A Jedi's Path

by Angeldoctor

What would happen if Harry Potter was born in the Star Wars universe? What if he met Jaina and Jacen at a young age? What would change? Grey Harry! Plans for rewrite!

25. Origins: Bonding and Phaeda

Chapter 25

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Harry sat across from Cassiopeia staring at her with an unreadable look on his face.

After the revealing of her name, especially her surname, Harry had told FAITH to disengage from fighting Cassiopeia's partner, Guri. FAITH hadn't been happy about that, having found Guri to be a worthy challenge and had been looking forward to killing her. His respect had turned into outright adoration when he found out Guri was a human replica droid and not a "meatbag". He was sitting beside Harry now, having a conversation with Guri about the finer points of assassination protocols. Guri had once been an assassin droid before her reprogramming so while she no longer had the programming, she still had the memories about her time as an assassination droid. Harry just stared at the fidgeting Cassiopeia as he tried to think about what to feel about her.

It was obvious now that she was Sirius Black's daughter. She had the same color hair and her face was similar to his in the holo-image. The holo-image showing he had a daughter only reinforced that fact and she was the right age as well. However, Harry was now faced with the problem of where she had been all his life. If she knew he was alive, why didn't she ever try to find him after she was old enough? And if she didn't and she found out recently, why did she attack him? Growing up with the Dursleys had made him instantly wary around any blood relative and her attacking him hadn't helped the matter.

Cassiopeia finally got tired of his staring and glared. "Well? Are you going to speak or are you going to continue to ogle me all day?"

To his credit no hint of a blush stained his cheeks at her accusation of him ogling her. While in normal circumstances Harry would probably be doing just that (he wasa red-blooded male), he hadn't really been thinking of that as he stared at her. More like wondering what to make of her. However, some part of him seemed to awaken at her teasing accusation and innuendo. It was like getting past his relatives' abuse had awoken the prankster and fun part of him and when she said that, he smiled deviously.

"Actually, I think I'll stay and ogle you. Can you do me a favor and undo the top strings of your corset? That would really help me imagine you naked easier."

Cassiopeia gaped at him bug-eyed for a moment before breaking into laughter. "Well, your definitely my cousin. I was doubtful for a moment there but you proved to be a Potter through and through." A devious glint entered her eyes before she slowly undid the top two strings of her corset, making her breasts almost spill out of it. She then gave him a wink. "Play your cards right and you'll get to test that saying, 'Incest is the best, take your cousin to the test,' Get it?"

Harry blushed a deep crimson. Despite his earlier statement, he was still new to flirting and innuendo. Thankfully, his banter with Kass had helped him grow a certain immunity to double-meanings so after he fought back his blush, he gave her a knowing smile.

"Time and place, cuz. Time and place."

They broke down laughing and FAITH and Guro looked at them like they were insane. FAITH turned to Guri. "Query: Isn't incest morally wrong among meatbags?"

Guri just rolled her eyes at the two cousins' antics. "Yes but they're not serious. They're just teasing each other for some odd reason. Plus they're not reallycousins. They just consider themselves that because their fathers were close. It looks like Cassie has finally found someone with her twisted sense of humor. Force help us all."

The two 'cousins' finally stopped laughing and fell into a comfortable silence. Harry had to admit that despite having just met her, he could feel a bond between them. While not technically cousins due to James and Sirius not being closely related by blood (in fact, the closest blood connection between them is five generations away), the two had been practically brothers. This caused Harry and Cassiopeia to meet when they were just babies. At that age, with their uncontrollable Force abilities plus their heritage that allows for the easy creation of bonds between people, they had quickly built a bond between them as only two innocent babies could. Now, 15 years later, that bond that had long been dormant was slowly reawakening.

Harry could honestly say he liked Cassiopeia. She brought out the fun and mischievous part of him, even though they had technically only known each other for an hour at the most. She just radiated mischievousness, recklessness and Harry had a slight sense that she thought rules were made to be broken. With a shake of his head, he realized that if she was ever truly attracted to him she would chase him regardless of the supposed family connection between them.

Cassiopeia had a wide smile on her face. "I'm... happy." When Harry gave her a curious look, she continued. "I always thought you were dead, Harry. I thought I was the last of our adopted family, the Marauders. It was... lonely. But then I saw you here in the cantina and felt a familiar bond between us and suspected who you were. Now that you're here I have a family again and I can just imagine the fun we'll have together."

Harry couldn't help but chuckle at Cassiopeia's happy statement. He could literally feel her giddiness at having found him. However, a frown crossed his face as he remembered something she said.

"If you knew who I was before we fought... why didyou fight me?"

Cassiopeia grimaced and lowered her head in slight shame. "Sorry. It's just the way I was raised by my mother." At Harry's inquiring look, she sighed. "I'm not 100% Human. I'm half-Human and half-Echani. My mother raised me the Echani way after dad died when I was just one year old. Echani believe that you can only truly know a person through fighting. We believe that only in battle does a person show their true colors and heart. It's almost like a Force power in a way. Every time we landed a blow on each other I could see into your heart and that helped me see what kind of person you were. Therefore, I couldn't trust you until after I fought you myself."

Harry mulled it over before nodding. "I think I understand. It's true to a certain extent. People may say they're honorable but then cheat and use tricks in a fight that's not to the death. That shows their true colors."

Cassiopeia smiled and nodded. "Yep. Soooo... tell me about you. Where did you grow up? Where have you been all this time?" She looked at his lightsaber in its holster. "How exactly did you become a Jedi Knight?"

Harry smiled slightly before launching into the story of his childhood. Cassiopeia looked murderous when he described his treatment at the hands of the Dursleys and his heart warmed when she started cursing and promising to pay them a visit someday that would result in... unpleasantconsequences for them. She smiled happily when he described being rescued by the Solos and being adopted by Luke and Mara. She looked suitably smug when Harry explained his rapid advancement through the ranks and his prodigy status with a blade. He stopped at when he became a Knight.

Cassiopeia just nodded knowingly. "Fencing is in your blood, Harry. The Potters were renowned swordmasters and fencers. According to my father's journal (which took a decade to decipher, both for his atrocious written hand and due to the language's strange written form), the Potters were basically like the knights of old. Chivalry and all that plus masters with the sword. They weren't that good in the more intensive and esoteric Force powers like the Blacks, who were infamous for their mastery in using dark spells, but they were much more respected." Cassiopeia looked at him with an accusing look in her eyes. "You were holding back, weren't you? There was no way I could have equaled you normally unless you did."

Harry shook his head and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Yes and no. I'm barely at 10% right now and I was around 50% when we fought. I had just discovered how my parents died, seen a vision of how they died, and found their graves. I'm physically and emotionally tired and to tell the truth I wasn't really into the fight. Heck, I tried to fight you using spellswhen it's not my natural way of fighting. Sorry if it sounds insulting but I could have beat you easily if I had my head in the game and was at 100%."

Cassiopeia pouted but nodded sadly. "I imagine so. I never had any realformal training in using my abilities. I was just taught a few tricks. Plus, the Potters were known to be the best fighters of our people according to my father's journal. He dedicates three whole entries to the history of the Potters and the Blacks and in all of them, he would the strengths and weaknesses of both families. The Potters were close combat specialists and environmental manipulation experts. They were unbeatable in those fields."

Harry couldn't help but be proud of his family's heritage. By all accounts, they were similar to Jedi in a lot of ways and he wondered if perhaps he was born to be a Jedi. He looked at Cassiopeia with a curious glint in his eyes.

"How about you? Where were you all this time?"

Cassiopeia bit her lip. "It's a long story."

Harry cocked an eyebrow and smiled mischievously. "I showed you mine so you have to show me yours."

Cassiopeia just smiled sadly, only slightly amused. "Well, after my father died, my mother decided we weren't safe in Eshan. Before, we were safe from galactic notice thanks to my father's spells and experience in hiding in plain sight. Without him, my mother wasn't sure we would survive being unnoticed for long. Especially in a war-like culture like the echani, where my natural abilities would attract attention. So she took us to Gand to live with a Findsman friend of hers that could hide us. Findsman are experts at finding people so that meant they knew how to hide others from all manners of search, from regular means to the Force."

Harry couldn't help the curiosity welling up inside him. "So you were raised a findsman? They say that a trained findsman can find anyone or anything. Are you that good?"

