HP: Shattered glass

Blackness.

Then… Light?

I blinked drearily, confused.

The world around me blurred together like an abstract art piece. My vision was terrible. It was like seeing through a monochrome lens. A colourless world made up of differing shades of black and white.

Had my parents managed to get to me before I died? I hoped not.

Then I heard it, the distinct ear-splitting noise of a baby crying. It sounded oddly deafened though, as if I were hearing it through a thick muffler.

But more importantly, the noise seemed to be coming from my mouth.

I tried to close said mouth, but couldn't. I couldn't move at all actually.

Strange. I couldn't feel anything either. My sense of touch was completely gone.

And with it, I assumed; my taste had too.

That did not bode well.

I heard a garbled array of voices, all barely audible through my new ears. One sounded faintly feminine, the other two masculine. Other than that I really couldn't tell.

I began pondering my situation.

Was this what awaited people after death?

A rebirth of some kind?

My mother would have hated this, being the devout Christian that she was. The thought made me smile.

I was curious, my apathy slowly leaving me as I explored what was left of my senses.

I could only access two out of the five senses allotted to me, and even then they were so underdeveloped that they were practically useless.

My sense of wonder at this new experience was quickly becoming crushed by the reality of my somewhat caged circumstance.

I couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't feel, and couldn't control my limbs.

In short, it sucked.

I was trapped, more than ever. But freer than ever too. It was an odd contradiction to think about.

Suddenly, my perspective changed. The sudden switch felt nauseating, but my sheer bafflement kept that sickly feeling at bay, for now at least.

I stared down at the newborn infant held in my arms, gazing directly into his bright green eyes.

No, green didn't even come close to covering what I saw in those profound depths.

A brilliant, burning verdant; shifting with the colour of burgeoning life.

"He's perfect." A young male voice said hoarsely, and I watched as he reached a finger forward at the child, who ignored the weak gesture. "He's my… My son."

"Sure he is, now go and give your wife a hug you bloody idiot, you saw what she just went through." Another voice sounded from my right, this new man's tone containing an audibly playful edge. "I'll take little Harry from you for now."

"Yeah…" The original voice replied guiltily, casting his eyes away from the child and breaking their eye contact.

The world shifted, and I was once again stuck within the colourless world which I had now come to understand that I was viewing from behind a child's eyes.

✽ ✽ ✽

Months passed, and I had somewhat recovered mentally from the fact I had willingly dictated my own suicide.

I didn't regret the act at all, but the feelings of despair I felt had persisted past the veil of death, and they were not at all helped by the mental prison I was stuck in.

I felt like my yearning for freedom had been warped by a particularly nasty genie and had been shoved right back into my face with no remorse.

I wanted freedom from my parents. And I got it; only in a sick, twisted way.

It fucked with my head for weeks, but I pushed past it and treated this new, strange life like a fresh start. A new chapter in my book if you will. Even though it was another's too.

I hadn't regressed at least. No, these were definitely not my old parents. Always a silver lining.

I had also deduced why my perspective changed so much, which at first seemed to be completely random.

The reason I had come up with, was that it was because of the child's line of sight. Because of Harry's eyes.

Any reflective surface he gazed into would cause a shift in my perspective. I had been stumped for a little while, wondering why I could only see from the first man's eyes and not any others too.

Only after a few days did I realise I wasn't actually looking through his eyes.

I was seeing through the lenses of his glasses.

James as I had learned he was called, had a visual impairment so bad he was practically blind without the accessory. At least that's what I had heard from his wife, Lily; and his friend, Sirius.

Every time Harry looked at James' glasses, I would shift and see through their perspective. The same rule applied to any reflective object; be those windows, mirrors, and more commonly; to me at least, glasses.

I was a spectator, in all senses of the word. I couldn't interact or change anything around me. I just existed.

This depressing fact wasn't the only thing I had figured out however.

James Potter, the father. Lily Potter, the mother. Sirius Black, the family friend.

『 Harry Potter, the child. 』

All names that I knew, names that I was intimately familiar with.

All names from a fictional story.

I watched the three of them from the window that Harry was gazing into, listening in on their hushed conversation.

『 It wasn't too bad. 』I supposed, looking at the trio with a melancholy air. I was used to feeling like an outsider. This was nothing new.

Lily sat on a chair beside Harry's cot, while James stood a little way in front of her, fidgeting uncomfortably. Sirius leant against the wall beside the window, arms crossed, his figure barely within view.

My gaze flickered between all of them.

The fact that they existed and were interacting in front of me was… Disconcerting, to say the least.

It also made me tense.

Especially since I knew what fate awaited them all.

Death, another death, imprisonment, and martyrdom. In that exact order.

『 Unfortunate. 』Was all that I could say.

 My life was now apparently tied to one Harry James Potter.

I watched as James desperately tried to convince his wife of a move. "Lils I know you don't like it, but if Dumbledore is right then Harry is in danger. Sirius agrees with me, we have to move away. For him."

"Only if Dumbledore is right." She said, her green eyes burning with an unhappy defiance. "I know you respect the man a great deal, and I do too, but seriously? He couldn't even give us a reason why they might be targeting Harry when I asked."

Sirius placed a hand on James' shoulder, shaking his head in a hesitant, but reluctant agreement.

"She's right you know - partly anyway." The man paused, choosing his next words carefully.

I almost smiled at that. From what I saw of him, Sirius rarely showed such restraint.

Impulsivity was in his nature, and even if he tried to mellow it out his recklessness always showed; one way or another.

The man continued, pale grey eyes locking with James' own. "Dumbledore was definitely keeping something from us when he suggested you go into hiding. But-"

"But even if he was withholding the reason why, it isn't worth risking our lives." Said James, casting a hand toward the unblinking Harry who was still staring into the window beside his cot. "His life."

Lily sighed, her flames of defiance quickly doused by her husband's sound reasoning. She was usually the voice of reason in the house. I think she was just stressed right now - although who wouldn't be in her position?

A group of ruthless terrorists were targeting her infant son's life, how was she supposed to react?

"I know that." She muttered meekly, burying her face in her hands. "I just wish he trusted us enough with the 'Why'. We do deserve to know, surely; it must concern Harry in some way right?"

"We can ask about the 'Why' later." Chimed in Sirius, who began pacing around the room. I could see the gears turning in his head. "For now, let's figure out the 'where' and 'how'."

"The location can be decided later too," Lily said dismissively. She turned, anxiously reaching a hand into the cot, trying to grab little Harry's attention. "How do we fortify the new place? Wards?"

But the infant kept staring into the window. Staring directly at me.

『 Can he see me? 』I thought idly.

I hoped so. I really hoped so.

"Protections, okay then." James clapped his hands, looking thoroughly relieved. "Some wards for sure. Any ideas Sirius?"

Sirius opened his mouth to speak, but he was cut off as the world shifted once more.

I groaned. Lily had clearly managed to gain her child's attention.

『 Freedom? Yeah right. 』I thought irritably.

This switching business was starting to get annoying now.

✽ ✽ ✽