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.

Warning: Some blood and violence.

A/N: So I know it's been a while! I'm sorry about the huge delay but I'm finally back with the next chapter. I'll try and update more quickly and frequently from now on but I'm not making any promises 🙈

Now on with the story:

Part 1 - Chapter 8

Scarlett jolted awake with a pained shout as she felt her ribs crack. She wheezed as she blearily tried to remember where she was and what had happened. It took a few seconds for the horrid stench that could only belong to a troll to reach her senses. Suddenly, everything came back to her: she had fallen down a few flights of stairs during the commotion to get away from the troll and, judging from the fact that the world had suddenly become very blurry, she now had a serious concussion. She concluded that the pain of her bones breaking must have snapped her back into consciousness. Scarlett just hoped that her lungs hadn't been perforated.

Wanting to put an end to the beast that had dared to harm her, Scarlett summoned her wand from its invisible holster, but as it hit her hand and she tried curling her fingers around it, she was hit with more pain and realised that no, the angle her arm was currently at was not at all normal.

Well, shit.

When she'd wished for excitement this was not what she'd had in mind.

Scarlett looked up just in time to notice the troll's club approaching her head at a rapid speed. She tried to dive out of the way but wasn't fast enough to avoid being hit in her right shoulder. Scarlett grit her teeth as she felt her bones moving out of place and her arm taking an even more impossible position. At least her head hadn't been hit again.

Her wand arm completely useless and her senses completely out of balance, Scarlett feared that she would actually be killed by the stupid troll. Death would never let her live this down. How embarrassing! Death's Mistress killed by one of the least intelligent creatures on the planet. She would not be able to survive the humiliation.

Scarlett was startled out of her thoughts by the sudden surge of magic that rushed forward, seemingly in an attempt to help, only to be pulled back again just as quickly. She'd recognise that magic anywhere and sure enough as she looked up, she made eye contact with dark eyes that belonged to none other than her favourite resident Dark Lord.

Scarlett's eyes widened slightly as she realised that his magic had been trying to protect her, but he had called it back at the last minute. How very naughty, the esteemed Professor Riddle was prepared to let one of his students die. If she was being completely honest, Scarlett wasn't at all surprised that he wasn't coming to her aid, she was still his enemy after all. However, his magic acting out meant that he was definitely growing fond of her. Perfect. Well, she couldn't let herself be killed by the troll now! Not in front of Riddle. Not if she ever wanted him to take her seriously. It didn't matter that she could come back to life, she would still have been beaten by a measly troll. She could practically already see Riddle's disdain at having found her in this situation, at her weakness. He probably thought she'd gone looking for the troll and been bested by it. She would have to show him otherwise.

Scarlett laid down and took a deep breath to steady herself. Not taking her eyes away from Riddle's, she started sucking in all the magic surrounding her, pulling it all in as tightly as she could.

The troll swung its club again and just as it was about to hit her, she let go. All the magic blasted out of her, destroying everything in its path. The troll exploded, green sludge covering her from head to toe, and its club splintered into a million pieces that rained harmlessly around her, but the damage didn't end there. The walls nearest to her were completely destroyed, the windows shattered and dust covered the whole corridor.

Scarlett sent a silent apology to Hogwarts. Perhaps she had used a bit too much raw magic. Her body certainly seemed to agree as she felt herself losing consciousness. However, not before she witnessed Riddle's undignified, open-mouthed expression of complete disbelief. The last thing Scarlett thought as she blacked out was that it had been worth it just to see the Dark Lord lose his unbreakable composure.

Tom couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. What he had just survived should have been the correct statement really. He had been extremely lucky to be standing at the other end of the corridor as the rest of it had been completely destroyed by Potter's deadly magic. What he could only assume was accidental magic.

As the dust cleared, he could see the petite girl laying in the very centre of the destruction and, despite having witnessed it himself, he could hardly believe that she had been the cause of it. Tom had to wonder if this is what had happened to Gellert all those years ago. Tom shook himself out of his shock and rushed forward to check the girl, something within him urging him to see if she was still alive.

It would be much easier if she was dead, he reminded himself even as his stomach clenched unpleasantly at the thought. She looked so small and broken lying in a puddle of her own blood mixed with the remains of the troll, her arm bent completely out of shape and her magic lying dormant like a blanket around her. Tom worried for a brief second that she actually was dead, but then he saw it. Her chest was rising and falling. She was still breathing.

Tom sighed, it definitely wasn't a breath of relief, and cast a quick scourgify on the Girl-Who-Still-Lived. Then, surprising even himself, he gently picked her up bridal style, careful not to jostle her broken limb, and started walking to the Hospital Wing.

