"There are no easy answers when it comes to mental illness," she began as she took in the impressively stiff posture of the man before her.

"From what I have seen so far, and this diagnosis is tentative, it appears to me as if Harry is suffering from Bipolar disorder."

The man gave her a blank look, which was not at all surprising. The lack of information on mental health issues in the magical world had stopped being anything but incredibly frustrating and depressing years and years ago.

"Bipolar disorder is a condition characterized by fluctuations between extremely high moods and extremely low moods. Oftentimes, in presentation, it remains this simple. An individual comes in with a history of both mood episodes occurring, and a diagnosis is easily made. Harry however, is doing something that is called 'rapid cycling' which means that these periods of high moods and low moods are happening very quickly, partially explaining his feelings of being disoriented. To add to this, I unfortunately believe he is also suffering from mixed episodes, which, for anyone, but especially for a young child, would be constantly terrifying. Imagine the saddest you have ever been, the worst you have ever felt about yourself, and now imagine having overdosed on pepper up potions at the same time. The danger with mixed episodes, also commonly referred to as dysphoric mania, is that a person has many if not all the horrifying symptoms of depression- but also, all this energy that goes towards charging and empowering those feelings. Like feeling suicidal, which Harry has opened up to me about feeling, and realizing that you have all the energy in the world to devote towards hating yourself and wanting to kill yourself.

Like I said, this is all very complicated, but Harry is a very sick boy. He has been suffering for years, and it has done damage. It is hard NOT to hate yourself, or think you are evil, when you are constantly bouncing between emotional states that are out of your control, especially mixed ones, and especially when it concerns rapid cycling. Wouldnt you be confused if you found yourself spinning in a dark tunnel, alone, with only the echos of your own pain and fear to amplify and worsen your own situatuon? It helps as well to explain the self harm, which I think can be managed as we settle those rapid fire negative associations constantly flooding Harrys brain down a little bit.

Now, this is the part of what I am saying that I am a bit more uncertain about. Harry is also psychotic. As I said, after all he has been through, it is almost a natural reaction. What I WOULD like to try to figure out is whether or not my bipolar diagnosis is correct and the psychotic features have just splintered off from the trauma of dealing with all of that, or whether the hallucinations and delusions he is facing are part of a different parallel condition, schizoaffective disorder.

But really, it hardly matters. What DOES matter is that, we need to make Harrys mind a less terrifying place for him to be. And in order for his mind to be less frightening, he needs to be in a very calm environment. That is why I would like to have him stay with us for a few days. But that is up to you.

Now, I may be wrong. And there are many people who are hesistant to associate any sort of bipolar label with any child- but it is the best and most developed picture that I can give you as to my guess as to what Harry is experiencing. Bipolar 1 disorder with mixed and psychotic features.

Fortunately, no matter what you might be feeling right now, or what Harry is probably feeling fairly frequently, this is not a death sentence. There are things that can be done to improve his situation greatly. There are many, many, highly successful people with this condition. And I can say that, right now, we are at the beginning of a journey towards improvement that means that things are very likely to only get better.

But as I said, it will take a lot of work. Harry will need a lot of support, which if you allow, I will help provide, and understanding. And it will not be easy. But, I can help both of you, and I would really like to do so.

I know this is a lot to take in. That is why I have several books that I would like to give you as you make your decision on where you would like to go next."

And with that long speech, and a look at the man before her who seemed to age several years in just a few minutes, she left a childs fate in his hands and just hoped he would know what to do with it.

—-

There was no question in Severus's mind on what he was going to do. He had to leave the boy. He just hoped that the Headmaster would see things the same way as he did. That, in the childs current condition, there really was no other option.

It wasn't as if Harry, if Severus decided to take him back against the orders of the healer, would be able to really participate in classes. Hell, Severus wasnt even sure the boy could even perform basic tasks in his current state.

His whole body was covered in cuts and bruises and all sorts of damage. Severus hadnt see injuries that absolutely disturbing since the last war.

What it came down to was, he did not want to see Lily's son suffer. And if the healer was correct, that was pretty much all he was used to feeling.

So he left the child. He nodded to the healer before him, seeing the relief in her eyes, as he was lead away to sign some papers.

Fortunately, as a professor at the school Harry was currently attending, and through special permissions given to him from Dumbledore, he was allowed to act in loco parentis and therefore, he recieved no trouble in signing Harry over to the care of the healers.

He hoped he was making the right decision... he was certainly going to read all that he could on what Harry was dealing with so that, when he was able, when Harry was in a less critical state, he could be there to help.

But for now, he would leave it to the people who already had some idea as to what was going on.