Cassiopeia smiled deviously. "I found you, didn't I? I performed a ritual to tell me where to go next after I left my last group and it led me here to Bespin, where I found you. So I think I'm pretty good."

Harry smiled but something she said intrigued him. "You left your group? Why and what group was that?"

Cassiopeia looked at Guri with pleading eyes but she just gave her a stern look causing Cassiopeia to sigh. "I better start from the beginning first." She sighed and made herself comfortable. Noticing that her breasts were close to spilling out, she gave Harry a smile and a wink before tying the knots back together. Harry gave her a fake-pout that caused her to chuckle. Harry couldn't help but like the banter and teasing developing between them. Harry had only ever had this kind of banter with Jaina before and even then there was too much sexual tension between them to tease each other like Cassiopeia and him were doing. They probably would have ravished each other because they got themselves too excited.

That thought gave Harry pause. 'Note to self: look into doing that with women I'm attracted to.' Shaking his head, Harry turned back to Cassiopeia.

"Well, after we arrived on Gand, we lived with my mother's friend, Venlyss. He used to work for the Rebel Alliance but went into hiding after a mission went wrong so he was perfect for us to hide with. I grew up in his tribe for the first 9 years of my life. It was a pretty good childhood. My mom would teach me the echani fighting style while Venlyss would teach me all I needed to know to be an expert findsman. I never agreed to get genetic manipulation though so I'll probably never be a master."

Cassiopeia's voice turned sad and pained. "However, that all changed soon before my 9th birthday, To help Venlyss, my mother would sometimes help the tribe hunting and defending their holds. A few days before I turned 9, my mom went on a hunting trip with a group of 8 adolescent Gands who were going to hunt a pack of sand panthers that had immigrated from Corellia. They wanted to sell the pelts for credits. My mother wanted to sell them to buy a necklace I had my eye on for over a year but cost too much to buy with our normal income. So she wanted to sell at least 2 pelts for the credits necessary." Tears came to Cassiopeia's eyes but she forcefully brushed them off before continuing. "Things went wrong from the beginning. The Gands were so arrogant that they forgot that tracking a query was different from taking it down. They hadn't been as good in combat as they were tracking their prey. So when they came across a pack of 15..."

Harry stood up and sat beside Cassiopeia, putting an arm around her shoulders. Cassiopeia unconsciously leaned into him and sobbed. Harry didn't need to hear anymore to know what must have happened. The arrogant Gands had attacked without thinking it through and in the process, her mother must have died.

Guri and FAITH looked at scene before looking at each other and nodding. They discreetly stood up and walked to the bar, leaving the two family members alone.

Cassiopeia eventually stopped crying and sniffed before muttering her apologies for making his shirt wet with his tears. Harry just waved it off and hugged her which she returned. They eventually broke apart and Cassiopeia continued her story although this time Harry stayed beside her.

"As you can imagine, it ended badly. My mother was the only one with any real combat experience so she used herself as a distraction so the others could escape. Of the original group of 9, including my mother, only 3 returned alive. My mother's sacrifice allowed them to live."

Cassiopeia was quiet for a second before continuing quietly. "After that, I couldn't stay there any longer. Everything reminded me of my dead mother and a part of me hated the surviving Gands for their part in my mother's death. So as soon as I turned 9, I left on my dad's old ship the Marauder, which I renamed the Black Princess, with Venlyss's blessing. Luckily, I was never an official findsman due to my young age so my leaving with knowledge of their ways wasn't against their laws. A nice little loophole. It helped that they felt guilty for their inability to save my mother who they swore to protect.

"Eventually, I found myself in Thosa. I met a Keetael by the name of Talon who took pity on a 9 year old near starving girl and took me in as his own. Talon was a kind and gentle Draethos, he even went so far as to teach me their ways. He said he felt it was the right thing to do and it was. It helped me heal from my mother's recent death. It was also the first time I used the Force in any meaningful way. Before it had always been spontaneous, but now he trained me to use it to enhance my combat and hunting prowess. I liked it because it meant I would no longer be afraid of being killed by my prey like those Gands and my mom were. Those two years with him were happy and full of adventures. He never treated me like a child although I was. He treated me like his apprentice and I was expected to be mature enough to handle the responsibility.

"However, when I was 11, I left. It was either that or become a permanent member of the Keetael and that life wasn't for me. I longed for adventure and excitement and the simple life of the Keetael didn't appeal to me." Cassiopeia smiled mischievously at Harry and winked. "That and I wouldn't find any cute boys like you there." Harry just rolled his eyes with a slight blush, getting used to her tendency to pull his chain with innuendo.

Cassiopeia smiled slightly before continuing. "Like all 11 year olds who had been trained like I was, I thought myself strong enough to do anything. So I tried my hand at bounty hunting." Cassiopeia groaned in embarrassment. "That was a disaster. My very first assignment was to hunt down and capture this Nikton named Boskyr. Needless to say I lost... badly." Cassiopeia smiled slightly at the memory. "But... he didn't kill me. He saw how young I was and the talent I'd showed and decided to train me in his ways." Seeing Harry's curious look, she smiled deviously. "He was a Morgukai."

Harry could only gape at her. Morgukai were commonly known as Jedi killers though they also killed Sith if possible. They were trained to resist the Force in all ways and their equipment made them a danger to any unprepared Jedi. For her to be trained by them when they usually only accepted other Nikto was incredible. She must have truly impressed him.

Cassiopeia smiled proudly. "Yep, I was that good at 11." She laughed when he stuck out his tongue at her. "Well, Boskyr trained me for 2 years. Two brutal and painful years. Unlike my previous trainers there was no love between us. To him it was simply ensuring the Morgukai legacy lived on when he died and for me it was simply enhancing my skills. He sometimes almost killed me with his training but after 2 years I finished my cortosis staff and was declared ready to go on my own. I hear that he was killed two years later by Boba Fett himself. Personally, I hope he died painfully, the bastard."

Cassiopeia sighed before looking down with shame. "The next three years are my most shameful times. After leaving Boskyr, I decided to join a group of mercenaries called the Mistryl Shadow Guard. They're an all-female group of mercenaries based out of Emberlene. When I joined, I thought I was making my mother proud because they said that the Mistryl Shadow Guard was helping their planet recover after the Empire destroyed the planet as an example. They said they had been resistant to the Empire's cruel methods and he destroyed them for that reason." Cassiopeia sighed sadly. "The truth is that they had tried to conquer their sector only to be destroyed when the other planets banded together and attacked them. Emberlene had not only conquered other planets but they had stripped it of natural resources, destroying those planets' welfare. So, Emberlene was in the wrong.

"I left them soon after finding out the truth a year after joining. I wandered as a freelance mercenary for a while before I met Guri." Here, Cassiopeia smiled fondly. "I met her when I hired to steal a tech she was protecting. We fought and it ended in a draw, barely. To tell the truth I think Guri was holding back although she denies it. However, my employer had betrayed me and sent another merc as well. He tried to kill us both so we joined together and beat him. After that, we decided to become a team. Guri said she had been bored with her life so far and wanted some excitement while I just wanted a friend.

"We stayed as freelance mercenaries for two months before my second mistake happened." Cassiopeia grimaced. "I had met a man named Max during a job and had become enamored of him. Guri tried to warn me he was just using me but I wouldn't listen. Eventually, Max convinced me to join his group of raiders, the Blazing Chain Raiders. I happily joined and Guri followed to keep an eye on me."

Cassiopeia sighed and rubbed her forehead. "That time with the Raiders made my skill with the Force leap. They trained me in how to use it combat and in raiding. It's thanks to them that I have such control of my abilities. About a year after I joined, when I was 15, he tried to convince me to join him in a coup to take control of the Blazing Chain Raiders. By that time, I had become friends with a lot of the members as well as the current leader. However, me and Max had become physical in that year together and I was conflicted on whether I should help my friends or help my lover. Guri cautioned me, saying to find out Max's motives before helping him. I listened to her and questioned him as to why he wanted to take control."

Cassiopeia's face turned sad. "He told me he wanted to make us great. He wanted to stop our raiding and turn us into an actual fleet to conquer planets. He said with me at his side we would be unbeatable. He was a madman. I realized then that he had been using me that entire time, he never loved me he just wanted me loyal to him so he could use me as his weapon. Horrified, I told the leader of Max's plans and he put a stop to them...permanently."

