I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

by kathryn518

Ahsoka Tano left the Jedi Order, walking away after their betrayal. She did not consider the consequences of what her actions might bring, or the danger she might be in. A chance run in with a single irreverent, and possibly crazy, person in a bar changes the course of fate for an entire galaxy.

10. Unwanted Truths

~Chapter 10~

Unwanted Truths

The two women ventured outside and were more than a little surprised to find Harry and Ahsoka laying on the ground on their stomachs. They were facing each other with about a meter of space separating them. In between them was a small pile of stones.

Harry had his hands clenched in fist and one was resting on top of the other, while he was resting his chin on them. His focus was on Ahsoka and he was watching her intently. Ahsoka was pointing her wand at the pile of stones with a look of focus and concentration on her face.

The two Jedi Masters both stopped several yards from the group though they were close enough that they could make out what was being said. Aayla was surprised that Shaak Ti merely observed, only shooting Aayla a curious look before focusing back on the pair and wasn't asking why Ahsoka was pointing a stick at some rocks.

Harry seemed to be ignoring their presence entirely, "Okay, now that you've got what you want to change the rock into firmly in your mind. Apply the magic to make the change."

Ahsoka nodded a little bit and jabbed her wand slightly forward and nothing happened. She looked up at Harry with a slightly disappointed look on her face.

Harry shook his head, and his tone was reassuring, "No, you're thinking about the steps in the process. Don't. You've been taught to let the 'Force' guide you. This isn't like that. You can't be so passive. Focus on what you want to happen and then guide magic to do it. The wand will help you."

Harry was going to let her try it this way for a few times before he started encouraging her to use incantations to help her concentration. He just didn't want to because incantations were more of a handicap than anything. And he thought Ahsoka might be able to manage without them.

Ahsoka listened intently to Harry's instruction and nodded and then took a breath, gathering her concentration before waving her wand at the rock again. This time she felt the Force move through the wand.

There was a brief hesitation and a small shimmer and then one of the rocks, the one Ahsoka was pointing her wand at and focusing her attention on so intently, quivered and then slowly morphed into a small rodent, closely resembling a mouse. The mouse made a squeaking sound as it seemed to take in its surroundings.

Ahsoka squealed in pleasure. "It worked."

"Huh," Harry responded eloquently after a moment's pause.

He looked far more than a little surprised, though he reached out and snagged the mouse before it could scamper too far away. He stared at the mouse, looking at it with an impartial eye, turning it around in his hands. It still had a coloring like the rock. It's body was slightly harder than other rodents he was familiar with. He also noted that though they weren't easily visible, he could feel that just beneath the fur patches portions of the body were still stone and not flesh.

Ahsoka looked more than a little bit hurt at his surprised reaction, and it showed on her face. "Did you not think I could do it?"

Harry blinked at the question and hurt in her tone. He looked up from his examination of the rodent that was squirming slightly in his hands and shook his head.

"Not at all. I just… realized I didn't specify that you should change it to something inanimate," Harry said, sounding both abashed at his own oversight and amused at the situation. "I was assuming you were just trying to change it to a geometric shape..."

Ahsoka winced, thinking she had done something she shouldn't have. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean… I just remembered what you did at the bar in Nar Shaddaa, and thought I would try a smaller version of that."

"No no, you did nothing wrong. Just the opposite in fact," Harry reassured her as shook his head quickly and a grin appeared on it. "Turning an inanimate object to an animate object is actually way way harder. Normally you would transfigure inanimate to inanimate, and then animate to inanimate first. The third step in transfiguration is turning inanimate objects to animate ones. The only thing harder is changing one animate object into another."

"Merlin-forsaken over-achievers…" Harry grumbled playfully, though it was clear he was pleased, "I thought I was making it challenging by making you change something the size of a rock rather than a pebble… and it only took you two tries... My first transfiguration class I couldn't even turn a match into a needle."

Ahsoka actually beamed a bit with pride once she understood Harry's words before her attention returned to the mouse squirming in Harry's hand, "How long will it last?"

"Mm. It depends on how much power is put into the cast," Harry answered as he examined the mouse thoughtfully. "You were a bit tentative rather than trying to overpower your cast. Usually beginners have the exact opposite problem."

"Intent, will and power," Harry explained further, seeing her expression, "You had the first two, but you probably used just the bare minimum power required. Generous estimate is that there are probably no more than 10 minutes before it reverts back to a rock."

"Is… it alive?" Ahsoka inquired tentatively, in a worried tone as she looked at the now calming mouse in Harry's hands.

Harry smiled and shook his head, "No, you were picturing this rodent, and it's acting the way you consciously or subconsciously pictured it; which was probably like a rodent would act."

Harry pointed his finger at another rock sitting in a pile and narrowed his eyes slightly. Ahsoka and the two Jedi Masters felt a slight and brief surge in the Force and the rock transformed into a mouse similar to the one that Ahsoka had transfigured. Only this mouse was wearing the top of a suit, and had a top hat and a cane. It immediately began to dance in a circle in a complicated little dance, swinging the cane and top hat.

"It's acting that way because I pictured it acting that way. The transfiguration is simply responding to the commands of my conscious and subconscious," he explained as he chuckled a little bit.

Harry held up his hand with the other mouse still squirming in it. "If I were to cut this mouse open, I doubt you'd find anything resembling organs on the inside. Unless your focus was so detailed as to provide them. While my transfiguration might simulate organs and blood, it's neither alive nor does it have a soul."

As he was speaking the mouse in his hand gave a little quiver and shifted back into the form of the rock it was initially. Harry then presented the rock back to Ahsoka, and said in a very snooty voice, with his nose in the air, "And that, my dear Miss Tano, is Transfiguration! Ten points to you for such a fine job especially on only your second attempt."

She tilted her head slightly at the odd phrase but definitely beamed at his praise. Harry smiled and then gestured his dancing rodent turned back into a rock, and at the same time a section of the ground next to the rocks sloped downward and changed into a bowl with steep walls.

"I want you to change the rest of these rocks into something," Harry said.

"Into what?" an eager Ahsoka inquired.

"Anything. I would like to see a mix of animate and inanimate objects. Otherwise… surprise me," Harry said as he grinned and pushed himself from lying on his stomach up to a standing position with surprising grace. "Your imagination is your only limiter here."

Ahsoka watched him stand and then turned her attention back to focus on the rocks with a look of determination on her face.

Harry turned toward Aayla and Shaak Ti. Shaak Ti was staring down at the rocks, though her facial expression was completely blank. Her eyes were seeing without sight

She was obviously reaching out with every sense at her disposal. Sight. Hearing. Echolocation. And above all the Force.

She was focused intently and didn't miss a single thing as Ahsoka narrowed her eyes in concentration. A wave of her wand and she turned another rock into a miniature Nerf. The nerf only had three legs and balanced awkwardly but otherwise seemed to be fairly accurate.

Her eyes couldn't help but widening at the third confirmation of what she had seen, that her senses weren't fooling her. Shaak Ti had a rare moment of complete shock showing on her face. "That's... not possible."

"Oh?" inquired Harry as he walked over. "What exactly isn't possible?"

"Matter cannot just change it's state like this," Shaak Ti replied as she continued to stare at Ahsoka. "Only a particle destructor can unmake matter, and nothing I know of can reconstitute it into another form."

She turned her gaze from Ahsoka to Harry and fixed him with a glare that would melt transparisteel. "What kind of mind trick is this? I am not amused."

"You know, the only thing better than looking at an angry woman is the angry make-up sex that follows." In contrast to the togruta's tone Harry's was amused and it was obvious that he was completely unconcerned with the gaze of a Jedi Master that had intimidated entire groups before.

He was getting very used to the reaction of surprise by now. And honestly, he hadn't had this much fun in quite some time. Both Ahsoka and Aayla had said something similar, in the same tone even.

Of course Aayla was once more bearing a similar look on her face. Only this time she was staring at Harry in shock because of the bluntness and outrageousness of his statements and not something 'impossible' he had done. Ahsoka had simply glanced up at the Togrutan Jedi Master with a cold look before returning her focus to the stones in front of her.

His smile turned curious and he adopted a tone he would use when speaking with a very young child, "If you are such an expert in all workings of Magic, or the 'the Force'," Harry said, using his fingers to show air quotes. "Why don't you outline for such a primitive as me exactly what is impossible and possible?"

Harry waited for several moments with an overly interested and wide eyed expression and was met with silence before he shook his head sadly, not giving her a chance to talk, "If you define what is impossible you are putting limits on something you clearly don't even begin to understand."

He turned back to Ahsoka and as a parting shot over his shoulder, though this one seemed to encompass both women. "Kind of shines light on the arrogance of calling yourselves 'Masters' when someone who is still a novice is able to do things you believe 'impossible' with a week or two of decent instruction."

He shook his head slightly and moved to go back to Ahsoka who was focused on a rock and seemed to be attempting to mold it into the form of a ship of some sort. However, Harry was stopped by Shaak Ti's voice. "I apologize, Mr. Potter."

Harry turned this time his expression showed surprised and he raised an inquiring eyebrow inviting her to continue.

"I was surprised, and forgot my own lessons. I did not mean to offend," Shaak Ti explained with genuine remorse in her voice. She may not trust Harry fully, and still have some rather large suspicions, but she also realized that she had offended him and was in the wrong.

Harry waved a hand with a small smile, "No offense taken. It's not your fault that you've been indoctrinated to view the universe in such a limited perspective. It can happen to anyone really. Happened to me when I was a kid too. All you need to avoid such things in the future is to simply keep an open mind and don't accept something as gospel because someone told you."

Harry turned again and observed Ahsoka. After some initial struggles she seemed to be working her way through the small pile of rocks, as it was quickly dwindling. He didn't see the reaction his words caused on the Jedi Master's face as she looked at Aayla who shook her head slightly, telling her friend confronting the issue at the moment wasn't in their best interest.

Harry glanced back once more toward the two Jedi. "Night time is coming. I won't send you back out into the jungles. When night falls the danger in the jungle magnifies, especially with hunters who track body heat. You can be my guest overnight if you'd like."

Aayla frowned and looked around. Nothing seemed to have changed. The blue flames continued to light the area, they hadn't changed, at least not in any noticeable manner. "Harry, how did you know it's almost night down here? There is no sunlight."

She was half expecting another answer of 'magic' and was somewhat disappointed by his more prosaic answer.

"You can tell by the temperature beginning to drop," Harry replied as he headed back over to where Ahsoka was looking in the bowl of creatures that were moving over different miniature objects. He left the two women to their own devices.

Aayla shook her head slightly at her friend, "As I mentioned... he's not... the biggest fan of the Jedi Order."

"I… could hear the disgust in his voice, but couldn't even sense the emotion behind the words." Shaak Ti observed, a frown on her face. "Not anger. Not even annoyance."

Aayla nodded a little bit, "I haven't figured out how he's doing that either."

Harry was back focused on Ahsoka who had filled the small bowl with small animals, models of star ships, though the last few rocks had been turned into what looked like colored glass, and Ahsoka was sitting cross legged holding the last rock in her hand looking at it speculatively. "Harry, is it possible to trans… transfigure something permanently?"

"You just got started and you're already exploring advanced transfiguration theory? Talk about over-achieving. Took me years, I think over a decade in fact, to get to that point." Harry chuckled a little bit and sat back down next to her in a cross-legged position, "The honest answer is that I don't know."

