The Betrayal of Hayley Potter {UNDER MAJOR REVISION}

Ch. 20 ~ Gone

I awoke to the sound of a crack and, shortly after, yells.  And they were unmistakenably Harry's.  What the hell?

I threw myself out of bed and didn't even bother to put on my slippers.  I raced down the steps and flew out the door.  I raced over to Harry where he was hunched over, holding a small creature.  As I came closer, I realized Harry was holding a small elf. 

Soon realizing the horrific obvious, I just stood there, staring at Harry holding a bloodied Dobby.  I saw the small, silver knife protruding from the small elf's chest, and a sharp ache sounded through my own.

Dobby was dead.

Harry kept repeating his name over and over, so full of sadness, that I couldn't help but cry along with him.  I knelt down behind him and shakingly wrapped my arms around him, settling my face into the crook of his neck and crying into it.

Everyone gathered.  Bill and Fleur.  And also, Dean and Luna.  And they all looked absolutely dreadful.  Their faces were contorted with obvious sadness and compassion toward Harry. . . and, I guess, me, as well.

"Hermione?" Harry asked suddenly.  He snapped his head up and looked around at everyone, looking for answers.  "Where is she?"

"Ron's taken her inside," Bill replied calmly.  "She'll be alright."

Harry looked back down at Dobby before yanking the knife from his body, causing me to flinch.  Then, Harry shrugged off his jacket and placed it across Dobby like it was a quilt or something.

Harry turned his head to the rushing sounds of the sea and I watched as he subconsciously nodded his head to the random things everyone was saying.  But when Bill suggested Harry bury Dobby, Harry came back to our universe.

Harry said how he wanted to bury him properly, using no magic.  I watched as Harry asked Bill for a spade and walked over to the end of the garden and started shoveling.

Shortly after he started digging, Harry looked up at me, his eyes pleading.  I put my hands up in surrender, hoisted myself up and looked at Harry once more.

I started toward him, my arms  crossed over my chest.  "I'm sorry," I sighed, staring into his eyes - my eyes.

He abruptly looked down and whispered, "Me, too."  He didn't look up again, only started up his shoveling once more.

I sighed, mainly to myself, before stepping closer to him and planting a light kiss on his cheek.  "I'm so glad you're okay," I murmured to him.  I started to walk away, but Harry caught my wrist.

"Ditto," he said back.  He chuckled darkly to himself.  He looked into my eyes before breaking it to give me a big, brotherly hug.

It lasted for a long while before I started complaining to him how, if he didn't stop hugging me, I'd collapse.  He laughed slightly again and released me from our first real hug in ages.

"Go on," he joked, "get out of here."  He smiled slowly at me and began digging again.

I stumbled through the sand to the house and, once inside, hunkered down on the sofa, waiting up for Harry.

I knew he worked for a long while because when I awoke at the crack of dawn, he still wasn't finished.  I noticed Dean and Ron heading over to him, holding spades of their own.  They all worked a little while longer before they finally reached a good deepness. 

"C'mon everyone, get up!" I shouted throughout the house, trying to wake everyone up.  "Dobby's. . . grave. . .  is done!"  My voice softened a bit while mentioning the words "Dobby" and "grave" in the same subject.  No more than two minutes later was everyone else up and we were heading over to the grave.

"We should close his eyes," Bill suggested softly to Harry.  And it was Luna who went over to Dobby's body and closed his eyes.

"There," she said in her soft voice, though it was much more hoarse than usual.  "Now he could be sleeping."

Everyone stared as Harry placed the small elf's body into the grave that Harry, Ron, and Dean dug.  Everyone listened as Luna thanked Dobby for saving her.  As did Ron and Dean.

I was completely clueless at what to say.  So, praying to God this would come out at least semi-good, I cleared my throat and began.

"Thank you, Dobby, for. . . everything.  Thank you for saving my brother and Luna and everyone, because without them, I don't know what I'd do."  At this, Dean came over and squeezed my shoulder in a comforting fashion.  "Thank you for saving me the many times that you did.  And thank you for all of your attempts at trying to save me, no matter how much they irritated me at the time."  Everyone kinda laughed at this one, though through all the sadness, it sounded like a whole bunch of strangled cats.  "And thank you for teaching me all those lessons over the years.  Without you, I probably wouldn't be here today.  So thank you for that, Dobby."

As I said more about the elf, the stronger and more courageous I got, knowing that he would've wanted us to be strong.  I looked over at Harry, who stood there, his gaze down at Dobby, tears prickling in his eyes.

"Good-bye, Dobby," was all that was said before, with a flick of Bill's wrist, and Dobby was buried in the earth.  And after everyone headed inside, Harry made a headstone saying:

Here lies Dobby, a free elf.

I smiled slighly at this and looked over at Harry.  "You are always so good to him," I whispered to him and we headed back, arm in arm, to the cottage.

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Okay, so here it is!  Hopefully it wasn't confusing like the last one, though I edited that one and it is now less confusing, I hope.  Sorry about it being a bit shorter, I just didn't want to go too into depth of the whole chapter in the original.  Probably because I'm just too dang lazy.  But, yeah, why don't you be a good person and click that orange "vote" button, 'cause that would surely make my day.  And don't forget to fan, if you're not already.  Oh, and tell your buddies, even if tey don't have an account, to check this out.  You don't need one to just read!

~aleia ;)