Cassiopeia turned to Harry with a watery smile. "Despite him never loving me and using me... I loved him, you know? He was my first and I thought he loved me too. He could be kind and gentle at times. So after that, I stayed with them for a while more but I left them on amicable terms about a week ago, soon after my 16th birthday. They let me go because I had been a good friend and shown my loyalty. As long as I didn't betray their secrets, I would always be welcome. I then performed a ritual to tell where to go next and here I am, finding my long-lost cousin."

Harry smiled at her, happy to have found her as well. Despite considering the Solos, Luke and Mara family, Harry was glad to have found a blood-related family member that didn't hate him on sight.

"Don't be ashamed of your past. We're young and mistakes are normal for us. I'm sure that together, we'll make mistakes that'll eclipse all our past ones individually."

Cassiopeia laughed at his declaration, the sadness leaving her. A devious glint entered her eyes and she slyly moved closer before giving him a mischievous grin. "So tell me, Haarryyyy, got a girlfriend?"

Harry blushed at her forward actions but frowned at the subject. He had purposely left out his relationship with Astraal, hoping not to bring it up. "I don't... really know actually. I did but we're 'on a break'," Harry made quotation marks in the air as he said it, "so I don't really know our status. She wanted us to take a break and think about if I really want to be with her or not. Things had been... well, more physical and less emotionally involved as of late and it was affecting us badly."

Cassiopeia smirked. "So, too much sex? What is she, a nun?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Actually, she's a Twi'lek. Her name is Astraal."

Cassiopeia looked confused. "Soooo... a Twi'lek felt you two were having too much sex. Damn, you must have some stamina in you."

Harry blushed and laughed. Astraal had said something similar at times."Maybe, but it was more like we weren't talkinganymore, you know? We would just have sex, no talking about our thoughts about the future or anything."

Cassiopeia frowned. "I understand. But why was that?"

Harry sighed and explained his relationship and feelings for Jaina and how it affected his relationship with Astraal. He told her about their last conversation before they took a break and his leaving soon afterwards. He stayed silent as Cassiopeia thought. He didn't know why he was pouring his heart out to a near-stranger but the Force told him to trust her so he did. It didn't help that she would cuddle closer into his side every few seconds. He thought it was an unconscious movement until he saw the amused glint in her eyes. He mock-glared at her and she laughed before stopping.

"Well, cuz, I see two things you can do."

Harry cocked an eyebrow at her. "What two things?"

Cassiopeia waved over a waiter and ordered a drink while Harry just asked for water. Cassiopeia rolled her eyes at his choice. "We need to get you to live a little, cuz. You're a Jedi, not a monk. Have a few one-night stands and get drunk or something. You only live once. But anyway, you can either get back together with her and completely forget Jaina as anything but a friend which I think is impossible for you." Harry's grimace confirmed this and she nodded her head. "I thought so. Then go with option two and break it off with her gently and stay friends BUT don't date Jaina even if she's single until much later."

Harry looked confused. "Why? If we're both single, why shouldn't we be together?"

Cassiopeia rolled her eyes at her cousin's obliviousness. "Harry, you don't understand women. First, if you break up with her and get with Jaina right away, it will be a blow to Astraal's pride. No woman wants their ex to get over them that quickly. That's insulting and makes us feel as if we never meant anything to you if you could move on so quickly. Second, you need to see if you truly love Jaina or not."

Harry looked confused. "What do you mean?"

Cassiopeia rolled her eyes. "Have you ever tried to forget about her and reallyput your all into another relationship? I know you dated Astraal but that was basically a rebound no matter how you cut it. You never truly got over her and tried to make a relationship with someone else work. This time away can work for you to get over her. Most importantly," she gave him a devious wink, "this gives you a chance to see what's out there and what you truly want. How can you be sure you want Jaina if you've never met other women beyond the Academy?"

Harry mulled it over and decided what she said had a grain of truth. He couldn't date Jaina right now, not only because she was with Zekk but because it would be an insult to Astraal to so quickly move past her to Jaina and confirm her fears about being a rebound. It might have started out like that but he had truly come to love her so it was only right he have some time alone before dating again. If Jaina wanted him, she would have to chase him. He wouldn't chase her when she was dating Zekk already.

Harry smiled at Cassiopeia. "Thanks for the advice and you're right. When I get back from my trip, I'll talk to Astraal about being just friends again. If something develops from that again then we'll date but this time, I'll put my whole heart and soul into it and forget Jaina. But only if something develops naturally and not as a rebound or due to convenience."

Cassiopeia smiled happily at him. "That's the way, cuz. By the way, why areyou out here? On a mission?"

Harry realized that if anyone had the right to come along on this trip, it was Cassiopeia. She was family and had the right to come along. "Well, I was actually retracing my parents' footsteps to find my past and, hopefully, our home planet."

Cassiopeia's eyes widened. "D-Do you think it's possible to find it? I've been traveling the galaxy for years and I've found no clue how to find the Hogwartsor anything like that. My father took that secret to his grave, it seems."

Harry smiled confidently at her. "Yep, I'm sure. I already have a clue to finding the Hogwarts. Hopefully, we can check it's flight history and retrace it toward our home world. Wanna come along?"

Cassiopeia got an adventurous grin on her face. "You bet your cute little ass I do. We'll take your ship since it's bigger and leave mine on the Potter property. The garage there looks built for it so there's no better way."

With that decided, the two cousins talked about themselves for another two hours before they stood up and walked to their respective partners so they could leave toward Phaeda.

---

Guri had parked the Black Princessin the Potter household's garage quite easily. It did seem to be meant for their ship and confirmed Harry's suspicion of it being his father and friends' old smuggling ship.

When Harry told Cassiopeia this after she got on the Wayward Son, she just smirked. "Guess being criminals runs in the family. All that's left is to corrupt you."

Harry just rolled his eyes and, after getting clearance from planetary traffic control, left the atmosphere and set coordinates for Phaeda. It would take three days to get there since it was literally on the other side of the galaxy. Guri was in her room resting while FAITH was rebooting in the cargo bay. Harry turned to Cassiopeia with a curious look.

"By the way... when did you learn those spells? None of your previous teachers could have taught you."

Cassiopeia took out a battered old black journal with a smile. "You don't think my father only wrote about his life, did you? No, he wrote his favorite spells as well as how to use them in here too. However, there aren't a lot of them and it's not the same as a holocron or a flesh and blood teacher."

Harry smiled and took out his mother's journal from his inner pocket. "Yeah, I found my mom's in the house. I also found a few spellbooks as well that you're welcome to use. I also have a holocron from Remus that has his specialty spells as well."

Cassiopeia's eyes lit up at that information. "We can also ask him for stories about our parents too!"

Harry stiffened in surprise. "You know... I hadn't even thought of that! They're interactive and have all the memories of the creator so it should be possible. However," Harry frowned. "we should probably do it in safe places only. Holocrons are valuable and if people knew we were carrying around one..."

That reminded Harry of the Codex of Tython hidden in the secret compartment with Arden's stuff. The information it contained was too dangerous to leave behind on Raxus Prime so he had taken it with him for study. Harry looked over at Cassiopeia and decided that after he was sure he could trust her completely, he would study it with her. She was family and he desperately wanted to trust her but experience had shown him that being family didn't guarantee loyalty or even affection. She had been truthful about being happy to find him and everything she had told him but her history as a raider made him hesitant to show her a holocron that if it fell into the wrong hands, could spell disaster for the galaxy.

Cassiopeia frowned at his statement. "True... plus, it's a family heirloom so we need to protect it at all costs. I thought that our parents would make a holocron as well but I never found a hint as to my father's and you didn't find one in your parent's house, right?"

Harry frowned before remembering the chest he found. "Maybe... I found a chest under my parent's bed. However, it won't open and I think that the key to opening it is inside my mother's journal."

Cassiopeia's eyes gleamed in joy before silently asking for the journal. Harry reluctantly passed it to her and she eagerly opened it only to frown.

"Um, Harry? I can't see anything. It's blank."

Harry looked alarmed and took it back before frowning as he saw his mother's writing easily. "What are you talking about? It's right here."

Cassiopeia looked confused before a look of realization came to her face. "It must be keyed to her bloodline alone. I can't see anything because I'm not related to her in any way. But you can because you're her son. See if you can read ahead and find the key to opening it."