When Ahsoka looked at him surprised that he didn't have an answer, he shrugged apologetically but didn't seem sorry.

"The idea of permanent transfiguration is a little tricky. I told you. Intent, will or focus if you prefer, and power. The more power and will you cast with the longer your intended transfiguration lasts." Harry explained comfortably, "Now after a certain point you get to things that are practically permanent."

"I'm not sure what that clarification means." Ahsoka confessed.

"I'd be surprised if you did. Like I said, advanced theory," Harry explained as he chuckled and leaned back on his hands looking thoughtful and comfortable explaining the concept, "Well, if you put enough power into your casts, your transfiguration may last years or decades or possibly longer. Those are things I consider practically permanent. And yes I've experimented with it."

His pose and countenance turned thoughtful, "There are also runes you can inscribe into things that essentially freeze them. Which can make things permanent at least to the best of my knowledge. But, unless you're trying to make sure enchantments last long after your death, after a certain point it hardly matters."

"Now, the important question. Since I doubt you're interested in mastery level theory at least not for the purposes of this discussion, why do you ask?" Harry asked, a curious expression on his face.

Ahsoka shook her head slightly, she was surprised at how knowledgeable Harry sounded sometimes. Especially given that half the time it seemed like he took nothing seriously, even when she might otherwise consider a situation serious. Harry seemed to have his own measuring stick when it came to serious, and it was one that didn't seem to match anyone else's.

Still, the ease at which he explained concepts and theories made him seem like a professor, but the manner in which he did it made him imminently more accessible. Ahsoka shook her head before she replied, "I would be interested… but I was hoping I'd be able to make one of these rocks into a crystal."

"Hmm. That, again, is a subject in higher level transfiguration," He replied with a slight grimace, wondering if getting the books would help in this case. He hadn't been sure if he would need them given the amount of control Ahsoka already exhibited when working with Magic due to her Jedi training. "The short answer is yes, you can turn things into crystal or other gems, though most times their properties can be skewed and warped a bit. It also requires an incredible degree of focus."

Harry looked thoughtful as he considered it before tilting his head at Ahsoka. "Is this about the lightsword thingy again?"

"I was hoping to see about making myself a new lightsaber," Ahsoka agreed as she sighed a little bit disconsolately.

"Ohh.. right." Harry replied, remembering their conversation from earlier as he looked at Ahsoka thoughtfully.

She couldn't help shoot a glare over toward where Shaak Ti and Aayla stood a scant few meters away, "When they captured me before putting me on trial the Order took mine. And like a stoopa I didn't reclaim mine before leaving the Order," She spat the word out like an epitaph.

"Without my lightsaber, I feel, not quite helpless, but very vulnerable," Ahsoka stated as she looked over at Harry somewhat sheepishly. "And like you pointed out back on Coruscant, I am somewhat defenseless."

Harry looked at Ahsoka and scratched his chin thoughtfully. "And you said you just need a special crystal for it?"

"Generally a crystal that has some resonance with the Force." Ahsoka nodded in agreement, "Jedi mostly get their crystals from Illum. But I doubt we'll be just swinging by there anytime soon since it's rather out of the way. The rest of the stuff is fairly common. I wondered if I could transfigure a rock so I could make myself a new saber."

Harry could see the disappointment on her face before an idea occurred to him. Suddenly, he grinned as an idea occurred to him and said aloud, "Dobby?"

"Yes Master Harry?" Dobby asked appearing in a pop immediately, while ignoring the reactions of those around him. Shaak Ti still looked a bit startled, but only a bit, as she adjusted to Dobby's comings and goings. Still it was requiring a major mental shift for her, so she was adjusting slowly.

Harry grinned, "Go get those two trunks of old jewelry. We just labeled them this -"

Dobby popped back with the two boxes in his hands and promptly handed them to his Master. Harry looked at the two trunks the house elf deposited in his hands and squinted at the writing on them. He realized it was totally illegible and would be useless to him if he were ever searching. He was nearly certain that Dobby was doing that on purpose. "Dobby, which one of these belongs to which family?"

"Left is Black, right is Potter." Dobby replied shortly, but there was a trace of a smirk on his face, as if he knew what Harry was thinking

Harry looked between the two before he grinned. He turned to Ahsoka and set the trunk in his left hand down on the ground enlarging it as he did. "We're going to start with the Black family heirlooms." He ignored the start from behind him.

Ahsoka frowned, "What? I don't want you to destroy something of your family's…"

Harry scoffed. "Please, it's not like I'll ever wear any of it. This is from Tonks' original family before they kicked her mother out for dirtying herself when she married a filthy first generation wizard, rather than the one they had selected for her."

"That man, of course, was a proper wizard, the son of wizards who had sex with their cousins and sisters, just like all proper purebloods." Harry stated as he shook his head in disgust.

"But… they're mementos from that family?" Ahsoka ventured carefully. She was slightly uncomfortable arguing for the value of mementos, but she was well aware Harry had attachments, and didn't want to pretend otherwise.

"Yes… yes they are," Harry replied as he tilted his head and got a far off look in his eyes with a bitter smile on his face.

Ahsoka sighed after twenty seconds when she realized Harry had zoned out again. She snapped her fingers in front of his face.

Aayla exchanged a significant look with Shaak Ti who raised both of her brows.

Harry shook his head slightly before looking at Ahsoka with a slightly abashed expression, "Sorry, I just realized that almost everyone in the Black family would likely be spinning in their graves right now for even considering this."

"Harry, I'm not asking you to do this…" Ahsoka immediately protested.

Harry blinked and then grinned. "Are you kidding? I hope they're watching right now and screaming epitaphs at me from whatever corner of Hell they're in. It would certainly serve the whole pack of arrogant inbred idiots right to know that a so-called 'half-breed' in their mind was now going to start tearing apart their priceless goblin-made family jewels."

Without further argument he set the trunk on the ground and enlarged it, prompting a small intake of air from Shaak Ti. He ignored that as he opened the trunk and then groaned accompanied by a gasp from Ahsoka.

He'd only seen it that morning but he'd already forgotten how full it was.

He wondered how it might be best to sort through the jewelry. He had no idea how expanded the trunk was, it looked overflowing, and the downsides of expanded trunks was that the opening was going to make shifting the jewelry around hard. He was certain it was just jewelry, assorted gems and probably a few ornamental weapons.

He was about to try and start shifting things around when he stopped. "You know what? To hell with it." He said to no one in particular. With a wave of his hand the trunk began to tilt forward only to be stopped as Dobby suddenly appeared before it with his hand held out.

"Master Harry Potter going to get Black family jewels all muddy and then Master Harry too lazy to clean them off properly. So Dobby will need to clean them up. And Dobby is busy preparing dinner," Dobby stated as he pointed emphatically at the ground which was definitely dirty and still showed signs of their wand testing earlier in the day.

Harry grimaced a bit and shook his head, his tone turned apologetic, "Of course, I tend to make enough messes for Dobby as it is. Let's go inside."

He didn't wait for a response as he walked into the house under the smug gaze of a house elf with the trunk floating in the air behind him. Ahsoka hadn't hesitated at all following on his heels into the house. The two Jedi Masters, who continued to be observers, looked at each other and then followed along.

He walked into the house and directly to the same area he had been in earlier in the day when they had woken up. They were right next to a pair of chairs and a table, by an organized and an unorganized pile of trunks as well as other boxes and crates in the area.

The trunk abruptly tilted forward unceremoniously. With the ringing of gold and other precious metals in the jewelry clinking together a torrent of jewelry fell out of the trunk. However it did not even seem to slow when the spectators expected, instead more and more jewelry tumbled out of the trunk, creating a huge pile as Harry completely upended the trunk dumping out its entire contents.

There were all sorts of gemmed items. Ahsoka noted that there was a large number of jewelry pieces. However there were all sorts of other items, models, weapons such as bejeweled swords, knives, as well as gloves, and what looked to be pieces of armor as well. Things continued to tumble out of the trunk as Harry floated it upward in the air, making room on the ground for whatever was in it.

All three women stared at the gigantic pile filling the area that was nearly chest high and several meters wide of jeweled pieces. Clearly the contents filled several times the size of what the trunk appeared capable of holding, as the pile was quite high and resembled a mountain. "Okay, first… what kind of crystal are you looking for here?"

When he got no immediate response he glanced back to Ahsoka who was eying the pile with a mixture of trepidation and awe.

Harry was completely ambivalent to their reactions and was about to reach down and grab a particular large and gaudy diamond necklace, when he stopped himself, "Damn," he said aloud before backing up.

He turned to Ahsoka, "Don't actually touch anything with your hands yet. If you see something you really like now, use your Force grabby abilities and pick the item up. Some stuff in here is cursed," Harry grimaced as he explained.

When she didn't make a move to grab anything immediately Harry stepped back and stretched out his hand toward the pile of jewelry, and closed his eyes. Ignoring the indrawn breaths from the women behind him. He surrounded himself in magic and then reached his magic into the large pile of expensive jewelry pieces. Pieces of jewelry began flying off the pile in two different directions making two smaller piles.

Shaak Ti drew in her breath sharply. She could feel the Force wash over the area, including herself. Harry was practically radiating power, and it was coming off him in waves. It was the most bizarre and potent sensation she had ever experienced, like it was sensing her existence in the Force, making some sort of determination and then moving on. One glance at Aayla told her that the other Jedi Master was feeling the same thing.

Yet even sensing the Force he was putting off, made it seem like it was coming from a void as she couldn't sense anyone at the center of the Force. It seemed to radiate from the blank space that Harry should have been.

However Ahsoka didn't realize anything of the sort, she felt the Force wash over her but wasn't aware of anything deeper, her focus was elsewhere. She hadn't even really looked closely at the pile except to marvel at its size, instead she was focused on Harry's face as watched as his eyes softly glowed an emerald green. She could tell that the two Jedi master's couldn't see it from their vantage point, but she only had one word to describe it. "Beautiful."

Once the original pile had been completely separated into two piles, a larger and a smaller pile, Harry moved to the smaller pile, keeping his hand stretched out, the pile once more began to shift, albeit much more slowly as piece by piece separated themselves into two further small piles.

"What are you doing?" Ahsoka ventured, her tone very tentative, unsure if it required Harry's absolute concentration, or if he was able to speak.

"I'm separating out them out into three piles. The big pile are all unenchanted, or enchanted with positive effects. They're not registering to me as cursed or with any spell to hide curses from my senses. This other pile is all cursed items. I'm further splitting that up into two piles, one with curses that can be simply dispelled but need a second look before doing so, and one with the curses engraved into the pieces themselves via runes or blood sacrifice." Harry explained, his voice slow as his focus didn't waver from the jewelry pieces in front of him.

"Blood sacrifice?" Ahsoka echoed, sounding vaguely ill. She didn't know the specifics, but the words were fairly self explanatory. Shaak Ti and Aayla had both moved a little bit closer to the objects were equally as horrified on their expressions, and exchanged worried looks.

With a jerk of his chin Harry indicated the pile of items he was still sorting. One of the pieces floated up out of the pile to hover in front of them. The piece was an amulet of several dark gems around a center gem colored an unattractive milky red, all set in a large and elaborate silver setting.

