping when you walked? Come here,” he said suddenly, kneeling and reaching out for you.

He sounds like me, you thought amusedly as you walked into his arms.

“I even sound like her, now,” he chuckled. “She’d take care of you, too.” Now that was uncanny.

Standing, he cradled you against his chest. Surprised by his closeness, you found your muscles tensing.

“Relax, little one,” he murmured, stroking your fur in order to soothe you.

Whimpering, you sighed and relaxed as he carried you. How long had you wanted to be held in his arms again? Five whole years, and now you were.

As a wounded fox.

“Now, if Mum throws a fit, just look at her with cute eyes, ok?” he muttered as he opened the door and walked into the house.

“Bill?”<br>
Your eyes widened in surprise when Ginny ran into the room. She had matured a lot since you saw her. She was no longer the little girl you had let play with your make-up.

“Gin! Shh!” he hissed.

She frowned until she saw you. “Oh my gosh! She’s so cute!! Bill, what’re you gonna do with her?!” she squealed.

Bill sighed. “I don’t know yet, Gin. I have to see if I can sneak her past Mum. Which, need I remind you, I can’t do if you’re screaming at the top of your lungs how cute she is!”<br>
Ginny pouted. “Hmph! Fine! Then I won’t just go tell Mum I need help with my homework!”<br>
You glanced up to find Bill glaring at her. “Why not?”<br>
The teen girl shrugged her shoulders. “Because you yelled at me.”<br>
You would’ve laughed if you had the mouth to. Bill’s jaw had dropped and he was staring at her in shock. “So?! Gin, listen to me…this little fox is hurt. She was limping when I found her. Do you really have the heart to put her out in the wild again?”<br>
Recognizing it as your cue, you turned your head to look at the ginger-haired girl in front of you with big, begging eyes. Think puppy-dog…think puppy-dog, you thought. Instantly, you noticed her angry features melting away to form those of sympathetic.

“Poor little thing…” she murmured, watching you. She looked up, obviously at Bill, and sighed. “Alright, fine! But I’m not taking the blame if you get caught with her!”<br>
“Thanks, Gin!” Bill grinned and started tiptoeing towards the stairs up to his room. Leaning his head towards your ear, he whispered. “That was great! Never thought you’d get her temper down! She’s almost as bad as…” he trailed off, a sad note coming into his voice. “Erinn.”<br>
You let out a small, soothing whimper and nuzzled your head against his chest as if in comfort. He smiled at you, the sadness lingering in his eyes.

“Yeah…I miss her…”

“Oi! Bill! Who’re you talkin’ to?”<br>
You felt Bill tense under you, and tilted your head. That voice had sounded extremely familiar, but you couldn’t place it. I have been gone way too long, you thought sadly.

“Er, nothing Fred—I mean, George!” Bill called out, as if nervous.


Apparently that tipped of whichever twin had spoken, because two identical faces appeared out of the door of what had always been their extremely messy room. You stared in surprise at how much the two brothers had matured in the years you had been gone. Then again, you probably also looked a lot different. Try skinny and ugly.

“Who’s that?” twin number one asked, a mischievous grin appearing on his face.

The other one smirked. “Yeah, she your new girlfriend?”<br>
Bill growled. “Shut up. I found her, and she’s hurt. I’m going to see if I can hide her from Mum and keep her…but if you don’t shut up I’m not going to be able to! Gin’s trying to distract her…”

“You know, Gred, there’s something I’ve learned in my years of living in this wonderful house…”

“Oh? And what would that be, Forge?”<br>
“If you’ve got something that might get you in trouble—“

“—best to tell Mum as soon as possible!”<br>
You mentally stared at them. They still finished each other sentences! Glancing up at Bill, you saw a furious glare on his handsome face.

“You wouldn’t dare—“

“OI! MUM!” the one you guessed to be Fred called out.

“Fred…” Bill growled in warning.

“WHAT FRED?!” came Mrs. Weasley’s voice from somewhere downstairs. You hadn’t realized the two of you were near the bedrooms and far from the kitchen. The house was a lot bigger from this perspective.

“BILL’S GOT SOMETHING TO SHOW YOU!” the other, probably George, called out.