Harry smiled at the desperation in her face and understood it. If the chest held their holocrons, she would be able to see her father for the first time in her life. Even if it was a holocron, she would at least see him. Harry had felt the same way when he saw his parents for the first time when he flow-walked. Their faces were inscribed onto his memories forever. He skipped pages until he reached the last ten pages and started to read.

After skipping the parts that talked about his parents love life (no son wants to know that, too much information) he finally found it in the second to last page.

'After checking in with everyone, we've realized that the Marauders and me are the last ones of our people left alive. Severus, my one time friend, betrayed the fact that we were still alive to Marrish. Probably in the hopes that he would share his power with him. Oh, Severus, you were always so power-hungry! I tried to warn you but you never listened! Now you're dead at Marrish's hands. You were foolish to think he would spare you by delivering the rest of us to him. We managed to barely escape with our lives when we met him in Coruscant while visiting with Harry and Cassiopeia. If it wasn't for Peter's quick thinking to use the sewers, we would be dead. We've decided to create a Fidelius ward around both mine and James's house and around Sirius and Ana's place. Peter will be our secret-keeper while Remus will be Sirius's. We tried to see if we could be each other's secret keeper but it turned out it didn't work like that and both Fidelius failed when we attempted it. Remus is going into hiding and so is Peter. They'll visit once a month to make sure we're alright and to send supplies. Before casting the Fidelius, we all created holocrons with our knowledge just in case. Peter couldn't manage to make one, however, and Remus said he'd make one later. We each have our own area of expertise: mine is Charms and Runes, James is Transfiguration and Wards, and Sirius is Dark Arts and Legilimency/Occlumency. Remus, when he makes his, would be Healing and Arithmency. We also have a few spells of other types but that would be the core subjects in each of our holocrons. We don't want to add more and risk overloading the holocrons due to this being our first attempts. After we're done, we're going to place them all inside a chest in mine and James' house and lock it. It can only be opened by spilling the blood of both mine, James and Sirius over it or at least someone related to us.'

When Harry read that, he excitedly showed it to Cassiopeia who read it quickly and smiled excitedly at him after she was done. They ran toward where the chest was in the cargo bay and stood over it nervously.

Looking at each other, each bit their thumb slightly to make it bleed before simultaneously bleeding over where the lock should be. They watched as the droplets of blood landed on the chest before it glowed slightly and a sound of a lock deactivating sounded. Smiling excitedly, they stood side by side and gently opened it.

The chest was quite big and could hold all of Harry's secret stash easily. In the middle of the chest, on little stands to hold them from falling, were three holocrons. The left one which was marked as Lily's was a light green color and was circular much like Remus's. The middle one was marked as James's and it was circular as well as being red and gold. Sirius's was red and silver and circular as well.

Cassiopeia instantly reached out for her father's and held it almost reverently. Tears came to her eyes as she walked a short distance away before sitting on her knees and looking at the holocron. She looked it over, trying to find an on switch before Harry spoke.

"You have to channel the Force through it to activate it," said Harry softly.

Cassiopeia gulped before doing as he said and a small hologram of a man appeared. The man looked much like the holo-image Harry had of the family. It was hard to tell details due to it being a hologram, but Harry could see he was fairly tall, had long black hair up to his shoulders and carried himself much like Cassiopeia did: with an air of mischief, childishness and confidence. He seemed to be the type that smiled easily and was always looking for a good laugh.

Cassiopeia seemed to drink in her father's looks like a thirsty person in the desert drank water. Tears came to her eyes as she beheld her father for the first time in living memory. She sniffled and gave the hologram a watery smile before turning to Harry.

"Thank you," said Cassiopeia fervently. "This means more to me than anything in the universe."

Harry just smiled at her. "I understand." He then turned to give her privacy and to look at his own parents' holocrons. He gently lifted them up much like Cass did her father's and walked toward his room to study them and talk to them.

---

Three hours later, Harry left his room with his mind whirling. He had decided to study his mother's holocron first due to already having experience with charms and being interested in what runes were. By the time two hours had passed, he had come to the conclusion that his mother was a genius.

The sheer knowledge of charms as well as how to apply them both in regular life and in combat was mind-boggling alone. However, she went a step further and learned how to imbue them into certain runes to give a certain effect. While some runes already had meanings, she had imbued certain runes like the rune for defense with a shield charm to triple its effect. It had created a rune that created a Force barrier around the object when attacked for a limited time. The more energy you imbued into the rune and the better your expertise with that certain rune, the longer and stronger the barrier will be. Lily had even become so good with certain runes that she could apply them by touch alone, without the need to use a wand to inscribe them onto a surface. While it would fade in time, it was perfect for combat, when you could use a rune as a marker to teleport back toward in order to lead an enemy into an ambush and escape back toward the marker. She explained that it worked even if under a ward to prevent teleportation due to not actually teleporting there so much as slingshooting back toward that mark. It was actually quite ingenious.

Harry started searching for Cassiopeia and found her in the room she shared with Guri, still pouring over her father's holocron. However, what got Harry's attention (and aroused him greatly) was the fact both her and Guri were just wearing their underwear: Cassiopeia was wearing a purple panties and bra combination and Guri a black lacy thong and bra. Cassiopeia stretched to get rid of the kinks and caught sight of Harry standing in the doorway with a blush on his face and ogling her body. Despite being very sure of her looks, she didn't want her only family to think of her in thatway so she promptly turned red in embarrassment before yelling at him.

"Get out, you pervert!"

That snapped Harry out of his ogling and he promptly turned right around and basically ran out of the room. Guri had just blinked at the sight of him, completely at ease with the fact he had seen her half-naked.

Harry was wide-eyed and blushing at the image of Cassiopeia's half-naked body running through his mind. Sure he had seen Astraal naked many times but she had been a Twi'lek and he had never seen a human woman naked before. They were mostly the same except for skin color, the presence of lekku and lack of body hair on Twi'leks. 'Get a hold of yourself, Potter!' thought Harry forcefully. 'That's your pseudo-cousin you're imagining!'Harry jumped slightly as the door opened behind him and Cassiopeia came out wearing a large shirt that did nothing to detract from her bountiful chest although it reached her knees.

Cassiopeia blushed before scowling. "Look, it's not that I don't think you're cute or anything. Usually, a boy as cute as you and as good a person as you and I would be flirting with you non-stop but I don't want to ruin our fledgling bond. You're the only family I have left and I don't want to ruin it by acting like a boy-obsessed little girl. Understand?"

Harry smiled gently at her pleading look and gave her a quick hug. "I understand. I'd like it if we were family as well. Sorry I just entered without knocking but I'm not used to it. The only person to use that room for enough time to change in there was my ex Astraal and well... there wasn't anything of her I hadn't seen before and she never minded."

Cassiopeia giggled at his admission. "I understand." A mischievous look came to her eyes. "It's too bad we're pseudo-cousins. If we weren't and we had met, I would have been on you like white on rice, that's how cute you are."

Harry blushed in embarrassment as Cassiopeia laughed slightly and reentered her room. He composed himself and walked back toward his room when the door to Cassiopeia's room opened again, this time with Guri coming out in a pair of black pants and a white t-shirt. Harry gulped as he couldn't help but notice that the shirt didn't quite hide her curves and by the small smile on her face, he knew she knew it too.

"Don't take it the wrong way, Harry. It's just that she's been alone for so long that she doesn't want to screw it up. I'm sure if you weren't family she would be all over you by now. Cassie is very...forward when she wants something."

Harry gave Guri a wry smile. "Somehow, I can imagine that."

The two chuckled a bit and Guri studied him before speaking. "You're a good fighter. Not many can stand up to Cassie when she goes all-out. She may not know how to wield a lightsaber but she matches it with her firewhip and her unarmed skills are nothing to scoff at. She can keep up with me in unarmed combat and I'm really strong due to my being a human replica droid and I can stand up to people like Boba Fett and Luke Skywalker at least until the latter uses the Force. So she's strong."

Harry's eyes widened at her declaration. To say she could stand up to Luke and Boba was no small boast. If it was true and Cassie could keep up with her... damn, everyone on this ship are juggernauts in some way or another. Harry studied Guri and he could tell she was telling the absolute truth. She really was that strong.