Harry's voice was soft, though the piece seemed to shimmer slightly in the air giving off a slightly orange glow as it hung there. "This one… has a spell around it to hide it from standard dark spell detection spells. Probably so it could be either worn around or gifted to other witches or wizards without them realizing it."

Harry's voice was musing as he was examining the magic of the item closely in order to figure out the exact enchantment as they spoke.

"Can you reach out and sense it Ahsoka?" Harry asked curiously, he had yet to determine the enchantment though he could tell it wasn't a pleasant one. He was wondering what Ahsoka was capable of sensing.

"Huh?" asked Ahsoka eloquently as she started out of her examination of Harry's eyes and peered at the piece. She tried to reach out with her senses as she had been taught. But she had trouble sensing anything over the feel of Harry's magic surrounding the piece.

Realizing this, Harry reduced the use of his magic on the piece and used it only to hold the piece in the air by the necklace chain. He left the piece hanging in the air and diverted his attention to the pile and returned to sorting the pieces into two smaller piles.

Ahsoka was able to feel shook her head, she wasn't able to tell it had any feeling one way or the other. "I don't sense anything."

"I sense that it has been touched by the Force, but I can sense nothing else," Shaak Ti spoke up softly her eyes closed in concentration as she focused on the piece as well.

Harry shook his head before he said, "Let me break the concealments on it, then all of you try again."

He let his magic engulf it once more. The jewelry piece seemed to shimmer again as Harry exerted a bit of effort and with his magic broke through the concealing enchantment.

Each of the observers felt the extremely subtle twisting of the Force as it struck the necklace, and the burst of energies that both faded from the object, the spells on the necklace and were now suddenly no longer masked and hidden.

"What about now?" Harry asked curiously.

Shaak Ti reacted first, having been trying to read it with her senses when Harry broke the enchantment and actually made a gagging sound. "I don't know what it is, but whatever it is... is revolting…"

Aayla reacted a second later, shivering and crossing her arms over her chest to ward off chills. "It's so dark and vile, it should be destroyed."

Harry had to admit some grudging respect for their responses, it had taken him decades to get his magic to the point that he could intuitively understand it like that. He felt each of their magic slide over the piece slowly, passively sensing it. His attention focused on Ahsoka whose eyes were fixed on the piece of jewelry with intense concentration on her face.

"They're right… it's dark. But…" She trailed off uncertainly.

"What is it?" Harry asked, intrigued, a suspicion forming in his mind. His suspicion was confirmed as he felt Ahsoka's magic not just passively read what it was telling her, like the other two Jedi had done… instead he felt her at trying, albeit very clumsily, to push magic into the piece in order to figure out what it was.

"I… am not sure..." Ahsoka frowned and shook her head a little bit. For a moment there she thought she might have sensed something more at the very edges of her senses but it seemed to slip away as she tried to focus on it. And the overall dark feeling of the item didn't help her desire to sense it.

Harry nodded slowly and pushed his own magic into the piece. His facial expression hardened slowly as he slowly unraveled and determined the enchantments on the necklace. "Whoever enchanted this was pure evil. If you put it on it has compulsions not to take it off, but it starts to leech energy from the soul, you the more you use magic, the more of your life it actually takes, likely aging you or making you ill. I'm not certain."

He looked at Ahsoka seriously, "You were making a good attempt at using magic to sense and evaluate it."

She averted her eyes from the piece and nodded slightly looking down. She was disappointed that she wasn't able to sense anything more.

Harry stepped forward and gestured to get her attention so she would look up at him, "Hey, I'm proud of you. You're starting to use magic, rather than just letting it guide you. You're listening. I told you it wouldn't be easy, and I'd much rather you learn the hard things with me here than on your own."

When her expression remained uncertain, he gestured. "It took me a very very long time to do what you just did. Literally… years. And that was after I left school."

She searched his expression to see if he was being honest and saw nothing but honestly there and she nodded a little bit, a small smile on her face.

He shook his head and returned his focus to the piece, letting his magic drop it into the smallest pile. "Dobby, take those two piles and put them in two boxes for now. We may use the slightly bigger one as a teaching tool later to teach Ahsoka how to sense that sort of thing and how to dispel curses... But the smaller one contains objects with curses that aren't dispellable. At least not without a lot more work than I feel like putting into it. Seal the box and I'll either fiendfyre it while out in orbit or we'll drop it in a star or black hole somewhere."

Dobby simply nodded and the jewelry disappeared with a pop followed by Dobby a moment later.

Harry turned to Ahsoka, "Sorry, I wasn't trying to pass anything off. As I said, I never cared for the jewelry, Daph was the only one who ever wore any of it, but even that was really just a handful of pieces she really liked. Those are in another trunk somewhere. So, believe me, I'm not attached to any of this crap."

Harry nodded at the sight, and gestured toward the still huge pile that was still remaining on the wooden floor of the house. "Everything that's left in that pile, go ahead and rummage through to your heart's content. Whatever you want in there, go ahead and break it apart and take the crystals.

Ahsoka looked at Harry in disbelief, she might not have been a mineralogist of any sort but she at least recognized metals that would make some of the pieces worth a fortune on the black market and on several worlds. "Harry, I can't just… go destroying that jewelry some of it is likely very expensive."

"Seriously, I'm really not attached to everything. If it makes you feel better I'll destroy all the pieces and just leave the jewels. Then… instead of a handful destroyed to be used, they'll all be," Harry said, making no attempt to hide his cheeky grin, cutting off the argument before it could gain traction.

Ahsoka stared at his grin for a few moments before sighing a bit. "If you're going to be stubborn about it," She turned to the pile, and squaring her shoulders slightly she stepped forward to begin looking through it.

"Harry, why do you have pieces that are so dark in nature?" Aayla asked finally breaking the silence. She was forcing herself to keep her tone light, she didn't want to be accused of assumption again but she and Shaak Ti were both tense at the mention of what the nature of the jewelry could do.

"Like I said, one of my families was rather renowned for their dark leanings, and some of them delved into very dark magic without concern for morality. I've just never sorted through all their crap. I'd be surprised if a necklace like that was the darkest thing contained in one of these trunks." Harry replied with an indifferent shrug.

Aayla was going to press slightly further, mostly about the recklessness of such artifacts and their ability to corrupt, but Dobby popped back in with arms crossed looking pleased that Harry had done as instructed. "Master Harry needs to eat. Dobby be making large dinner and it be nearly ready."

Harry glanced down with a raised eyebrow. "I think we'll have three guests tonight Dobby, give me a minute and I'll grab the drinks."

Dobby gave a long suffering sigh as if he didn't need to be told how many to cook for before with a shake of his head he popped away once more.

Harry looked to Ahsoka, who seemed to have her search under control, or at least seemed to be progressing well. He left the area to go to the kitchen to grab the drinks and check on Dobby, since the elf likely made enough for ten people.

Ahsoka was timidly and hesitantly sorting through the piles of jewelry. She was still a bit concerned about Harry's casual dismissal of such pieces. She could tell that some of them were finely wrought and might have ceremonial value. But… she also didn't doubt Harry's claim that he would just destroy every piece. So she was searching carefully, looking for several gems of the right size before testing the compatibility with the gem itself by the Force.

She completely ignored the presence of the two Masters, who without Harry had only her to focus on. She was also using the time to continue to sort the remaining memories she had that hadn't been sorted, recent events, including today's experience.

In the absence of Harry's presence, Shaak Ti approached, watching as the former Jedi padawan searched through and tossed aside pieces of jewelry so elaborate and ornate that some could possibly be sold to buy a brand new starship. Some of the pieces were incredibly detailed and others were gaudy and elaborate. She finally spoke up to the Padawan, "You may not be a member of the Order anymore, but I could request that your lightsaber be returned to you if you desired."

Ahsoka ignored the Jedi Master, not even acknowledging the words. She didn't even look up at the her.

Shaak Ti raised an eyebrow and turned her head to look over at Aayla, who had a puzzled frown on her face. Once or twice was circumstance but this continued silent treatment and reluctance to acknowledge her at all was something that caught the Jedi Master off guard.

Aayla was every bit as confused. When they had first met, Ahsoka had been defensive and suspicious and had been very formal, but she hadn't responded with indifference to Aayla's presence, much less outright ignored her, so why would Shaak Ti be any different?

Ahsoka continued to slowly search through the pile, her eyes half closed as she moved through the various pieces, doing her best to ignore those around her and doing so by working as much in her own head as she was with the gems.

"Do you require assistance with your search?" Shaak Ti inquired.

Ahsoka continued to ignore her presence entirely. Her hands fell on a thick bracelet with several embedded gems, some were on the bracelet itself, some dangled from charms. One of the larger ones she specifically held between her fingers. It was a relatively large bright orange gem. It was a much stronger and brighter shade of orange than most crystals found on Illum of a similar color.

She rubbed the gem slowly between her fingers. She could sense the Force… or magic she reminded herself, within the gem. Ahsoka wondered if any of the gems had magic in them that would prevent her from making a connection. She decided that she would need to set the bracelet aside and come back to later when Harry was around to answer questions and returned her gaze to the pile.

She looked at the rest of the pile sitting on the floor. there was a lot to go through still, and inspecting just one of the larger gems had taken an considering amount of time. She stood up with the bracelet still in her hands, intending to set it aside as one possibility and didn't want to get it accidentally shifted around.

She turned to put it safely out of the way, then seemed surprised to find herself nearly walking into Shaak Ti. She shook her head slightly, saying nothing and avoiding the gaze of the older woman and then stepped around her and headed toward the table in the room.

"Ahsoka?" Shaak Ti inquired, clearly curious to find out if something was wrong.

Ahsoka stiffened a bit and sighed, her face impassive. "Is there something I can assist you with, Master Shaak Ti?" in a monotone voice, complete devoid of any tone of familiarity or feeling. The same way she had been speaking since the older woman arrived, she didn't turn around to face the woman, her shoulders stiff as she looked away.

"Ahsoka, are you okay?" Aayla finally asked, concern in her voice now as she stepped closer to the person who was acting very differently than the young woman she had been close to these past few days since leaving Nar Shaddaa. As she walked closer, she cast a worried glance at the jewelry she had just been sorting through.

The mentioning of how dark some of the pieces had been, had Aayla wondering if Harry had missed a piece of bad jewelry and it was having an impact of some sort on the young Padawan.

Ahsoka tilted her head to look at Aayla. "I'm fine. I just have little interest in speaking with Master Shaak Ti."

"Why?" Aayla blurted in surprise with a frown on her face as she glanced toward Shaak Ti, who merely tilted her head curiously in response.

"Because the last time I saw her was in the Chamber of Judgment while she silently gazed down on me as I was expelled," Ahsoka's voice was clipped and full of accusation.

"I did not agree with decision of the council. I was outvoted." Shaak Ti replied calmly, her dark eyes not leaving Ahsoka.

Ahsoka snorted and rolled her eyes. "I could tell. You were quite outspoken in my defense."

She spun around to face the Togruta Jedi Master, with narrowed eyes, her voice filled with sarcasm, "Oh, wait, I wasn't there for any of the so called 'defense' since my Jedi trial was nothing but a formality. Just as Skyguy said! You all gave me no chance before expelling me, and then sending me back to my cell to await being turned over to the military so I could be put on a public relations farce of a trial for the military and public." Her words were heated and filled with resentment.

Shaak Ti's countenance closed and turned impassive as she met Ahsoka's gaze unflinchingly. "Beware anger. It leads to the Dark Side."