“CAN IT WAIT?! I’M HELPING GINNY!”<br>
“Not unless you like mangy foxes in the house!” they both shouted at the same time.

Instantly, three things happened: Bill let go of you to strangle the twins, Mrs. Weasley let out a war cry of rage, and you scampered off (painfully) to hide somewhere from the huge feet.

Unfortunately, the place you had been scampering off to was the kitchen—meaning the stairs. The mother of the house just happened to be storming up those same steps, and grabbed you by the back of the neck. This caused a loud, high-pitched yelp of pain to escape your previously silent mouth.

The fight between the three brothers stopped instantly and they turned to see a raging Mrs. Weasley glaring at them, while holding you as far from her body as she could. Her fingernails were digging into your skin, but you couldn’t do anything. It was like the back of your neck was a pressure point and you had been paralyzed. All you could do was make pitiful whimpers of pain.

“Mum! You’re hurting her!” Bill shouted.

Everyone froze, and you guessed by the looks on the slowly backing away twins that the expression on Molly’s face would have been priceless. However, as much as you wanted to turn your head and look witness it for yourself, the pain was becoming unbearable and all you could do was whimper louder.

It was then that you realized Bill had probably never yelled at his mother before—how very different from yourself!

[Scoleciphobic]

Suddenly the pressure on your neck disappeared, and you landed on the hard floor with a thump, letting out another high-pitched scream of pain. It was like a million needles were shooting through your four legs and it took all of your mental discipline to not change back. That wouldn’t be a good idea.

“You…yelled at me…” Mrs. Weasley said, and you winced mentally at the sound of tears in her voice.

It was never easy for a mother to be yelled at by their firstborn. Unless, of course, they never liked their child. But that wasn’t the case in this house, like it had been in yours. Stop thinking about it, idiot!

You heard Bill sigh heavily. “I’m sorry, Mum…I don’t know what came over me…ever since I found out that…” he didn’t finish, and you could hear him choking back what sounded suspiciously like a sob. “I just…she reminded me of Erinn…you know how Eri would bring in injured animals and beg you to let her nurse them back to help, right?”<br>
You saw his mother nod out of the corner of your eye. “Yes,” she said softly. “I remember.”<br>
Bill nodded again, encouraging the memories that were obviously flooding back to his parent. “Just let me ‘elp her…Mum, please?”<br>
“Bill, I’m sorry…but I can’t. It’s filthy!”<br>
Wincing, you forced yourself to sit up despite the pain, and looked up at Mrs. Weasley with the same look in your eyes as you had when you looked at Ginny. Only this time, you poured every sad, painful thought and memory from your soul into the look hoping she’d at least receive some sort of sympathy for you.

Like mother like daughter, they always say.

“Ugh, she’s got that same puppy-eyed look as Erinn, too,” Mrs. Weasley grumbled. “I never could say no to it.”<br>
A small grin was spreading across Bill’s face. If you had been able to smile, you’re sure you would’ve, too. But since you couldn’t, you just wagged your tail a little. A small, sad smile appeared on the woman’s face, and she sighed.

“On the other hand, Bill,” she looked up at her older son. “You could have taken some lessons from her, you know.”<br>
Bill shrugged, and grinned. “Why when I always had her around to do the begging for me?”<br>
Suddenly it seemed to hit him, because the smile disappeared as quickly as it had come. The atmosphere in the hall seemed to become heavy with sorrow, until you let out a little whimper and wagged your tail again.

“Right! Well, as long as it stays in my house, it has to be clean!” Mrs. Weasley said sternly, pushing sad thoughts away. “That means you have to give her a bath!”<br>
“Fine, Mum.” Bill shrugged and started towards you.

You sighed in content. Finally, you’d be slightly cleaner than you had been in years.

~

“C’mon! Stop…fighting…me!” Bill grunted as he tried to put you in the water.

It was freezing!

Letting out a growl, you squirmed in his grasp. There was no way in hell that you would take your bath in cold water!