Harry smiled slightly. "Well, thanks for the compliment." Harry looked over at the door leading to Cassiopeia's room. "How is she? I originally came to see how she was holding up seeing her father, even if it's just an image, for the first time but... we kinda got sidetracked."

Guri smiled sadly. "She tries to hide it but I know she's going to be obsessing over that holocron for a few days, more over hearing her father's voice than anything. Finding a pseudo-cousin and finding her father's holocron all at once... it hit her hard, you know?"

Harry looked worried. "Will she be okay?"

Guri smiled at his concern. "She'll be fine. She's tough. She's survived on her own since she was 9 while piloting her own ship, that should tell you that she can take care of herself." Guri giggled slightly. "Though I don't know how she or her ship survived before me. She flies like a ton of bricks, hitting everything and anyone in the way."

Harry smiled mischievously. "Really? She sucks at flying? I didn't know that. Although that explains why her ship is all banged up."

Guri laughed. "Yep. After we met, I insisted on being the pilot. Especially since she had crashed into a building trying to take the ship out of parking."

The two laughed at the mental image just as Cassiopeia came out of her room, fully dressed again. She had a pair of brown pants and boots with the same shirt from before tucked inside. She looked at two suspiciously as they laughed harder at her appearance.

"What are you talking about?" asked Cassiopeia suspiciously.

Guri smiled mischievously. "Oh, nothing. Just your incrediblepiloting skills and how you demonstrated them when we first met."

Cassiopeia promptly turned red and scowled as Harry laughed. "Yea, laugh it up. It's not my fault the stupid controls are so complicated. And that building came out of nowhere!"

At her declaration, Harry fell down laughing, unable to control himself anymore as she tried to excuse herself. Cassiopeia just glared at him half-heartedly as he continued to laugh.

---

The Wayward Sonexited hyperspace over the Phaeda system. Phaeda was rocky world with two just as rocky moons. It had little strategic or commercial importance and its garrison was either lazy or corrupt, making this world a perfect place for smugglers and criminals from all over the galaxy.

Cassie sat in the co-pilot chair wearing her customized armor which was a work of art, Harry had to admit. It was made up of a breastplate with a star shaped design, with the top spike of the star reaching the bottom of her neck encircling it, the two spikes to either side of that spike going under armpits and connecting on her back to hold it, and the bottom two connected to her armored skirt at her sides. The armored skirt's belt which held her weapons (and sometimes held her firewhip wrapped around her hips like another belt) was armored and had an armorweave black skirt that reached mid-shin. She also wears thigh-high armor boots, and over her left leg is a long sash made of black feathers, symbolizing her connection with the House of Black, whose crest has ravens as part of it. She also had armored vambraces with a perpendicular spike lined with cortosis over black armorweave gloves that reached her elbows. She had black armorweave under all the pieces of her armor except under her skirt (which Harry found out to his embarrassment when she crossed her legs). The entire armor was was made of duranium lined with traces of phrik and painted black with crimson accents (she said it intimidated her enemies more than other colors).

Her armor also had several surprises, such as a rocket launcher hidden in the vambraces that could be activated both by her helmet and by flicking her wrist downward, a grappling cable hidden in the armored shin piece, flamethrowers, and even wrist knives. This wasn't even counting the weapons holstered on her belt. All this were tricks picked up from a lifetime living on the less legal parts of the galaxy.

However, her helmet was her pride and joy. It recorded video and played it back on command, dispensed water, compensated automatically for low or high light conditions, and picked up on minute sounds and amplified them. The helmet also had the capability of sealing to compensate for pressure changes though this piece was delicate and she constantly had to maintain it. Cassiopeia could also control her weapons and sensors with verbal commands. Her helmet's HUD featured information on the surrounding environment as well as a 360-degree field of vision, whose data streams could be controlled by eye movements and blinking. It had magnification to allow Cassiopeia to see great distances, and was equipped with, among other things, an infrared scanner that could be magnified up to 50 times. The infrared scanner magnified light up to 100 times or displayed heat gradations. The environmental filter system could filter out poisons and contaminants as well as provide her with two hours of reserve air. In order not to confuse it with a Mandalorian helmet, her visor was tinted black and was a star shape instead of the usual Mandalorian T shape. It was also made of duranium and traces of phrik and painted black with crimson accents.

Harry had had to listen to the entire two hour long explanation of not only how her armor and helmet worked but also how she installed and acquired each system (with gratuitous exaggeration of course; At one point she insisted she gained the phrik by fighting off a hundred krayt dragons with a rock). However, Harry hadn't minded, glad to see that they shared a passion for creating and upgrading personal armor and weapons. Harry hadn't forgotten the Jensaarai armor he had built before Marrish destroyed it and it still brought a pang to his heart to remember it in pieces. He hadn't built another because he wanted to improve upon it so it wouldn't be so easily destroyed next time. However, that involved studying Sith alchemy and he doubted the Masters would like that if they found out.

Cassiopeia had insisted (more like demanded) he wear armor as well and he was currently wearing a crimson version of the old ARC trooper armor with the exception of the helmet. He had his brown Jedi robes over it so they wouldn't stand out as much but realized it was hopeless when he looked at how Cassiopeia was armored. Guri, surprisingly, was wearing the same outfit she was wearing when Harry saw her in the cantina and had explained that it was made of armorweave so she didn't need anything else. That plus her natural resilience made it so she was just as protected as them.

FAITH was the only one who hadn't changed except for carrying around his carbine on his back as well as blasters on his hips. FAITH had also placed many types of grenades in hidden storages inside him just in case as well as his customary hidden lightsabers. Guri also has hidden compartments on her frame but Harry knew better than to ask where. Patient and kind or not, that is NOT something you ask a woman.

Cassiopea currently had her helmet off and frowned as she looked on the planet. "Phaeda... on a bad day, it makes Nar Shadaa looks classy."

Harry raised and eyebrow. "That why you made us wear armor?"

Cassiopeia nodded slowly. "That and because I've made a few... dissatisfied clients here and if they hear I'm here they'll sent their mercenaries after me."

Harry look alarmed at her statement. "What did you do to deserve that? Did you refuse to kill the target or something?"

Cassiopeia gave a grimace of distaste. "I wish that was all. More like I refused to become a crime lord's concubine for his amusement when I made the mistake of showing my face. Bad enough my armor doesn't detract from my feminine form, but when I showed my face was just as pretty and I was only 14 at the time, he became... insistentand I had to reeducate him as to my rights."

Harry couldn't help the bit of anger that came to his heart at the idea of Cassiopeia becoming someone's playtoy. During the past three days, Harry and Cassie (as Cassiopeia insisted on him calling her) had become close and he could honestly say he was happy to have met her. They had bonded quickly due to both being desperate to have a family member they could trust (Harry due to his only other relatives hating and mistreating him and Cassie due to losing her mother when she was 9). To their joy, they had found they had much in common. Both were fierce to protect those they considered family, both loved to customize their possessions themselves (Cassiopeia had fallen in love with the Azure Angeland had begged him to teach her how to fly which he had agreed to do), and both could be considered prodigies: Harry in swordsmanship and Cassiopeia in unarmed combat.

During the time they spent together, Cassiopeia had managed to get Harry to open up and they were rubbing off on each other. Cassiopeia was becoming more introspective and thoughtful and Harry was becoming more mischievous and optimistic. Cassiopeia had found, to her amusement, that Harry had a very perverted sense of humor when his walls were down and was very good at making statements filled with double-meanings and innuendo. Together they made for a very exasperating pair of mischievous pranksters as Guri found to her chagrin. Harry had made an off-hand comment that Guri's breasts were bigger than Cassie's. Cassiopeia had reacted exactly as he had planned and had denied it and when he told her to prove it, she had marched up to the confused Guri and ripped off her shirt before taking off her own to compare sizes. Needless to say, that sight had made Harry the happiest man in the galaxy as well as 100 credits richer when it turned out Guri's breasts werebigger.

Harry mouth was a thin line as he spoke. "Well, they'll have to go over my dead body and even then I'll come back as a Force ghost to distract them so you can escape."

Cassiopeia looked at him in surprise before she smiled happily as a tear escaped her eye. She quickly wiped it off before he noticed and put on her helmet so he wouldn't see her happy smile at how protective he was being of her. It reminded her of how her mother would protect her when she was young.

