Lost and Longing.

Harry's curiosity had been piqued. He may never have studied medical spells but he certainly studied blood and bodies enough over his years as a potioneer. He had never found anything he thought might be a link to magic use. So he was curious and he turned to look at the house elf who stood beside him with his arms crossed "Dobby."

"Yes, Master Harry?" The house elf looked up at him curiously. Harry kneeled down a little bit, to better look Dobby in the eye. "Dobby, this lady here would like to take a sample of your blood to test it. Would you let her?"

"What does third lady with longest tentacles want with Dobby's blood?" Dobby looked up at the woman suspiciously

Harry restrained a chuckle at Dobby's newest naming convention. "This is Master Shaak Ti. And they want to check it to see if they can figure out our magic and how it works."

"Magic… is magic. Even Dobby knows this," He sounded like he was explaining something to a dense five year old.

Shaak Ti, who was definitely curious about the little being, mimicked Harry's pose by crouching down slightly in front of the house elf. A glance from Harry told her that she had made the right move. "Dobby I'm just curious. I promise you it won't hurt."

Dobby hesitated and looked at Harry who kept his face carefully neutral. Dobby looked indecisive before he held out his hand.

Shaak Ti gently took his hand and pressed the device to it quickly before pulling back. "Thank you Dobby."

Dobby nodded and then popped out.

Shaak Ti shook her head slightly and put the smaller device in the reader once more. After a few moments her eyebrows rose dramatically, "That's … that's not possible," Her calm facade was completely lost for a moment.

"What is it?" Aayla was quickly peering over her friend's shoulder once more.

"This says Dobby … has no midichlorians." Shaak Ti said quietly.

"How low are we talking about?" Aayla asked, curiosity reflected in her tone.

"I'm not talking low … I'm talking none..." Shaak Ti replied absently as she continued to try and move and calibrate the machine. "It can't get any reading on any sort of sample..."

Harry's shoulder lifted in an unconcerned motion, "It's really not that surprising." He realized that they weren't going to be offering any unique insights, he was a trifle disappointed, but his statement was accurate; he really wasn't shocked.

"Harry, that reading… is impossible. There's no life without them. Certainly no possibility of someone manipulating the Force," Aayla explained, hoping that Harry would understand a bit better.

"And how many of those life forms are purely magical? The origins of his race may be lost to time but the idea generally held was that they were created out of pure magic… isn't really all that farfetched," He turned to Ahsoka, "I told you before. Dobby needed to be bonded to someone to survive. His very existence requires active magic taken from another. So as a biological entity, he's fairly unique." Shaak Ti looked up sharply from the medical tool at that statement. "What do you mean he needs to be bonded to someone to survive?"

"His race is symbiotic, they need to serve a witch or wizard to survive. Dobby feeds off my magic. In return I am his Master," Harry explained succinctly.

"You bound a creature into servitude using the Force?!" Shaak Ti gasped.

Harry's eyes immediately turned cold, and his expression went flat. "Dobby is my friend. I freed Dobby from his abusive masters, after he risked his life to warn me of danger. I had no idea that Dobby bonded himself to me until years later. I've offered to free him countless times. It took a couple of dozen offers before I got him to stop sobbing and begging me not to give him clothes."

"Give him clothes?" Ahsoka who had been uncharacteristically silent throughout the exchange asked as she considered all the different outfits she had seen the little creature wear.

"Yeah, it's how I free him. Deliberately handing him clothes or something with clothes in it. Whatever wizard or group originally created his race had a twisted sense of humor, and so made it that a Master has to give them clothes to sever the bond," Harry's voice warmed a bit as he answered Ahsoka's question, glad she hadn't jumped to conclusions. "As it is, he has standing orders that if he ever wants me to release him, he only has to ask." "But if that means he is going to die, that is hardly an order he will ever follow," said Shaak Ti scathingly.

"Actually, since I gave it to him in the form of an order, it is something he has to obey," Harry shot back sharply. "He is physically incapable of disobeying a direct order."

Shaak Ti's face went carefully neutral and guarded. "So it is slavery. And he truly has no freedom."

Harry put two fingers to his eyes and rubbed them slowly with a deep sigh. "Dobby!"

Dobby reappeared with a pop. "Yes, Master Harry?" "Dobby, Jedi Master Shaak Ti thinks you are a slave," Harry said with a wave of his hand.

Dobby narrowed his eyes and stared up at the woman who looked down at him with sympathy in her stance. "Does Missti think Dobby is slave?"

After a careful glance at Harry who waved his hand at her, encouraging her to go ahead, Shaak Ti knelt down next to the odd creature once more to look carefully at him, her tone compassionate. "Dobby … the definition of slavery is one where you do not have a choice, you must follow orders and if you leave, you are killed."

Dobby looked at the woman for a long moment before he turned back to Harry with a disappointed shake of his head. "Master Harry has found another one."

"To be fair, I didn't find her, she found us." Harry replied somewhat defensively, though there was also amusement in his tone.

"Serves Master Harry right for being lazy," Dobby stated before he turned back to stare defiantly at Shaak Ti. "Dobby is Master Harry Potter's house elf."

"And friend." Harry supplemented helpfully.

Shaak Ti looked at Harry with something akin to a glare before looking down at Dobby once more. "Friends do not call one another Master."

Dobby tilted his head and replied curiously "Miss Ti calls Miss Blue Master! You are not friends?"

Shaak Ti hesitated and then rather than get into the intricacies of titles and the respect, especially to a being whose interactions seemed simple, though she knew better than to judge based simply on someone linguistic characteristics. "Friends do not control one another Dobby. Free means being able to make your own choices, without any sort of threat hanging over you. You should be free."

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For some other reason this novel will only be published 3 times a week.

[All chapters on my ko-fi page in format PDF]

https://ko-fi.com/fictiontopia