Dobby revisited

[corinthum]

No: HPFGUIDX 83570

Kneasy wrote:

> > > Why should a sock from a stranger have this significance? But if 
> Harry is family then Dobby's cry of "Harry Potter set Dobby free!" 
> has real significance, because unless he is family he can't possibly 
> set Dobby free, only Malfoy can. And I don't believe unknowingly giving 
> a sock from a stranger would do the trick. < <

I replied:

> > Apparently, he could leave the Malfoys for good at any time, but he 
> > knows the rules and therefore returns.  However, he desperately wants 
> > to leave, and so the Malfoys are very careful not to let him have 
> > anything resembling clothes for fear he will leap at the
opportunity.  
> > In the end, an inadvertantly tossed sock that Malfoy possessed for
all 
> > of one second was enough to free Dobby.  Would it have been enough to 
> > release another elf? Probably not.  Most elves would see it as an 
> > accidental occurence, not intentional giving of clothes, and would 
> > therefore continue in service.    

And silver_owl_01 commented:

> Were forgeting a little detail. In OotP Sirius says that almost all 
> the pureblood wizard families are interconnected by marriage or 
> blood, the most fanatically racist more than any, given how few 
> choices there were available for marriage. Every pureblood is 
> probably related in one degree or another to every other. 
> 
> Given how inbred the purebloods must be, it's not too far fetched to 
> assume that James could've been related to the Malfoys in some 
> degree, hence Dobby could justify himself about going to Harry. 


Actually, I didn't forget that detail in the least.  I never once said
that the Potters couldn't be related to the Malfoys (although I
personally don't believe they are, at least not closely enough to be
of significance to the plot).  I was simply suggesting that a
relationship wasn't necessary to explain how Dobby could be set free
by Harry's sock.  In my theory, the only one who had to be convinced
that the sock was given by Malfoy was Dobby himself, and he decided
the one second possession was enough.

-Corinth