After getting clearance from planetary traffic control, Harry expertly entered the atmosphere and flew toward the designated landing zone. When they broke atmosphere, Harry saw that surface was just as rocky as seen from space and had no redeeming qualities whatsoever. He flew toward the landing pad and once they touched down, turned off the engines. Harry told R3 that he had to stay and guard the ship this time due to the fact they might need a quick getaway if the crime lord attacked Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia had her helmet on so the chances of recognizing her were lower but Harry doubted that would help much. Therefore, he wanted to spend as little time on the streets as possible.

The group of four had a wide berth due to the intimidating aura they let out as they walked down the street toward the Registry of Testaments and Legacies, where Remus's holocron said to go to find the Hogwarts. They entered through the front door and saw a normal reception hall with green walls a Rodian manning the front desk. Harry walked up to the Rodian, seeing as he would be spokesperson.

"Hello, my name is Harry Potter and I've come to collect an inheritance left to me by my father and his friends." said Harry politely.

The Rodian spat into the garbage can beside the desk before answering. "Let me check the registry." He went through a door in the back before returning a few minutes later with a datapad. He muttered to himself as he searched until he grunted in the affirmative.

"It's here, alright. Do you have the agreed upon proof of identification?"

Harry took out Remus's holocron and gently passed it to the Rodian. The Rodian placed inside an old device with a circle like crevice where he placed the holocron and after a second, the device let out an affirmative beep, confirming it's authenticity.

Well, everything checks out. It's in Storage Hangar 45. Here's the passcard to enter and remember, we are not responsible for any damages the stuff had before being stored. Now that you've arrived you have three weeks to clear the hangar of all possessions before we clean it for other clients. Take this device as well because it was for your storage hangar identification only," said the Rodian forcefully.

"Understood."

The group turned and left the building toward the Storage hangar. Once they left the building and turned the corner, the Rodian made a holo-call on his computer, nervously looking around to make sure he wouldn't be seen.

The call connected and a female voice answered. "What is it? This better be important, Vax."

Vax gulped. "It is, ma'am. The man you said you were searching for? The Harry Potter boy? He just came in and I gave him the passcard for Storage Hangar 45."

The woman cursed. "Dammit, I was halfway to Bespin already. How long do you think they'll be there?"

Vax sweated slightly. "A couple of days minimum. That storage hangar is one of the bigger ones and I broke the engines like you asked so it'll take a while for them to fix it and take the ship."

"Good, I'll contact my employer and we'll be there in two days. Make sure they're there until we get there. My employer would be most displeased if she misses him again and she'll take it out of my cut, which means I'll have to take it out of yourcut, understand?"

Vax paled and nodded his head frantically. "I understand, ma'am. They'll be here, I promise."

With that, the call ended and Vax exhaled a breath he didn't know he was holding.

Back with the group, Harry was once again leading the group toward the marked Storage Hangar with an air of anticipation. They were finally close to another clue to their parents' past and Cassiopeia was nervously fidgeting, just as anxious to get there as well. However, if they ran there it would attract attention and they didn't need any at the moment.

They finally reached the hangar and Harry nervously entered the passcard into the security module. The module gave an affirmative beep!and Harry opened the door. The group of four entered and the lights turned on revealing the inside.

Parked inside was an ancient Lethisk-class armed freighter. It was a bit smaller than the Wayward Son, painted silver and gold and was armed to the teeth. On the nose of the ship was a crest with a lion, a snake, a badger and a raven. The only sign of it being old was the inch of dust over it and the fact that this class of ship hadn't been used since the Jedi Civil War.

Guri whistled in appreciation as she took in the ship. "Well, for an old junk of metal, it sure is customized to hang with the newer models. Even I can see the engine modifications not to mention the new laser cannons. Well, it was new 20 years ago but still new for this old class of ship."

Harry and Cassiopeia slowly walked up to the ship and just took it in. This was the ship their parents had lived in for most of their teenage years and had written about so lovingly in their journals. It was exactly as they had imagined it except for one small detail.

Harry frowned. "How could 20 people fit in this? It only fits a maximum of 10 people right?"

Cassiopeia smiled due to knowing something Harry didn't. "Weeellll... my dad's journal says they used Expansion Charms to make the inside bigger than the outside."

Harry and Guri looked at her in confusion. FAITH was guarding the entrance in case of them being followed. Guri asked the question on both their minds. "What do you mean? How's that possible?"

Cassiopeia smirked. "Our people had the habit of breaking the laws of possibility with their spells. They managed to find a spell that could make an enclosed space two to three times bigger without enlarging the outer dimensions. The theory is over my head but it's possible. They probably did it here so they had a big enough ship to hold them but small enough to have maneuverability."

The other two looked thoughtful at her explanation and internally wondered how much that would help in their endeavors. For Harry, it meant more space to hold soldiers in the transport ships for a lesser amount of transports ships. For Guri, it meant more cargo space to hold their not-so-legal goods.

Harry walked up to the ship and activated the ramp. It took a minute but it finally responded, albeit sluggishly. Once the ramp lowered, the two pseudo-cousins looked at each other before taking out their wands and muttering Lumos!, igniting the tip of their wands, turning them into miniature flashlights.

FAITH stayed to guard the hangar entrance while the other three entered the ship to explore. After checking everything to make sure there was no hidden surprises on the ship, they started to explore it more slowly and throughly. Cassiopeia decided to check the cargo bays while Guri decided to check the engines. Harry turned to check the cockpit to see if there was navigation log of some sort.

Harry entered the cockpit and noticed that the power was still sluggish, if the fact only half the lights were on was any indication. Remembering what Han sometimes had to do with the Falcon, Harry punched the ship just above the doorway and just like that, the power returned to the entire ship. Harry smiled as he remembered the many times Han did that on the Falconjust to get it to start. Han called it a love tap to start her up.

Harry sat in the pilot's seat and looked for the ship's navigation manifest. After a few minutes, he finally found it. Harry looked it over and frowned.

According to the navigation log, the first planet it arrived in was Ilum, in the Unknown Regions. While it was wonderful that Harry had the coordinates to the long lost planet of lightsaber crystals, it stated that it exited into the system, meaning it wasn't the original home world of Harry's people. The curious thing was that it said it exited slipstream, whatever that was. Harry thought it may be another name for hyperspace but future logs correctly call it hyperspace and not slipstream, making Harry extremely confused. Could Harry's people use another form of travel other than hyperspace travel? If they did and they traveled from the home world through slipstream...

Harry sat back with a groan. It meant that the only way to reach the planet was through slipstream travel. That may have contributed to the fact their home world was never found in over 24,000 years of space exploration. Harry hoped the engines were working because if they weren't...

The shipwide comm crackled and Guri spoke. "Harry? You might want to come to the engines. We have a problem."

Harry looked up at the ceiling asking the Force why it made everything so difficult. He sighed and stood up before walking toward the engine room.

Harry found Guri under the engines, cursing fluently, and the white shirt she had under her armorweave clothing covered in grease. Harry could see she had taken off the armorweave clothing and put on her "engineer" clothing which was a white shirt and blue shorts. When Harry entered Guri came out from under the engines and scowled.

"These engines have been sabotaged recently. There's no other explanation for it to be in this state! If it was like this when they parked it here, they would never had been able to fly it in the first place!"

Harry frowned. "Maybe they sabotaged it after they parked it to make sure no one could use it?"

Guri shook her head. "No, this couldn't fly before this sabotage anyway. There was no reason for more damage to be done. This was just overkill and done by an idiot to top it off."

Harry's frown deepened. "What do you mean it couldn't fly even before the sabotage?"

Guri sighed and walked over to the right wall where a strange circular green sphere bigger than Harry's fist was hovering over a projector of some kind on top of a table. Behind the sphere was a large computer of some kind that had blue "veins" running along the floor connecting it to the engines. Harry had never seen anything like it.

Guri pointed to the sphere. "That is missing something and without it, the entire ship won't fly."

Harry looked at the sphere closely and noticed that at the top was a circular indentation. It looked as of a key of some sort was supposed to go in it to activate it. For some reason, Harry swore he'd seen something like this before but couldn't place it.

"Well, that sucks." grumbled Harry. He sighed exasperatedly. "Well, I hope Cassie is having bett-"

Just then a scream was heard from the direction of the cargo bay. Realizing that the scream was Cassiopeia's, Harry reacted on instinct and ran toward the cargo bay, his green lightsaber activated with Guri right behind him.