Ahsoka stiffened, her shoulders visibly rising as she took a breath and then another, her jaw clenching as she looked up at the older Togrutan, who was once a role model to Ahsoka, but whom now she could barely tolerate the sight of. A low rattling started to fill the room.

Neither Ahsoka nor Shaak Ti broke their gazes from one another, but Aayla was looking around the room, remembering the scene from the hold of the ship and the rattling of items on the shelves. Only this time it was accompanied by a stronger sense of building Force pressure.

"With all due…." Ahsoka trailed off, as a thought occurred to her. Rather a memory of something Harry had said to her the day they met, as they were leaving the bar. Then she refocused upon the Jedi Master before her.

"No… you know what? Fuck respect. Fuck the Jedi Council. And fuck you, Master!" Ahsoka spat as she finally seemed to snap. "Take your useless platitudes, along with my lightsaber that the Council confiscated and shove them both up your ass."

Aayla smacked a hand to her own face in exasperation at Ahsoka's reaction. "You've spent way too much time around Harry if you're talking like that, especially to a Jedi Master."

"I don't see a vaunted Jedi Master in front of me," Ahsoka growled not even bothering to face Aalya, nor allowing her humor to defuse things, still affixing Shaak Ti with a glare, her voice still trembling with emotion, "All I see is a coward with a guilty conscience deflecting blame from themselves for nearly getting me killed."

Both women could feel the buildup of Force in the area. The rattling sound in the area grew and it became very obvious exactly what it was as the pile of jewelry began to shift as pieces flew into the air, but it wasn't just the jewelry. The miniature trunks and crates were also shifting and beginning to move in response to Ahsoka's emotions.

Aayla opened her mouth to say something to try and calm the situation first, but Ahsoka cut her off.

The former padawan seemed completely unaware of it as she finally turned to include Aayla in her accusing gaze, "You weren't there!" Her voice was filled with pain and desolation.

Aayla attempted to move forward to give the girl physical comfort only to be stopped by a warning in the Force as a chair flew through the area she would have stepped into. It wouldn't have done serious damage but it definitely would have smarted.

"You weren't the one that was humiliated!" Ahsoka cried as tears welled up in her blue eyes and began to run down her face. "You weren't basically told all of your accomplishments in the war weren't worth sithspit as your battlefield privileges were revoked!"

As she spoke nearly everything in the room save for the table that Harry had stuck to the ground with a sticking charm earlier, lifted and began to whirl around chaotically, forcing both Shaak Ti and Aayla to step back or avoid flying objects several times.

"You weren't expelled from the Order!" Ahsoka half snarled as she seemed completely unaware of what was happening as she continued her diatribe. "You didn't have your padawan braid, a braid that meant everything to you, ripped off of you like you were the scum of the galaxy!"

She pointed a finger accusingly at Shaak Ti, as her voice shook in rage, "All while she was one of the ones who sat up in the judgment chairs and didn't say a fucking word in my defense."

Shaak Ti had to spin backwards as Ahsoka pointed at her, as first a goblet, then some sort of jeweled dagger flew through the space she had been only a moment earlier.

"And I certainly never received a sincere and true apology from those nerfuckers after putting me through that." Ahsoka spat angrily, her voice continuing to rise in volume, "No, Ahsoka Tano, troublemaker Padawan was told 'oops! Our bad!' and that it was a good learning experience... that it was a trial they were proud I could overcome!"

Her statement was punctuated by the smaller of the two chairs in the area smashing down on the place Shaak Ti was standing, forcing her to dodge. She attempted to move forward to get to Ahsoka, with the intent of grabbing her and stopping this outpouring of power but she found forward momentum hard as wind seemed to radiate from Ahsoka in waves. Wind that was then accompanied small shrunken trunk projectiles and pieces of jewelry and furniture that were whirling through the area at ever faster speeds.

Both Aayla and Shaak Ti were forced to take cover behind the table which seemed to be the only unmoving part of the room as the whirlwind and the area of devastation seemed to grow wider.

"Ahsoka!" Aayla cried out trying to snap the girl out of it, though she was forced to duck back behind the table when a large bejeweled axe slammed edge first into said table, embedding with more than enough force to lodge itself in the wood of the table, and less than an inch from her face.

Ahsoka completely ignored both their plight and the calling out of her name as she continued her rant, her eyes glowing a radiant blue as energy seemed to pour from them, "It wasn't just her. Did any of the Council visibly support me in the trial? Just my Master. Oh wait… he's not on the Council, and he's not a Master. He's too attached, too arrogant and reckless!"

Her voice had risen to a crescendo as she screamed, "So why should I even listen to you? I certainly wasn't given the chance to argue in my own defense. And from where I'm standing, your way just ends up with everyone betrayed, dead, and unmourned!"

Aayla was struck at Ahsoka echoing the senses from her vision but now was not the moment to sit and meditate on it, not with this whirlwind maelstrom of Force energy and the rant Ahsoka was currently on. More important was getting to her and stopping her. Aayla wished she had a blaster she could set to stun. She didn't even think that Jedi techniques that could calm or even put someone to sleep would work.

"When I needed you most, you all betrayed me! Everything I've been since I was a child was in the Jedi Order. They took that from me. You all abandoned me and left me all alone… with nothing!" Her scream was practically an inhuman screech of agony. "I have nothing! I am nothing!"

Aayla and Shaak Ti looked at each other attempting to come up with a way to get to the padawan when they both noticed something out of the corner of their eyes, causing them to turn as one.

Harry was walking forward into the chaos.

Aayla's voice caught in her throat. Harry's face showed the same determination she had seen there when they first encountered the slavers. Only now his eyes were glowing with emerald energy, and his entire being seemed to ripple with Force power.

Harry strode into the whirling maelstrom created by Ahsoka, barely sparing a look toward where the Jedi Masters were crouched for protection. They watched as he stepped right into the path of the whirling items, now whipping by at deadly speeds. Only just before anything hit him it seemed to divert itself and go around him, while Harry's stride didn't even break.

Ahsoka had fallen silent and watching as Harry approached her through the whirlwind though her body still heaved with the feeling of unchecked and unrestrained emotions.

He stopped in front of her, he made no attempt to touch her or knock her out. Items continued to fly through the air, and be diverted around him. He simply stood there looking down into her eyes while she looked up into his. Neither said anything for several seconds before he spoke.

His voice was firm, lacking the frantic tones Aayla had when trying to get Ahsoka's attention, much less the emotion in Ahsoka's voice. That did not make it any less filled with power.

His tone was direct and reassuring, especially in contrast to Ahsoka's shouting from moments earlier, but could be heard even over the whirlwind around them. "You are not nothing. You never were. They didn't take everything from you. You may not be a Jedi anymore but you are still who you are."

"You are Ahsoka Tano, and what you are now is my apprentice," He stated, his tone one of firm declaration.

Harry's eyes widened slightly as the moment he finished the statement, he felt magic, powerful and primal, wash over himself and Ahsoka in a way he had never experienced before. There was now a new presence in his mind, one that bypassed every shield he possessed. He could tell, whatever it was that just occurred, had forged some sort of connection.

It was completely unprecedented amongst all his past experiences. He wondered what had happened but sure it was something to do with his normal luck, but he didn't have time to examine it at the moment.

Ahsoka's breath hitched at his words. She was too lost in her emotions to tell the difference between that magic and Harry's at the moment. She looked up at him for the briefest of moments and between one instant and the next she had thrown herself forward, her face pressing into his chest as her arms wrapped around his body. It was like a dam bursting as she immediately broke out into heart wrenching sobs. Sobs that somehow got even stronger when Harry wrapped his arms around her.

Ahsoka and Shaak Ti both stared from behind their cover. The instant the words passed Harry's lips they both felt a wave in the Force. Once more it was a sensation neither of them had ever experienced. It was like the Force was ever so briefly trumpeting in exultation.

Harry was unaware of this, and didn't have time to examine whatever the hell he had probably just put his foot into with the wave of magic washing over him. His focus was on the sobbing girl in his arms. His voice was soft and reassuring when he spoke. "And I give you my word that I am not going to abandon you."

He knew it was impulsive. But he also knew it was what Ahsoka needed in that moment. It had been a long time but he remembered exactly what it was like to feel the way she was. The horror that was his fifteenth and sixteenth years, the loss and abandonment he felt from nearly every corner.

Only he had friends who weren't going to let him sink down on his own. He shuddered to think what might have happened to him, what paths he might have taken if he had been alone then. He wasn't going to let Ahsoka Tano, someone who reminded him so much of himself in some ways, and so different in others, feel she was facing it alone.

As for Ahsoka, the past two emotionally draining weeks had finally caught up with her. The treason of someone she considered a friend, then the continued feeling of betrayal after betrayal. Everywhere she turned seemed to make it worse, and spending time sorting her memories and reliving the experiences all built upon one another.

Shaak Ti's comment was just the final nudge and now it was all coming out in a torrent of backed up emotions.

And to top it all off, Harry wasn't scolding her for her emotions. He was just holding her, supporting her weight with ease and running a hand up and down her back gently.

The storm of emotions slowly calmed in her and the whirling around them slowed and there was the sound of clattering and thumping as things fell from the air wherever they were floating. The two Jedi Master's had poked their heads out from behind the table to see Ahsoka enveloped in Harry's arms.

When her sobs had subsided and were down to little hiccups of breath, Harry murmured quietly into her montral, his tone gentle and reassuring. "You did good."

That had surprised Ahsoka. She wasn't sure what she expected, though she wasn't entirely shocked when she wasn't scolded or judged. She was stunned at the approval and from her vantage point looking up at Harry, she couldn't see Shaak Ti's eyes narrow at his reaction and encouragement.

Harry, while catching it out of the corner of his eye, ignored it. His voice was gentle as he explained quietly. "I've told you before, you shouldn't hold anger and hurt like that in. It will poison you. Now you can let it go, rather than just ignore it like those morons would tell you to do. Ignoring it and pretending it doesn't exist doesn't help you either. Now you can organize the memory just like you're doing the others."

She leaned her torso back slightly and looked up at him, searching his face for any sign that he was misleading her.

Harry shook his head to her unasked question and spoke very quietly, "Your occlumency is coming along very quickly. Once you sort through these last emotional memories it's a very small step to being able to defend and shield your mind. Not to mention hide yourself."

She studied his face a moment more before she nodded a little bit and then pressed close again, just hugging him tightly, occasional sniffles being heard as she allowed the rest of her emotions to flow out.

That action seemed to surprise Harry momentarily but he returned to stroking her back comfortingly. His voice lightened slightly and his tone turned teasing. "Also... gotta say, cursing your former 'superiors' out. Telling them to do things that may not be anatomically possible," he sniffed and wiped a fake tear. "I do believe there's nothing more I can teach you about the possible stupidity of authority."

Ahsoka's body jerked slightly at a strangled laugh at Harry's comment but she didn't pull away, and he didn't attempt to push her away.

Aayla seemed like she wanted to say something. A sharp look from Harry cut her off before she could get started.

Ahsoka turned her head to look around the room, though she didn't pull away from Harry's comforting embrace. She had to blink at the destruction of the area. Trunks and jewelry were tossed everywhere, and she was pretty sure that she saw pieces of the chairs scattered all over the place. Her voice was soft and full of regret, "I'm sorry I made a mess…"

"Don't be. I told you sorting your memories would reopen some old wounds and might cause some accidental magic," Harry's voice was reassuring as he chuckled softly, his torso shaking slightly as he did. A sensation Ahsoka felt pressed up against him. It felt rather nice she decided. Comforting even.