“Maybe you should try warm water?”<br>
Bill growled under his breath and sighed. “Hullo, Charlie.”<br>
If you had had an eyebrow, you would’ve raised it in amusement. So all of the Weasley’s were there except the youngest son. Where in the world was ickle Ronnie-kins anyway?

“Hey, where’s Ron? I haven’t seen him yet.”<br>
Another uncanny moment! Ah!

You felt Bill stand up with you in his arms. “I don’t know. I think he and Dad’re getting one of his friends from school.” Suddenly you were shoved into Charlie’s unwelcoming arms. “Hold her while I go ‘warm up’ the water.”<br>
You watched with big eyes as Bill stormed off as if furious. Whimpering, you started to shiver.

“Hey, you need a name…” said Charlie in his loud, booming voice. For some reason, if Bill wasn’t around, Charlie had always been able to make you relax. Sometimes you had found yourself wishing that you had a personal mini-Charlie {A Chibi Charlie sounds reeeaaallllyy good right now! ^.^ *gets hit with a noodle* x.X} to sooth you at night.

But Sirius was there, so you soon got over it.

“How about…Pax?” he asked, looking down at you with his cerulean eyes. {It says absolutely nothing about either of their eyes! So there!}

You tilted your head, before wagging your tail and licking his hand. He chuckled slightly and gave you a light squeeze.

“I’ll take that as a yes…”

“What’re you doing? Choking her to death?!” Bill’s voice sounded panicked a little.

Charlie and you both looked over at him, blinking. Shaking his head, the one holding you gave you to the panicking one. Once in his arms, Charlie turned and started walking off.

“I’m gonna go find Ron.”<br>
Bill just shook his head a couple times and kneeled back down by the now slightly-steaming tub of water. You could feel how warm it was, and didn’t fight as he placed you in it. However, that seemed to anger the red-head, because he growled.

“Huh…Charlie was right…now what do ya know…” he grumbled and started to wash you down.

You could literally feel the years of dirt and grime being washed off your coat. {Techniquely it’s just months, but yeah…} Sighing, you closed your eyes and made a sound low in your throat that sounded remarkably like a purr, even to you.

“Oh yeah! I named her Pax!” Charlie said, suddenly reappearing.

You watched Bill frown through half-closed eyes.

“Why’d you name her that?” he asked monotonously.

Charlie shrugged. “Because she reminds me of Erinn, and both names mean peace.”<br>
Bill stopped washing you, and looked up at his brother so you could no longer see his face. But the look on Charlie’s gave you enough information to tell you that the oldest was looking at his little brother with thanks.

“You’re not the only one who misses her, Bill,” Charlie said softly, looking away. “Nor were you the only one to love her.”<br>
He walked away, leaving a very shocked you and Bill behind. At the same time, the two of you slowly looked each other in the eye. If you had been human, your eyebrow would have been raised, too. He shook his head, and gently lifted you out of the tub and into a nice fluffy towel.

“Mum doesn’t know I stole this,” he muttered, completely pushing the latest revelation from Charlie away.

You didn’t forget it, though.

“So you gotta try not to mess it up to much, alright?” he asked, a slightly pleading tone in his voice.

You just gently licked his hand, like you had Charlie. He chuckled lightly, and dumped the dirty water out, before carrying both you and the tub inside.

However, Molly was waiting.

“You took a perfectly good, new towel and used it for a fox?!” she asked, starting to become hysteric.

A part of you felt sorry for her. She obviously was not having a good day, on top of the fact all of her children seemed to be coming home for the Quidditch Cup. They must be going, you thought. Otherwise I doubt Charlie would leave his dragons.

“I’m sorry, Mum! I couldn’t find any “bad, old” towels for her!” Bill said, seemingly tired and more resigned. You knew that if this had happened earlier, he would’ve probably ended up yelling at her again.

She seemed to notice, because she just sighed. “Yes, yes. Just…put her down and go get help Charlie with dinner. Your dad just got back with Harry.”

“So that’s where the twins went. I thought they were still hiding from me,” Bill muttered as he set you down and walked back outside to where Charlie was.

Shaking yourself, you looked up at Molly with apologetic eyes, and wagged your tail slightly.

“Oh don’t give me that look! I let you stay…” Mrs. Weasley grumbled as she turned and walked back into the kitchen probably to continue with dinner.

