A/N: This is a complete AU where Bilbo is around 20 during this story and was allowed to have possession of Bag-End. I'll leave you to guess who the dwarves are :D
It was winter when they had arrived. They always came. Every winter. With more of them in tow. 'They' were Slave Traders Bilbo Baggins had grown to hate and detest. They had been coming to the Shire for over twenty years, since he was a child and before his mother and father died. Came and went they did and Bilbo noticed that the ones they would- he shuddered- sell would seemingly get thinner and thinner. Wearing nothing but rags over skin and bones to shield them from the winter.
Oh, they were ex-criminals and Thieves and Murderers! The Sellers would claim every year and everybody knew that was a lie. They were just too scared to question it. Because if you did, you tended to go missing, never to be seen again. Nobody talked about it.
Bilbo would always avoid them when they stopped in Hobbiton. As if any of the hobbits would buy a slave. But this year was different.
Bilbo Baggins wasn't aware the Traders had come earlier this year, so much so he had walked into them on his way to the Hobbiton Market. Slap-bang in the middle of the marketplace, they had set up some sort of a stage to display their… goods. As usual, the ones those were for sale wore barely anything so anyone could see how thin they were and scars from punishments. Bilbo shivered, and it wasn't from the cold.
He turned his nose from them and paid his attention to gathering the supplies he needed as fast as he could.
"You, sir!" Bilbo froze, his hand half-way to picking a fresh apple.
They weren't talking to him, were they?
"Yes, you! Fine, sir! The one with the golden locks and the fine waistcoat!"
They were talking to him.
Bilbo gritted his teeth and he dropped his hand and turned towards the sellers, a glint in their eyes.
"Yes! You look like a fine hobbit!"
"I'm not interested in your goods" Bilbo spat the last word out like it brought a foul odour into the air
"Oh but you don't quite know what we have here!"
"I know perfectly well what you have to offer, trader, and I tell you again; I am not interested."
"But we have dwarves!" the hobbit paused. The dwarves were from the blue mountain, weren't they? What were dwarves doing in the hands of slave traders? "I see that got your attention" the seller sneered, ducking his hat just over his eyes. Bilbo folded his arms, trying to show he was unimpressed.
The seller with the hat indicated for the slaves waiting on the side to come one by one onto the stage. Rage bubbled in the Baggins' stomach at the utter state of them all. Humans and Hobbits; there was barely anything wrapped around them to cover their dignity and they were filthy! And so thin! You could see every last one of their ribs and their hip bones were prominent on their waist. It took all of his willpower not to throw up there and then.
He looked up and his blue eyes finally landed on the two hunched over and slightly larger forms. They were in the same condition as their fellow slaves, if not worse. One was blonde (At least Bilbo thought he was, his hair was too dirty to even tell. It could have been black for all he knew) and the other a brunette. These must be the dwarves. Immediately, Baggins noticed that there seemed to be a bond between them. The blonde stood protectively of the smaller brown-haired one that he assumed they were related by blood. Brothers perhaps.
"Let the bidding begin!" a second seller exclaimed and the hobbit crowd around the stage glared at him. As if a hobbit would partake in such a monstrous act.
And that's how it began.
One by one each slave was brought to the front of the stage, humiliated and disgraced. Nobody dared bid for any of them. Not even if they were their own kind. Then finally, the dwarves were forced to separate and the brunette was shoved forwards. He gazed at his bare feet, his matted, muddy hair casting a curtain around his glassy eyes.
"Come on folks!" the first vendor chided "I expected more from Hobbiton! This is a fine specimen you have here. A dwarf! Caught stealing a while ago and they sent him to us as punishment. He's a fine lad, strong. Capable of doing whatever task ya want!" Hobbits around cast their eyes away from the sight and focused on trivial things around them.
"Tch. Shame. He's goin' once." Bilbo saw the blonde dwarf's eyes widen
"Goin' twice"
"P-Please!" the blonde slave begged, catching the attention of onlookers "Please take my brother!" he was promptly silenced by a back-hand. Bilbo flinched at the sound of flesh hitting flesh. So the dwarves were brothers. He clenched his fists, glaring at the ground beneath his feet
"Going three times!
Aaaand unsol-"
"I'll take him!" a voice yelled and it took a few moments to finally realise the Bilbo was the one who had shouted it. He had raised a hand and stomped to the very front of the stage, glaring up at the seller and ignoring the shocked looks around him. "I'll take him" he repeated. It didn't take a master to notice the relief in the blonde's eyes but the fear in the brunettes as he was shoved to his place next to Bilbo and the rope attached to his neck thrust into Bilbo's hand
"N-No" the newly-bought slave whispered "M-My brother, I can't leave without my brother!" Bilbo looked at him with sympathy.
"I'm sorry, but I can't" he whispered and the brown-haired dwarf, who was actually taller than Bilbo thought, made a noise of anguish
"Please, you can't leave him with them. You can't! I beg of you, master!"
Master?
Did the dwarf just call him Master?
"The blonde one" Bilbo finally found himself saying, much to the seller and his slaves surprise "The blonde dwarf" he continued "How much is he?"
"Sorry, one slave a person 'specially if you're buying the only dwarves we have."
"How much?" Bilbo hissed critically
"More than you can pay" the seller sneered
"I will take. Both. Dwarves" Bilbo demanded "Or neither of them. It is your choice. You can part with your goods today or none at all"
"You can't actually expect-"
"I will take the both of them, Sir." Bilbo said dangerously "Or I will walk away." He may have been small compared to the hat wearing human, but he was no less threatening. The seller tightened his jaw and jerked his head to another. The blonde dwarf was shoved off of the stage and to Bilbo's feet in a bony heap as Bilbo gave, more threw, the payment at the man who tipped his hat
"Pleasure doin' business with ya, sir" and then he was gone, taking the rest of poor unsold slaves with him. Bilbo looked at the ropes in his hands that bound the dwarf's hands together and wound around their necks like a leash. He couldn't believe he had just done that. He had partaken in the thing he had hated almost his entire life. He had bought another being.
Not only that, had he bought two.
That's the first Chapter done! Thank you for reading and please Review your thoughts! (Constructive Criticisms please.)
This is my second official fanfiction in this fandom (My First is More Than Meets the Eye which is still a work in progress, please check it out!). Sorry for any missing punctuation and grammatical errors throughout the chapter.
