A/N: This is the first story I've ever written, so be gentle, I know its not perfect. I will try to make a more refined magic system in this story and create a Harry that likes dueling not quidditch. I am not good enough to write an interesting Harry vs Voldemort story so that will be mostly secondary. Primarily I will be focusing on making Harry stronger and exploring magic. I don't like tragedies so there will be none(Probably). I don't know a thing about romance so I am not sure about pairings. Honestly? I am just having fun and making this stuff up as I go along.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this.

HARRY POTTER: RITUAL OF PERMANENCE

Chapter 1: A tiring experience

For as long as he could remember Harry had always been alone. No one had ever helped him. He always had to do chores around the house. Harry wasn't stupid he knew that it wasn't quite normal, because other children weren't treated like him. At least that is how he saw it. He hadn't had the luxury of friends. Sometimes he looked at all the other kids and saw them laughing and smiling, all the things he couldn't have. He had tried of course, but either Dudley and his gang scared everyone away or he did it himself with his 'freakishness'.

That was another one of his problems, or gifts, whichever way you looked at it. The first time he remembered it happening was when he was about 5 years old. Aunt Petunia had gotten very angry that he hadn't come home and cooked dinner for them. That was also the day he found the library and that had been the reason for him being late, but the incident had happened when he got home.

Running from the library to his house Harry knew he was going to be punished. He had always been punished for not doing what he was told or expected to be doing. That was one of the lessons he had learned the hard way. The house didn't stand out among others, but at least it was in good shape. The lawn had been mowed, the weeds had been plucked, the flowers watered. Cleaning the windows had been hard, because he couldn't reach the top of the glass.

After opening the door he ran to the kitchen to start working, but just as he ran up to the counter someone grabbed him by the collar and yanked him backwards. 'Where were you boy?!' Harry knew there was no use arguing or making excuses. They never listened. 'In the library Uncle Vernon.'

'And what would a freak like you be doing in the library? You don't even know how to read!'

At least that is what his aunt and uncle thought. Dudley had been given a fantasy book for his birthday once. Seeing as how Dudley hates presents that aren't expensive or extravagant, he didn't like the book much and just threw it in the garbage can, without even opening it. Getting the book had been easy, but learning to read took him about half a year.

The book itself wasn't anything special he hadn't liked it much, but Harry liked reading and since then he had been reading all the books he could get his hands on.

'I was looking at pictures Uncle Vernon.' Harry had read in books that lying was considered bad, but in the same book he had read about a lot of people lying for a lot of good reasons, so he wasn't bothered by it anymore.

'You were staring at pictures instead of working!' Vernon shouted. 'You are just like your parents boy! A lazy, useless freak!' From what he had been told his parents had died while driving drunk. When uncle Vernon said this Harry always got angry. He wasn't sure why, but he somehow knew it wasn't the truth and that angered him greatly.

'You won't be getting any dinner today boy! Now start working!' Harry wasn't quite sure what happened next. All he remembered was being very angry then very tired and just before passing out he heard uncle Vernon shouting, 'EARTHQUAKE!'

Afterwards he woke up in the corner of the kitchen. All his muscles ached and he felt very sore. He tried to pretend to still be sleeping, because he could hear his aunt and uncle talking.

'-ened again I tell you! This was the worst that has ever happened! This is starting to become too much Petunia, he almost brought the house down on our heads!' Petunia sounded scared.

'It wasn't that bad Vernon. The house shook just once. You know we can't throw him out! He is the only thing that protects us from those freaks!' I protect them somehow? Harry thought. 'Lily got her letter when she was about eleven years old. He will get one too and then we will be rid of him.'

'You better hope he doesn't bring the house down before then!' Lily? The name sounded familiar.

'Go wake the freak up so he can start working.' Harry tried to calm down as he heard Petunia coming to wake him up. 'Stupid freaks, never should've let him stay here..'

She grumbled. 'Come one wake up boy!' She started shaking him and he pretended to wake up. 'Wh- What happened?'

'Get up. We haven't got all day to wait for you.'

He understood she wasn't going to answer his question so he just started making dinner while he was thinking. I did that? There are others who can do it? Why was am I so tired? Why did I get so angry just then? How did I do it?

At least he could answer some of those questions. He probably didn't get angry because Vernon insulted him. He was already used to it and it didn't affect him anymore. Maybe it was because he insulted my parents? That doesn't make sense either, because Harry couldn't remember anything about them. The only thing he could think of is that he was angry because Vernon ruined a very happy day for him. He would have to be more careful in the future. I would be logical to think that he passed out from exhaustion because he was running home and then he was scared and he had read that in those types of situations adrenaline kicks in. Maybe it was because the adrenaline wore off? Harry didn't want to believe it. From what he overheard, he did it. He shook the house. That sounded like something magical to Harry.

He decided he would try to do something like that again. Well.. Maybe not quite like that, because he was very exhausted after doing it and it was very dangerous, but he decided that if he was a wizard, mage, sorcerer or whatever, he should find out. And then he would find out what are the limits of his ability and then he would find out what else he could do, and then he would… Ok, he was getting ahead of himself, but he felt so very exited that he just couldn't stop himself.

He even forgot how tired and hungry he was.

Calm down Harry. You don't even know if you can do anything like that. It is better to focus on what you can do right now. Have you forgotten what they said? There are others like you!

Harry didn't even understand what 'he' was, but his optimistic side just told him he was someone who could do magic. Which would mean that there are other who can do magic!

Harry was getting exited again. He needed to calm down or else he would ruin the Dursleys food.

Tomorrow is Monday, they will all be at work, Dudley is at his friends house. I will be alone for the day. It will be the perfect opportunity to test my theory!

