Autism
Chapter One: Discovery
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine.
Eleven-year-old Harry Potter sat at a table next to his teacher who was helping him do his maths. Harry Potter was not like other eleven year old boys. He was a wizard, though he did not know it, and at the age of three he had been diagnosed with mild to moderate autism. His relatives had immediately decided they did not want him and he was placed in foster care. Soon after however he had been lucky enough to be adopted by the Taylor's, a family who already had three grown up children of there own, one of which had Aspergers syndrome (a form of high functioning autism).
Harry attended a special school and with the on going support of therapists and his new parents Harry had flourished. So it was a tribute to both their and Harry's hard work when his diagnosis was changed to high functioning Autism just the week previous.
"Very good Harry" Clear Jones, his teacher said and smiled down at him.
Harry was a very bright boy and was excellent at reading and maths. His eye for detail was extraordinary as was his memory in certain areas.
"Do two more and then it will be almost time for home, ok," she said.
"Ok Miss Jones" Harry replied without looking at her.
At home his mum meet him at the front door and helped him undo his laces. Taking his bag he hung it on the peg set aside for it in the entrance way and took out his home book which he handed to his mum "here is my home book mum" he said and walked up stairs to his room where he would normally spend the next half an hour watching his favourite television programme.
His room was set up mainly in blues, which was his favourite colour. A giant map of the solar system was stretched over the ceiling; his bookshelf was full with books all placed in alphabetical order by himself. He had previously gone through a phase where he would take them all out and re-sort them every day but had since (mainly) given up the habit.
This day he would find something different in his room however. For there perched on his windowsill was a brown owl with a letter attached to its foot. For a few moments Harry just stood there looking at the owl. Then he turned and rushed down the stairs nearly falling over his own feet several times on the way.
"Owl" he yelled at his mum who had come around the corner to find out what the commotion was about "Owl, owl, owl" he said and pointed back up to his room.
"What owl Harry? What are you talking about?" She asked him calmly.
Harry swayed from side to side his hands were being flung around not far from his face "owl!" he pushed out again.
"Harry calm down" she said gently.
Harry swayed some more but slowly lowered his hands "Owl in my room! There's an owl in my room!" Then his hands were back at it again.
"Do you mean on your television? Is there an owl on television?" She asked softly.
"No! There is not an owl on my television! There is an owl on the windowsill!" He said seemingly exasperated with her.
Looking surprised Mrs Taylor made her way up the stairs and into Harry's room to see for herself. And sure enough sitting on the windowsill waiting for them (Harry had followed his mother up the stairs also) was an owl with a letter attached to its leg.
"Owl!" Harry said helpfully from behind her "there is an owl on the windowsill and it has a letter"
"Yes that's right Harry" she said slowly and moved over to the bird that stuck out its leg at her as if it expected her to take it.
Glancing at her son who had followed her over to the owl she gently, while trying to keep away from its beak detached the letter and lifted it safely away.
It was addressed to Harry, though it did not use the last name he had acquired when becoming a part of her family. 'Harry Potter' it read 'the first bedroom from the stairs, Number 8, Topaz Drive, London'.
"Its for you Harry, but could mum open it for you?" she asked him a little concerned about the origins of the letter.
"Open it" he replied while hoping from one foot to the other in anticipation.
"Dear Harry Potter, You have been invited to attend…"
For several minutes Mrs Taylor sat on the side of Harry's bed in contemplation. While Harry read and re-read the letter. Finally she stood up and taking a piece of paper and pen from Harry's desk scribbled a quick reply.
"To Professor McGonagall.
This is concerning the letter we just received by way of owl. I am not inclined to believe the contents but the delivery system was unique. Therefore I know there can be only three possibilities, 1, it's an elaborate hoax. 2, It's true. Or 3, I'm insane. So in response I purpose that if your letter is the truth you come in person tomorrow at 12 with infallible proof of what you say.
My husband, son and I will be expecting you.
Until then
Mrs Taylor."
The next day Mrs Taylor busied her self, making slices just in case they did have a guest. Her husband had reassured her it was merely a hoax but she was not sure. He had not seen the owl, had not touched its feathers nor watched it fly away.