They reached the cargo bay to find Cassiopeia sitting on the floor looking at something beyond their field of vision in fear. Harry stood with his lightsaber activated in between her and whatever she was looking at, breaking Cassiopeia from her trance.

"W-What? What happened?"

Harry looked confused. "That's what I would like to know. We heard you scream and when we get here you look like you've seen a ghost. What happened?"

Cassiopeia blushed in embarrassment. "Sorry, I was just surprised. I was looking though the stuff and uncovered what I thought was a long box and found.. her."

Harry looked confused before he walked toward where Cassiopeia was pointing and saw what she was talking about. Laying there in a corner of the cargo bay was a carbonite-encased woman. Even encased in carbonite, it was obvious it was a woman and Harry wondered who she could be.

Harry looked back at Cassiopeia in confusion and a bit of amusement. "You screamed... because you saw a person in carbonite?"

Cassiopeia puffed out her cheeks in anger. "I've seen a lot of holo-movies about zombies and stuff and when I saw her..."

Harry and Guri started to chuckle at Cassiopeia's embarrassment. Cassiopeia just huffed and refused to meet his eyes even as she turned as red as a tomato.

Harry stopped laughing for a moment and smirked at Cassiopeia. "At least I know how to scare you. Just mention there might be zombies somewhere and you're off like a blaster bolt."

Cassiopeia just glared at them both before pouting and turning her back on them as they laughed. Harry finally stopped laughing and looked at the carbonite woman in curiosity. "Could she be part of the original crew along with our parents?"

Cassiopeia frowned. "Sorry, but no. According to how the things back here are sorted, she was part of the legacy our parents pretended to be heirs of. The inheritance of one Hidu Rezodar, according to the cargo manifest."

Harry frowned in thought. "You think there was any specific reason they posed as his inheritors?"

Cassiopeia smiled slightly. "According to my dad's holocron, Hidu had tried to make a pass on your mother, Lily and didn't know how to take no for an answer. They were forced to leave Phaeda because of him. So when they heard he died, they thought it would be the ultimate insult to pose as his inheritors and take everything he had."

Harry rolled his eyes at his parents' friends' tendencies to get revenge on dead people who wronged them by pranking them. According to his mother's journal, his father's friends named themselves "The Marauders" and were legendary pranksters among their class. Their pranks on planetary inhabitants were the cause of them having to leave more planets than anything the Empire or Marrish did. Not that anyone ever managed to successfully identify them as the perpetrators unless they admitted to it.

"That sounds like something they would do," grumbled Harry. "Still... what do we do with her and why didn't our parents free her when they had the chance?"

Cassiopeia frowned and checked the cargo manifest before rolling her eyes. "According to this, they called her "the stone woman painting". Apparently, they didn't know it was living person encased in carbonite. They probably thought the device to free her on the side was some sort of security device."

Harry cocked an eyebrow and looked at the carbonite-encased woman. "Well, I think it's about time we free her, don't you think?"

Guri frowned and nodded. "Yes, I imagine she could have been there for decades already if she's been here since Hidu died. I hope she didn't have any relatives waiting for her, that would be terrible."

Harry nodded sadly. "Well, let's get started. However, let me warn you guys. Han told me that when he was unfrozen he was weak, disoriented and it took a minute to remember anything. And he was in carbonite for a year at most. This woman has been here for over two decades minimum so the effects will be much worse. Be patient with her and she's our responsibility until she recovers, understand?" The idea of letting a disoriented and possibly amnesiac woman loose on a planet like Phaeda was too terrible to contemplate. She'd be killed or captured and forced into prostitution.

Guri and Cassiopeia nodded in understanding and helped Harry drag the carbonite-encased woman into the middle of the cargo bay where they could have space. Letting it lie on the floor, Harry moved to the defreezing panel and studied for a moment before activating the defreezing process.

The group of three stood back as the carbonite heated up and started to retreat from the woman's body. First it retreated from her fingertip before slowly retreating down her arm and toward her center. After a minute or two, she was completely unfrozen and lying there unconscious.

The woman was fairly attractive with a curvaceous and toned figure that spoke of an active life either as a soldier or, more likely considering who once owned her, a mercenary. She had long black hair, fair skin, high cheek bones and a small pointed chin and looked to be in her mid-thirties at the most. Due to being unconscious, Harry couldn't see the color of her eyes but he mused they were probably a dark color as well. She had qukuuf facialmarkings in the form of three black stripes on each cheek, identifying her as a Kiffar or a half-Kiffar at the very least. She was currently wearing a green shirt that showed her stomach and brown cargo pants with many pockets. She probably had many things within those pockets originally but they were taken before she was frozen. All in all, she looked like someone who could be very dangerous to fight.

The woman stirred slightly and Harry gently picked her up before carrying her to one of the crew quarters. She stirred slightly but didn't give trouble as Harry placed her on a bed. She opened her eyes, revealing the to be a dark blue color however, they seemed to have a white film over them, showing she was slightly blind from the carbonite freezing. She tried to get up but seemed to be too dizzy to do it and Harry was forced to steady her. From behind him, Guri and Cassiopeia frowned as they watched the woman feel around with her hands, proving she was blind.

Harry gently steadied her in a sitting position before speaking softly, remembering how Han said he was sensitive to noises and light when he first woke up from his experience. "I imagine you're confused and blind at the moment but you're safe so don't worry. We found you encased in carbonite as part of our parents' inheritance which your part came from a gangster named Hidu Rezodar's inheritance. We freed you as soon as we could, knowing you had probably been in there for decades."

The woman sightlessly looked in Harry's direction before speaking in a soft tone. "Thank you. I don't... remember my name at the moment. What's yours?"

Harry smiled slightly. "It's Harry. Harry Potter. This is my cousin and her babysitter," here both Cassiopeia and Guri glared at him but he just chuckled, "Cassiopeia and Guri. It was actually Cassiopeia who found you in the cargo bay and I'm sure you'll be proud to know you scared her even encased in carbonite."

The woman smiled slightly as she could almost feel Cassiopeia's embarrassment before a frown crossed her face and she put her head in her hands. "My head... it hurts. I remember... a girl around sixteen... was she my daughter or a friend? I'm so confused... my name... I remember someone calling me Sin... is that my name?"

Harry exchanged looks with Cassiopeia before the latter spoke. "Maybe. We'll call you Sin for now. For now, just rest here and recover. Guri will be right outside when you wake up so call if you need anything."

Sin nodded her head gratefully and laid back down on the bed before quickly falling asleep. The three left the room and stood outside her door with frowns on their faces. Cassiopeia was the first to speak.

"She seems to be in a bad way if she can't even remember her name or her past. Did you see how she seemed to touch everything? She must have gone blind from all that time in carbonite. Is it permanent?"

Harry shook his head. "Probably not. Uncle Han was slightly blind when he was freed from his carbon freezing but he regained it eventually."

"Yeah, but he was frozen for a year at most. Sin was frozen for at least two decades at the very least."

Guri frowned before turning to Harry. "Can't you do anything to help her recover? You know... use the Force to heal her or something?"

Harry frowned but nodded his head slowly. "Maybe... it's not my area of expertise but I know enough to speed along her recovery. However, it'll take a few days and I don't feel comfortable leaving Phaeda in case she's originally from here. I also want to keep her a secret in case someone recognizes her and has bad intentions for her."

Cassiopeia frowned. "We have to leave in three weeks according to that Rodian guy. That should be plenty of time to fix the ship and heal her, right?"

Guri nodded. "Yep. I know some people around here that have the parts we need. However, I suggest sending FAITH to guard the Wayward Sonwhile we wait. We can't risk someone stealing it while we're waiting in case the ship isn't fixed by that time and we can't chase the thief."

Harry nodded. "Okay, we'll do that. I'll be in charge of healing Sin while Guri concentrates on fixing the ship and Cassie concentrates on going through the cargo area and sorting it. I'll help Cassiopeia when I'm not helping Sin."

Guri nodded but pointed out a flaw. "That doesn't help much. Don't you remember how the ship is missing that component from that weird piece of tech? Without that, we won't be going anywhere."

Harry cursed as he remembered. Cassiopeia frowned before speaking. "What are you talking about? What piece is missing?"