Sirius Black had been resigned to his fate in Azkaban as soon as he realised that he wouldn't be receiving a trial. Part of him had felt like he deserved his fate after having stupidly convinced Lily and James to trust the despicable rat; however, he had also been furious that said rat was still at large and that he'd been unable to carry out his role as godfather.

Nevertheless, Sirius had held very little hope that he would be freed from his prison anytime soon. So, when an auror had come to retrieve him from his cell telling him that he was about to head to his trial, Sirius had been understandably surprised. So surprised that he had actually believed that he had finally gone completely insane and had started hallucinating. As it turns out, he hadn't been hallucinating, rather a mysterious informant had captured Wormtail and posted him to Madam Bones who had immediately taken action to rectify the Ministry's latest mistake.

By the end of his emergency trial, Sirius had been extremely smug. His record had been completely wiped clean, he had received a formal apology from the Minister himself, a grand total of 1,000 galleons for every year he unjustly spent in Azkaban, complimentary treatments in St Mungo's for as long as he needed to completely recover from the dementors' effects and, last but definitely not least, full guardianship over Scarlett, his beautiful goddaughter who was currently at Hogwarts.

Sirius had been tempted to flu to Hogwarts as soon as he'd been released; however, he had decided to make sure that he was physically and mentally healthy before approaching his goddaughter. He also wanted to give her time to come to terms with his innocence before telling her that he was her new guardian. He hoped that she wouldn't be too upset to leave the muggles she had been living with. Either way he had decided to introduce himself at Yule through a letter and a present and go from there.

However, all his plans had flown out the window when he received news that Scarlett had come face to face with a troll and, despite defeating it, she had ended up in the hospital wing in a coma, which she still hadn't woken from. This time Sirius had immediately gone to Hogwarts with the intention of taking up residence by her bedside.

He had almost had a heart attack when he had first arrived and found Scarlett's bed completely surrounded by ghosts, the Bloody Baron holding her hand. Sirius had immediately thought the worst and believed that she was about to become a ghost herself. His fears were thankfully incorrect and Madam Pomfrey soon emerged from her office and reassured him that Scarlett had been able to touch the ghosts from her first encounter with them. Probably something to do with her having survived the killing curse, Madam Pomfrey had explained. Sirius supposed that it was the only feasible explanation.

Sirius had been distracted from his conversation with the nurse by the arrival of Professor Riddle. The man was as irritable as he remembered and he seemed to be in a worse mood than usual as he glared coldly at the ghosts.

"What did I tell you about leaving her alone?" he hissed threateningly. "Get out of the hospital wing immediately or I will exorcise you all myself."

Whilst Sirius had never gotten on with the man, he was extremely thankful to see the ghosts slowly making their way out of the room, the Bloody Baron taking the longest to actually let go of little Scarlett. Sirius was less thankful when he noticed that Riddle's snake had followed him into the room and was in the process of wrapping itself around his defenceless goddaughter.

"Get that snake away from her!" Sirius took a step forward, raising his wand.

Riddle glared at him.

"Nagini heard about the… accident and she wouldn't leave me alone until I agreed to let her visit Miss Potter. My familiar has taken a liking to her." Riddle sounded almost uncomfortable.

Sirius looked from Riddle to his snake and back again in shock. Scarlett had befriended a ginormous python? And Riddle had allowed it? Sirius was getting ready to go on a massive rant; however, Scarlett chose that moment to open her eyes and Sirius completely forgot what he was going to say as he glimpsed deep, emerald pools so much brighter than Lily's had ever been. His beautiful goddaughter had woken up.

Tom followed Black's gaze and turned to see Potter being helped to sit up by his familiar. Thirty-six hours. She had been unconscious for thirty-six hours following her little stunt with the troll. Thirty-six hours of Tom waiting and agonising over whether she would wake up and what she would remember if she did. He didn't want to have to obliviate her, but he would if the alternative cast suspicions on his behaviour. And yet as he mulled over this, keeping his face completely devoid of any emotion, there was a very small part of him that couldn't help but be relieved that she had finally woken up.

Tom had been in a foul mood for the duration of Potter's unconsciousness, a mood which had not been helped by Nagini's worry and wailing as she ranted about 'her little hatchling' being taken away from her. Tom could hear her hissing in relief now, tongue flickering over Potter's face as her coils tightened protectively around her.

