Sirius and Remus are beginning to suspect Harry has autism and are realizing James was autistic too.
Remus POV || Sixth Year
"Potter, stop all your fidgeting and pay attention!"
I wince as James goes still next to me, curling in on himself. It never, ever goes well when he is told to stop moving.
The DADA teacher moves on, and I sneak a look at James. He's tensing up and biting down on his thumb. I don't like it when he bites his hands, but he needs to calm himself down somehow.
On James' other side, Sirius looks pissed. I frantically shake my head at him, but he's stubborn. I sigh in exasperation as Sirius loudly swings his feet onto his desk and yawns excessively.
The professor sweeps over, crossing her arms. "Mr. Black, that's a detention for this evening!"
He cheekily grins. "Oh good! My favorite! I can't wait!"
James starts humming to himself and taking a little fidget cube out of his pocket. He actually Charmed the thing himself, to have all kinds of little buttons and switches.
Sirius' expression softens, and he quietly waves his wand in a familiar spell. I protectively scooch closer to James, also performing the same spell. We found one that makes teachers ignore us. It's pretty handy, especially when James needs to calm himself, or Sirius is in one of his depression bouts, or it's close to a full moon, or Peter is hiding something he stole.
Finally, the professor gives out the homework, and everyone leaves. Sirius has to stay behind to get the details of his detention, and Peter is.. actually I have no idea. I leave with James, and we both wait outside for Sirius and Peter.
James is still unusually quiet next to me, humming loudly now as he plays with his cube. Peter and Sirius come back, and I turn to them both, amused. "Pete, do I want to know?"
He grins. "Nothing bad. Just, uh... trying to talk to that one girl again."
Sirius rolls his eyes. "Or giving back something you stole. Prongs, we... where'd he go?"
We don't find James again until Sirius decides to look in the Owlery. There, in one of the windows, sits James. He's playing with his cube and humming the same tune, except even more loudly. One of his sleeves is in his mouth.
Sirius raises a finger to his lips. He understands James the most, given they live together now. I tug on his shoulder. "Hey, Sirius. Maybe we should leave him be."
Sirius shakes his head. "You're right. He clearly needs to be alone."
Hours later, James finds us again, when we're outside by our tree. It's a nice little spot by the lake. He seems much more relaxed than he did earlier, and he's happily skipping around again.
Sirius, Peter and I grin at each other when James excitedly launches into a monologue about the recent Transfiguration book he read. He's definitely okay, then. Most think he's a big jock and nothing else, but he's really quite smart.
After thirty minutes, James exhausts himself and flops down in the grass. Sirius jokes, "Man down."
I take James' book and open it up as the bespectacled deer lays quietly in the grass. "You must have a lot going on in your head lately, Prongs."
Peter jokes, "No wonder he's stressed, he must have more than one train of thought in his brain for once."
Sirius frowns. "It's not that, Wormtail. Something's going on, but like the noble git he is, he won't tell us."
James sits up, playing with his tie as he struggles to speak. Sometimes he can barely get his words out and it frustrates him to no end. "I...not...not...not on purpose. Can't...it won't...it won't..."
His face goes red and he angrily gets to his feet, kicking a pile of dirt into the water. I frown at Peter. "You ought to stop teasing him."
He sighs, rolling his eyes. "What, I can't joke around?"
James whirls around, fists clenched at his sides. "You're always calling me stupid, Pete! You never stop and I know I'm not... I'm not... I'm..."
He abruptly cuts himself off and gathers up a handful of rocks, throwing them into the water. Peter looks guiltily at his hands. "I'm sorry, James."
Later that day, when we're sitting down for dinner, James sees the treacle tart and yells while tugging on our sleeves, "LOOK! THEY'VE GOT MY FAVORITE!"
Everyone at the Gryffindor table chuckles and smiles fondly as James loads up his plate with his beloved dessert. Next to me, Lily giggles. "You'll have to carry him to the dorms. That's going to be one hell of a sugar crash."
~~~~~~~~~~~ 1995
"....and then James got a sugar crash and fell asleep on the couch, and we drew on his face."
I nod and sip my Firewhiskey as Sirius tells of a memory he dreamed about. He's remembering things that the dementors sapped from him. And he's rather bored so he needs to talk and talk and...talk.
