Harry put the plates of eggs and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there weren't much space. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his gifts.

"Thirty six" He said, looking up to his father and mother "That's two less than last year!"

"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mommy and Daddy."

"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.

Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right'?'

"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."

Uncle Vernon chuckled. "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. "Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.

At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a new VCR. He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.

"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction.

Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Yes! Yes! Yes! Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned. But not this time.

Yes!

"Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.

…Please let me stay… Please let me stay… Please let me stay…

"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.

Not Marge!

"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."

"You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).

Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.

"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.

"I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.

"I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly "... and leave him in the car..."

"That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone..."

Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying - it had been years since he'd really cried - but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.

"Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.

"I... don't... want... him... t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp- spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.

Just then, the doorbell rang - "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically - and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Vernon's face contorted like he was solving one of those crucigrams that came with the newspaper.

"Listen to me, boy, and listen very carefully" He whispered, spit flying everywhere. "If when we come back, there is a single slice of ham missing, or any sign of freakishness tainting our perfectly normal house…" He let the threat hang up.

"Yes, Uncle Vernon" Harry's voice came in a high-pitched tone. "I'll behave."

Sparing him one last malicious look, Vernon turned around, and started walking to the hall. Harry let go of the air he was holding, and adjusted his eyeglasses –they almost fell, which would have surely gotten him some punishment-. As he watched the front door closing, he could hear Vernon greeting the Polkiss.

"Ha!" Uncle Vernon gleefully said "I told you Arsenal would win against Newcastle! You should be thankful we didn't bet!"

Harry couldn't hear Piers's answer, as the door was shot and he, was finally free.

Not believing his luck, he waited until he felt was safe and checked the window, setting aside the white curtain. Maybe this was another sick joke from his relatives, but maybe…

Just maybe… maybe they were gone.

Yes!

Harry ran to the stairs, and jumping the steps got to the second floor of the house. He wasn't really allowed upstairs since there were not many chores to do - Just cleaning, and that, was Petunia's thing- But this was the first time being alone in the house in a long while, and he didn't plan on wasting it.

His feet seemed to carry him thoughtlessly to Dudley's room. He slowly pushed the door –it wouldn't do him any good if one of the countless toys in the floor broke-. And sheepishly entered the room.

The Dursleys wouldn't come back for maybe, another 3 hours. And that meant only one thing.

Movies.

The television looked new, even by Dudley standards, and last year Aunt Marge had gifted his cousin a VCR player along with some tapes. Harry knew for a fact that Dudley had never seen them. The span attention that a movie required wasn't really something his cousin could meet, and even if he did, Harry suspected that some movie plots would be too complicated for Dudley to understand.

The movies were just what Harry would expect from Marge. Dogs, dogs, and dogs. Football playing dogs. Basketball playing dogs. Even a documentary, the story of the space dog Laika, the first being to go to outer space –If Harry was sure of something in life, it was that Dudley hadn't watched that-.

And yet, one caught his eye.

Harry wasted no time, and the movie was on play even before he had really considered watching it or not.

Only one word was around his mind while he watched, leaning his head against Dudley's bed.

Awesome.

He stared in silence, not fully understanding some things, and yet, he couldn't take one thing from his mind.

Could he do the things he had seen Vader do? Was that the reason he was called a… a freak?

Of course, Harry wasn't stupid. He remembered those times when weird things happened around him, and yet, he always thought them coincidences. But now, what was he to think now?

Harry discarded the thought. It was a science fiction movie; of course freakish things would happen! Maybe he should have watched Laika's documentary if he wanted no freakishness, thank you very much!

His heart took a leap as he heard the sound of a parking car. It was obvious his family would come back sooner, even if it was only to make his life miserable! He hastily turned off the television and ran down the stairs. Harry really wanted to eat something tonight, and if his uncle catched him in Dudley's room…

Knowing he was expected to stay on his cupboard, he opened the door and made his fast entrance, crashing his head against the frame.

"Ow!" Harry whined, rubbing the sore spot.

He closed the door the same time his family were entering the house, and immediately knew he had done forgotten something. He had let the cassette in the VCR , and as soon as Dudley turned on his TV, he would realize something was wrong!

Oh, well.

There wasn't much he could do now, was it? He turned the lamp off, and pretended to sleep, hoping the hurricane to pass.

Surprisingly, the days passed without much disturbance at number four, Privet Drive, if you didn't count that day Vernon had gotten into an argument with the mailman about the state of the envelopes he delivered. Dudley hadn't tattled on him and instead had become a Star Wars fanatic, not sparing a second thought onto how had the movie made it into the player. His cousin made his parents buy him all kind of toys, and the next two movies too. Harry hadn't had the chance to watch the next one yet, but knew enough about it from hearing his cousin talk.

"And then he went to a planet called Dagobah, dad!" Dudley exclaimed, making gestures with his hands "It is a place full of swamps, and its very humid, like a jungle! There, Luke found an ancient Jedi Master, called Yoda. It reminded me of Harry, he was really skinny and small, and talked backwards..."

Harry listened to the conversation avidily, while he picked up the table, hoping to hear more about the plot. He really doubted he would get to see the movie, at least for now.

"Ha!" Nerviously laughed Uncle Vernon "Stop talking about such nonsense, Dudley! There is no Dabroga and shiddi masters seem like a bunch of freaks to me!"