"Little hatchling I've been so worried about you! Never do anything like that again! The next time I see a smelly green giant I will bite it myself. If anyone else dares harm my little hatchling they will face Nagini's wrath. Not that you need it, you destroyed the smelly green giant all on your own. You make Nagini so proud little hatchling…"

And so it went. Tom had listened to a similar ongoing rant for the past day and a half. Tom knew what she was saying and how protective she'd suddenly become of the 'little hatchling', which would hopefully not be too much of a problem when Tom eventually disposed of the brat; however, Black who had not been there long and who couldn't understand Parseltongue was becoming more and more alarmed. Tom thought he was going to have to interfere when Black raised his wand and started shouting to get the poisonous snake away from his precious goddaughter; however, Potter herself stopped him in his tracks.

"Don't worry, don't worry. Nagini is just saying hello, aren't you, my lovely?" she said, stroking Tom's familiar and weakly wrapping her arms around her in a parody of a hug.

Tom had never seen someone so comfortable around his familiar or any snake in general. He still didn't understand how Potter was so completely unafraid of a giant, poisonous snake. She hadn't even flinched when she woke up to find Nagini's face millimetres from her own.

Black, who had been rendered speechless, rushed towards the Potter girl, before remembering that she didn't actually know him and awkwardly coming to stand at the side of her bed.

"Scarlett, I was so worried! What happened to you? They just told me there was an accident and you had been in a coma for over a day. Of course I came immediately… I was going to wait till Christmas to introduce myself but under the circumstances… actually let me start again," Black paused and smiled charmingly at Potter. "I'm Sirius Black, your godfather. You probably don't remember me but I was very good friends with your parents…"

Black finally trailed off as Potter smiled one of her shy smiles.

"It's nice to meet you" she said sweetly. "As for what happened," she looked straight into Tom's eyes, "I remember trying to get back to my common room and falling down the stairs during all the commotion. I can vaguely remember the troll hitting me with his club and then…" Tom clutched his wand ready to obliviate the whole room if he had to. "And then nothing. The next thing I remember is waking up here completely fine. No aches or pains anywhere. Do you know what happened professor?"

Tom had the feeling that she could remember more than she was admitting to. The way she was looking at him made him think that she knew exactly what had happened, including his actions or rather his inaction at the time of the accident. But if she remembered what had happened, if she knew that he had been willing to let her die, why hadn't she said anything? Perhaps he was simply being paranoid over the whole debacle.

"I was the one who found you and I'd love to take the credit for saving you, alas by the time I found you, the troll and half of the corridor had been completely pulverised. I'm guessing that your accidental magic reacted to the threat on your life and exploded out of you destroying everything in its path," Tom said. Before he could add anything else he was interrupted by Black.

"My goddaughter pulverised a fully grown troll! My eleven year old goddaughter pulverised a fully grown troll! I am so proud of you Scarlett! You are going to be the most powerful witch EVER!" the man said, laughing insanely.

Tom was annoyed when Black's antics completely diverted Potter's attention and she laughed joyously, gracing him with a soft smile that Tom had never seen on the Girl-Who-Lived's face before.

Not wanting to witness what was surely to be a sickeningly sweet reunion between godfather and goddaughter, Tom quickly left the Hospital Wing dragging an annoyed Nagini with him. As he walked back to his rooms ignoring Nagini's whining, Tom felt as if a weight had been lifted. He must have been more worried about what the brat remembered. It had nothing to do with seeing Scarlett awake. Of course not.

After all, Scarlett Potter still had to die!

Two days later, as Scarlett walked back to her dorm having finally been released from the Hospital Wing, she thought that, all things considered, everything had turned out quite well. Sirius had tentatively mentioned the possibility of her moving in with him, to which she had immediately agreed. Her enthusiasm at leaving her guardians had raised some questions and Scarlett "accidentally" let slip about the cupboard. Sirius had tried to hide how enraged it had made him and instead almost smothered her with a hug, reassuring her that she would never have to see her relatives again.

Dumbledore had also been by to see her once she'd awoken to award her fifty points for disposing of the troll and a Special Award for Services to the School. It took enormous power to achieve what she had, he'd told her. Scarlett just smiled shyly and made sure to seem extremely guilty over the death of another living creature.

By far her most interesting visitor however, had been Riddle. He'd gone to visit her every day she'd been in the Hospital Wing, blaming his presence on Nagini's nagging; however, Scarlett had the feeling that he wanted to make sure that she truly didn't remember his willingness to let her die. Of course Scarlett remembered exactly what had happened, but she had no intention of tattling on the resident Dark Lord as she was having too much fun messing with him.

Scarlett had to admit to herself that somewhere along the way she'd started to actually enjoy Riddle's company and she'd caught herself suppressing a fond smile each time he left with a murmured "Goodbye, little puzzle."

Perhaps being soulbound to Voldemort wouldn't be as bad as she'd originally feared.

A/N: What did you guys think? Leave a review if you can! :)

Coming up: Quidditch and Christmas!