Doxy

Warning! At least some content in this article is derived from information featured in: Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery & Harry Potter: Magic Awakened & Hogwarts Legacy. As such, spoilers will be present within the article.

The Doxy, sometimes referred to as the Biting Fairy, was a small fairy-like magical beast, sometimes mistaken for a fairy. Preferring cold climates, the Doxy was found throughout Northern Europe and North America.^[1]

Nature[]

Physiology and life cycle[]

The Doxy was covered in coarse black hair, and had an additional set of arms and legs. Doxies had shiny beetle-like wings, and a double row of sharp teeth.^[1] If bitten, a wizard or witch should take an antidote immediately, as their venom was highly poisonous.^[2]

Doxies also possessed a chameleon-like tongue that they could extend to catch and eat smaller prey, such as Billywigs.^[4]

Doxies buried their eggs underground, and Doxy Queens could lay up to five-hundred at once. The eggs generally hatched in two to three weeks.^[1]

Interaction with humans[]

Doxies were considered pests. They could infest houses, taking up residence in the draperies. Removing them required a good supply of Doxycide.^[3] Alternatively, they could be dispatched with a simple Knockback Jinx, as Doxies were particularly vulnerable to it, excluding the queens, which were more resistant.^[5] Doxies were also the favourite food of the Venomous Tentacula, meaning that the plant could also be used to effectively get rid of them.^{[citation needed]}

History[]

Honeydukes Company Ltd. produced a brand of candyfloss named Doxy Floss.^[6]

Newt Scamander had a swarm of Doxies in his suitcase during his visit to New York in 1926.^[4] He also kept at least two Doxies in the basement of 9 Sherringford Square by 1927.^[7]

During the 1988–1989 school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Doxies were involved in one of the obstacles of the All-Wizard Tournament, which was designed by Kettleburn. After gaining control of a broomstick jinxed with a Hurling Hex, the participants had to use it to catch a released Doxy. Unfortunately, a cage full of additional Doxies was knocked over during the task, resulting in several participants and spectators being sent to the Hospital Wing with Doxy bites. Participants affected by the bites were medically disqualified from the final task by Madam Pomfrey.^[8]

During the 1989–1990 school year, Professor Silvanus Kettleburn taught his sixth-year Care of Magical Creatures students about Doxies.^[9] During the 1990–1991 school year, there was a Doxy infestation at Hogwarts, with Corey Hayden, Andre Egwu and several others falling victim. Jacob's sibling, Chiara Lobosca, Barnaby Lee and Ben Copper helped the professors with the situation and brewed some Doxycide.^[10][11] During this school year also, the British Ministry of Magic experienced an infestation of doxies that was highly disruptive. Jacob's sibling helped deal with the infestation as part of their student work experience at the Ministry.^[12] During the Wizengamot trial of Kazuhiro Shiratori in Courtroom Ten, Corey Hayden said a doxy was present in the room to delay the trial.^[13] In the summer before this year began, Charlie Weasley helped his mother clear out a Doxy infestation in The Burrow.^[14]

In 1995, Cormac McLaggen was known to have eaten a pound of Doxy eggs for a bet, rendering him unable to try out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team in his sixth year at Hogwarts.^[15] Fred and George Weasley used Doxy venom for their Skiving Snackboxes, a popular Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes product.^[3][16] In 1996, Harold Dingle tried to sell Doxy droppings to fifth-years, under the guise of them being powdered dragon claw, but these were confiscated by Hermione Granger.^[17]

During the Calamity in the late 2010s or early 2020s, a wizarding greenhouse on the Isle of Skye suffered from an infestation of Doxies, although they lacked the Doxycide to effectively remove them. A Calamity Investigator working for the Statute of Secrecy Task Force travelled to the island to help out the greenhouse owners, suffering numerous bites and scratches during the tedious work but eventually managing to remove the infestation.^[18]

Etymology[]

Doxy is an archaic English term, meaning "prostitute". It derives from the German word Docke, meaning "doll".

Behind the scenes[]

• In the GBC video game adaptation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the Folio Bruti entry for these creatures is titled "Doxy Drone". This might mean that, like the male honey bees, Doxies may have a biological haplodiploid sex-determination system or simply that male doxies have distinct behavioural patterns.
• Despite being described as being covered in coarse black hair in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, their depictions in the video games normally include little or no hair and a dark brown, dark blue or purple colour (akin to being a more sinister palette swap of a Pixie).
• Despite gaining a new appearance in the film inspired by Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the Doxies seen in Fantastic Beasts: Cases from the Wizarding World and Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery return to their original appearance.

Appearances[]

The Harry Potter Wiki has 33 images related to Doxy.

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game) (Not in PS1 version)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game) (GBA version only)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game) (Not in PC version)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film) (Picture only)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (video game)
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (film)
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original Screenplay
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
• Pottermore (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter (website) (Mentioned only)
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (First appearance)
• Harry Potter Trading Card Game
• Wonderbook: Book of Potions
• Fantastic Beasts: Cases from the Wizarding World
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
• Harry Potter: Magic Awakened (Mentioned in History of Magic classes)
• Hogwarts Legacy (Mentioned only)
• The Harry Potter Wizarding Almanac

Notes and references[]

Care of Magical Creatures
Care of Magical Creatures at Hogwarts
Hagrid's Hut · Forbidden Forest · Care of Magical Creatures Classroom · Magical Creatures (club) · The Paddock
Professors	Silvanus Kettleburn · Rubeus Hagrid · Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank (substitute teacher)
Textbooks	The Monster Book of Monsters · Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Creatures studied at Hogwarts
Blast-Ended Skrewt · Bowtruckle · Chimaera · Crup · Demiguise · Diricawl · Doxy · Dugbog · Fairy · Fire Crab · Fire Dwelling Salamander · Flobberworm · Fwooper · Glumbumble · Gnome · Golden Snidget · Griffin · Hippogriff · Imp · Jackalope · Knarl · Kneazle · Moke · Murtlap · Niffler · Occamy · Porlock · Quintaped · Streeler · Thestral · Unicorn · Yeti