"When I was working on occlumency initially, I experienced some things similar to what you've had over the past couple of weeks. I ended up destroying the office of my school headmaster. Dealing with recent trauma is always hard," Harry's voice was soothing, and he smiled slightly. "Of course I also had a crap occlumency teacher, so that didn't help."

Harry murmured quietly to Ahsoka, "Rest. Finish sorting your memories when you wake up. Then if you want we can test and reinforce your defenses a little bit."

Ahsoka shifted slightly as she nodded, burying her head back against his chest, nestling closer in Harry's soothing embrace.

After a few minutes, she had stilled and was breathing slowly. Harry shifted and lifted her unconscious form into his arms, picking her up bridal style and carrying her out of the area without saying a word.

The only acknowledgement he gave them, was an uncharacteristically serious look he gave Aayla as their eyes met before he quickly passed her.

Shaak Ti and Aayla both watched him go without saying a word. A silence filled the room, "Well, that was… interesting." Aayla said, more for a lack of anything else to say than a true observation.

Shaak Ti hadn't moved since Ahsoka had calmed and the objects lifted and spun by the Force had settled. "There was more than a bit of anger there. Her behavior is most concerning." Shaak Ti observed, her tone grave, making it clear her feelings on the situation.

Aayla furrowed her brow, "Is there a question in there somewhere, Master Ti? You seem to be making an accusation without actually saying it."

Before Shaak Ti could reply, Harry returned to the room, his expression curiously pleased given the seriousness of a few moments ago. "Sorry about that little outburst. I had expected it to happen eventually, just not quite so soon. Merlin save me from overachievers." His tone was apologetic and amused at the same time.

Shaak Ti frowned as Harry re-entered the room and her stance shifted slightly. Aayla's eyebrows raised recognizing the defensive stance the woman was now in. It was one that allowed the freedom of movement in nearly any direction and allowed those movements to bring the lightsaber on her hip into play with ease.

Aayla knew without a doubt that it meant Shaak Ti now regarded Harry as a threat.

"So much for not making a mess for Dobby to clean up." Harry muttered as he looked around.

"Allowing such an emotional expression is against every tenet which the Jedi stands for and is very dangerous for the galaxy as a whole and Ahsoka as an individual," Shaak Ti said in a guarded and serious tone.

Harry, who for his part had his back to them, and was looking around the area in which objects were scattered, "Yes because you guys did such a great job looking out for her as an individual," He said absently as he began looking around the room more actively.

That seemed to frustrate Shaak Ti ever so briefly. "Ahsoka Tano may no longer be a member of our Order, but it is my duty as a Jedi to prevent others from falling into such a path whether they ascribe to our beliefs or not. And to put a stop those who would lead others down that path," Her tone carried more than a hint of threat to it.

Aayla was looking back and forth between Shaak Ti and Harry and wondering if a fight between the two was going to break out. She wasn't sure what to say to diffuse things, but considering she was becoming more used to Harry's mannerisms she decided to just maintain her silence and observe.

"What path is that?" Harry asked, still with the absent air as he was only paying attention to the conversation as background noise while he sighed, not seeming to find what he was looking for.

"The path to the Dark Side," Shaak Ti said bluntly.

Harry rolled his eyes, a combination of disgust and resignation in his tone, realizing that an argument was clearly imminent. "Yeah, you really have no fucking clue what you're talking about."

"...Excuse me?" Shaak Ti said, this the first time he really seemed to say something that startled her. The innuendo and flirting hadn't phased her, but the accusation that she wasn't competent in some manner regarding instruction of the Force made her bristle with indignation. "I have seen firsthand what allowing such anger can lead to, it is a direct path to the Dark Side. The fact that you're not just allowing it, but encouraging it is most concerning to me."

Harry just shook his head. "Yeah I'm sure you have and I'm sure it is concerning to you. Especially after what I've heard about exactly how your Order handles 'instruction'," he said making quotes in the air with his fingers on the word instruction.

At her affronted expression he continued, "Seriously, it's like somewhere long lost in the annals of history, someone read to a Jedi the first two lessons on occlumency, and then didn't bother teaching you morons anything else, and you just made up everything else you do from there, getting most of it wrong in the process."

He shook his head slightly and seemed to dismiss the topic, considering it closed as he looked around the room, "She really did a number on my chair apparently. I wonder if it's just in pieces or she tossed it somewhere." He shook his head and leaned against the thick wood table and raised an eyebrow at Shaak Ti expectantly, a faintly amused look on his face.

"I'm not going to mince words. I do not like what I've seen here." Shaak Ti stated firmly she had only moved subtly to make sure to keep herself facing him

"I know," Harry said as he nodded agreeably while gesturing around. "Unfortunately I'm not much for decorating... at least my wives always said I had the interior design instincts of a color blind acromantula."

"And the last time we let Dobby decorate something, we weren't all that specific as to what. So he nearly caused an international incident by putting my face on the side of a mountain," He let his head fall back before he shook it in exasperation. "Wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't destroyed the four other faces on that mountain in the process. The muggles got a bit upset about that. Took a lot of magic and a host of obliviators to deal with it."

Harry's tone was amused as he continued to speak, "Of course the mass of Utube videos were then deemed to be fakes and were considered to be the one of the greatest coordinated pranks in history."

"Harry," Aayla cut in, interrupting his rambling. "Focus. This is serious here. Master Ti's jumping to all the wrong conclusions here because you're not providing her the correct perspective on things, and you have me under oath so I can't defend you..."

There was irritation in her voice. Because now that she had gotten to know him at least some, she was pretty sure he was doing it deliberately by provoking the other Jedi Master.

Harry shrugged looking unconcerned, but addressed Aayla's statement directly, surprising both of them in the response, "Maybe that's because she's leaping to conclusions rather than actually asking me any questions."

"I am simply making observations," Shaak Ti replied evenly.

"True, and you can observe all you want, but until you actually propose a question to me, I'm going to continue thinking you're an idiot," He paused and smiled slightly. "Albeit an idiot with at least some sense of humor."

"Why should I ask, when I have nothing to verify the truth of what you tell me? I am however able to observe you and come up with some factual observations," Shaak Ti countered, her stance still guarded but her tone was even as she watched him.

Harry grinned and hopped backwards and up onto the table he was leaning against. Taking a moment to cross his legs and looked at Shaak Ti with a very amused expression on his face. "Oh this should be good. Okay then Jedi Master Shaak Ti. Why don't you amaze me with your observations?"

Aayla was about to jump in, wondering if this was the best idea given Harry's unique approach to things. She had already seen that amused expression on his face and knew there was a trap coming even if she couldn't figure out where from yet.

She was about to speak up and interject but Harry waved her off. "No no, I'm genuinely curious about what little Miss Observer has so 'expertly' concluded," His voice carrying more than a little note of challenge.

Shaak Ti tilted her head slightly in acknowledgement of the challenge "Observation one. You obviously use the Force. Yet I am unable to sense you, hiding yourself in a way only the Sith have been able to do."

"Observation two. You don't care to guard your emotions, and you are encouraging Ahsoka Tano to follow your lead," Shaak Ti gestured around at the chaos that was once an organized room for emphasis. She stated her point clearly wanting to outline them though she refrained from ticking them off on her fingers, not wanting to be caught off guard should she provoke Harry into something.

"Observation three. You have taken a padawan who had a lot of potential and was on her way to becoming a great part of our Order, and in a matter of days under your influence is now displaying extreme and uncontrolled anger. Several steps down the path of the use of the Dark Side," Her voice was hard and accusatory.

"Observation four. Several Masters, both those deeply attuned to the force and those less so, have sensed that you represent a vergence in the Force. Master Secura herself believes that you are going to play a role in deciding the fate of the Jedi," Her eyes narrowed and mistrust was clear on her face.

That mistrust in her expression did not ease up at all. In fact it just deepened as she saw Harry seemed completely unsurprised by her statement. A glance at Aayla had Aayla's face flushing and her eyes downcast in guilt. "A fact she has apparently shared with you," Shaak Ti added dryly.

"Observation five is that suspiciously the visions of the Council have been shadowed by the dark side of late. Yet somehow around you several have had glimpses of the future," she continued picking up the thread of her points.

"Observation six is that you dislike the Jedi Order, displayed by both your actions and your words. One may even go so far as to say that you hate them," Shaak Ti said, choosing her words deliberately and watching Harry for any sign of mood change. When he looked to be still watching to see if she had any more points, Shaak Ti continued.

"Given those observations what conclusion would you draw?" Shaak Ti demanded, her shoulders straightening slightly.

"Er… given those observations? I'd say that your Order inhibits critical thinking more than I initially thought." Harry replied scratching the side of his head as he considered the question, "Well either that or it's a personal failing and you're an idiot. Of course there is also the possibility of it not really being idiocy. The other possibility is some sort of mental handicap."

He paused to examine her cautiously, "Though you don't really seem mentally handicapped. Still… disabilities can present in so many different ways."

"Harry…" Aayla said warningly, not missing the slight tightening of irritation on Shaak Ti's face. A sure sign that even Shaak Ti's patience had its limits.

"Oh all right…" Harry sighed and then looked thoughtful, and unlike Shaak Ti had no reservations about what to do with his hands as he began to tick off on his fingers "Er, let's see here. Observation one: you're wrong, though only technically. Observation two: you're wrong and you're right so I'll give you half credit for that one. Observation three: you're wrong. Observation four: I don't see how that's my problem, nor do I really give a shit, and observation five: ditto. You did actually manage to get observation six right though!"

Harry took a moment to count on his fingers. "So congratulations, out of six of your amazing observations that's one and a half right conclusions. Gotta say, I'm not feeling all that impressed here."

"I fail to see where I am wrong in any of my observations., after all, just because you say something is wrong does not make it so," Shaak Ti replied evenly, her tone even as she met Harry's gaze with her dark eyes.

"Just because you fail to see something wrong, does not make it right," Harry countered with a shake of his head "Anyway, we'll come back to the irony and hypocrisy of a Jedi making a statement like that at some later date."

Harry shook his head before his tone turned from purely condescending to condescending and lecturing, "Let's take a look at what you assumed there. First, I don't use the Force, I use Magic."

"They are the same thing, Harry," Aayla interjected with a frown. She hadn't really wanted to get into the argument but she felt obliged to help Shaak Ti out, having experienced firsthand Harry's argument style before

"So you'd be okay with me walking around and telling people you used Magic?" Harry inquired. When her jaw closed, he nodded, "Yeah. I thought not. So why should I label what I do by the Order's limited views?"

Harry moved on to her next observation. "As for guarding my emotions? Um. Simple question. Are you able to sense them right now?"

Shaak Ti and Aayla both exchanged a look. Shaak Ti shook her head slightly and responded negatively. Aayla whose empathic abilities were stronger than most any in the Order had only been able to sense his emotions for those two brief periods when they were falling through the air and after he had stopped the explosion. Otherwise neither had been able to do so.

Harry grinned and winked slightly. "So... I'd say they're pretty well guarded. You would have at least been a little bit more correct if you said I display emotions."

