Harry Potter is Bella Swan: Chapter 1, Snake on a Plane (Patreon)

Bella Swan was unhappy.

She couldn't pinpoint what exactly about her life left her feeling so unfulfilled, but for as long as she could remember she had been plagued by a general feeling of unease and misery.

Her mother, Renée, had recently married a minor league baseball player, Phil Dwyer.

Bella didn't want to get in the way of her mother's new happiness, touring the country with her new beau. Bella was remarkably mature for her age and her mother gave her the option to stay at their old apartment by herself. She was tempted, but knew that despite the offer her mother would worry herself silly if she lived in a big city alone at the age of seventeen.

This is how she wound up on a plane heading to Forks, Washington, to live with her father and finish high school. She didn't particularly care for the dreary, rain-soaked town of Forks, but then again, she didn't like Phoenix either. Way too bloody hot. A nice medium between the two would be great, but for now she was stuck with wet and muggy. At least she wouldn't have to worry about her excessively fair skin burning.

Bella stared out the window, taking in the sun's rays, above the clouds. They'd be landing soon, and she probably wouldn't see the sun again for a while.

Her thoughts wandered, listlessly. It had been a while since she spent any meaningful amount of time with her father, and she was anxious about living with a virtual stranger now that she was nearly a grown woman.

Her fierce independent streak worked when she lived with her mother because Renée had the same mindset. Not that they shared any other part of their personalities. Renée was as flighty and capricious as any storybook Fae, though she held no malice for anyone. She was a free spirit, that's all.

Charlie Swan, on the hand, was a rigid and inflexible man. He was a small-town cop who worked within a defined set of rules, both personally and professionally.

They hit a spot of turbulence, and the plane shook for a few seconds. Bella remained unfazed, though some of the other passengers stirred uneasily. The entire country was still somewhat leery of air travel years after the attack on the world trade center. It was an irrational fear, but Bella could understand it. The entire nation had been shaken to its foundations on that day.

Bella was about to focus on the clouds and the sky once more when she heard a faint cry. What was that? With a horrified start, she realized what she was hearing.

Bella could hear a child in the overhead compartments. She looked around at the surrounding adults, hoping one of them would do something.

The plane was mostly empty. There were only a handful of people on the flight into Port Angeles, a small city with the nearest airport to Forks. Bella was about a second away from pressing the button that would summon a stewardess to deal with the situation when the man across the aisle from her scowled and stood up from his seat.

Finally, Bella let out an internal sigh of relief. She was extremely introverted and didn't want to have to deal with something crazy like a toddler in the overhead bins. She was a firm believer in never having to interact with people unless absolutely necessary.

"What in the world is that irritating hissing noise?" the man muttered as he opened the overhead compartment above his seat. Instead of a child tumbling out like Bell expected, her neighbor only reached up and grabbed his duffel bag.

He put it down on his seat and opened it. Bella was paying close attention at this point because she could swear there was a voice coming from inside the bag. The man jumped back with a totally manly squeal as a colossal snake reared up out of the bag.

Bella thought for a second that she was hallucinating because that was a god-damned Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnake, fully grown and fully pissed off. Bella was about to join in on the screaming when the snake surprised her by speaking.

"I will have my vengeance two-legssssss~" the snake hissed in a young voice. It reared back in anger, but Bella's fear vanished in an instant as she remembered.

Parseltongue.

Bella remembered another life. A life where she was born as the last heir of an ancient magical bloodline. Her parents were murdered when she was a baby, and she was abandoned with her abusive relatives.

She remembered being rescued by a friendly giant of a man. A welcoming castle filled with magical marvels. Friends who stood by her side until the end. She also remembered that she was actually a he in her past life.

Harry James Potter/Isabella Marie Swan was flabbergasted as his/her memories over two lives fused together.

Before she could get her bearings, the snake jerked forward like it was going to attack the man who had somehow trapped it in his carry-on luggage.

Without thinking, Bella hissed, "Stop. Come here."

The five-foot-long venomous snake slithered out of the bag, across the floor of the airplane, and into Bella's lap, obediently. The snake coiled around her, hissing in contentment.

