J.K. Rowling Has Apologized to Fans For Killing Off a Beloved Character

J.K. Rowling has apologized for yet another Harry Potter death, in what has become an annual tradition on the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts.

The author offered fans an apology for condemning one of the series’ most memorable and endearing characters to an abrupt death in the pages of the much-loved saga.

This year, Rowling is is sorry for, “for killing someone who didn’t die during the Battle of Hogwarts, but who laid down his life to save the people who’d win it.”

“I refer, of course, to Dobby the house elf,” Rowling wrote on Twitter.

Dobby the house elf appears in five of the series’ seven volumes, beginning in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, in which he warns Harry of a plan to reopen the titular secret vault beneath Hogwarts. He becomes a free elf in the book’s conclusion when Harry tricks Lucius Malfoy into releasing him from servitude, and proves a loyal companion over the rest of the series. But Dobby met his literary end in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, when he is slain by Bellatrix Lestrange while saving Harry and his comrades from the Death Eaters’ grasp.

In past years, Rowling has apologized for the deaths of redeemed villain-turned-antihero Severus Snape, Remus Lupin, and lovable fan favorite Fred Weasley.

Read her message below:

Write to Eli Meixler at eli.meixler@time.com.