The hours went by slow and it seemed to her that Harry was the least upset by the whole situation. He simply seemed excited that there had been an owl in his room. He went about his normal routine so that the only sign that he would be doing something different that day was the number of extra times he checked the time table stuck to the fridge.
Then as Mrs and Mr Taylor sat nervously on the couch in the lounge and Harry waited out side the front door anxiously the clock clicked over to 12:00 noon and the doorbell rang. Mrs Taylor jumped up to open the door but Harry who had been waiting got there first.
He opened the door and said, "Hello please come in" just as he had been taught to when a visitor had arrived that they were expecting.
"Thank you Mr Potter" Professor McGonagall said as she followed him into the lounge where she was greeted by a friendly Mrs Taylor and a suspicious Mr Taylor.
Professor McGonagall took the seat she was offered and was presented with a selection of Harry's favourite slices. Harry took one of each and lined them up immediately in the order he would eat them across his plate. He sat on the edge of his seat and stared out the window in apparent disinterest. He loved answering the front door, getting him to interact past that point had always been the difficult part.
"Good afternoon Mr and Mrs Taylor and Harry of coarse" Professor McGonagall said and smiled kindly at them all. Harry didn't turn his head or acknowledge he had even heard her.
This did not seem to bother the professor however "As was explained in the letter Harry has been invited to attend Hogwarts school for magical children, do not be concerned with your lack of knowledge of the magical world you are not alone there are many parents in the same boat"
"This Magic that you speak of" Mr Taylor asked in his deep voice "could you show us some?"
"Of course" McGonagall said and lifted her wand and transfigured a nearby vase into a duck.
There was a sound of Mr Taylor's plate hitting the ground but then for several moments the only sound was Harry "It's a duck" He said in the same tone he had welcomed the professor into the house.
It seemed the novelty of great big birds appearing in the house and worn of after the owl.
"Yes Harry that's right" Mrs Taylor said then she turned to Professor McGonagall "would you mind – getting rid of it now?"
McGonagall nodded her head and with the flick of her wand the duck was gone and the vase had once again appeared.
"Thank you" Mrs Taylor said.
"So you are saying that, that is the sort of thing that you will teach Harry to do?" Mr Taylor asked looking at the professor thoughtful.
"Yes amongst many other things" she said happy to see that they had quickly believed her.
"Are you sure that's wise?" he asked and ignored the glare his wife sent him.
It was McGonagall's turn to look surprised "he has a great amount of potential, I had the honour of teaching both his parents and they were both very talented and these things often run in families"
"Run in families you say" Mr Taylor said and turned to his wife with a meaningful look.
"Well what about it Potter? Would you like to come to Hogwarts?" she asked him. But Harry did not look at her or reply, he was no longer sitting on his seat but leaning over the magaizes on the coffee table and sorting them into alphabetical order.
Before the professor could say anything else Mr Taylor leaned forward "Tell me something, you say that magic runs in families?" the elder women nodded her head "So Harry's magic came from his family?" "Yes that's just what…" "Does anything else – run in his family?"
McGonagall looked perplexed by the question.
"What he means to ask," Mrs Taylor added while glancing at Harry "is whether autism ran in Harry's family also?" She asked
"Autism?" Professor McGonagall asked in confusion her eyes falling on Harry again.
"Have you not heard of it?" She asked slowly.
McGonagall opened her mouth to say something and then closed it again "No, I can't say I have I'm afraid"
The Taylor's glanced at each other, "so its not a wizard thing?" Mr Taylor asked.
"No, I can't say it is – does Harry have this autism?" McGonagall asked.
"He's high functioning now though" Mrs Taylor said proudly "we found out just last week didn't we dear?"
"Oh yes, we are very proud, very proud indeed" He said and smiled at his wife.
"So this autism is a good thing?" the professor asked trying to piece things together.
The Taylor's glanced at each other again "It's a difference in how his brain works" Mrs Taylor said.
"Harry… Harry" She said and leaned down by him "why don't you go and play in your room?" she asked, "I am sorting magazines" he replied.
"Why don't you take them with you to your room and sort them" She suggested.
