July 3, 1976 / Serena PoV
I let out a loud gasp as I woke up suddenly, the sudden exhalation caused all the surrounding oxygen to enter my lungs without warning which caused me to have a coughing fit, I suppressed a grimace from the headache that was pounding against my temple hard, so much information, so many memories that didn't belong to me were coming at me so fast and with no way to suppress it so I gritted my teeth.
Once the pain ended I began to breathe heavily as I scanned my new memories, Serena was not my name, it was the name of the body I was now inhabiting, Serena Eileen Snape, a genderswap of Severus Snape from Harry Potter, for some reason I had been transmigrated into her body and I had no idea why, though I could deduce a part of it.
Looking around, I was lying in a pool of my own blood, Serena's blood. Serena's father, Tobias Snape, had been drunk as usual, but this time, there was no Eileen Prince, Serena's mother, to take Tobias's attacks on, she had taken her own life months before. Tobias, not finding his main object of stress release, took it out on the only target he found acceptable, Serena. Serena, used to her father's excuse being mostly ignored and not really in the mood to pay attention to him beyond knowing if he was alive or not, didn't see the blow to her head coming, which threw her hard against the edge of a step, she didn't know if that killed Serena immediately or if she was dying for a few minutes, but Serena was dead and I was the one who took care of her body.
I grimaced as I stood up slightly dizzy, I could feel the sting of the cut on my head, examining myself carefully I noticed the wound was closed, but really tender, I let out a sigh of relief as I wouldn't suddenly bleed out, still, I was careful of the slight dizziness I still felt.
After inspecting the house, I realized that Serene's excuse for a father, my father now, had fled, I could see some belongings missing and I doubted that Tobias would return, maybe in a few days or weeks to see if they found my body or not, still, it was a good opportunity, I carefully headed to the bathroom to take a shower and clean myself of the blood stuck to my body.
I let out a sigh of relief as the warm water hit my new body, the bathroom was completely neglected but I wasn't going to complain about the hot water I still had so I relaxed my body under the shower as I began to scan Serena's memories more calmly.
It was 1976, July 3rd 1976 to be exact, I had finished my fifth year and was looking forward to starting sixth year in about two months, my fifth year had been the worst year of my entire life according to old Serena, I had broken off my friendship with Lily, largely because of old Serena in a fit of rage, but I also blamed James Potter and the others heavily, and despite my multiple apologies Lily hadn't forgiven me even when I was crawling with her, Sirius Black had almost murdered me using Remus Lupin as a weapon and to top it off Dumbledore had basically threatened to expel me if I so much as opened my mouth, so yeah, it was a shitty year, and I could agree with old Serena .
I could understand where the old Serena was coming from, from how she was raised and treated her whole life, seeing Lily as the only light in her life wasn't a stretch, but I, despite my new feelings for Lily, was still a bit more of a neutral observer and could easily tell that even though the old Serena didn't know how to be a good friend, she had tried and tried hard, even if she liked Lily romantically, she had given up on that part quickly since they were both girls. But Lily on the other hand, had been a terrible friend, she could have Serena's memories and her feelings associated with them, but she could easily tell them apart despite feeling them so strongly, so they had little to no influence, and she didn't see Lily through rose-colored glasses, she wasn't blinded to her flaws.
Lily was... a teenager, shocking, who would have thought so, but it was the only word I could think of that would easily describe her. She was, is, selfish and easily influenced by the opinions of others, that doesn't mean she wasn't a good person, because she was, but she cared more about what people said about her than her friendship with me, the only reason she had stayed with me until now was out of comfort, because I had known her since before Hogwarts, and I also noticed a bit of pity and compassion, but still, it was as if she was looking for the first excuse to break our friendship and Lily herself hadn't realized it.
Old Serena gave her that excuse when she called her a mudblood, yes it was an insult, a pretty strong one in the wizarding world but she was a muggleborn and had been around for a little over four years when the incident happened and she took it really personally as if she had heard it all her life and even if it was that personal. In the grand scheme of things it was the first time she had ever lashed out at Lily and said or done something hurtful to her, for Lily to have broken their 6 year friendship over a first offense was saying a lot. I had had friends in my old world and I still had, or no longer had, friends before I came to this world where we had fights and things far worse than a racial slur were said or done and we had still moved on with both of our efforts, old Serena tried to fix it, Lily didn't want it that was all.
With that thought I finally got out of the shower, the water was already starting to get cold and I didn't want a cold shower, I looked at myself in the dirty mirror critically, I was a somewhat lanky, gangly and very skinny 16 year old, I could see my own ribs underneath my non-existent breasts, luckily I had a bit of hips and a cute bubble butt that added a bit of curves to my body or I would be a complete board.
Looking down at my face I grimaced, my hair was unkempt and shoulder length and very poorly maintained, my hair was straight but so damaged it was a complete waste, I had just showered and it still felt brittle, dull and split ended, a complete horror for my tastes, I would be doing something as quickly as I could, for now I put it aside and continued scanning my face, I grimaced again.
Wasn't ugly, but my pale, pasty complexion didn't help, my teeth were luckily well taken care of and I quickly realized it was thanks to Lily for insisting on their care many times, my hooked nose stuck out like a sore spot on my back, I quickly searched for a solution and was surprised that I could easily take care of it with a few charms.
I didn't know what had happened to turn me into a girl from a former man but I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, I had work to do to take care of my new body but work I was happy to do, dysphoria really wasn't something that normally bothered me in my old world, I had lived my whole life feeling uncomfortable in my own skin and I was used to it, by the time I realized why I had felt that way I was already 22 and had a life made, I didn't have a big circle of friends and family but I was comfortable with what I had and the discomfort I felt was something I had lived with for 2 decades at that point so it was easier to just maintain the status quo and carry on as I was. I now felt more myself than I ever had in my old world and I was happy about that, was I in trouble? Clearly, entering the Potter verse was not my ideal, much less as a female version of Severus Snape, but I was happy about that fact, now I could be a woman, I could be completely myself from now on and it was something I was going to enjoy.
Letting out a happy sigh, I put on the tattered clothes I had brought from my room, they weren't in great condition but they were clean so that was something. I quickly went to my room and began gathering my belongings into my trunk, I would head to the Alley as quickly as I could, something inside my belongings made me frown, I took it with suspicion as it surprised me.
A smartphone, something that shouldn't exist in 1976, a state-of-the-art phone from 2024, something that belonged to me in my... previous life? I didn't know if I had also died before becoming Serena, and even though it hurt to break the few connections I had with my family and friends in that world, it hurt so much, but there was nothing I could do, I just hope that they miss me but also that they get over me quickly enough and continue with their lives as happily as possible, that's all I can ask for.
But putting that aside, it was my phone, the one I had owned, I quickly turned it on, full battery but nothing that belonged to me, my pictures, apps, music, everything was gone from it, it was brand new from the factory, it was completely useless, there was no internet in 1976 let alone wifi, and the less we say about satellite signals the better, the phone was totally a waste, I let out a defeated sigh as I hear the phone ring in my hand.
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