After Harry finished making dinner he was told to go to his cupboard and stay there.

Only after he closed the door and tried to go to sleep did he remember how hungry he was.

At least he was used to it by now.

The next morning he woke to a heavy pounding on his door. 'Wake up! Wake up boy! It is time to make breakfast.'

Harry tried to get up, but his head started pounding and he fell back down. His head had never hurt this much.

Maybe magic is not so fun after all. He thought dryly.

Harry collected himself and tried again. This time successfully getting to his feet. Making breakfast for the Dursleys was a daily thing and it was the only meal in which he was allowed to participate. Since he had been cooking for as long as he could stand on the stool and hold a pan, he had gotten quite good at it. Not that the Dursleys would ever compliment him on it.

After finishing breakfast and being told was he was expected to do during the day, the Dursleys left.

Harry started cleaning the house so that there wouldn't be any dust. The Dursleys had very angrily explained to him that he will be the one who will clean all the dust from yesterdays incident.

Because of what he supposedly did there was dust everywhere and he had no idea where it came from. There was some dust on the floor, some on the kitchen counter, but most of it was upstairs and in the attic. Especially in the attic. That was the place he dreaded cleaning the most. He didn't even understand why he had to do it, because the Dursleys didn't use the attic. He didn't think Vernon could even fit through the small trapdoor. Harry suddenly had a brilliant idea. He would clean the rest of the house and then try to do some magic in the attic. He could even use it later and tell the Dursleys he hadn't finished cleaning it yet. Glad he finally had a plan Harry started working. He only had to find the old broom that he was allowed to use. It was much too big for Harry, because it was meant for adults and the small twigs the brushing part was made out of didn't help. After getting frustrated with the old broom and the fact that he wanted to do some magic, but couldn't before he finished his chores at least to some degree, Harry just threw the broom against the wall and wished he could just make the dust vanish. He felt a little bit tired after throwing the broom, but he paid it no heed.

Stupid broom. I know they have a vacuum cleaner, but they just don't want me using it because that would be 'cheating' How Harry hated the Dursleys. He went to pick up the broom when he noticed something odd.

Where's all the dust? There should've been a pile of dust right next to me.

That is when he remembered what happened yesterday.

Did I just do magic again?

Harry just couldn't believe it could be that easy. Maybe I am hallucinating?

No, that doesn't make any sense. I need to try doing this now or I will never finish cleaning the house.

He tried to remember what It felt like to do magic and how he did it.

I was angry again. I threw the broom and the dust vanished. Or did I will it to vanish?

He found another dirty room and tried to will the dust to vanish. Nothing happened.

That is most certainly disappointing. Some part of him said, 'Well what did you expect? There is no way magic is that easy.' And he knew it was true. It had to be something else or a combination of whatever he did. So harry started experimenting and trying whatever else he could think of to replicate what he did with the dust.

At first he tried to do it by throwing the broom while thinking about the dust vanishing, but that didn't help him much. Then he tried to do it while swinging his arms and willing the dust to vanish, but that didn't help either. After a while Harry gave up and decided to finish with the rest of the house before trying again in the attic. While Harry was working he constantly tried to make the dust vanish again, but he couldn't replicate whatever it is he had done earlier. When he was finished, he threw all of the collected dust in the trash can and climbed up to the attic. Just as he was opening to trapdoor to climb up to the attic a whole slew of dust fell on top of him. He started coughing and waving his hand to clear his view while as usual thinking of the dust, that he had just gotten covered with, vanishing.

He certainly wasn't prepared when he saw it disappear, but the wave of happiness that washed over him was enormous.

I can do magic! That wasn't a trick. I can make dust disappear! So that is what I was doing wrong I wasn't thinking about what exactly I want gone.

He quickly climbed up the stairs to the attic and tried again by waving his arms and thinking of dust in a specific spot disappearing. After a few failed tries Harry succeeded again, but he started getting tired and hungry. He decided he would continue after eating something.

Harry could could eat a lot during the days when the Dursley weren't home, because as long as he didn't completely clean out the fridge they wouldn't notice anything missing. Except for things like sweets, ice cream and chocolate. Dudley always knows when his sweets are missing. It's about the only thing he ever correctly remembers apart from his favorite TV shows.

There wasn't much in the fridge, just some cheese, ham, eggs, milk and some mustard. The collection of different spices however was impressive.

After eating his fill, which was surprisingly much for Harry, he went back to the attic and decided to start experimenting with his new ability. He had after all saved a lot of time because of it and a task that would've otherwise taken him almost all day only took him a few hours. The first thing Harry tried when experimenting was how much of the dust Harry could vanish at once. Harry continued to try, but couldn't vanish any dust. He tried with smaller and smaller portions, but nothing worked. It wasn't until he tried to vanish a single something that it worked again.

Looks like I can only vanish only one thing at a time or at least what I think of as one thing. Maybe I should try with something other than dust. There is plenty of junk up here.

Harry found and old tennis ball and tried to vanish it from a table he cleaned and set up.

At first he tried to think of the ball disappearing, but that again somehow didn't work. He tried doing it like he did it with the dust, by thinking of a clean table with no ball on it.

It worked! Finally, now I can work on this arm waving stuff, because it's starting to get annoying.

Harry started vanishing objects while experimenting with arm movements. He came to the conclusion the arm movements didn't matter that much. The important thing was to move your fingers and wrists correctly, otherwise it wouldn't work. Harry also noticed that he was getting more and more tired with each vanished object. He had only vanished 5 different things other than the dust and he was already feeling dizzy and unsteady on his feet. He decided he would just have to go to sleep again.

Hope fully he would wake up in time to make dinner.