Looking around, you heard voices coming from upstairs. One sounded unmistakably like Ron, so you opened your mouth in a canine grin, and sprinted up the stairs, your limp totally forgotten.

“And have you heard from—?” you heard Ron ask, before a grunt of pain followed. “Oh, right. Gin? Leave.”<br>
“Hmph!”

[Scoleciphobic]

Suddenly Ginny came storming out of the twin’s room and you tilted your head, wondering what they were doing in there. Ginny stormed right on past you without even noticing that you were crouching in the shadows. Once she was gone, you silently slipped into the room.

“Have you heard from Sirius?”<br>
You let out a soft growl of surprise. Instantly three pairs of eyes were on you. You blinked at them instantly, sniffing. Thinking quickly, you walked over to Ron and licked his hand, wagging your tail. Ugh…Charlie and Bill are one thing…but Ron?!

“Um…what’s with the fox?” the other boy asked.

“I dunno, Harry. He’s probably some weird hybrid from Romania that Charlie brought back with him,” Ron shrugged.

You let out an undignified growl and nipped lightly at his hand. He let out a shout of pain and glared at you.

The strange boy chuckled. “I have a feeling that means she doesn’t appreciate being called a he.”<br>
“Oh very funny, Harry, but did she have to bite me?”<br>
“Oh come on, you two. I think we should go help with dinner,” the girl said huffily, as if not liking the fact you had distracted the two boys so easily.

And that amused you to no end.

Was she secretly dating the both of them or something?

Shrugging, Ron and the girl walked out, and you started to follow. Suddenly the limp was back, and so you had to lift up your leg and do a sort of hop-walk.

“Poor thing,” said the stranger with black hair. “You must’ve been through a lot. I know how that feels.”<br>
You stopped and wagged your tail, noting the lightning shaped scar. It was Harry Potter! The one Sirius was looking for! Your tail wagged harder at the thought of Sirius and Harry reached down and picked you up.

“Here, I’ll just carry you, alright?” he asked rhetorically. At least, you hoped it was rhetorical. He didn’t really expect you to answer, did he?

Of course not. He just calmly walked out of the room and down the stairs, with you cradled gently in his arms. He seemed to like the feeling of a small animal against his chest, because he was smiling softly the whole time. As if on instinct, you made that purr-like noise again and licked his hand. He chuckled a little and looked down at you.

“I’ll have to ask what your name is. Can’t just call you ‘girl’ can I?” he said, smiling a little.

You just wagged your tail and put your head down on his arm, sighing softly. You relaxed as he walked outside, to find Bill and Charlie having a table war of some kind. You mentally laughed at their childishness, and realized that the earlier moment was forgotten. Sighing, you wondered if you would ever be able to be a part of the family again.

Upon seeing Harry and you, Bill quickly set the table down and walked over where he was standing.

“There you are, Pax! I was wondering where you went,” he said, glancing up at Harry. {See, he looked farther down to see you, since your in Harry’s arms *sighs dreamily* oh, right sorry. Anyway, he had to look up slightly to see Harry in the eye, but he’s still looking down at him. He’s taller after all. Does that make sense? ^.^’}

“So her name’s Pax?” Harry asked, tilting his head. “Sounds like a good name for her.” He gently handed you over into Bill’s arms and walked away to go join Ron and Hermione.

For some reason, as he walked away, the familiar scent of sadness washed over you. Harry was depressed about something—but what?

~

After dinner, you had ended up snuggled in Bill’s arms. The family carried on chattering amongst themselves, and you couldn’t shake away the feeling that the picture seemed so complete without you. That thought just depressed you, so you accidentally let out a small whimper. It was covered up with Bill’s yawn.

“You should all get to bed; you’ve got an early start tomorrow!” Mrs. Weasley said, talking to the younger of the teenagers there.

The five of them got up grumbling, but also yawning, and ambled into the house. You felt Bill tensing below you, and realized he was getting up to go to bed, too.

“Well, I’m beat. I’ll see you guys there, alright Dad?” he asked, standing up, having secured you in his arms.

