"This is fun!" I exclaimed, amazed as things began to float around me as if there were no gravity. Plates, chairs, and cutlery drifted slowly, even the heavy wooden table started to rise.
I couldn't help but laugh as I followed the erratic movement of a fork spinning on itself. In that moment, I felt like Matilda when she learned to use her powers, but the fun shattered in an instant.
Crash!
A plate shot upward and smashed against the ceiling, turning into a white rain of ceramic falling over us. Another followed immediately, and then a vase hit the wall with a dull thud that made me flinch in fright.
"Alex, walk slowly over here…" my mother pleaded, her hands outstretched, trying to force a smile that didn't reach her eyes as her fingers visibly trembled.
"No!" The answer burst out of my chest before I could think. I didn't want to stop, I needed to know if I could really control it. My father stepped forward, his jaw so tense it looked like it might crack, his gaze fixed on me as if trying to process the impossible without letting fear paralyze him.
"If you don't come here this instant, forget about chocolate cookies, any kind of bread, and anything sweet."
"But, Dad…" I protested, frowning at the low blow, but he didn't let me finish.
"Alex! Come! NOW!" It was the first time I'd ever seen him this angry.
I took a step toward them, and then the world broke. I felt a sharp pull in my chest as the entire living room seemed to fold into an invisible point. I felt dizzy for a brief moment.
CLANG!
The furniture crashed down all at once. The table creaked as one leg snapped, and the remains of utensils and ceramic decorations shattered when they hit the floor.
I was no longer there. Now my face was buried in my mother's shoulder, her arms wrapped around me with desperate, almost painful force. I could feel her fast, uneven breathing against my neck as her chest trembled against mine.
"Alex?" she murmured, pulling me back just enough to check my arms and face with frantic hands, searching for some invisible wound. "How… how did you do that?"
I didn't know what to say. My father was still standing, staring at the empty space where I had been just a second ago, his expression one of pure shock.
"It wasn't a ghost," he finally said in a whisper, more to convince himself than us. He approached slowly, stepping around the kitchen debris without taking his eyes off me. "It was you, wasn't it?"
I nodded silently while my mother held me even tighter, as if afraid I might vanish again.
"You disappeared…" she said, her voice breaking. "You were there and suddenly… bam… you were here."
My father crouched in front of us and placed a hand on my shoulder with extreme caution, as if I were made of glass.
"Go to your room, Alex! Right now!" he ordered. He pointed to the stairs without taking his eyes off the mess. I ran up the steps quickly and hid, trying to listen to what they would say.
"I'm telling you, Eliza it's him!" my father roared. I heard his hand slam against a table. "Didn't you see how he was laughing? He's the one making these things happen. It's not ghosts or spirits haunting us, it's the boy."
"Shut up, Alexander!" my mother shouted, her voice breaking. "He's your son! He's six years old, for God's sake. Didn't you see how everything was moving… it looked like the house was possessed. There has to be a spirit or something we can't see, but it can't be Alex. Don't say things like that."
"He disappeared, Elena! He was there and suddenly appeared in your arms!" My father lowered his tone, but his voice carried a fear or uncertainty he tried to mask with anger. "Strange things always happen when he's around. This isn't normal. There's something not right with him."
I figured I'd heard enough, so I went to my room.
I threw myself onto the bed and felt the corners of my mouth lift. I know I should feel panic and sadness over what my parents are going through, but euphoria is the only thing I feel right now.
I'm in the world of Harry Potter. How do I know? Come on, things flying around a kid, England, the 80s… everything screams that I've been reincarnated into Harry Potter.
I'd been remembering fragments of my past life for years, but when I fully regained my memories, the accidental magic happened. Instead of having an existential crisis, all those feelings were wiped away by the joy of having another life, and that I'll get to learn magic at Hogwarts.
Actually, do I even need to go to Hogwarts to use magic? No.
I sat on the bed and looked at the clock hanging from a nail on the wall. I tried to recall how happy I felt when I regained my memories and tried to feel the magic. Nothing happened, so I kept trying for a few minutes. When I saw no results, I started to get frustrated.
Suddenly, the clock lifted slightly, and fell.
"Awesome!" I could feel my heart racing. I wanted to learn to control this magic even before learning spells with a wand. I don't know if it'll help improve my control or anything like that, I just want to make everything levitate and control it to the point where it's like the Force from Star Wars.
I also remembered a certain funny skeleton. It would be amazing to face someone in a duel and say, "Do you want to have a bad time?" then pull one of my hands out of my pockets and slam my opponent into the ceiling, then the floor and walls with just a slight movement of my hand.
Just thinking about it makes my mouth water, but my fantasies were interrupted when my parents knocked on the door before entering.
The door opened slowly and my parents came in. There was no trace of the fury from before, their faces only showed deep concern and exhaustion. They approached the bed and sat on either side of me, trapping me in the middle.
"Alex, we're sorry for getting so worked up downstairs," my father said, scratching the back of his neck guiltily. "The mess in the kitchen caught us off guard, but we shouldn't have yelled at you like that."
My mother didn't wait for me to respond. She wrapped me in a protective hug, burying her face in my hair.
"Listen to me carefully, sweetheart," she murmured, her voice still slightly trembling. "No matter what happens, or the strange things that occur in this house, we will always be here for you. We will always support you, understand?"
I felt a bit guilty seeing them so vulnerable, but I knew the truth would scare them even more, and I wouldn't know how to explain being a wizard. As for the reincarnation, that's something I'll take to the grave.
I needed to lighten the mood once and for all, so I pulled back slightly from the hug and put on my best excited kid face.
"Don't worry!" I exclaimed, forcing a mischievous smile. "I was just practicing my powers. I'm a Jedi, like Luke Skywalker, the protagonist of the movie we watched earlier. I'm learning to use the Force! I'm going to become the best Jedi of all."
There was a second of total silence. I saw my parents exchange a quick glance, processing my words. Suddenly, my father's expression changed, he seemed to perfectly remember our afternoon at the movies and how mesmerized I'd been watching the screen.
"A Jedi, huh?" my father said, letting out a short laugh that released all the tension in the room. "So all that mess with the plates was because you were trying to move things with your mind, like in Star Wars."
"Yes!" I nodded eagerly. "Except the vase slipped a little. The dark side is hard to control."
My mother let out such a genuine sigh of relief that her shoulders dropped several inches. She kissed my forehead, playing along with a much more real smile.
"Well, Sir Jedi Knight, I think that's enough galactic training for today," she said, stroking my cheek. "Even heroes need to sleep to recover their Force."
"Exactly," my father added, making an awkward gesture with his hand as if it were a military salute. "But next time, try not to destroy your mother's dishes during training, and let's keep your Jedi identity a secret from anyone other than us."
"Of course, I wouldn't want the Jedi Order to find out and take me away from you."