"But Daad" Whined Dudley "You don't know that, its like Master Yoda said! Luke was angry and said it was impossible to lift his ship with the Force, and Yoda told him that is why he failed! And then he showed him, he lifted the entire thing with his mind! The Jedi go through a lot of training, you know? They meditate, that means that they try to feel the Force around them, and channel it through their bodies to…"

"Enough, Dudley!" Vernon raged, standing up, face all flushed "Go to your room, NOW."

Harry was startled, and watched hopelessly as the 3 plates he was carrying fell to the floor, breaking. Vernon never yelled at Dudley. Never. The silence lasted a couple of seconds, and soon enough, Harry felt himself in the air, being carried and thrown into the wooden floor of his cupboard.

"And stay there!"

Oh yes. This was going to be a long one.

He was dying out of boredom.

Harry guessed it had been three days since he was thrown in with his friends, the spiders. Of course, he was fed and could leave to go to the bathroom, his guardians wouldn't abuse him too much. What would the neighboors say?

Harry stretched his hand, caressing the rotten wood of the floor. He was sitting in it, since a while ago he felt like changing positions from the bed to the floor. Having nothing to do, it didn't take long for Harry's thought to wander to Star Wars.

Why did Uncle Vernon get so mad? Of course, he doesn't like freakishness, but he had never scolded Dudley before... Maybe there was some true to it? Was that why Uncle Vernon got so nervous?

Can I really use the force?

Was that why his hair grew everytime Aunt Petunia made him cut it? He didn't lose anything if the tried, right? Uncle Vernon wouldn't know, he couldn't. He concentrated on the broken toy soldier, that was lying besides an old sock, and willed for it to move.

Come on… move… stupid thing…

Nope. The Force didn't exist. And if it did, it wouldn't choose him. Right?

He pushed the Star Wars thoughts aside, and tried to come up with something else to pass time, but found himself with a quiet, blank mind. Three frigging days to himself, of course he didn't have anything else to think about!

And then, he felt it. A tinkling sensation expanded from his head, to the rest of his body and beyond: to his bed, the roof, and suddenly, Harry felt another conciencie in his cupboard.

Startled, and connection broken, Harry sat there, atonished.

¿Could it be? Was that… the Force?

Determined to reach that state again, he tried. And tried. And tried some more. And yet, new questions countiniously sprang to his mind, not allowing him to clear it of all emotion. For days he tried, stopping only to eat and to go to the bathroom, and when he fully understood the need for peace of thought, he could meditate again.

And the moment he reached that state of mind, Harry felt that himself float, and his conscience slowly expanded to the rest of the room, giving him vision even with his eyes closed. And then, he realized that he could feel the spiders that crawled on the roof and their webs, and the bugs trapped in them, he could tell exactly where was that sweet he had stolen from Dudley last month, and the location of his favorite pair of socks, lost last summer...

And when he opened his eyes the world started spinning, and the colours started changing.

Harry blinked. He was in the kitchen, carrying 3 plates in his arms as he heard his cousin.

"…that means that they try to feel the Force around them, and channel it through their bodies to…"

What the hell had had happened? How did he get here? This had already happened!

"Enough, Dudley!" Vernon raged, standing up, face all flushed "Go to your room, NOW"

Harry was startled, and the plates fell. Yet this time, as he watched hopelessly the plates fall to the floor, his arms seemed to move by their own will, spectacularly snatching the things from the air before they made contact with the floor.

The Force… It exists!

Thankfuly, Uncle Vernon didn't realise what had transpired –he was still fuming about Dudley antics-.

"Stupid movies... trying to mess with my son's head, are they? I'll show them, I will!" His neck quicly rotated and his stare located Harry's "Finish with the table and then go work the garden, boy. Your Aunt wants it flourishing, and it better be!"

"Yes, Uncle Vernon." Harry answered, without thinking. His body was on automated pilot, while his head was working at full speed, trying to understand what had transpired. Maybe he had a good imagination? It made way more sense if it was a deja-vu, not a vision... right? Because visions didn't exist, at least that was what Uncle Vernon always said. And yet, he could still feel it, a lot fainter than before, and maybe he was just imaginating things, but he thought he could still feel that tinkling sensation...

Before he knew it, he was on the garden –gloves on and scissors in hand-. His arms expertly handling the Petunias and Begonias his Aunt loved so much, and as he got rid of the weed, his mind started wandering.

Should I be disrespectful? I'd get more time alone in the cupboard...

He cut another weed. The Petunias were infested again!

It doesn't feel like the best idea, getting punished on purpose...

Was Uncle Vernon deaf? He could hear the news from outside... nothing really interesting anyway.

"... president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachov, has declared that the dissolution of the former is a necessary measure..."

"Ha!" He heard Vernon's gleeful yell "I knew those commies had it coming!"

But if I got some time in the cupboard, then I could really find out if I am using the Force...

"Boy! What in the fricking hell do you think you are you doing! I won't allow such a freakishness in my house! Get in here right now!" The furious whisper came from the open window and travelled through the air, perfectly practiced to not alert anyone but him.

Just what he needed. What had he done now? He was doing his chores, for Christ's sake! Just cutting the goddamned weeds with the... scissors... which were not on his hand.

The scissors... were floating.