He kissed his mother good-night, extracting a sarcastic, albeit sleepy, “Awww” from Charlie. Glaring at his brother, Bill walked into the house and up to his temporary room.

He set you on the bed, and you turned away for a while, trying to find a place to get comfortable that would be out of his way. When you looked at him again, he was just in his boxers. Sure, you had obviously seen him in less, but it had been so long you couldn’t hold in the soft squeak. Luckily, his sleep deafened ears didn’t hear.

He crawled on the bed next to you and yawned, scratching you behind the ears. “G’night, Pax. See you in the morning.”<br>
It was only a few seconds before his breathing steadied and you realized he was asleep. Not quite tired yourself, you hopped off the bed and padded silently out of the bedroom into the hall. Looking around, you noticed that the door to the room Ron and Harry were sharing was open and quietly trotted into them.

It took you a few minutes for you eyes to adjust to the even heavier lack of light. Blinking, you sat down at the door and listened to the sounds of sleep. Everyone was breathing slowly, and evenly.

Except one person.

Sniffing the air lightly, your fox mind recognized the scent of tears and you walked over to the person. Your front paw brushed against something hard, and you realized it was a pair of glasses. So it was Harry who was crying.

Your heart went out to the fourteen-year-old and you lightly jumped onto the bed he was currently occupying. Moving up to his head, and finding you had landed on the right side, you gently nudged his cheek with your cold nose.

[Scoleciphobic]

A sharp inhale of breath let you know he felt you, and soon a searching hand found your head and caressed what must have been clean, soft fur. Within seconds, you were pulled tighter against his flat chest, and he was trying hard to calm down his ragged breaths.

Fighting to urge to change to your true form, pull him into your arms, and comfort him, you gently licked away the tears that were already on his face. The salty liquid bit at your tongue, causing you to whimper with sympathy. A small, soft chuckle was heard from the exhausted boy next to you. His chest vibrated, making you shake a little.

“What’re you doin’ in here, Pax?” he mumbled. “Shouldn’t you be with Bill?”<br>
You just whimpered and licked him on the nose. He laughed softly, obviously cheering up as he was falling asleep. He started softly rubbing behind your ear.

“Fine, but don’t blame me…if…he g-g-gets mad if you…” he started to let his voice fade as he began falling asleep, “…if you…get…caught…”

You mentally smiled as he fell asleep and curled up, right under his chin and against his neck. Your own exhaustion took you, and you soon fell asleep, yourself.

~

Sometime way before dawn, you woke up. Getting an idea, you got out of Harry’s bed, and became human. Kissing him on the cheek, you gently ran your hand through his messy hair and froze as he rolled over to his other side. You smiled softly, became the fox again, and trotted out of the room back into Bill’s.

When Harry woke up, he would still feel the kiss on his cheek from you.

--

A/N: There! I hope that’s long enough to satisfy y’alls’ need for my blood. I’m sorry it took so long to update! ^.^’ I really am. I hope you all don’t hate me…<br>
Harry: They won’t hate you…<br>
Fountie: Ya sure?

Harry: *nods* I’m positive…<br>
Fountie: *looks suspicious* What do you want from me? You’re being really nice…<br>
Harry: *looks nervous* I just want to apologize for being a jerk last week…I don’t know what came over me…I’m sorry…<br>
Fountie: *shrugs* It’s ok…doesn’t matter…<br>
Harry: No! It does matter!

Fountie: *blinks* Ok…<br>
Harry: *sighs* Here, I’ll do the rest…<br>
Fountie: The rest of what…o.0

Harry: You’ll see…*looks at the readers with puppy-eyes to rival Sirius’* Please review? I’ll give each of you a kiss…<br>
Draco: Who’d want a kiss from a pathetic, scrawny cry-baby like you?

Fountie: *pounces on Draco* That wasn’t nice! Apologize!

Draco: *snorts* No.

Fountie: *wacks Draco over the head* Now!

Draco: Sorry…*grumbles random curses under breath*

Fountie: What was that?!

Draco: Nothing! *innocent smile*

Harry: *snorts* Anyway…yeah…review. I’ll kiss whoever wants me to if you do…<br>
Fountie: ^.^