Shaak Ti responded for both of them, "That just ties into my first point. You being able to hide yourself like only the Sith seem capable."

"Ah I see." Harry frowned as he tilted his head and considered that. "We'll consider that observation up for debate for the moment, though I'm sure we'll come back to it."

Harry's brow furrowed as he ran through her observations to pick up the thread of his thoughts. "I fail to see how what 'visions' you have through your hokey religion are any of my concern. One of my teachers told me divination was a dodgy subject at best. I've never had any luck with it myself. I don't care if you think I'm the cause of them or not."

Harry shook his head an expression of disgust on his face. "I long ago stopped putting faith in portents of the future or doing anything to go out of my way to follow them. And have felt that way since the first 17 years of my life were dominated by doing so. I also have a habit of questioning the intelligence and mental stability of people that try and follow them to the exclusion of all else."

"Even Aayla got put through the ringer when she tried pitching the standard 5 D's of prophecy and divination at me," Harry explained calmly. When he saw their blank looks he expanded, "You know... the five D's! 'Doom, death, destruction, darkness and dooooooom!'" He extended out the last word for several seconds of emphasis.

Harry sighed a bit and the amusement from his face as his smile twisted bitterly, "One thing I have learned, is that Fate is a bitch and has a habit of getting exactly what she wants. No matter what you do. Run away from it and hide. Run forward to embrace it."

"If she has a plan for you, there's not a damn thing you can do to avoid it. So the best thing you can do is live your life and let the chips fall where they may." Harry finished with a shake of his head.

While both women were trying to figure out exactly how to reply to that, Harry ran back through her points and his voice turned hard, drawing their attention away from his previous comment, "I have not 'taken' anyone from the Order, and certainly not a padawan. Remember, your cult decided to expel her first. Relinquishing any responsibilities you have to her also relinquishes any rights. You can't have it both ways."

"Yes, we removed her from the Order. Yes that was a mistake, and yes we relinquished any rights to guide her." Shaak Ti replied honestly. "And she had every right to walk away. But that does not excuse you preying on a weakness of our race like a predator to bring her under your influence."

Harry looked ready to retort by arguing the definition of guide versus control, before his face twisted in confusion. "Er… what?"

Shaak Ti seemed puzzled at his confusion, and echoed his words. "What?"

"What 'weakness of your race'?" Harry asked, looking honestly curious.

Shaak Ti's eyes flicked to Aayla's and then back to Harry's as she tried to read his face. Not being able to sense him forced her to rely on her observation of his expressions in determining his honesty. After several moments of indecision she finally decided to answer his question. It wasn't like it was some galactic secret.

"What do you know of Togruta?" Shaak Ti asked curiously.

"Um. I've met a few in my travels. But only in passing really." Harry answered honestly, still sounding puzzled.

"While I'm not going to an in depth description of Togruta history. Suffice it to say because of how we evolved, we have a strong sense of unity and togetherness." Shaak Ti explained, "We as a race have a natural aversion to being isolated and alone."

Harry tilted his head thoughtfully, "When you say natural aversion…" he trailed off wanting clarification.

"I mean we are genetically predisposed to wanting to be in a group, to have friends and companionship." Shaak Ti clarified.

"Huh, a race that has a tendency towards communal groups. Sounds a lot like veela then." Harry said thoughtfully as he considered it.

He hadn't known that, but it did help explain a few things. Ahsoka jumping in with both feet with him so impulsively after they had met now seemed to make more sense. It also helped explain why her getting removed from the Order hurt her so much as to cause an extreme reaction.

It was also a testament to her strength. If she was naturally inclined to be in a group, and to avoid isolation and being alone, then the choice not to return to the Order spoke of a strength of will, even he had underestimated.

"I bet that works well with that whole 'no attachments' thing the Jedi code harps on." Harry said a trace of snark in his voice, though there was no real heat to it as he considered the implications for Ahsoka.

On one hand it increased his respect for her, since she had to fight her own nature to walk away from the Jedi Order in the first place. On the other it made him angrier at the Order.

"Your ignorance of that aspect of the Togruta nature does not change the fact that a few days with you, under your 'instruction' and her anger not just palpable but she is lashing out and causing destruction! She is on the path to the Dark side and you are leading her there," Shaak Ti straightened resolutely, "Ahsoka Tano falling to the Dark Side would be nearly as bad as someone like Master Yoda, Master Windu, or Skywalker falling. I will not let that happen."

"She's not on the path to this whole boogey-man anti-'Dark-Side' fetish you Jedi are so obsessed with." Harry finally allowed a bit of frustration to show as he rolled his eyes.

"Look around you! This is from a single loss of control!" Shaak Ti retorted quickly, gesturing around at the room where everything was scattered and flung anywhere. "If you hadn't reached her there's no telling how much destruction her anger could cause! This is precisely why anger and hate are dangerous!"

"Being angry in response to be screwed over and betrayed by people you trusted is actually a pretty fucking common and natural response in any sentient life form." Harry's voice was firm, all trace of lightheartedness gone. "It has to be confronted and dealt with if you're ever going to move on as a person and not turn into a callous emotionally repressed arsehole or some vengeful and likely deranged psychopath."

"Your cult's method of just swallowing it whole and pretending it'll just go away…. is so destructive and flat out unhealthy it's not even funny." Harry pushed off the table to stand up taking a single step forward to stare down into Shaak Ti's black eyes.

She tensed, her hand shifting slightly to drift toward her lightsaber but paused when Harry made no move other than to stare into her eyes.

"And to top it all off, you have the audacity to stand there and try and advocate a stance that any rational person would find ludicrous. Seriously, have the Jedi Order ever tried to explain their tenets to an actual adult? Assuming they weren't afraid of you, I'd be surprised if you weren't laughed out of the conversation." Harry shook his head a little bit, mostly at Shaak Ti's surprised expression as she considered that. "And any mental health professional would recommend that you seek counseling!"

"And I'm not just speaking rhetorically. That is exactly what a mental health professional would do. I can actually say that. I should know, I got a PhD in psychology. Now granted, it was under the name Dudikins Dursley, which is one of many reasons my wives told me I should leave the naming of things to others."

Harry shook his head and moved back to lean against the table once more. "In my defense, I chose that name since I doubted there would be any good academic records I'd be stepping on or anyone who traveled in the same circles. I got bored one decade, decided to see how long I could go without using magic and it was one of the things I did on a lark."

Harry was lost in his thoughts as he smiled wistfully. "I managed nearly fifteen years... till that one night in Tokyo where I was presenting at a conference and wandered into the magical side of the city and ended up combining shots of firewhiskey, wine, vodka and sake into the most alcoholic drink imaginable. Though I think turpentine and anti-freeze might have also been added at some point. I'm a little hazy on that. I woke up in police custody for destruction of public property."

"I still say the statue had it coming," Harry muttered before he blinked and shook himself out of his memories.

He was able to tell by the completely confused looks on both Shaak TI's and Aayla's face that he had completely lost them and they didn't understand half the things he had just said. "Sorry, trip down memory lane later. Anyway, then you get into your whole 'Steps to the Dark Side' accusation towards Ahsoka."

Both women blinked at the stream of consciousness that Harry seemed to slip seamlessly into.

"Look, you clearly don't understand the magic I do," Harry started.

"I would be more than happy to let you explain it to me. in detail," Shaak Ti replied immediately. The demonstrations of Dobby and transfiguration, despite her misgivings regarding Harry's training of Ahsoka, his 'magic' was definitely something she wanted to understand and figure out.

"Maybe, eventually but that will involve oaths about not sharing or talking about it," Harry said, waving that aside. "I can tell you that despite what you have seen here tonight, what I am teaching Ahsoka Tano is no more likely to turn her into a bad guy than you initially teaching her to levitate a rock. And in fact will prevent her mind from being twisted by outside interference in the future. So she'll be less likely to do something against her will, whether that's fall to your Dark Side or actually carry out her anatomical threat from earlier."

He chuckled a little bit at the mental imagery before his expression once more sobered up. "Anyway, as to your last observation... yeah you hit that one pretty much on the nose, I don't like your Jedi Order. Your Order, reminds me so much of every decrepit corrupt group of 'old people' that's ever ruled over others with special powers."

Harry shook his head in disgust, "Different tune, same beat. If the people in charge aren't powerful enough to do it, it must be banned. If they don't understand it with anything less than a two minute overview, it must be suppressed just in case someone misuses it. If you've never heard of it, it's Dark."

"Whatever the bloody hell 'Dark' even means to them," Harry muttered to himself before he continued, "If it has ever been abused or the cause of a single person's downfall in the history of its existence, then it must be banned."

"If you can't personally account for every moment of my life before you met me, then I'm a threat," Harry shook his head with disgust. "Finally, you get your panties all in a bunch when one of the children you attempted to indoctrinate decides to go their own way."

"At the end, it all boils down to, that If I'm such a bad person, where's your proof? Have I hurt innocent people? Tortured animals? Punted any midgets out of any airlocks?" Harry demanded, rolling his eyes.

Then he hesitated and his voice turned a trace defensive, "Well, I guess Dobby did that to some trandoshan slavers. And sorta technically I tossed Aayla out of a ship, but we were in atmo, and I was with her so that doesn't count."

"So, what evidence do you have that I'm dark and evil? And not circumstances that Jedi seem to accept as evidence if Ahsoka's trial is anything to go off of," Harry said with more than a trace of snark, gratified to see embarrassment flush across Shaak Ti's face. "I mean actual tangible evidence beyond pointing your finger and saying 'nanny nanny poo poo, I don't like you'."

"I don't appreciate the accusation, and I certainly don't appreciate your presence here the longer that you're here making assumptions based upon narrowly interpreted observations without asking questions to understand what you don't know," Harry shook his head. "In fact I feel less intelligent the longer I'm in proximity to you. Which as my wives might have commented, is saying something."

"I find it ironic that the fact of the matter is that your precious Order is a complete joke." Harry said, his tone turning dismissive. "'Servants of the Living Force'... my arse. You don't seem to do a whole lot of serving unless someone needs a convenient martyr for something but you sure do a lot of ordering about. You have no concept of what life or living is and your understanding of what you call the 'Force' is limited to say the least. And let's not even get into your hypocritical stance on 'slavery'."

Harry seemed to realize he was on a rant and deflated a little bit, sighing and shaking his head.

Aayla and Shaak Ti had both stiffened at Harry's string of accusations. But the last one caused the currently bright pink Twi'lek to interject immediately, her eyes flashing. "What hypocritical stance on slavery? The Jedi Order is against slavery. We may not be able to stop it everywhere in the galaxy yet but we are against it. We're very clear on that."

Harry tilted his head to regard her. "Well, that's awfully funny because, by my estimation, the Jedi Order is a huge supporter of the single largest slave owner in the galaxy."

"This coming from the man who by his own admission owns a slave," Shaak Ti replied, her voice cold and sharp. This was an argument she had heard before by some of the critics of the Order, "The Jedi Order doesn't have anything to do with slavery The children we bring into the Jedi Order are always given a choice and are free to leave at any time. As you should no doubt see by Ahsoka Tano's presence here."

Harry's mouth thinned somewhat at Shaak Ti's mention of Dobby and his eyes flashed somewhat. "It's interesting that you immediately jumped to that thought, and I'd be interested to tell if every single family that gave up a child did it willingly, without any 'persuasion.' But that's not what I'm talking about."

