Prologue

Part I of II

"The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us, it binds the galaxy together." - Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker, A New Hope (1977)

It had been quite dreary all week, despite being well into the summer, and the rain did not seem to be letting on. Typical English weather, some would argue. John trudged on through muddy, quiet streets as he walked home from school. They only had a few weeks left before school would let out for the summer. He was excited. Summers were the best. His dad had promised he could help in the car shop, as he was now officially old enough, if he did his best in school. He had.

John was quite smart, one of the best students of his year, but school had never held much interest to him. He was most in his element when tinkering with things, repairing old toys, tools, even household appliances. It gave him peace to get his hands dirty. to see how something worked from inside, take it apart and then put it back together.

If asked why he enjoyed tinkering so much, he would point to his father. William Gardner was a big, burly man in his late 40's, who had taken over his father's car shop some decade ago. His work was his passion. If not working long days in the shop, he could often be found tinkering on the Ford Orion that served as the family car, keeping it in tip-top shape, and, as his mother had often jokingly pointed out, loved it as much as herself.

A statement that was not untrue, even if his parents had always been quite happy together despite, or even because of it. William had no head for mathematics or the business side of running his father's shop. He left that to his wife, Mary Gardner, formerly Price, who did. They, and their three employees, altogether were quite content with how life turned out.

Until they had started trying for children; and, as his mother told him, kept and kept and kept trying until they finally turned to a doctor, who broke them the news. One or even both of them were infertile, and very unlikely to have a child. So they had told him. And that is where John came in.

His parents were not related to him by blood. He had been adopted when he was only weeks old after being left in a local orphanage by an unknown woman, giving only his name and his date of birth. They had told him so only half a year ago, when he turned nine. It is why his name was not John Gardner, but John Riddle.

He shrugged. So what? His Dad was still his Dad, and his Mum was still his Mum. That would not change. His family was the best, and frankly, he did not care about his birth father and mother. They had abandoned him. Mum and Dad were loads better.

Finally, he reached the street they lived on, and quickened his pace. He was almost home; only one crossing left to go. It was not long now before he would be out of this weather and back inside, where it was warm and dry. He checked both sides of the road. Only one car, and it was already slowing down as he moved on the zebra crossing. He moved quickly, eager to get inside.

It was already too late when he did notice the car had started slipping on the wet paved road, and it could not stop in time. Time froze as he stared down the rapidly approaching vehicle slipping down the asphalt. He could do nothing, and it would hit him. That is how he would die. He'd never get to help in the car shop. Never get to help Dad again on the Ford. He prepared himself for the impact, for the pain that was sure to come. He closed his eyes

Until it didn't. Something within him ...snapped ? The car, the person inside, slowed down to nothing suddenly, and stayed there, frozen, as if time itself had frozen. John opened his eyes and then blinked. Almost on instinct, he moved to the other side of the road, almost backed up against the wall of a building, when suddenly, the car unfroze and slipped further down, before coming to a stop again. The driver looked extremely distraught, looking in her rear mirror, but saw nothing. Had the boy crossed in time? A great sigh of relief escaped them, and they drove on again, slowly and carefully.

John just kept staring at the crossing, thinking on what had just happened. As if the car had been stopped by some force. The Force, like he had seen in Star Wars? He needed time to think, to clear his mind.

When he arrived home at last, he shut the door behind him rather forcefully, before calling out that he was going to do his homework, and come down only for dinner. It was what he normally did, after all. Now though, it was much needed time alone, as thoughts whirled in his head. He had nearly died just there and then. The car would have crushed him, and that would have been it. Dead. But then that happened.

Leaving his jacket and shoes near the door, he rushed up the stairs and headed right, where his room was. Swiftly, he entered and closed it behind him, as he nearly fell on his bed. What had just happened?

He did not know for sure. Experimentally, he sat down on his bed, cross-legged, and closed his eyes. On the ground before the bed laid a small toy car his dad had given him a while back. It was a bit beat-up, but that did not matter.

John sighed deeply as he emptied his mind and focused on his own body, on, to what that presence within had felt like. The snapping, the surge of power from deep within, to that feeling when it had flowed from him. That… power, for lack of a better word.

For what felt like an eternity, every time he felt he had nearly found it, almost feeling again, it slipped away. Until it didn't.

Suddenly, he could feel every cell in his body. It was as if John had been blind his entire life, and had suddenly been given sight. No longer. He could... sense presences below. They felt familiar. Mom and Dad. Customers and their few employees. His father happily working away on a car he too could sense. He reached yet further. The entire town of Reading was alight with life, like himself, or even the trees, the birds, even tiny insects, or the roaring strength of the sun, hidden behind the rain-clouds, warm and strong. He felt all-powerful and yet so weak as energy flowed around him, within him, through him.

He came back to his own body. He sensed himself, and noted how different his presence was. Brighter, somehow, shining stronger; almost blindingly so. That sense, that connection. He reached to the toy car, felt its presence, this tangible energy all around him, and willed it to lift.

When he opened his eyes, the toy car was floating, though it took considerable effort and concentration. In shock, he severed the connection to the toy, and it dropped back to the ground. A smile came to John's face as he took in what he had just done.

Little did he know then what he would start.

