'Harry Potter' Fans Are Trying to Free a Dobby Puppet Cruelly Trapped in Glass

Dobby in ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2′ (Warner Bros)

Though the Harry Potter sets haven’t hosted a film production in several years, they’ve been making quite a bit of news this week.

Since 2012, the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in London has allowed Potter fans to tour the locations where many of the scenes from the iconic eight-film franchise were shot. A few days ago, word broke that the studio would host a Christmas dinner for hardcore Potterheads with a lot of dough and a deep desire to gobble flaming pudding and glazed ham in the Great Hall at Hogwarts. Now sold out, the experience cost $350 per ticket, creating a bonanza for the studio and jealousy among friends of the cash-rich attendees.

Given the Christmas windfall, it would make sense that the studio would want to pay its employees well, a notion that is perhaps inspiring the growing movement to free Dobby the House Elf — or at least, the puppet used to portray the brave former slave who became a fan favorite later in the series. As noted by Time, fans have been leaving socks on top of the plaque next to Dobby’s glass case at the studio, an act that, according to Potter lore, frees house elves from their forced labor.

Even Potter author J.K. Rowling seems to support the cause, retweeting a photo of the encased Dobby with the socks urging his release. Considering all the fan activism, hopefully Warner Bros. will do the right thing.