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They tied the Dragon Boat up to the landing stage, and she settled down into the Mott like a giant swan easing herself onto her nest, slowly lowering her huge wings and folding the the side of her hull She dipped her head to allow Jenna to slip down onto the deck, then the dragon gazed around her It ht, but the wide expanse of the Marra as far as the eye could see was the next best thing The dragon closed her eyes The Queen had returned, and she could sled her legs over the edge of the sleeping Dragon Boat, surveying the scene before her The cottage looked as peaceful as ever, although maybe it was not quite as neat as when they had left it, due to the fact that the goat hadstrong Most of the island was now out of the water, although it was covered with a ht Jenna, would not be happy about the state of her garden

When the water had ebbed froe, Marcia and the crew clion Boat and e, which was suspiciously quiet and the front door was slightly open With a sense of foreboding, they peered inside

Brownies

Everywhere The door to the Disenchanted cat tunnel was open and the place was crawling with Brownies Up the walls, over the floor, stuck on the ceiling, packed tight into the potion cupboard, h the cottage like a storht of the huh-pitched squeals

Aunt Zelda was out of the kitchen in a flash"What?" she gasped, trying to take it all in but seeing only an unusually disheveled Marcia standing in the ht Aunt Zelda, does Marcia always have to ht a load of Brownies back with her?

"Blasted Brownies!" bellowed Aunt Zelda, waving her aret out!"

"Allow me, Zelda," Marcia shouted "I&039;ll do a quick Remove for you"

"No!" yelled Aunt Zelda "I must do this myself, otherwise they will lose respect for me"

"Well, I wouldn&039;t exactly call this respect,"her ruined shoes out of the sticky sli the soles She definitely had a hole in the in between her toes

Suddenly the shrieking stopped, and thousands of little red eyes all stared in terror at the thing a Brownie feared the art

With his fur clean and brushed, looking thin and se still tied around his art as there had been But he still had Boggart Breath And, breathing Boggart Breath as he went, he waded through the Brownies, feeling his strength returning

The Brownies saw hi, and desperate to escape, they stupidly piled theher and higher until every Quake Ooze Brownie but one, a young one out for the first ti pile in the far corner by the desk Suddenly the young Brownie shot out fro Its anxious red eyes shone froers and toes clattered on the stone floor as, watched by everyone, it scuttled down the length of the room to join the pile

It threw itself onto the sli at the Boggart

"Dunno why they don&039;t just leave Blasted Brownies," said the Boggart "Still, there&039;s bin a terrible store You seen that big ship out there stuck on the marshes sinkin&039; down into the mud? They&039;re lucky all thein&039; &039;elances

"Yes, aren&039;t they just?" said Aunt Zelda who knew exactly which ship the Boggart was talking about, having been too engrossed watching everything froart to have noticed the invasion of the Brownies

"Yeah Well, I&039;ll be off now," said the Boggart "Can&039;t stand bein&039; so clean anymore Just want ter find a nice bit a e of that outside, Boggart," said Aunt Zelda

"Yeah," said the Boggart "Er, just wanter say thank you, Zelda, ferwell, fer lookin&039; after one If you get any art waddled out of the door to spend a few happy hours choosing a patch of ht in He was spoiled for choice

As soon as he left, the Brownies becalances and looking at the open door When they were quite sure that the Boggart was really gone, a cacophony of excited shrieks started up and the pile suddenly collapsed in a spray of brown goo Free of Boggart Breath at last, the Brownie pack headed for the door It rushed down the island, streae and headed out across the Marraeance

"You know," said Aunt Zelda as she watched the Brownies disappear into the shadows of the marsh, "I almost feel sorry for theeance?" asked Jenna

"Both," said Aunt Zelda

"Well, I don&039;t," said Nicko "They deserve each other"

Even so, no one wanted to watch what happened to the Vengeance that night And no one wanted to talk about it either

Later, after they had cleared as e as they could, Aunt Zelda surveyed the daht side "It&039;s really not so bad," she said "The books are fine - well, at least they will be when they&039;ve all dried out and I can redo the potions Most of the up to their drink-by date anyway And the really important ones are in the Safe The Brownies didn&039;t eat all the chairs like last time, and they didn&039;t even poo on the table So, all in all, it could have been worse Much worse"

Marcia sat down and took off her wrecked purple python shoes She put them by the fire to dry while she considered whether to do a Shoe Renew or not Strictly speaking, Marcia knew she shouldn&039;t Magyk was notto sort out her cloak, which was part of the tools of her trade, but she could hardly pretend that the pointy pythons were necessary for the perfor off a faint but disagreeable smell of aloshes," Aunt Zelda offered "Much more practical for around here"

"Thank you, Zelda," said Marcia disaloshes

"Oh, cheer up, Marcia," said Aunt Zelda irritatingly "Worse things happen at sea"