"Why?" he asked
"Because your dad and I would like to have a serious discussion with Professor McGonagall"
"McGonagall" he said
"Go up stairs now Harry" She said firmly
"Up the stairs" He said, grabbed the magazines from the table and left with out once glancing at a single one of them.
"Have you never heard of it?" Mrs Taylor asked the older women.
"You'll have to forgive my ignorance" McGonagall said and waited for an explanation.
Mrs Taylor looked down "Autism is a spectrum disorder affecting one in every one-hundred-and-fifty children. The spectrum ranges from severe to mild autism, high functioning autism and then aspergers syndrome." She said seeming as if this was a speech she had had to repeat many times to many other people.
"Our eldest son has aspergers which is a form of high functioning autism, he spoke early and at first appeared just a little odd. The real problems started when he was in preschool. He wouldn't play with the other children and had great big tantrums over the smallest things. He would never look any one in the eye and didn't seem to have the comprehension to match his vocabulary." She said
Mr Taylor took over for her then "At first we thought he would grow out of it, but he didn't, then when he was five, after a request form his school we took him to a psychologist, a year latter he was diagnosed"
"He's in university now" Mrs Taylor continued, "studying to become an engineer, he gets some support form the disability services there and he's going from strength to strength"
"Harry is a on a slightly different part of the spectrum now but he wasn't when he first came to live with us at three and a half" Mr Taylor said "He was originally diagnosed with mild to moderate autism and had no communicative speech at the time"
"He rocked, continually flapped his hands and loved to stare at the cloths in the dryer go round and round, but his most difficult behaviours where the tantrums which could be set of by the smallest things, and his hate of being touched – it must be hard for a person who has never been though it to imagine, but when you have this child that you love but can never hug with out causing a meltdown, its hard"
"Things didn't stay like that though, we got him lots of therapy and help, Marie" Mr Taylor smiled at his wife "she worked with Harry every day, she spent endless hours trying different therapy's and slowly but surly we were blessed that Harry slowly came out from his shell – not every one is so lucky"
"He said his first word at five and by the time he was eight his diagnosis was changed to mild autism and then just recently it has been changed again to High functioning autism." Mrs Taylor said "His biggest difficulty remains his ability to communicate effectively, because of this he can have difficulties at school with learning, even though he's a smart boy."
"But if he is a wizard as you say, if the right supports are put in place for him and he can still obtain the therapies he needs I see no reason why he can not go to this Hogwarts, the question is whether you have the facilities and staff to support a boy like Harry" Mr Taylor said
"Professor McGonagall nodded "I believe that the headmaster will be happy to do what ever is needed to meet Harry's needs" She said, "we will do our own research and get back to you as soon as we know anything or need any more information" She said and stood up.
"Here" Mrs Taylor said and pulled open the draw on the bottom of the coffee table "here is some information on the autism spectrum" she said and handed her some pamphlets and then left to the kitchen only to come back a moment latter with a large file "and here is a copy of all of Harry's reports"
Taking the thick folder McGonagall nodded and then left with out saying much more.
"She seemed very quiet towards the end, do you think I said too much?" Mrs Taylor asked Mr Taylor.
"Not at all, she needed to know what we are dealing with before she starts rattling off huge plans for Harry which might not be possible."
"It's a shame she left so early, there was so much I wanted to ask her about the magical world and Hogwarts"
"I'm sure we'll have time to find out all of that latter, for now lets just take this thing one day at a time"
Harry watched from his window as Professor McGonagall left. He was excited, he could hardly wait to go to Hogwarts and learn to be a wizard. The spell that he had seen the women perform had been beautiful, and it had made perfect sense. He had known as soon as he had seen her movements that she had been making a duck out of the vase. He could hardly wait to get his own wand to try it.
Authors note: sorry if this came across as an essay on the autism spectrum. But as the main character is diagnosed with it I thought it would be best if I got that part of the story over and done with. There shouldn't be any other chapters like this one. More story less information form now on.
This story will not be updated as often as my other story. This one exists mainly because I had the sudden erg to write it. I have no proper overall plan or plot. I know bad idea right? So if any one at all has any ideas I could apply to this story please tell.
For those of you who are interested in learning more just put the words autism, or autism spectrum into google and it should come up with tons of information.