"What are you talking about?" Aayla asked cautiously.

"Clones," Harry replied simply.

"Clones are not slaves," Shaak Ti and Aayla responded reflexively in unison. She had worked with them, befriended them.

"Oh? I see," Harry nodded agreeably to their point. "This must be one of those cultural things I don't understand. There's obviously another definition for creating an entire race of people for one purpose. People who then are given no choice but to join a war not their own so that they could fight and regularly die in. Of course not before it is ensured that those clones that are created have the requirement to follow every order given to them through the chain of command. You know… stripping them of their free will."

Harry tapped his chin and his voice turned sarcastic. "You're right that doesn't sound like slavery at all."

Shaak Ti regarded him neutrally, her face not betraying her thoughts at all. Aayla on the other hand was staring at Harry in open mouthed horror. No one had ever laid it out so clearly, at least for her, nor had she even considered the subject before. For someone like her, whose race was one of the most enslaved in the galaxy, and had even been a slave herself, it was a stunning thought.

A devastating hammerblow had just been taken to her galaxy-view and her perception of the Republic, the Jedi Order and herself as well.

"The Jedi council didn't order the clones created," Shaak Ti responded after several silent moments.

"Of course not, you just didn't object to using them when they fell in your lap," Harry replied evenly. "Eagerly available canon-fodder whose mere presence allows you to not have to conscript people into serving in your war."

"The galaxy has been plunged into war. We would have fallen without an army," Shaak Ti replied, her eyes regarding Harry more thoughtfully now.

"Ah, yes. Of course. Needs must while the devil drives. It's for the Greater Good. The ends justify the means," Harry spouted off several sayings before he sighed and seemed to slump a little bit, a weary look manifesting on his face. "I've heard it all before. Excuses for doing what is easy rather than what is right."

He shook his head and then fixed them with another stare. "The only reason your Republic still exists is because its foundations now firmly rest upon the backs of the slaves you now have fighting for it."

"Without them the Republic would have fallen to the Separatists," Shaak Ti replied quietly.

"So?" he responded succinctly and somewhat apathetically.

"So? So?" Aayla interjected in disbelief. "The Republic has stood for thousands of years."

"That hardly makes it good. And everything falls eventually. There's a reason that what… some six thousand worlds think that the philosophy of the Separatists is better?" Harry replied. "Did anyone stop to think that maybe they have a few legitimate reasons?"

"Do you support the Separatists?" Shaak Ti asked quietly as she regarded her with cautious dark eyes.

Harry actually sneered at her. "That's a very loaded question. One I could never answer correctly given the connotations in which you asked."

Before she could respond, he started to speak, "Are you asking me if I support the Separatists… as in directly support them in some way? Then the answer is no."

"Are you asking me if I've sat down and reviewed the histories of a majority of the worlds, isolated those who are being led around by corrupt leaders, and then looked at the remainder, those who have legitimate concerns and were dumped on by the Republic and agree with their stance on why they want no further part of things? The answer is also no."

He paused to catch his breath, and before they could interject, he continued, "Or are you asking me if I'm an armchair philosopher, who agrees that they probably have some legitimate gripes about the situation, but like 90% of this galaxy, I am too apathetic towards the whole situation to give a damn because it will probably never affect me personally? That's probably a yes."

"How can you say that?" Shaak Ti asked. "This war, affects everyone. Hardly a world is untouched by this war and the sides needing to be chosen."

"But it doesn't. The majority of people don't care about the war. They don't see any difference between one side and the other," Harry smiled a sad smile. "I explained this a few days ago to Aayla, on the ship. It's the same reason there is an undercurrent of resentment toward the Jedi because of the war. Because they don't see the differences between Jedi and Sith. All they see are people wielding glowy swords with amazing powers."

"But when talking about ruling ideologies, that's the part you should be concerned with. Right now, both sides of the conflict are working to appear moderate under the constraints of the war to appeal to worlds as best they can. What happens when one side emerges victorious and they don't have to appear that way anymore?"

He pressed on despite the look of confusion on both women's face. He knew he was preaching slightly but he did have a tendency to ramble, a habit that had only gotten worse with time. "The fact of the matter is, based on what I'm seeing from an outsider's perspective. Both sides have their share of idealists who probably don't see reality of situations. Both sides have their opportunists who are only out for ways this can benefit them. And the leadership of both sides seem to take turns at being amazingly adept and then shockingly incompetent. Whether through political infighting or other reasons. I can't say."

"Both sides have their share of characters who are less than pleasant to death with for various reasons." Harry shook his head again, disgust in his voice.

"To answer the crux of your question. I don't trust either side in this conflict. One side seems overtly aggressive and militaristic. Though to be fair, that is historically common in relatively new political movements good or bad." Harry shrugged, "It tends to be necessary since change generally requires a boot in the arse. People prefer to stay with the status quo because it's easier. But from what I can that side tell relies almost exclusively on droids and people who volunteer willingly for their armed forces."

"The other side is more reactionary, and seems to be less focused and hear more opinions but respect less opinions. It also seems to be mired in bureaucracy and red tape too much to really get anything done, and seems to support slavery in the form of clones."

"That is why I've mostly just stayed the hell out of it and let the two sides duke it out battle after battle," Harry stated plainly cutting off any rejoining comment Aayla might have made. Though internally given the events that seemed to be happening around him, he wondered just how long he would be able to say that he was staying out of it.

It was nothing concrete but Harry had always been good at sensing an oncoming storm, and since Ahsoka had joined him, he had gotten the feeling that there was a doozy on the horizon. One that history and statistics told him he was going to tempted to be dragged into… mostly because of his inability to see someone else suffering and not stand idly by doing nothing. The fact he now had two Generals of the current conflict and a discharged military commander as his apprentice was ignored for now. Though no hint of his internal musing showed on his face.

Shaak Ti regarded him levelly, though there was still more than a little caution in her face. She had heard of people saying the conflict didn't involve them, and didn't impact them for various reasons before so it wasn't a new concept.

The way Harry laid out his argument, she couldn't necessarily agree with. There were things she presumed he didn't see and wasn't aware of. But she had also never heard the argument about clones laid out like that before. She wondered though, if the battle wasn't between the Republic and the Separatists, but either the Republic or the Separatists and someone else, a planet, or a population, what Harry's reaction would be.

Shaak Ti tilted her head and regarded Harry in silence for several minutes as she considered these things. She could hardly blame him for neutrality. Entire systems had declared the same thing. She didn't necessarily agree with everything he was saying but she couldn't refute that from his point of view it made sense.

Harry just let the silence hang, meeting her gaze unflinchingly.

"I disagree with you on a great many things, especially on the galaxy and the Republic. However you have also given me some things to think on and hope to have a deeper discussion at another time." She took a long deep breath, and then bowed her head slightly. "I will give you my apologies for the conclusions I drew."

He looked surprised, having forgotten that the conversation actually started with her accusing him of being evil. Though he was more surprised that she admitted to being wrong and at least seemed to be listening to his words rather than preparing further arguments to advocate their stance. He inwardly snickered, that had happened so many times in the past that it was hardly a surprise that he lost count. He just nodded his head in acknowledgement of her apology.

She nodded in return before she continued, her tone conciliatory, "So, if what you say is true, may I ask what you said was happening to Pad- Miss Tano?"

Harry regarded her thoughtfully for a moment before he tilted his head in acceptance of her apology and attempt to move on. "She is learning a skill called Occlumency. The first two steps are something that seem to be central to the Jedi Order. Clearing your mind and remaining calm. The Order seems to stop there and then branch off into their own… directions. Only utilizing that skill for some reason and never actually taking the 'skill' to its true potential."

"But the next step in the process is organizing and categorizing one's memories after you've entered your own mindscape. Ahsoka has been doing that since the day after I met her. Part of that process is reliving those memories," Harry crossed his arms. "That is every memory you've had of your entire life. Not just viewing, but experiencing them again. That includes the emotions that come with them, which leaves the person far more emotional than normal for awhile."

"In fact, she will continue to relive the same traumatically emotional memories over and over again until she can dispassionately re-live any trauma she's experienced in her life with perfect clarity without totally breaking down," Harry lectured calmly, appreciating their attentive listening. "Completing this process means she had accepted and moved on from every trauma, trial and misdeed she has ever experienced. Normally that entire process takes several months to a year of work., but Ahsoka seems to be somewhat of a prodigy."

"However, now that she's almost there, she soon be able to finish the defenses on her mind that are slowly built while doing this, and be able to hide herself, not to mention making her a much more mentally healthy and stable individual," he finished before he sighed and shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "But until that happens, every wrong that has ever been committed by her, or by others to her will be right at the surface, and it will take very little to set her off while she deals with those fresh emotions."

"Especially as I know she's been putting off dealing with the emotions of everything she's gone through recently thanks to your Order," His tone was sharp as he finished. Making it clear that he would not brook argument on those points.

Shaak Ti was frowning at that as she turned that over in her mind. "Thank you for answering my question. Do you mind if I take some time to meditate on what I have seen and learned today before asking you any follow up questions?"

Harry shrugged. "Sure, knock yourself out, Red."

Shaak Ti showed no reaction to the name, though nodded a little bit and looked around before she turned and departed the room, choosing to head out of the doors to the house.

Harry watched her go before raising an inquiring eyebrow at Aayla who stayed behind. "Yes?"

"Did you have to push her like that?" Aayla asked with a frown on her face. She watched her friend go and, like so often before, it was hard to tell what the woman was thinking.

"In a word? Yes," Harry replied blandly.

"Why?" She asked, "And please don't tell me it's because you think it's fun."

"Fine, I won't say that. But... from what I have seen the Order is just like dealing with a child who's been indoctrinated with his or her parents pure blood beliefs from my society. You have to rub their nose in the fact that their belief structure is, not only wrong, but stupid," Harry sighed a little bit and slumped.

"And this probably won't even be the last time I do this with her if she hangs around much longer. She might question everything I do in minutiae, never accepting any of it at face value until it's been proven not once, twice or even three times that her initial gut reaction to it was wrong."

"I may have to do this, over and over again, citing logical arguments, sources, and empirical, unassailable data to prove my point, and I'm willing to bet it still won't be enough for her. It's not that I'm proving myself right to her, I have to repeat it so many times because she has to give up on the immediately assumption that I'm wrong."

Harry's eyes met Aayla's. "Much like you, she has had doctrines, platitudes, and rules rammed down her throat for what… 35 years? She somehow thinks that makes her an expert on life, the universe, and everything. I have no use for people who can only quote what they have been told without thinking for themselves about the words others have put in their mouths for them."

"I think I outgrew the concept of believing everything everyone else told me to think by the time I was twenty or so… and as my wives pointed out, I could be an exceptionally slow learner at times," Harry said fondly as he smiled a little bit, "She's long overdue for the revelation that truths about good and evil are best discovered on your own and not spoon-fed to you by others. I mean, is that the standard reaction to anyone that ever questions the Jedi Order?"

At Aayla's inquiring look, Harry clarified. "To slip into an aggressive stance and stop asking questions? I thought you people were against violence, and here she was ready to violently respond to me. Don't even pretend that you didn't see her shift, I know you did by your own reaction to it."

"At least you only seem to be tempted to jam your lightsaber into my head when I'm making smart arse comments, not when I'm simply provoking genuine questions in your mind. Asking you to think for yourself," Harry offered, his voice surprisingly gentle.

