story9

            Harry and Hermione were in their 7th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As they walked along the hall, they received many sympathetic and concerned looks from their fellow students. This was because Ron Weasley, their best friend, had died a few days before, battling Voldemort to save Harry. The good thing was, he had defeated Voldemort, and he would terrorize us no more. Still, the atmosphere around the castel was one of sadness and quietness, as no one could think of anything to say. Harry did say something, though, with a sigh.
             "Looks like Defense Against the Dark Arts is next." He said this with an expected tone of melancholy, considering the circumstances, but this was usually his favorite class. Professor Lupin taught it, and as far as the students were concerned, he was the best professor to teach the class in all their seven years. After being forced to leave in their third year, after being discovered as a werewolf, he had returned just this year, deciding that Hogwarts needed a little extra security with Voldemort's rising power. Of course, this was no longer needed, and despite his tries to leave once more, the students' pleas for him to stay were overwhelming, and so he stayed. He was the only one who had actually taught them anything in this class, apart from "Professor" Crouch, a supporter of Voldemort disguised as Alastor Moody, the Auror, in their fourth year. Last year Professor Snape managed to get his hands on the job, but lost it promptly after losing his temper and attempting to curse the entire class. He was in Saint Mungo's for some mental therapy at the present time.
              As Harry and Hermione walked to class, Professor McGonagall stopped them. "I need to see you both in Professor Dumbledore's office. NOW!" she whispered urgently. She strode briskly off in the direction of Dumbledore's office, and the two confused students followed. Harry had hardly heard what she had said, for he was lost in thought, instinctively following Hermione. He had been thinking about Ron, not for the first time these past few days. How could he have been so stupid? To fight Voldemort? Just to save him? It was a nice thought, but stupid! Hadn't Harry managed his fair share of times against Voldemort? Sure, not without some help, but he shouldn't have gone at him alone. If they had all gone, like they had in their first year, they all could have survived!
              Harry had an angry expression on his face, and, noticing it, Hermione said, "is something wrong?"
             "Huh? Oh, no. Hey, where are we going?"
             "To Dumbledore's office, of course!"
             "What? Oh, yeah."
             Harry finally recalled what McGonagall had said, and turned his train of thought to that. Why were they going to his office? Was something wrong? One word, perhaps not so much at random, flashed across his mind. Ron.
            At the door to Dumbledore's office, Professor McGonagall muttered a password (Bertie Bott). The doors slid open, and they emerged into Dumbledore's office. Immediately, Hermione said, "Is it about Ron?"
            Dumbledore's eyes were steely, completely concentrated on the matter at hand, whatever it turned out to be. There was no merry glint in his eye, nor any smile playing at the corners of his mouth. He said, "Mr. Weasley? Yes. He's alive."
             Harry felt his heart jump. He's alive! Dumbledore continued.
             "He was found at the site of the...battle, shall we say. Alive, but barely so. He has been taken to the hospital to be stabilized.
             Hermione interupted, bewildered but obviously happy. "But...how?"
             "I'm getting to that, Miss Granger. Where Mr. Weasly was discovered, also discovered was an Invisibility Cloak. It appeared as though it had been left in a hurry. Also left was a wand, not meant to be left, I'm sure. The last spell that wand performed was...The Imperius Curse." Hermione gasped. "yes, Miss Granger, the Imperius Curse. Professor McGonagall and I believe that Ron may have been under teh effects of that curse. Had he been acting...funny lately? Differently?"
             "Well, not really, I don't think. He was just jumpy about exams I think." Hermione stammered.
             "Yeah," Harry heard himself say quietly.
             "Ah, Mr. Potter. You've been extrodinarily quiet during this tale. Now, what do you think?"
             "I think..." Harry thought a moment. What did he think happened? He could see it in his mind. Ron, being lured off in the night, under the Imperius curse. Ron, going to Harry's parents' former home, the perfect site for the "battle." Pulling out his wand attempting to curse Voldemort, at the same instant that Voldemort cursed him. The curses backfired, each upon it's own. Ron of course, couldn't be dead. He didn't know HOW to kill anyone. But Voldemort did. He would try to kill Ron right off. And if it backfired, Voldemort died! But Ron's curse...what was it? Harry racked his brain trying to think of the most powerful curse Ron knew. It must be something pretty big, to leave him just alive. But harry had always thought of the most powerful curse Ron knew was Jelly-Legs. He laughed.
              "Harry? Is something funny?" Dumbledore's voice came from a distance. He pulled himself back to reality.
              "No, sir." He told the professors and Hermione what he thought.
              "Interesting, no doubt about that. What I wonder though, is who did it? Does Ron have any enemies, that would be interested in saving Harry at his expense?"
               Who knows the Imperius curse, that they knew? Harry wondered. Bartemius Crouch, but he was back in Azkaban, thought Harry. There was the other Bartemius Crouch, the former's father, but he was dead, in the form of a bone buried in the Enchanted Forest. Harry glanced out the window. And then there was Winky, the house elf, who had help the alive Crouch under the Imperius curse for years, to keep him from returning to Voldemort. "But Winky is working in the kitchens. And she wouldn't care to save me." Harry muttered to himself.
               "What was that?" Dumbledore inquired.
