CH-38

When the ship was no larger than a model that a child might play with, he would walk over, cast a quick unbreakable and featherlight charm on the pseudo die-cast toy, and then drop it in a sack that he'd conjured.

After repeating the process a few times, Harry found that he was honestly enjoying himself. He pilfered seven ships of different sizes and designs, Including two that he had no idea how they managed flight, much less space travel. He was whistling and letting his mind wander, even considering making a hobby out of a miniaturized space-ship collection display somewhere. The idea of a 'model display case' with a hidden meaning behind it seemed almost too cool of a thing to not do.

Hopefully Ahsoka wouldn't object. And Dobby wouldn't feel the need to ask Harry to shrink him to clean the shrunken ship interiors.

Those humorous thoughts would unfortunately not last until he returned to the Gryffindor.

When he reached the second to last ship he intended to take, his good mood disappeared entirely. He approached the much larger than the average ship after he had stunned the one guard left on duty at the ramp and then quietly boarded.

Most pirates tended to stay away from such bulky freighters because they tended to be slow and cumbersome, which was hardly good for pirating since other ships could evade them even if it did seem rather well armed. Nor was a ship like this going to be able to avoid security sweeps and patrols if anyone stopped them inspection. This meant that, for any competent owner, smuggling seemed an unlikely profession for its crew.

It took him less than thirty seconds after he had moved inside before he discovered just why the ship was so big. It wasn't a bounty hunter's ship, a pirate's ship, nor a smuggler's ship. It wasn't even a standard freighter whose crew got it in their heads that they could get an easy payday by doing a bit of casual kidnapping disguised as bounty hunting..

It was a slaver's ship and the hold was occupied, and not by more wanna-be bounty hunters.

Chained up in the hold were over a dozen women and young girls of different species. Twi'lek's of four different skin tones, Togratan, Human, Rodian, Zeltron, Devaronian, Selonian, and a Zabrak. Those were just the races he identified at first glance from memory. All of them were manacled to walls and on their knees.

Harry clenched his fist and tried to control his anger at the reaction he received when a few noticed him. The females that were conscious all stared in his direction in fear. He knew the reaction was partly because he wasn't part of their routine. It was obvious the crew was enjoying the comfort of their presence from the condition of a few of them. But, Harry was new, and anything that disrupted the routine meant that it was possible that one or more of of the girls would end up being purchased for Merlin knows what. His presence on the ship signified change, and a possibility that their immediate living conditions could either be light years better or parsecs worse than where they currently found themselves.

It was the unknown.

He'd seen that fearful stare more times than he'd like to remember, and unfortunately, Harry was all-too-aware of how to handle it.

Harry wished this was the first time he had seen this sort of sight. Unfortunately, it was not even close. He could see the hopelessness that hung about them, and was willing to wager he could guess at the majority of their stories.

Some of them were targets of opportunity. Girls that had the misfortune of being isolated by happenstance and kidnapped when no one was looking. Others were the vulnerable and frequent victims of people desperate for quick cash, such as homeless, runaways, or children. Those who were weaker and less protected, less able to fight back.

And… sadly, Harry knew that some of the girls in front of him were likely sold by their families, either to pay debts or merely for profit. He had no doubt that all of the Twi'lek's and the Rodians fell under this category. Those in this group would have no home to go back to, because their families would just turn around and sell them again.

So, he would do what he could for them.

Harry sighed and resisted the urge to just start making things explode and then murmured quietly. "Dobby."

A moment later Dobby appeared in front of him with a crack. "Yes, Master Harry Potter!"

The excitable house elf asked immediately. His manner changed immediately seeing the expression Harry had on his face. Harry gestured at the slaves now behind Dobby, who turned around to take in the sight and froze at all the eyes that were focused upon the two intruders.

Harry's voice was calm and ice cold. "I need you to set up cots in the hold Dobby. If we don't have enough room, then I want you to start cramming the 'bounty hunters' in together. Their comfort isn't of any concern to us. Stuff them in the fucking storage compartments if you have to. We'll just need to make sure to put air freshening charms around them."

"Once you're done setting up cots, try putting together some baths and clothes for all of them." Harry's orders were issued crisply but his tone had taken on a deadly quality which the elf had only heard his master utilize when things were very serious and a lot of people were likely to die.

The House Elf nodded once, briefly. All trace of humor and his normal excitability was gone. "Yes, Master Harry," Then he disappeared with a pop, causing more than one of the captives that had been brave enough to look directly at them to gasp in shock.

Harry sighed and moved toward the women, which immediately caused all of the conscious ones to start to shake and whimper in fear. Their fear of unknown things had only been compounded by Dobby's strange appearance and departure. Harry hesitated as he saw this reaction, and then waved a hand and cast a mild sleeping charm over them that would increase in strength slowly.

There were a number of tedious things he needed to perform before he could free them, and by no means did he need them all panicking while he tried to disarm whatever security was in place to keep them here. He could see several tried to fight the charm, and one even succeeded for over a minute, which was impressive as they were probably exhausted and uncomfortable.

Once they were all asleep, Harry moved methodically from person to person. He used magic and carefully reached out to each of them in turn. After freeing them from their manacles, he sent a destabilizing pulse of wild magic through their bodies, which disabled all electronics present in or on their bodies. It was the same sort of method he had used to sabotage any recording equipment that may have been present at their booth in the bar.

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