Summary: Scarlett Potter vanquished Voldemort and won the war, but felt dead inside ever since. After being murdered by muggles, she finds out what the title of Mistress of Death really means and uncovers the many benefits that come with it. Starting again in a Universe where Grindelwald is the Dark Lord that killed her parents, what will Scarlett do differently?

Pairings: TMR/Fem!HP

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Some scenes were inspired by other fanfiction writers... if anything has been done before I most likely have gotten my ideas from there.

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews so far! I'm glad you are enjoying the story! :D

Now on to the next chapter!

Part 1 - Chapter 2

Tom Riddle scowled as he stalked towards Little Whinging. He couldn't believe Dumbledore had chosen him of all people to go and retrieve the Girl-Who-Lived from her muggle relatives. He hated her already, simply because she had destroyed his 'mentor'. The Great Grindelwald as the idiot liked to be called.

'Not so great now,' Tom thought snidely.

He sneered when he saw the boring houses lined up next to each other, all looking exactly the same. How anyone could live here was beyond him. He reached No.4 and rung the bell.

The door slowly opened and Tom saw Scarlett Potter for the first time. She was quite petite with delicate features; she seemed breakable, like a porcelain doll. Raven hair fell around her shoulders, framing her heart shaped face that housed intense green eyes, almost the exact same shade as Tom's favourite curse. He was surprised to note that her face was completely devoid of any emotion, he almost felt like he was staring at a statue. Tom was reluctantly impressed.

Just as Tom was studying Scarlett, Scarlett was observing Tom. He had short black hair, a shade darker then hers, neatly styled away from his aristocratic face. What drew Scarlett the most though were his eerie black eyes that were so dark she almost couldn't see his pupils. He was even better looking than his sixteen-year-old version from the diary. Scarlett internally blanked. This was Voldemort and she was not attracted to him.

Having finished his inspection, Tom held his hand out.

"Hello. You must be Scarlett Potter. I am Tom Riddle, Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts and Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."

Scarlett shook his hand confidently.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. Please come in Professor." She caught his slight grimace as he crossed the threshold. "I know Professor, the faster I leave this place, the better." Riddle seemed surprised for a second before reassuming a neutral expression.

Tom watched interestedly as Potter led him into a small living room. He saw a fat walrus of a man attempt to get up only to be seemingly pushed back down. Tom's eyes widened infinitesimally. Potter could control her accidental magic.

"Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, this is Professor Riddle, a teacher from my school. He's going to take me to buy my school supplies." Potter seemed to stare rather pointedly at them. "I'll be right back," she said, gracefully walking out of the room to presumably get her things.

"It's nice to meet you," mumbled Petunia, grimacing slightly.

"The pleasure is all mine," Tom replied, hiding his sneer of disgust.

"So, tell me about Miss Potter," Tom noted that both muggles stiffened slightly at her name. "Does she do well in school?" he prompted.

"Yes, yes, she's very clever," Petunia almost whimpered. "We have always heard good things from her teachers. They say she's very advanced for her age."

Tom raised an eyebrow in interest. "And what about friends? Does she have any?"

"Not really... the other children are j-jealous of her so she spends most of her time on her own, reading something or other." Tom felt that her answers sounded rather rehearsed as if someone had told her what she was supposed to say.

"And is she well behaved?" Tom seemed to have hit a sore spot. Both muggles flinched slightly and Petunia nodded far too quickly for it to be the truth.

"Come, tell me the truth, does she ever misbehave?" he asked again, lacing his words with a small compulsion charm.

The muggles looked absolutely terrified now, they were deathly pale and shaking slightly. Tom wondered what Potter had done to get them so frightened. Petunia seemed to glance around to make sure that no one was there before leaning in and whispering so softly he could barely hear it.

"She killed Vernon's sister when she was four."

Tom froze, completely shocked. The Girl-Who-Lived a murderer? Surely that couldn't be right!

Potter chose that moment to come waltzing back into the room with a small bag on her shoulder. Petunia visibly flinched and recoiled back into her chair as if burned.

"Ready to go?" the Potter girl asked, a sweet smile on her face, eyes slightly wide, looking the picture of innocence. And Tom was reminded of himself, of his time at the orphanage, when he had used magic to threaten the muggles he had been forced to live with. But she couldn't have killed someone already. She was the Girl-Who-Lived for Merlin's sake. And yet, it would explain why her relatives were so terrified of her, how she could control them so easily.

