There are plenty of things I would expect to derail the route of a £430 million energy project, but a fictional house-elf from the Harry Potter movies does not make my list. Yet even amidst 2026 calendar release schedule, Dobby apparently still has enough pull nearly two decades after his death to make a major infrastructure project change course.According to BBC News, the Greenlink interconnector between Wales and Ireland had originally been planned to run through part of Freshwater West beach in Pembrokeshire. Potter fans probably recognize the location as the beach where Dobby tragically dies and is buried in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Once fans learned the cable could pass through the area containing his unofficial “grave,” they made their displeasure extremely clear.Simon Ludlam, who served as Greenlink’s project director, recently recalled the strange episode on The Energy Revolution podcast. It started after he appeared in a television interview explaining where the 125-mile power cable would come ashore and disappear underground. A couple of weeks after the segment aired, hundreds of calls began coming in.Ludlam said a colleague eventually explained that Harry Potter fans were upset because the proposed route was apparently going “straight through Dobby’s grave.” There was just one problem: despite being one of the most beloved characters in the book-to-screen adaptations, Ludlam had absolutely no idea who Dobby was. Someone get this poor Muggle man an HBO Max subscription so he can get caught up with the rest of us.(Image credit: warner bros pictures)After being told that everyone was talking about a character from Harry Potter, Ludlam pointed out the fairly important detail that Dobby is fictional. His colleague responded that the complaints were nevertheless “very, very serious.” Never underestimate Potterheads with access to a telephone.The company ultimately went back to its planners and changed the route so the cable would avoid the memorial. Ludlam said people were pleased with the solution and joked that “Dobby’s happy.”The whole situation gets even stranger because there is, of course, no actual grave beneath the beach. Freshwater West was simply used as the filming location for Shell Cottage and Dobby’s death in the 2010 movie. Fans later created a memorial there from stones bearing messages to the beloved character.The site became popular enough that the National Trust previously considered removing it over environmental concerns. In 2022, the organization ultimately allowed the memorial to remain following a consultation, but asked visitors to stop leaving objects behind. Socks became a particular problem, fittingly enough, since Harry famously uses one to secure Dobby’s freedom from Lucius Malfoy. (Image credit: warner bros pictures)There is one final twist worthy of a Harry Potter subplot. While planners managed to avoid disturbing the fictional burial site, Ludlam said the rerouted cable passed close to actual Bronze Age remains, including archaeological evidence associated with human burial. Those remains were also avoided.The Greenlink interconnector eventually became operational in 2025 and can transfer enough electricity to potentially power roughly 380,000 homes. And somewhere, presumably, Dobby remains a free and thoroughly undisturbed elf.As for Ludlam, he may have missed the Harry Potter craze the first time around, but he has another chance coming. The upcoming Harry Potter TV series is set to arrive on the 2026 TV schedule this Christmas. Though he’ll seemingly have to wait until Season 2, which has already been greenlit, to meet everyone’s favorite house elf.