In the following weeks, John began experimenting with his newfound powers behind closed doors. They were his secret, at least for now. No-one else had displayed such power before, he'd noted. Were they taken by the government, to be experimented upon? Did his birth parents have such powers? He did not know, and kept it a secret.

He found he could levitate objects with his mind, when he was connected deeply with that mystical energy and drew upon it. He could push them away, pull them to him, even levitate many objects at once, if he concentrated on them, though this was significantly harder. He had to feel the object, it's very existence, grasp it with his presence from beyond his body.

Funnily, he found, he could also levitate himself, though not fly, using the Force. This had been an accident, when he was deeply immersed, and opened his eyes as he fell to the ground in shock as his focus was broken. His dad had been cooking dinner a floor below, and heard the crash, and had come up, asking if he was alright. On the spot, he had told a small lie, that he had dropped a toy. Dad had bought it, for now.

Inevitably, John slipped up. Going ever deeper, doing ever greater tasks with the Force, for that is what he decided his powers were, made him reckless. It was his mum that was there when it happened.

Floating in mid-air, legs crossed and eyes closed, he must have been quite the sight as toys, books and other items swirled behind him as he stretched out beyond him, almost as if searching for something that he could not quite find.

Her gasp and the clatter of a plate breaking into pieces brought him back. He had been so deeply gone, so immersed, that he had not sensed her coming. He lowered himself gently to the ground as items settled back into their proper places. He opened his eyes.

"Mum."

She remained where she stood, eyes wide, a shocked expression on her face.

"Mum?" he repeated. She snapped out of her daze.

"John", she asked, in a very small voice, "What was that? Why were you floating? "Your toys, your books, why were they FLOATING." She continued, in a somewhat hysterical voice.

He breathed, in and out, before he replied.

"I… can do things with my mind, when I am calm, when I chase something within, something stirring within me. There is... a power? Within me?" he said, somewhat unsure if that was right. "I can reach with it, and do things with it. Like floating, or pulling something to me." He paused, uncertain. "Let me show you."

Shortly afterwards, the shards of ceramic that had been a treasured older piece, inherited from her grandmother, began floating in front of her, as did the sandwich that laid on it, whole and unspoiled, as the plate reassembled before her eyes. It was whole again. Not even a crack could be seen.

"Take it."

She did. And set the plate down on his desk, before crossing her arms.

"We need to talk. You, me and your father. Stay here or you are grounded. No leaving the house. Once your father is done work for the day, we are overdue for a long talk. Now, I need a moment."

With that, she all but fled his room. He could feel her confusion, her panic, at what she had just seen. Neither of his parents were particularly religious, but he could understand this being quite the shock. It certainly had been for him.

They sat down for dinner rather late tonight, as his Mum had made dinner. Usually, his dad did, but he had worked really quite late. So, she had made lasagna, which tasted as good as anything his dad made. He'd gone downstairs to watch some television, and had seen her frantically work, almost as if possessed. He could sense her stress, her spiralling thoughts (though not what was in them) as she tried to calm herself with work. Something which admittedly worked. By the time they sat down at the table to eat dinner, she was much more calm and even smiled at the both of them as she began cutting the casserole into pieces.

They talked about their day and dinner passed quickly. By the time desert had come and gone, he almost thought she had forgotten, and made to go up the stairs, when she called him back.

"John? It is time you, I and your father talk... About you know what"

"Sweetheart, is something wrong?" Dad asked..

"Not necessarily. Let's go into the living room, shall we?"

They sat down, and talked extensively. What she had walked into. His dad was unbelieving at first, until John showed him by levitating him off the couch and into the air. A difficult task, but not impossible. As he was slowly setting back down on the couch, Dad's gaze was unbelieving. He was silent for a long time. Then, like an excited child, he began asking John to test his abilities, what he could and could not do.

Both of them were accepting of what John was learning to control, though Dad was the more enthusiastic of the two. He began testing John's limits, to push him wherever he could, to expand the strength and range of his powers. All of course, only within the house. They both greatly feared he would be taken, and forbade the use of the Force outside the house.

Time rapidly passed, as his abilities grew and John became eleven years old., John began getting a feeling of foreboding from the Force. Something, or someone, was coming. He could not shake it, and told his parents as much. Worry filled their home as he felt it coming.

He was then of course, greatly relieved when it came to a head, and it turned out to be a letter; written on parchment, sealed with wax. Quite strange. He was curious, but left it unopened until later in the day.

Of course, none of them expected it to be a letter inviting him to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of this institution, would soon come to inform them further.

Quite strange, indeed.

Hello there !

And that is my first chapter. I think enough was revealed to give plenty to look forward to. It goes without saying why Dumbledore himself is interested in John Riddle, my OC character, and if it does not, it will soon become apparent. After the next part, we will be arriving at Hogwarts. The idea behind this was the use of the Force and various other Star Wars quirks with the Harry Potter universe. As it lacks much of Star Wars beyond what will be introduced, this has been filed under Harry Potter, as it is Harry Potter characters with Star Wars elements and a few spins of my own.

Special thanks go to the writer known as izzythehutt on AO3 (Ieyre on FFN) for his Black Sheepdog series, which partially inspired this work. So does TendraelUmbra who helped storyboard this, and was of great help as a sounding board. The both of you are legends, and all my readers should read their stories. They are a treat.

Finally, I thank 1saaa and Xgenje for doing some much needed editing.

Cheers,

Foadar