Potter tilted her head slightly to the side. "Professor Riddle?" she asked again.

"Right... yes... let's go" he said, standing up.

"It was nice meeting you," he said to the muggles. "Not," he added as an afterthought in Parseltongue. Potter looked amused as she followed him out the door. He didn't miss the pointed glare she aimed at her relatives nor the small smug smile that flashed across her face when they started shaking in fear.

Scarlett smirked inwardly. She knew that her family must have said something to Riddle because he looked deep in thought and kept glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. She knew they would say something to him, that's why she left them alone. She wanted Riddle to see straight away how similar they were because this time she would be fighting for the Dark. She would still kill Grindelwald. He killed her parents and she couldn't forgive that. But once he was out of the picture she would consider joining Voldemort. Not as a Death Eater, not as a servant, maybe as an ally or perhaps he might be the one to bow to her. Death already bowed to her after all, why shouldn't the great Lord Voldemort do the same?

Tom observed Potter as they walked through Diagon Alley. Her blank expression had transformed into one of innocent childlike wonder as she looked around with bright, sparkling eyes. His conversation with the girl's aunt kept running through his head. Could she have actually murdered someone? Looking at her now it seemed preposterous, she seemed so small, so delicate, so innocent.

As if hearing his thoughts, Potter glanced up at him and smirked slightly, before reassuming her wonder filled expression and continuing towards Gringotts. Tom could see passers-by unconsciously parting to make way for the graceful child that almost seemed to be gliding through the street. She had a confident gait and held herself with poise. If Tom didn't know any better he would have said that she had been raised by an old Dark Pureblood family.

Tom was intrigued. He'd always loved a puzzle. He'd figure her out, get his answers and then he would dispose of her, maybe as a 'many happy returns' present for Gellert. The old codger would definitely love that.

Tom was drawn away from his musings when they walked into Gringotts and were immediately approached by a goblin. Tom bowed slightly.

"Merry meet Griphook," he said. He saw Potter looking at him closely and then following his example. She fell into a graceful curtsy and also said: "Merry meet Griphook."

"Merry meet Lord Slytherin," the goblin said, eyes focused on Scarlett's scar. "Merry meet Miss Potter."

Tom extracted Potter's trust vault key and was about to hand it over when he was stopped by her childlike voice.

"I would like to request a blood test please Griphook," she said, her voice sweet and innocent. She looked so angelical in that moment that Tom was sure that even if she was found standing over a dead body, holding a knife dripping with blood, she would walk free.

"Very well. Follow me," said the goblin.

Potter didn't even hesitate and she skipped off, almost dancing down the corridor. Tom saw a few people turn and stare at her as if hypnotised. Tom snapped himself out of his own daze and hurried to follow her. How did she even know about asking for a blood test? She was raised by muggles for Merlin's sake! Tom sighed, his list of questions just seemed to keep on growing.

Tom followed Potter and Griphook to a back room where a glowing scroll and a ceremonial knife sat on a golden table, behind which sat another goblin.

Potter sat down with an air of detached interest and waited for instructions on how to proceed.

"Lord Slytherin. And this is Miss Potter?" the goblin asked. Potter gave a small, shy smile and nodded.

"Hello, Bodrod. Merry meet," she said, respectfully.

"Merry meet. Now, Miss Potter, sit down and cut your right hand then press it to the scroll. It will heal once enough blood has been collected," Bodrod said gleefully, expecting her to protest.

Tom was surprised when Potter didn't even bat an eye at the request, rather producing her own knife that she had obviously been hiding somewhere on her person and, with nary a blink, slashing her palm open, before pressing it to the scroll. No sound escaped her throat and she didn't even grimace, the knife disappearing as soon as she was done with it. Tom didn't want to believe that she'd wandlessly vanished it.

As soon as enough blood had been collected, Potter's hand healed and she pulled it away, patiently waiting for the results of the test. The goblin grabbed the scroll and looked over it, his eyebrows getting progressively higher as he scanned the information. Tom wondered what could have caused such a look of shocked awe on a usually fairly expressionless creature. He didn't have to wait long as the goblin proceeded to push the scroll across the table with a trembling hand.

When he saw what was written on the document, Tom had to contain a completely undignified gasp.