Sirius takes a breath, sheepishly grinning. "Sorry. I got carried away."
I chuckle at Padfoot. "No, no. You clearly needed to just talk. Even I forgot how much James loved treacle tart."
He smiles, reminiscing. "I've noticed Harry does too. Surely you've seen him do that little thing with his hands?"
I think back fondly on the times I saw Harry happily flap his hands at dinner or after Quidditch matches. "Like father, like son, I suppose."
Sirius frowns a little. "You know how James used to struggle to talk? Am I just imagining things...or does Harry do the same thing?"
I put my Firewhiskey down. "You're right, Padfoot. I think it's for different reasons..."
Sirius thoughtfully twirls a lock of hair. "You know... I've been reading a lot, since I'm imprisoned in this hellhole. And...I came across something that makes me think of Harry..."
I sit up in interest. Sirius? Reading? "But you hate reading!"
He scoffs. "Well... I'm bored. And I feel like I lost my memory in prison. And I ran into Hermione and she told me about how reading has helped her."
I beam with pride. "Oh, I love her. Hermione is so bright."
Sirius laughs. "She reminds me of Lily. What were we...the book! You know what, I'll just get it."
He raises his wand. "Accio book!"
There's crashing noises, and Mrs. Black wakes up as a book zooms into Sirius' hands. I sigh. "You couldn't just go and get it?"
Sirius sticks his tongue out. "Nope. I'm that lazy. Where's the damn page..."
"FILTH, BESMIRCHING THE HALLWAYS OF MY-"
"Shut it, lady! Even flying books make you angry?!"
"-FILTHY, FILTHY-"
"NO WONDER SIRIUS HATES YOU! SHUT UP, YOU HAG!"
"Mate, just close the curtains, okay?"
Sirius' stops screaming, and the two of us chuckle at Harry losing his temper.
"Honestly, Harry, you're going to give yourself hypertension, getting so angry."
"I'M NOT ANGRY!"
Stomp stomp stomp. I look over across the room and see Harry huffily making his way to the sitting room. I look at Sirius. "That kid's worrying me."
Sirius frantically flips through the book. "Remy, that's exactly what I want to talk to you about. That exact thing. Found it!"
I scooch my chair closer, poring over the pages Sirius is pointing at. The heading says 'Autism in teenagers'. Below, I see a list of symptoms and examples. The more I read, the more worried I am. This sounds... exactly like Harry. "Mother of Mary, Sirius. This sounds exactly like him."
Sirius nods, looking pensive. "And he's been suffering alone. At least when things were real bad for me, James's family took me in. And no one was trying to kill me. Does Harry do well in school? You did teach him."
I can't help but smile inwardly at how much Sirius cares. It's given him something to focus on, worrying over Harry. "He did well. He does very well when he's interested in it. Harry's quite smart."
Sirius beams. "He really is."
"Are you two talking about Harry? I couldn't help but overhear."
Sirius' eye twitches as Molly walks into the kitchen, filling the kettle for tea. I glance at Sirius. "Padfoot, if we're worried for Harry, she can help. She's known him for years. Molly...you might be interested in this book."
She sets the kettle to boil and comes over, Crookshanks following her. He seems to like Molly for some reason. I pull up a chair for her, and she thanks me. "Are you two worried for him? Because frankly...so am I."
Sirius points at the passages we were discussing. Molly reads them over, her eyebrows scrunching in worry. "Dear me. This sounds so much like him! When he was much younger, he couldn't button his shirts properly, his shoes would be on the wrong feet, and he still can't make eye contact..."
Sirius' eyes widen. "So I wasn't imagining that either."
I'm suddenly in deja vu. James...James struggled with eye contact too. He either made others nervous with his fixed stare, or his eyes wandered everywhere.
My hand goes to my mouth as realizations and memories crash over me. I don't realize I've begun to tear up until Molly touches my shoulder. "Remus, are you quite alright? It's quite a shock, isn't it, realizing Harry might -"
I blurt, "James did all that too."
Sirius is confused. "Come again?"
I take a breath. "I think James was also autistic."
Molly gets up to tend to the kettle as Sirius gasps. "Remus, you're right!"