Aayla was surprised, the shift had been subtle and would have taken someone very experienced at reading body language and in combat to recognize. She wondered just how much experience Harry had with people like that. Aayla narrowed her eyes, a suspicion dawning on her face. "Is that what you were doing with me? Trying to see if I could think instead of just quote others?"

Harry nodded, unashamedly "To an extent yes. On your end, and this is a compliment, so please don't take it the wrong way, you don't seem as hard core in your absolute reliance on a doctrine written by other sentient beings to live by. You seem to realize that the Jedi Code wasn't written by a god, and there are certainly things wrong with it in its current state."

"Magic, or your 'Force', didn't somehow manifest itself one day and start writing a 'treatise on how to be anal-retentive'," Harry shrugged slightly. "I told you when we first talked that I was provoking you because people reveal more of themselves when they're angry."

Aayla smiled a little bit, "That wasn't all you mentioned revealed people's true natures."

Harry grinned, "Yes well, I didn't think she would let me get her drunk. And I have no idea what might get her horny."

"Well, she already told you it takes far more than a small prick to get her excited," Aayla said with a smirk as Harry blinked in surprise. Aayla was pleased that she had gotten a shot in after all the comments he'd directed her way over the past few days.

"Yes well, I don't have much experience with that myself," A wider smile crossed his face for a few moments before his expression grew more serious. "The path to independent thought and reason, is never an easy route, especially in light of what you've likely been fed your entire life."

"Ahsoka has it easier than the two of you," Harry gestured vaguely in the direction of where he had laid the exhausted girl down to sleep.

"Given what she's gone through in the past few weeks, I hardly would say she's had an easy time of it," Aayla disagreed.

"That's true," Harry nodded, "But that's not what I'm talking about. From everything I've seen and she's told me, she had some deeply rooted doubts about your Order already. From starting as a troubled padawan that no one wanted before she was finally assigned, to the trauma of the past few weeks was a breaking point for her. So she's quite willing to believe that the Order is wrong on many fronts."

"One would even say eager," Aayla ventured. Her tone was careful as she didn't want to ruin the in depth conversation she seemed to have found herself engaged in with the enigmatic man still sitting casually on the table.

"Also true," Harry replied with a bit of a sigh. "In truth, if I hadn't run into her, it's entirely possible that she would have gone looking for the opposite of your Order and explored that 'Dark Side' you Jedi are all so afraid of. Not joined them outright, but she would've had no problem delving into things better left untouched."

"Are you sure?" Aayla noted how easily he dismissed his role in physically saving Ahsoka. Him taking it as accepted that she would have escaped. But the young woman's words rung in her mind. "I'm dead. Do you understand that? Without him, I'm dead."

"Not really," Harry admitted as he lifted his shoulders in another shrug. "But it's pretty common when people feel like the values they've held and been taught have failed them. They go looking for the exact opposite, many times deliberately."

Harry chuckled a little bit. "The scaled down, melodramatic angsty version of it is known to educators, parents, and guardians everywhere as 'the teenage years'."

Aayla allowed a brief smile to cross her face at that.

"While her path to now has been harder. She finds me encouraging her to think and act on her own easier," Harry said after a brief pause.

"Easier than whom?" Aayla inquired, though she felt she already knew the answer. She was proven right a moment later.

"Easier than you," Harry replied honestly, "She has small doubts but she is jumping in with both feet. You have big doubts that are holding you back even as you want to explore everything I'm showing you about your Force."

Aayla opened her mouth to argue, or protest, she wasn't sure but Harry cut her off with a raised hand. "Why else are you still walking around with the wand that was matched so well to you?"

Aayla bit her lip and looked down. It was true it was right next to her lightsaber and she had been moving around all day carefully of it, and found herself reaching down with her fingers to touch it every so often, feeling warmth spread beneath her finger.

"I can also tell you've had your own doubts. Maybe not the same as Ahsoka, but they're still there," Harry said, his gaze boring into Aayla intently. "I also think, from the way you exploded at me back on the ship when we talked that you have your own personal demons to work through. You will very likely toss more than a few chairs around yourself when you get to that point."

"Your friend out there… she doesn't have the same interest. At least not yet," Harry explained, his tone still soft despite his piercing gaze.. "Don't get me wrong, she's curious. But she isn't already questioning. Not like you."

"And… that's why you were pressing my buttons in the first place?" Aayla asked, her tone filled with doubt.

"I was just seeing whether you could think, and whether you'd admit to feeling like any sentient being as well," Harry replied. "I didn't do it with Shaak Ti because she didn't ask to stay."

"So, just as she was determined to find fault with myself and what I've shown Ahsoka, I was just as determined to make her at least think. Even if she decides I'm wrong, she'll have to have thought about it." Harry's expression turned very tired as fatigue seemed to overcome him. "The moment people stop thinking for themselves, is the moment a movement, organization, culture, or civilization dies."

Aayla regarded Harry quietly for several moments, as she chewed her bottom lip and asked quietly. "Did you mean what you said about the clones?"

Harry met her eyes and shrugged a little bit. "I simply call it like I see it."

"But you're saying… the Order… the entire Republic…" She trailed off not sure what to say, her entire view had changed and she wasn't sure how to react.

Harry shrugged. "I'm not sure what you want me to tell you."

When she appeared to look a bit lost, Harry realized that it just wasn't worth it to metaphorically hit a girl when she's down.

"Now, am I blaming you personally for the decision the higher-ups of the Senate and the Council to continue to create clones, use the military assets that magically became available to you in order to protect yourself from a foe that also manufactures its soldiers on an assembly line?"

She looked up at him at this, when the pause had started to lengthen, he said, "No, I don't blame you."

Before she could say anything, "But that doesn't excuse you, or anyone else in this galaxy from stepping back and at least realizing exactly what kind of lives those Clones have and what classification it truly falls under. Whether you're in a position to do anything about it is an entirely separate issue. I mean, it's not like you can wave a hand and free all the members of your own species, right? You can't expect the weight of freeing the Clones from their chains of servitude to be any easier."

"Why aren't you out there helping then?" Aayla asked. A week ago when she'd met him, that might have come out like a demand after seeing some of his abilities. Now it was just honest curiosity.

Harry regarded her thoughtfully for a few moments, his thoughts echoing her own. "Simple answer? I'm a hypocrite." He answered honestly, weariness once more in his tone.

"And the not so simple answer?" Aayla asked intuitively, despite being taken slightly aback by her comment.

"Not so simple answer?" Harry mused as his eyes got a faraway look, "I'm not sure what a wizard's role should be in this galaxy."

"Or more specifically, I'm not sure what my role should be." His lips twitched in a smirk or a sigh, Aayla wasn't sure, "Because if I get involved, and I mean truly involved, things will change."

"You did that when you helped against the slavers." Aayla pointed out,

Harry shook his head, his voice quiet, "No, I didn't. Right now I live my own life, explore, pursue my own interests, and occasionally flit along the edges of events. I save a life here and there, maybe occasionally more than one. But I've avoided interfering in ways that would bring me more prominence than I feel is necessary. In fact, here on Kashyyyk is the only place anyone of prominence in the ruling government even has real information on me. And that's minimal at best. As for my reasons for this, some are altruistic and others make me a selfish bastard."

"But… if I place myself at the center of events… your galaxy may not ever be the same." Harry's voice dropped to a soft whisper, "And… if I start getting involved again, where and when do I stop?"

Aayla just stared at him for a long moment as she processed that. She was tempted to tell him that he had gotten involved. That things already were changed. She was also tempted to ask what he meant by 'again'. But she didn't know how to put it in words in response to his blunt honesty. There was no trace of humor or joking that she usually found in conversation with him. He seemed strangely vulnerable at the moment.

Her voice was soft as she finally responded, "You are a very complicated person, Harry Potter."

Harry blinked and stared at her for a second before a sad smile crossed his face. "You aren't the first to say so. I doubt you'll be the last."

His smile turned more amused and she saw his expression warm up a little bit. "Usually there's more swearing involved though…. or a bit of an afterglow."

Aayla shook her head a little bit ignoring the innuendo and then glanced around. "I think I'm going to follow Shaak Ti's direction and meditate for awhile as well."

She didn't see the small smile on his face as she forgot to ask once more to change her back to blue.

After she had left, Harry's grin faded as his mind replayed the events of the day. One moment in particular. It wasn't often he experienced something that he'd never seen or at least heard of before. Unfortunately, running into such an experience now was very troubling.

He pushed himself off his table and headed toward the shelves of books. He had some research to do.

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Author's notes:

1) I am sure some reviewers are going to bitch and moan that I'm once more bashing the Jedi Order. I'm giving Harry's opinions. I will once again remind people that Harry is NOT omniscient and that *Gasp* he can be wrong as well. But I'm also pointing out events as they happened and stood in canon. Bashing? Maybe. Though the only other option is to ignore the events and pretend they didn't happen.

2) I am SUPER pleased with this chapter. For a variety of reasons. I admit I really like seeing the impacts of events that have happened to Ahsoka as well as Harry's influence on her. It also explores Harry's interactions with Shaak Ti and Aayla in a way that I think is genuine. Ways they would actually interact. Not instantly buddy buddy with one another. But tension and disagreement. The way that can happen when someone blows up your world view. I also like that we're beginning to poke and prod at Harry. Seeing some of his own self reflection and his own issues popping up. Showing he's more than just jokes and powerful. I just really like the characterizations from the chapter.

3) This chapter and next I admit I really enjoyed writing. Especially imagining Ahsoka blowing up part of Harry's room like he did the Headmaster's office :P Fair warning though, we're nearing the end of what I've pre-written/outlined. (actually - we have 4-5 more chapters, just not all completely fleshed out)

4) Plums Piddles:

At this point, we've hopefully managed to paint most of the colors we'll need for the four main characters we've thrust forward. There will obviously be more characters coming down the road at some point, but these four really are our most prominent. Hopefully there's nothing 'flat' about them, and the reactions and character arcs we're setting up for them have a good basis.

Kat: Heh We've still got more characters coming.

ooOooOoOOoOooOoo

Alternative Chapter Titles:

"The Annals of History." - Harry

"No." - Aayla

"It's funny because annals is one letter away from-" Harry

"We know. And it's not that funny." - Aayla.

"Temper Tantrum from Hell"- Ahsoka

"Powers of Observation" - Shaak Ti

"Sherlock Holmes, you are not."- Harry.

"He really needs to try another way of getting people to reveal their true selves. He keeps going with anger. Drunk or horny would be so much more fun." - Plums

"Agreed." - Harry

"The only good use for Black Family crap." - Tonks

"Guys? Is my scene over? Can I stop now?" - Dancing Mouse

"I get the feeling I'm going to end up in the middle of things again." - Harry.

"Duh." - Anyone who knew him. Ever.

Alternate titles suggested for last chapter:

Wizard Blood Drives: Fiction.

Aayla Secura, a twi'lek of a different color. (The richmaster)

"Harry Potter - his bodily fluids can kill you" - Medical Doctors

"Future me might be in trouble..." Aayla Secura

"Magic is Magic" - An in depth treaty on the complexities of magic by Dobby.

"Well at least she isn't about to start S.P.E.W" - Harry Potter on the topic of Shaak Ti

"Visions and prophecy mean little without context" - Shaak Ti

"Hear, Hear" - Harry Potter