"Speaker..." It sounded awed that it was in her presence at all and Bella could understand that completely. She was freaking out a little bit at the moment herself.

Not only was she Harry Potter, Wizard and Chosen One, she was also now coming to terms with the fact that she was Bella Swan. In her previous life, she remembered reading the Twilight series, which first released in the early 90s. She knew exactly how much shit was coming her way and she wanted nothing to do with it. Edward Cullen certainly wasn't worth all of the heartache.

She could feel her magic thrumming beneath her skin, so she was still magical, at least. Although, she was now a witch rather than a  wizard. So long as she had magic, it didn't matter to her if she was a house elf.

Ah. So that's what was missing. Why her life felt so empty, no matter what she tried.

Magic.

Just like in her previous life, magic was what truly set her free.

For eleven years, she'd slaved under the Dursleys as a boy named Harry James Potter. His life remained unchanged until the night Rubeus Hagrid rescued him from a small stone cottage on an island just off the coast. The first time he'd seen the ocean had definitely been an adventure. Dudley's pig tail made for the best birthday gift Harry had ever received up to that point.

Bella was shaken from her reverie by the near victim of a snake attack who was staring uncomprehendingly at the giant snake resting on the waif of a girl.

If there was one thing that remained constant between her two lives, it was that Bella hated attention, as did Harry. She knew there wasn't a statute of secrecy in this world, so she had no compunction with whipping out her wand and hastily casting muggle-repelling charms on herself and the snake.

If nobody could pay attention to her for any length of time, then they couldn't question her about her mysterious snake whispering abilities. She had enough of that after her second year, thank you very much.

Wait a second. Her wand?

Bella's gaze locked on the wand that had mysteriously appeared in her hand. It was not Harry's old holly and phoenix feather wand. Bella recognized the knotted wand made of elder wood immediately.

The most famous of the Deathly Hallows fit in her hand like it was always meant to be there and, upon closer inspection, she found that she now had a rune inscribed into the skin on the back of her right hand to match.

The deep black symbol of the Deathly Hallows trinity stood out in stark contrast to her fair skin like a brand. Charlie would not be happy about that. He would have to find what comfort he could in the fact that at least it wasn't a boy's name marring his baby girl's skin.

Bella had bigger problems to worry about than Charlie's anger. With a thought, the elder wand vanished and the corresponding line on the Hallow's symbol flashed white. She could feel the elder wand within her body, just as she now realized she could sense her family's cloak and the resurrection stone.

It seemed that she was the so-called Master- er, Mistress would be more accurate now, she supposed- of the Deathly Hallows. The Mistress of Death. She wasn't sure how much stock to put into the tales of the Deathly Hallows, but it was undeniable that they were a part of her now, however that had happened.

Bella thought back to her last moments as Harry Potter, deep within the Forbidden Forest. He had voluntarily given himself up to the Dark Lord in order to destroy one of his last ties to the mortal plane.

He didn't resist when he was struck with the killing curse and, when it came time to move on, he did so happily after being assured that his friends would be victorious after being empowered by the same sacrificial magic that once saved the life of an infant Harry.

The sacrifice of Fate's chosen was more than enough to turn the tide in the favour of Hogwarts' defenders and Harry moved on to his Next Great Adventure, secure in the knowledge that he had not failed his friends.

He only had one regret. Just like he was there at the beginning, Rubeus Hagrid was there at the end of his life in the magical world. It wasn't fair to his first friend that he was forced to watch him die.

Her Next Great Adventure was not what she was expecting. She'll admit she was a closet fan of the Twilight series, though Harry never would have admitted it out loud. Most of his friends were anti-muggle at the best of times, and Hermione disdained modern romance novels. The Twilight series became his secret pleasure that he couldn't share with any of his friends.

Now, she was Bella Swan.

Fucking great, she couldn't help but sigh. She wasn't sure how she would fit into this world as a witch alone amongst a sea of supernaturals, but she did know one thing for certain. She would not date, marry, or bear the child of one Edward Cullen. She would rather hunt down and burn every vampire on the planet in a sea of fiendfyre than have anything to do with the broody twit.

Maybe some of the other vampires would be interested...