               Harry didn't hear. He was onto something. If Winky knows it...Dobby is Winky's friend, and Dobby just loves saving Harry (the memory of his second year at Hogwarts came to mind)...
               "DOBBY!" Harry yelled.
               "Dobby?" Hermione sounded quite puzzled, and a bit afraid of Harry's sanity.
                "Yes, Dobby! I have to go to the kitchens!"
                 Harry rushed out of the office, with Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, as well as Hermione, close at his heels.
                 Harry went to the kitchens entrance, tickled the giggling pear a bit roughly (ouch! it said, then gigled some more), and stormed into the kitchen.
                 "Dobby!" Harry said loudly. A samll, ugly elf, wearing a big maroon sweater, a tea cozy hat, and yellow soccer shorts, scuttled away from the oven. He said, "Harry Potter, sir! Dobby is pleased to see you!"
                "Dobby, can I ask you some questions?"
                At this, Dobby flinched, but then said timidly, "what kinds of questions, sir?"
                "Where were you last Friday night?" Harry asked in a too-sweet voice. Then Harry said to himself, "I sound like Snape."
                 Dobby replied, "Me? I is taking a walk, on Friday, I is."
                 "Where to?" said Harry.
                 "Where to? I is going all over and going no where, Harry Potter."
                 "Did you see where Ron went?"
                 "Your Wheezy, sir? I is seeing n-nothing of y-your Wheezy, sir."
                 Harry thought of a way to make Dobby confess. He said,
                 "Voldemort is alive!"
                 Dobby shrieked, then said, quietly, but still audible, "No, no... I had Wheezy go, Wheezy went! Wheezy killed him..." He became quieter, so you could only hear a few words. "Imperius...invisibility...I is doing right!"
                 "Ah ha! You did it! I knew it!"
                 "What? No, no, Harry Potter, sir, I is not killing your Wheezy!"
                 "Voldemort's not alive. But Ron is! Why did you do it? How?" Harry was almost yelling at the poor frightened elf now, but he didn't care.
                  Dobby whimpered. "You is going to go, you was is going to gofight He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!"
                 Harry realized that Dobby was right. If Ron had not gone and fought Voldemort, Harry himself had been planning to go.
                 "So?" Harry said. "So what if I was going to go? I would have been fine!" He said this a little falsely. He had no way of knowing he would have been fine. He could have died, as well as Ron could have.
                 "Harry Potter, sir, I is telling you before! He is too dangerous he is! Better Wheezy than the great Harry Potter sir!"
                 "Ron's my best friend! Now tell me what you did!" Harry waited for Dobby to say something. In the silence, he watched the other elves back away and go back their work. They had gathered around the noisy argument, but now the shrank back. Dobby took a deep breath, it seemed he was ready to speak.
                  "Dobby is telling you now what I is doing." A sigh from Dobby. "I is putting Wheezy under the Inperius, I is. I is learning it from Winky."
                  At this, Winky froze temporarily, with a look of fright on her also quite homely face. She had been wondering when her name was going to come into this. Dobby went on, "I is practicing the Imperius, and I is putting it on you Wheezy. I is making him leave in the night. Wheezy is going to fight He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. I is in a Cloak of Invisibility, and I is not being seen. I is making Wheezy curse with Avada Kedavra, but Wheezy is not knowing it. You-Know-Who also cursing with Avada Kedavra. They hit, and You-Know-Who is getting killed with his own curse. Wheezy's curse is not being strong enough to kill, but it backfires on him and is almost strong enough. He is almost dying, but not quite. I left, and Wheezy was still there, but not under Imperius anymore. There, now you is happy, Harry Potter sir!"
                   Harry was far from happy. He mulled it all over in his head. Dobby went to a lot of trouble, but he also almost killed Ron. Does Ron know what happened? Did he try to fight it? He had to go to St. Mungo's and talk to him. But what should he say to Dobby?
                  "Dobby, what you just said? Never say it to anyone else ever, or you might get put in Azkaban. Those were Unforgivable Curses you used. Everyone is glad that Voldemort is dead. But I'm not glad that you almost killed my best friend. You keep out of trouble from now on, and I've got to go talk to Ron."
                  Harry turned around. There crumpled on the floor was Hermione. While listening to the story, engulfed by sheer astonishment, she had fainted dead away.
                 After reviving Hermione, Harry turned to the Professors. "Did you hear all of that? Why didn't you say anything?"
                 "Because you said it quite well yourself, Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall said, visibly full of pride for having such a sharp student in her house. "Now that you've solved this little mystery," she added, "I urge you to feel free to go visit Ron at the hospital, and tell him all about this discovery of yours. You too, Miss Granger, if you feel up to it.
                 "Oh, of course I do, Professor!"
                 "What??" yelled Ron loudly, after hearing the amazing tale. "DOBBY? I'll wring his little neck!!!!"
                 "Calm down, Ron! You're sick!" said Hermione, always the careful one.
                "Thanks to Dobby!" Ron bellowed, and his face contorted into a scowl.
                "Think of it this way," said Harry, not wanting Ron to turn inside-out with fury, "you defeated Voldemort! That's thanks to Dobby too."
                 "Well, yeah, but it was a stupid thing to do. Just to save you, Harry. Um, no offense, of course."
                 "None taken."

                                                    THE END