Optionless with Draco Malfoy

38. Dobby, the House-Elf

Draco

I let out a small gasp.

The knife was thrown and was only a second away from missing the warp. Juliette, Potter, Granger, and Weasely were gone. The house-elf Dobby Apparated the four out of the Manor, along with a sharp dagger.

Bellatrix laughed as we all watched the knife disappear.

"I wonder which fool got killed this time! I hope it was the mudblood! Or perhaps little Trails... that traitor! The Dark Lord will be furious once he finds out that she's been missing this whole time because she betrayed him to work with Potter," she snarked as she strode across the room. I feel enraged with this hatred for my aunt, but remained as composed as possible.

"If that filthy rat didn't get in the way, we could have handed Harry Potter over to the Dark Lord! The spares could have been killed as well! Lucius, you should keep a better hold on your house-elves," she growled, as she walked towards the doorway in triumph. "Oh, and oops, sorry for the mess Cissy, I know you like your hardwood floors," she stared at the residue of blood from Granger and then giggled. After, she left the room in a gleeful mood.

It took me a lot of effort to prevent myself from whipping out my wand and start jinxing her.

I stormed out of the room and up to my bedroom. I did everything in my power to keep Juliette out of the madness that was going on at home, but somehow she figured a way in. There were Apparition wards all around the Manor and even extra security.

I wondered how she even got into the Manor without being caught.

I slammed the door behind me, but simultaneously, someone had opened it.

"What the hell were you thinking, Draco!" My father said in a furious tone. "How could you disarm your mother! What were you doing?"

I sat on my bed in silence.

"And after that, you let go of Trails! Draco, you might as well have gone with them! The Dark Lord will be infuriated when he finds out what you did!" He continued in disbelief of my actions.

"That's if he finds out... what are you going to do, tell him?" I said in a confident tone. My parents wouldn't let him touch me. And because of that, they faced so many consequences and owed the Dark Lord so many debts.

"What do you mean if he finds out? He always knows-," he paused. "-if it's because you're developing 'feelings' for that stupid Trails girl-"

"She's not stupid, father. In case you haven't realized, she's been able to find herself somewhere to keep herself hidden from this crap show, without putting herself into one," I said, giving him a dark glare.

"How dare you look at me that way! Your mother and I gave you so many things, yet you still treat us-"

"You want me to thank you for the Nimbus 2001 from my second year, now? Fine, thank you, tell mum that too! But don't expect me to thank you for dragging me into this damn situation, where I'm serving the Dark Lord. Don't tell me it's my fault for your wrongdoings," I snapped back at him. I was releasing all of my anger that built up inside of me.

"You should go," I added hastily. "Just leave," I said angrily, he gave me a look of disappointment and fury, but he exited my room. I sat down by my desk and buried my face into my hands.

There was a reason why I didn't respond to Juliette's letters. Everything that's been going on at the Manor and Hogwarts is just terrible. It was best if I didn't say anything at all. That way, I'd cut all contact with her for the time being and she wouldn't be in danger.

I feel almost responsible for Juliette's actions. I'm the only one that knows that she ran off. Even at Hogwarts, I tried to keep her safe by making sure that she was involved in the task as little as possible. But no matter how hard I tried to keep her safe, it would never work.

However, I wasn't as pissed of as I thought I would be. I've gotten used to her ambitious and reckless acts, and if anything it makes me love her more.

I suppose that for a while now, Ive known that I've been in love with Juliette. It just doesn't feel fitting to tell her that while a war occurs, and especially during battle. But it took time for me to realize that I've missed her quite a lot, and unfortunately I didn't notice until I saw her again.

Juliette

Dobby Apparated us out of Malfoy Manor. The surroundings changed to a sandy beach. I fell to the sand, feeling the water sink into my clothes. I landed next to Harry.

I sucked in as much breath as I could, "I'm so sorry Harry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen-"

"Juliette, stop. Today, it's not your fault. I should be the one thanking you," he said.

"I should've done something earlier. I get that you hate me and all, but I had to at least apologize and thank you. Thank, you and Ron, for saving my life. She would've killed me swiftly," I hugged Harry who first just stood there, but hugged me back slowly.

"I want to apologize too. I realized I was such a git the way we ended off last time. I was still angry about Dumbledore, but I understand now. You had to do it. I now understand why you did what you did."

I'm glad that he forgave me. We both rushed to shore where Hermione was held tightly in the arms of Ron.

"It's all right Hermione, you're safe, we're all safe," said Harry, while hugging Hermione.

I turned around and instantly became horrified. None of us realized what was behind us.

Dobby stood wobbling as he nearly crumbled to the sand. He could no longer rely on his legs anymore. He fell to the damp sand, with Bellatrix Lestrange's knife impaled into his petite chest.

My eyes went wide and I clasped my hand over my mouth to prevent myself from screaming.

Everything happened so quickly. Harry panicked, and ran to Dobby's side, trying to assure him that he would be saved, but magic could only heal so much. Spells could only heal shallow wounds.

There was nothing that we could do for Dobby's case.

"Such a beautiful night... to be with friends. Dobby is happy... to be with his friend... Harry Potter," Dobby's voice trailed off, those being his last words. He laid in Harry's arms, facing the sky. Slowly, his chest stopped rising.

Tears flooded my eyes and began streaming down my face.

For these few moments, it was like there was no war. It was just the water, sand, and us.

Harry insisted that Dobby should be buried without magic. We helped him dig a hole in the sand with a shovel, where Dobby would lie.

Carefully, Hermione placed Dobby's small body into the hole. We refilled it with sand. No words managed to come out from any of us. We huddled up around Dobby's grave, which read,

Here lies Dobby, a free elf.