Harry had been recovering from the chicken pox when he received a visitor, he knew that today would be different when he was dressed in his best clothes and Daddy hadn't gone to work but the almost four year old had no idea why but instead was enjoying the perks of having both parents at home.

When the doorbell went Daddy went to answer it and ushered in two lovely ladies, one of the was a little on the large size around the tummy and the other was very small and quite young looking.

"Harry, this is Mrs Farraday and Miss Port, they are going to be your class teachers in September when you start school, they've come to say hello.' Daddy explained patiently whilst Mummy got up to shake their hands and offer them drinks which they accepted and soon Harry was sat on the floor with his thumb in his mouth dubiously watching the two ladies who were sat on the sofa smiling at him and complimenting his Daddy on the lovely house.

"Thank you Mrs Snape, although this probably won't take long, we know your family quite well, now last time I met you Harry you were still in nappies!" Mrs Farraday exclaimed to which Harry thought silently, that really wasn't very long ago.

"Harry, why don't you show the ladies some of your toys." Mummy suggested.

Harry nodded thumb in mouth and clutching rocky he crawled into his Daddys lap with thumb in mouth and thrust the toy at the two women. He really wasn't very vocal and felt very uncomfortable with this situation.

"This is Harry's best friend Rocky" Daddy supplied helpfully seeing that his youngest seemed to have clammed up with nerves. "I'm afraid Harry doesn't really let go of Rocky at all." Harry felt like he was being studied under a microscope and squirmed a little.

"Do you need a wee Harry?" his mummy asked gently. At Harry's nod she picked him up and carried him off.

The ladies looked at Severus gently "Mr Snape, is Harry delayed at all, he is not yet four I very well know this but… well…. He does not seem to have progressed as well as your other children, developmentally he is behind many of his peers that we have already met."

Severus squirmed now. "When Harry was born he was deprived of oxygen for a little while and he was born prematurely, since then he has encountered a number of problems but he has progressed well… or so we thought, his toilet training was delayed and he still has frequent accidents but he is still only three. Is this a problem?" Severus asked feeling very worried and protective of his son.

Cassie and Harry returned at this point and Harry was sat on a rug to engage himself in activity while the adults spoke.

"Not really a problem" replied Miss Port "but his developmental delay is a little worrying, I believe that it may be best to take him to a specialist to be assessed, from what I've seen of Harry so far though I think you may have a very bright child but his body is simply holding him back." Miss Port finished and let what she had just said hang in the air.

"Wait" Cassie held up a hand "you think Harry needs to be assessed, whatever for, he is three years old, he has hit most milestones months early and is a well behaved and emotionally stable three year old." Cassie looked devastated towards Harry who was engrossed in an imaginary world with his knights and dragons.

"Look Mr and Mrs Snape, it may be the case that by the time he arrives to school in September he has caught up to his peers and the assessment will simply show this, but due to his traumatic start in life it may be the case that there are one or two areas in which Harry is so far behind that we may need to look into giving him that extra push at home and in the classroom, I am simply trying to give you fair warning, now if you will excuse us we have several more appointments to keep, your home is lovely and Harry is just adorable, we can't wait to have him in our class in September. Bye Mr and Mrs Snape… Bye Harry!" Mrs Farraday said with a final wave to the young man lying on his stomach watching the ladies standing up to leave.

Harry waved goodbye and as Cassie showed them out Harry took his thumb out of his mouth. "When I go school?" Harry asked to which Severus wiped a hand across his eyes tiredly.

"Sweetie, you go to school in three months, just after your birthday." Cassie answered patiently, "now go and get your shoes and we'll have lunch in the great hall."

Three months Later

Harry was sitting in school in his red jumper and grey trousers while a nice lady with funny toys and books was talking to him and asking him questions, some of them he could answer easily, some of the required a lot of thought and some of them he just couldn't answer. He knew he was different from the other children in his class; he couldn't concentrate like they could and didn't understand what some of his classmates easily understood. This test was going to be followed by a meeting with mummy and daddy before home time.

"Okay then Mr and Mrs Snape, I have Harrys results here, I will just get to the point, Harry is immensely bright he has a maturity well beyond his years and he is the most well behaved and well-mannered children I have ever met. He is however experiencing some educational difficulties, it seems as though his working memory , his concentration and his mental organisation have been affected so when he is doing something, unless he is completely absorbed in it he will forget what he is doing and his mind will wander. At the moment all its manifesting itself as is skipping from activity to activity never finishing anything. Now this also explains many other things such as his accidents, he will recognise in his brain that he needs the toilet but his mind will quickly forget that it has received that feeling and he may get distracted in doing something else which is why he has been having accidents. What I have planned to do is to work on some exercises with him which will lengthen his attention span and help him with his working memories and with his concentration. For next year I have recommended he have a personal teaching assistant for 12 hours a week to work with him and hopefully it should only be for the year but he will get reassed every year for any additional help he might need." The lovely lady had told his mother and father as he had sat playing with rocky on his fathers lap.

"Will we get a copy of this report?" Severus asked, at the ladys nod he picked his son up and shook the ladys hand. As the family walked home to Hogwarts Harry skipped happily aware he was different but also aware he wasn't too different, after all he was still only four.