Harry turned to Cassiopeia with a sigh. "There's this weird piece of tech that I think is important to travel to our homeworld in the engine room. However, it's missing a piece in the most important component and without it, not even the sublight engines work."

Cassiopeia frowned. "What does the missing piece look like?"

Guri thought about it before speaking. "It should be a green piece of stone about the size of a jewel for a bracelet or something. It should be slightly rugged on one side where it goes into the component and smooth on the other."

Cassiopeia frowned before taking out her necklace from under her armor. "Like this?"

Sure enough, the green necklace Harry had noticed she had when he first saw her looked to be just the right size of the missing piece. It was rugged along one side and smooth along the other, perfect to enter the component.

Harry's eyes widened. "Where did you get that?"

Cassiopeia shrugged. "My mom gave it to me when I was 5. She said it was a gift from my dad to her when they married and she was passing it on to me."

Harry smiled and whooped. "That must be the missing piece for the component! Well, now we only have to worry about fixing the engines and we're home free."

Cassiopeia frowned as she realized something. "But what are we going to do with twofreighters? It's not as if we're going to need two ships for the trip."

Harry frowned as he realized she was right before deciding on a course of action. "Well, when we're ready, Guri will pilot this ship and follow me to Raxus Prime to meet a friend of mine. We'll leave the Wayward Son as well as most of our cargo there and use the Hogwartsas our primary ship for this quest. It's only right that the ship that left our home world is used to return to it. Plus... I feel that only this ship has the current capability to reach our home world."

The two women nodded in agreement and they separated toward their respective jobs.

---

Harry had left the girls on the ship as he decided to explore the area a bit. He had never been to Phaeda and although he knew it was a haven for criminals, he couldn't help but be curious about it.

He was walking for a few minutes before he stumbled onto a bar near the storage hangar. It was called the The Hanging Manand looked pretty clean for a bar in this area of the city. Harry entered and looked around.

It looked pretty basic with a bartender behind the counter and several tables against the walls and a few in the center. There didn't seem to be many patrons but it seemed to be doing fine regardless of the low amount of patrons. After making sure that his weapons were covered by his robes, Harry sat down at the bar and ordered a drink.

He wasn't there long before someone sat down further down the bar and ordered a drink as well. Harry looked over to see his drinking companion.

The first thing he noticed was that she was a Human female. She had long red hair and hazel eyes on top of a curvaceous figure. While not as well-endowed as say, Cassiopeia or Guri, she had nice C-cup breasts and long legs that reminded Harry of Jaina's in their attractiveness covered by a scarlet shirt and onyx pants. Her body was toned, pointing to an active life and the way she looked around warily pointed to it being dangerous. She looked to be around 20 years old and by the way she carried herself, seemed to have had a hard life. She was wearing a crimson shirt and black pants with her hair loose. She had a blaster pistol holstered on her right hip and seemed to move as if she knew how to defend herself without it if necessary. By the muscles visible on her beautiful legs, Harry didn't doubt that she didn't need a blaster to cause damage.

She seemed to sense his stare because she turned to him and seemed to start to glare at him before she blinked and checked him out as he had her. Harry swore he saw a splash of pink appear on her fair skinned cheeks but dismissed it. She seemed to consider something before standing up from her seat and sitting down beside him.

She gave him a small smile before speaking. "Hey, pleasure to meet you. I'm Shae. Shae Vizla."

Harry cocked an eyebrow and, remembering Cassiopeia's advice to hit on a few girls and have one-night stand, gave her the patented Potter half-smile. "Harry Potter." Now Harry was sure she blushed as her cheeks turned red at the sight of his smile. 'Hmmm... I could get used to having this effect on women.' thought Harry amusedly. 'Especially if they all look like her.'

Shae composed herself before smiling. "So, what's someone who obviouslydoesn't belong here doing in this bar?"

Harry smirked. "That obvious I'm not from here?"

Shae gave him a wink. "Just a little. Usually people who come here know to have a weapon in sight to detract anyone with ideas."

Harry gave her his Potter smile again and opened his robes, showing his blaster pistols on his hips. "That good enough or do you want to see more?" The obvious double entendre had its desired effect and Harry saw a small blush cross her face as dirty ideas crossed her mind. He couldn't believe he was actually saying these things but he blamed it on the alcohol completely ignoring the fact that he had only had a few sips.

She eventually just smirked back. "That'll do...for now."

Harry just smiled and chuckled before inviting her to sit beside him as he ordered her a drink. The two then spent the next three hours talking about inconsequential things, neither talking about their jobs or what they were doing on Phaeda by unspoken agreement. It eventually got dark and it was between times rush hours so they were alone in the bar except for the bartender who was giving them a respectful distance ever since Shae threatened to cut off his balls when she caught him leering at her chest. They were talking about how much the government sucks no matter what it's called when it happened.

Shae snorted in disdain. "Politics are useless out here in the Outer Rim. My childhood showed that."

Harry noticed the bitter tone in her voice and realized she must have had a similar childhood to him. "Yeah, you have to fight for what you want out here."

Shae slammed her drink down and glared at Harry. Well, more like two inches to the right of him. They hadbeen drinking non-stop for three hours after all.

"What would youknow? You look like you've had everything handed to him with your nice clothes and clean, handsome face," Harry couldn't help the grin that crossed his face when she called him handsome, "Me? I had to fight and crawl for everything I have and I've done a lot I'm not proud of. What would you know?"

For some reason, Harry couldn't stop himself from retorting in an angry tone. He blamed the alcohol. "When I was one year old, my parents were murdered in front of me by a madman who killed them just because they were in the way. I then spent the next 5 years tortured and beaten by my own relatives who took me in. They then sold me to a man who wanted to experiment on kids like me. So don't tell me my life was perfect, Shae." He said her name in a disdainful tone that shocked her from her drunken tirade.

Shae looked shocked at his outburst before her face took on a look of chagrin. "I'm sorry... It's just... Today is the anniversary of my brother's death. He was killed three years ago because he was trying to rebuild Death Watch. You might not know it but I'm descended from the founder of Death Watch and my brother thought it was a wonderfulidea to rebuild it. I tried to tell him not to and that Death Watch was better off dead but he didn't listen. He was killed by people who hated Death Watch soon after."

Harry gave her a sad look and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Shae shook her head and gave him a sad smile. "I miss him but at the same time... I know he was wrong, you know? So I mourn while knowing he was killed for the right reasons. These days always suck because of that. Doesn't help I can't avenge his death without looking like a hypocrite."

Harry couldn't understand how it would feel to love someone who died but know they deserved to be stopped. He hoped to never be in the same situation.

After that, they spent a little more time talking but left the bar when the next influx of patrons appeared. Harry offered to take her to her hotel but when she angrily asked him if he thought she couldn't take care of herself, he assured her it was just to see where she was staying so he could visit. She seemed to find this amusing and allowed it.

They continued to talk as they slowly walked toward the hotel where she was staying, neither wanting to end their talk earlier than normal. Both felt they had found someone who could understand having a messed-up childhood and were unwilling to lose that when they reached her hotel. However, all good things come to an end and they eventually reached her hotel.

Shae seemed to be debated something before she turned to Harry. "Hey, we should do this again. How long you going to be here?"

Harry shrugged. "About a week at most but probably less."

Shae bit her lip. "Then we can meet up for drinks tomorrow then. You're buying."

Harry gave her an amused smile before nodding. "Alright but you buy drinks the day after."

"Deal."

Harry and Shae said their goodbyes before parting ways, Shae entering the hotel and Harry walking back toward the storage hangar where the Hogwartswas parked. He had a smile on his face as he though about meeting with Shae again tomorrow.

AN: There's chapter 25!

As you can see, things are getting complicated. Harry has new traveling companions in Cassiopeia and Guri and has found the Hogwarts but it's in need of fixing before they can leave.

Who are the ones chasing after Harry? Well, you'll see next chapter! LOL.

Why did Harry and Cassiopeia bond and trust each other so quickly. Well, you have to understand that both have been without blood family for a long time and so they're desperate to trust and depend on each other now that they've found each other. They haven't told each other everything but they do trust each other with the others backs. There was a lot of bonding going on during the trip toward Phaeda that I didn't show but needless to say, they passed the awkward "oh shit, the cute/hot boy/girl I was checking out is really my long-lost cousin!" phase.

As always, Read and Review!