the most important poll ever

[thirty2flavors]

There's a bus strike here and basically the whole city is dooooomed, because it's winter and exams are on and people who lack cars have no way to get anywhere. Also I have an exam tomorrow morning, but I am unconcerned and so bazcat89 and I are discussing Fanfiction Trope #87 - Excessively Crying Male.

Anyway, that leads me to this BURNING QUESTION I have for you, my friends:

[Poll #1312493]

ETA - As christycorr has pointed out I made a greivous error in forgetting THE TRAGIC DEMISE OF DOBBY, but I cannot edit it into the poll. You may show your support in the comments if you so choose.

Comments

[christycorr]

Free elf and stuff... Yeah, Dobby's definitely the loyal companion who got royally screwed.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/]

S'true. I forget does he actually like, take the knife for Harry or does Bellatrix just kind of... miss? I assume it's the former because obviously Bellatrix does not miss.

[christycorr]

The tiny elf trotted into the room, his shaking finger pointing at his old mistress. “You must not hurt Harry Potter,” he squeaked.

“Kill him, Cissy!” shrieked Bellatrix, but there was another loud crack, and Narcissa’s wand too flew into the air and landed on the other side of the room. “You dirty little monkey!” bawled Bellatrix. “How dare you take a witch’s wand, how dare you defy your masters?”

“Dobby has no master!” squealed the elf. “Dobby is a free elf, and Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends!”

Harry’s scar was blinding him with pain. Dimly he knew that they had moments, seconds before Voldemort was with them.

“Ron, catch – and GO!” he yelled, throwing one of the wands to him; then he bent down to tug Griphook out from under the chandelier. Hoisting the groaning goblin, who still clung to the sword, over one shoulder, Harry seized Dobby’s hand and spun on the spot to Disapparate.

As he turned into darkness he caught one last view of the drawing room of the pale, frozen figures of Narcissa and Draco, of the streak of red that was Ron’s hair, and a blue of flying silver, as Bellatrix’s knife flew across the room at the place where he was vanishing –

Bill and Fleur’s . . . Shell Cottage . . . Bill and Fleur’s . . .

He had disappeared into the unknown; all he could do was repeat the name of the destination and hope that it would suffice to take him there. The pain in his forehead pierced him, and the weight of the goblin bore down upon him; he could feel the blade of Gryffindor’s sword bumping against his back: Dobby’s hand jerked in his; he wondered whether the elf was trying to take charge, to pull them in the right direction, and tried, by squeezing the fingers, to indicate that that was fine with them. . . .

And then they hit solid earth and smelled salty air. Harry fell to his knees, relinquished Dobby’s hand, and attempted to lower Griphook gently to the ground.
“Are you all right?” he said as the goblin stirred, but Griphook merely whimpered.

Harry squinted around through the darkness. There seemed to be a cottage a short way away under the wide starry sky, and he thought he saw movement outside it.

“Dobby, is this Shell Cottage?” he whispered, clutching the two wands he had brought from the Malfoys’, ready to fight if he needed to. “Have we come to the right place? Dobby?”

He looked around. The little elf stood feet from him.

“DOBBY!”

The elf swayed slightly, stars reflected in his wide, shining eyes. Together, he and Harry looked down at the silver hilt of the knife protruding from the elf’s heaving chest.

“Dobby – no – HELP!” Harry bellowed toward the cottage, toward the people moving there. “HELP!”

He did not know or care whether they were wizards or Muggles, friends or foes; all he cared about was that a dark stain was spreading across Dobby’s front, and that he had stretched out his own arms to Harry with a look of supplication. Harry caught him and laid him sideways on the cool grass.

“Dobby, no, don’t die, don’t die –“

The elf’s eyes found him, and his lips trembled with the effort to form words.

“Harry . . . Potter . . .”

And then with a little shudder the elf became quite still, and his eyes were nothing more than great glassy orbs, sprinkled with light from the stars they could not see.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/]

Christy you did not just type that up.

[christycorr]

...

*waves* Hello, wiki editor. I have links to all nine books in my Dock. *laughs*

[http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/]

The thing is I don't think I'd even be surprised if you were like "Well i just recited it from memory".

That said, rofl I forgot his last words were HARRY... POTTER... Oh Dobby, I had so little affection for you.

[christycorr]

*laughs* Damn, I should've said that instead.

Yeeah. I guess Bellatrix missed, then, yeah?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/]

I guess so. I can now understand my confusion. Thing is, I've never re-read DH, and I really should, because there are good parts of it that I missed in my OMFG OMFG speed-read on the 21st. I totally missed Peter's death entirely, and I was like WTF when Dobby died, had to reread that part too. And apparently I still didn't get it.

But yeah, sounds like she missed then. Tsk tsk, Bella, better work on your knife-throwing skills.

[christycorr]

Well, Harry Disapparated, it's not exactly her fault.