Potterheads show how far they will go to protect Dobby’s grave

The Harry Potter fandom knows no bounds, it appears, as the muggles of the wizarding world have pulled off a victory for the slain yet beloved house elf Dobby.

The situation developed in real life after Britain and Ireland announced a £430 million power cable project.

Named the Greenlink project, it was a 190 km high-voltage cable from County Wexford in Ireland to Freshwater West beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

But according to the original plan, Euro News reported, the project had to run through the area where the scene of Dobby's death was shot in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One.

The result: hundreds of angry calls from Potterheads.

However, Dobby had been just a fictional character, as that is exactly what Simon Ludlam, Etchea Energy's chief executive of advisory, asked while questioning the outrage.

“He is a fictitious character in a fictitious book; the whole thing's fictitious. What are you talking about?” Ludlam asked one of his colleagues, only to get told by his co-worker about the sensitivity of the issue.

In the end, the project planners bowed down to the Potterheads' pressure.

“So we got back with the planners and discussed exactly how to reroute the cable so we wouldn't go anymore into Dobby's grave,” Ludlam said.

And a lot of people were very happy about that, and, you know, the project's now going and Dobby's happy.”

Ever since the 2010 film was released, the site has become a memorial for fans to honour him by leaving items such as stones and socks there.

The beach, now a pilgrimage site, got a nod from the National Trust – Europe's largest conservation charity – back in 2022, who agreed to leave the shrine in place.

However, Potterheads were urged not to leave socks due to environmental concerns.

Meanwhile, the Greenlink project has been live since 2025 and is powering nearly 380,000 houses without disturbing Dobby's peace.