"When will my reflection show who I am inside?"
Sarah had always hated her mirror, it sat on her door and stared at her. She couldn't avoid it, no matter what she did. She couldn't leave her room without seeing herself. she likes how her hair tumbled down onto her shoulders like flowing water, she likes how her eyes dance around looking at her body, she likes the way she leans on her right leg. She hates seeing herself.
"Who is that girl I see, staring straight back at me?"
She hates the way her jaw bone looks, she hates the way her shoulders sit on her body, she hates her giant hands, she hates the way her feet won't just be normal. She knows everyone else sees the girl, they see Sarah Potter, sometimes she sees that girl in the mirror. It's never her, she knows it is just Harry James Potter. She doesn't believe that Sarah Potter is real.
"Must I pretend that I am someone else for all time?"
She feels a tear dance down her face like a wave on an otherwize still lake. It's just one, but how many people run from the first wave? She knows it won't be the last. She just wishes she could change. The world sees her for who she is, she knows the two people who don't. Herself and the mirror.
"Why is my reflection someone I don't know?"
How long does she fight? She has no idea, she stands and stares for what feels like hours. That's what it seems like to her, hours of pain and tears. When will she get to live. Thirteen months then it's all over. Then she gets to live, for the first time in her life she can finally live.
'It won't change what you see.'
The voice in her head is loud and cutting. The lake is rippled by wind, she blinks the tears out of her eyes. She doesn't know how to fight the voice, it's been here so long. She tries to turn away. She's stuck in the sand. The wave is coming and she can't move. Tears fall down her face like they have 1000 times before.
'See, look at yourself now! It won't change you. Noting will.'
More tears fall, there is nothing special about them, raw and painful. Nothing hid the reality of her misfortune. She falls to her knees her head in her hands. The mascara forms dark streaks down her cheeks as tears fall to the floor.
"On that day, I'll discover someway to be myself, and to make my family proud."
No she won't. Sarah has been called many things over the course of her life. She knows what to do. She won't compromise, she won't give up her existence, not for anyone. She cries in front of the mirror, she faints when faced with her worst fears, she thrashes from the nightmares, the cuts on her arms are an eternal reminder of her weakness.
Sarah is so many things. She is the youngest seeker in a century, she got ten OWLs, she held the line against a man whose very name inspired terror, she saved so many more people then she could know from a fate worse than death.
Sarah is so much more than her achievements. She makes snow angels on cold winter days, she takes silly pictures with her friends, she laughs and dances and sings along to her favorite songs. She stands to to face the mirror. She knows what to do, the voice challenges her. It can't stop her anymore, she is Sarah Potter and she is strong.
"Reducto!"
The mirror shatters and the voice falls silent. It isn't the end, but it's a start. A gentle breeze flows in through the open window.
"Are you almost ready Sarah?"
"I'll be right there Hermione."