Scarlett Lola Potter

Blood-status: Half-blood

Father: James Charlus Potter (Pureblood – deceased)

Mother: Lily Victoria Potter nee Evans (Muggleborn – deceased)

Heiress to the House of Potter (paternal line)

Heiress to the House of Black (through blood adoption)

Heiress to the House of Peverell (paternal line)

Heiress to the House of Gryffindor (paternal line)

Magical Heiress to the House of Slytherin (through bond)

Magical Heiress to the House of Grindelwald (reason unknown)

Soulbond Status: Bonded

"Fuck" Tom hissed to himself. He was soulbound to the Girl-Who-Lived. The Light's Saviour was the magical heiress to both leaders of the Dark. How had she managed to become Gellert's heiress anyway? Tom had the sudden urge to laugh hysterically. He glanced at the child in question out of the corner of his eye. If she felt any surprise she didn't show it. Her facial expression hadn't altered in the slightest. Tom wondered what she was thinking. Maybe she didn't realise what the information meant, after all it didn't say anywhere that he was the one she shared the soulbond with. He might be able to do some damage control. He sneered. He would not be controlled by a soulbond.

Scarlett might not be showing it on the outside but she was internally panicking. She was soulbound to Voldemort! No wonder she'd felt incomplete since she'd killed the other Voldy! Fate must really, really hate her. And she was Grindelwald's Heiress as well, probably through the hurcrux. Scarlett had to admit that was rather amusing: the Light's Saviour was the magical heiress to both leaders of the Dark. She snuck a quick peek at her soulbonded to see how he was taking the news and had to suppress a rather hysterical giggle when she noticed that he was looking very pale. Well this was rather awkward. Maybe she should pretend not to realise what the information meant…

Tom and Scarlett were startled out of their thoughts by Bodrod's cough. "Congratulation Heiress Potter Black Grindelwald Peverell Slytherin Gryffindor, you are now our wealthiest and most influential customer," he said with a rather frightening grin.

Scarlett grimaced.

"Please just address me as Miss Potter for now."

"Very well Miss Potter, is there anything else you require?" Bodrod asked respectfully.

"Just one of your bottomless pouches please, I have a lot of shopping to do" she grinned sheepishly, it would be much easier to carry around a bag that was linked to her vault after all.

Bodrod nodded and vacated the room to fetch the pouch, leaving Tom and Scarlett in a tense and uncomfortable silence.

"Sooooo…" Scarlett looked up at Riddle through her eyelashes. "What's a soulbond? Is that like your one true love? Like in fairy tales?" she asked innocently, lips twitching in an effort to contain her amusement when Riddle started choking on air.

"Not. At. All." He said firmly, once he'd composed himself. "It simply means that you are magically compatible with someone else. A soulbond can also be platonic; in fact, they usually are."

Scarlett nodded, pretending to be deep in thought.

"Wait, it says here that I'm the Slytherin Magical Heiress through a bond… and the goblins have been calling you Lord Slytherin…" she trailed off, mentally congratulating herself on managing to sound naively curious rather than sadistically amused. "Does that mean that we are soulbound?" she said, voice getting quieter and quieter as she made sure to look up at him with wide, wonder filled eyes.

"Of course not!" Riddle almost shouted, then he seemed to take a deep breath. "Of course not," he repeated more calmly. "It says we are bonded because today I was assigned as your magical guardian, that's why I came to collect you from your relatives, and so you are automatically recognised as my Heiress as I don't have any children. The bond simply refers to the bond between guardian and ward," he said smoothly.

Scarlett nodded along to the rubbish that Riddle was spouting, internally extremely amused by the whole explanation. She had to admit that is was almost believable: not bad for something he obviously just made up on the spot.

Tom noted that Potter seemed to buy his every word and almost sagged in relief at having defused the situation so successfully. 'I really am a genius,' he thought rather smugly.

"So, you're my magical guardian now?" Potter mused, looking at him as if she was sizing him up. "I guess I could have had worse," she muttered, seemingly to herself.

Tom's eyes narrowed dangerously. How disrespectful! He glared at her and was even more infuriated when she boldly stared back, not a hint of fear in her eyes. Just as he was about to chastise her for her disrespect, he saw her lips twist up into a teasing smile, eyes sparkling with mischief, and Tom's anger quickly dissipated.

'Merlin,' he thought. 'She really is a beautiful child.'

And she was. She really was.

A/N: Happy Easter! Hope you enjoyed Tom and Scarlett's first meeting! Don't forget to leave your thoughts and comments! Till next time!

Coming up: Let the shopping commence! Wait, what are Ollivander's wands doing to Scarlett?