Summary – one shot. HBP spoilers. Why does Harry hate mirrors?

Harry Potter hated mirrors.

It wasn't that he thought himself ugly, or he was some sort of lunatic. He just never liked mirrors. When he lived with the Dursleys full time, he was always criticized for being shabby looking (never mind that they were the ones who gave him those clothes). So instead of trying to fight it, he just learned to live with their leers. Let Aunt Petunia be his mirror.

At Hogwarts, the only thing extremely unusual about his appearance was the scar on his forehead. Which EVERYBODY noticed, of course, because you know the only wizard who has a scar like that is! Famous Harry Potter.

And if he ever got in states of neglect he always had Hermione to tell him to tuck up (and let's face it: when you're wearing robes, you never look shabby because that's the way they were SUPPOSED to be worn).

But he still avoided mirrors. A subconscious effort he assumed. He never gave it much thought, because he was always preoccupied by other things (Like what thing is most recently trying to kill him).

Really, the only mirror Harry ever enjoyed looking in was one that broke at the end of his first year. The Mirror of Erised.

There, behind it – there stood his Dad and his Mom. People he had no real memories of, people who gave their lives for him. And it was true what Hagrid had said. He looked a lot like his dad. And he had his mother's eyes. The bottle rocket green of her's fitting perfectly under his dad's circle frames.

He could have stared into that mirror forever, and probably would have, thinking that he was spending real and actual time with the parents he never had, if only Dumbledore hadn't found him after a couple of times returning there and told him why he mustn't.

The mirrors of Hogwarts saw Harry change over the years. A mirror in the girl's toilet saw him change into Goyle his second year. The infirmary mirrors saw him come and go many times, barely escaping death each time. Reflections in the lake saw Harry double, when he used Hermione's time turner in their third year to save Sirius and Buckbeak. Mirrors everywhere saw Harry go through the Tournament his fourth year, saw his face when he witnessed Voldemort come back and kill Cedric, saw the unjustices that he took his fifth year for keeping the truth, saw Harry grieving for Sirius as he found the walkie talkie mirror in his pocket..

They saw Harry learn, become more and more powerful of a wizard. They saw his good times, laughing with Ron about pointless stuff like Divination predictions. And they saw him struggling with Voldemort's connection with him.

Recently, the mirrors had seen him fighting even stronger before, by learning at Dumbledore's side, and then being forced to sit motionless and watch as Dumbledore died at his feet.

But still, all this while, Harry always avoided looking into the mirrors.

But Why? Why doesn't Harry like mirrors?

Because he knows, and always had known subconsciously, that when he looked into the shined up piece of glass or metal he would see life. His own life. He would see his parents in the mirror. His mother's eyes looking through his father's spectacles. As if they loved him so much that they wanted to make sure that he looked exactly like both of them

And he would see his own age tenfold in his eyes, from everything that he had done, he was doing, and he would do. Harry would see the person that so many people hoped would destroy evil from their world forever.

All he wanted to be was normal. Harry. Just Harry. Not wretched child. Not the boy who lived. Not the liar, not potty wee potter, and definitely not the chosen one.

But when he looked into the mirror he wouldn't see just Harry. He saw his father's goodness. His mother's love. Sirius's courage. Dumbledore's wisdom.

The mirror never showed Harry what everybody else would see. It showed Harry all of these people's lives, given just so he could breathe another breath.