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: Hello everyone! I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update again! I've been really busy but I've now finally had the time to get back to this story. Thank you to everyone who has left a review. I really appreciate them! I hope everyone is staying safe in these strange and difficult time and that you enjoy this new chapter!

Now on with the story:

Part 1 - Chapter 9

"Mount your brooms!" commanded Madam Hooch, "I don't want to see any foul play!" she added, fixing Scarlett with a narrow eyed stare.

Scarlett mentally rolled her eyes. The flying teacher had developed a dislike for her since the incident with Neville in their first flying class. Scarlett didn't particularly like Hooch either so she wasn't overly upset about it. She personally thought that Hooch was just bitter because she had been unable to do anything to help Neville and she'd been called out by McGonagall.

Scarlett swung her leg over her broom and waited patiently for Hooch to blow the whistle. Looking around the stadium she was amused to note that Barry, Nick and a few other ghosts had come out to watch her play. What was even funnier was that they'd chosen to float in the stands, taking up almost the whole front row. None of the students behind them seemed too pleased about the situation, but they were also unable to do anything about it.

After what seemed like an eternity, Hooch finally blew her whistle and the two teams flew up into the air. Scarlett shot up, dove and then rose up again, laughing in exhilaration.

"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor—what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too—"

"JORDAN!"

"Sorry, Professor."

Scarlett snickered as she heard the start of the commentary. Let the fun begin.

"And she's really flying up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's, last year only a reserve - back to Johnson and - no, the Slytherins have taken the Quaffle, Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and off he goes - Flint and Pucey are passing the ball backwards and forwards - they're going to - no Scarlett Potter comes swooping out of nowhere and sends the ball back to Johnson - wow - that girl can fly! - Johnson passes to Bell - she dives around Flint - she's almost at the posts - OUCH - that must have hurt! - she was hit in the back by a Bludger - she drops the Quaffle and it looks like Flint will take it again - but Potter swoops down in front of him - he drops it and Johnson takes possession - she passes to Bell - back to Johnson - she dodges a speeding Bludger - back to Bell - come on Katie - Bell shoots - Keeper Bletcley dives - he misses - GRYFFINDOR SCORES!"

Loud cheers erupted from the Gryffindor stands with boos and moans of anger from the Slytherins.

For the following hour the game continued in a similar fashion with both teams scoring goals and Lee Jordan getting told off by McGonagall for his inappropriate commentary.

Finally, as Scarlett was pulling up after having disrupted yet another Slytherin formation, she saw a flash of gold. She looked up and made eye contact with the Slytherin Seeker, he'd seen it too.

Scarlett immediately darted forward but was thwarted by Marcus Flint who spun in front of her. She barrel rolled and evaded him to loud cheers from the crowd, but she wasn't fast enough to get out of the way when he immediately came crashing towards her, almost pushing her off her broom in the process.

Determined to reach the Snitch first, Scarlett quickly regained her balance, but Flint stopped her again, this time by grabbing her broom and almost pulling it out from under her.

"Foul!" the Gryffindors screamed.

Madam Hooch seemed more than happy to watch Scarlett struggle to get back on her broom, but awarded a penalty nonetheless. Meanwhile the Snitch had disappeared again. Scarlett huffed in annoyance as she went back to circling the pitch. It seemed like Flint was a complete dick in every universe.

"So after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating—"

"JORDAN!"

"Sorry, Professor. I mean after that open and revolting foul—"

"Jordan, I'm warning you…" McGonagall threatened.

"All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinnet, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue play, Gryffindor still in possession."

Scarlett laughed at the commentary as she expertly evaded a Bludger, keeping an eye out for any sign of gold. Suddenly, her broom dropped by a few inches and then violently lurched to the right. 'Damm it!' Scarlett thought as she tightened her grip. Could she not catch a break? Or, you know, a Snitch?

The broom bucked again and Scarlett glared towards the stands. She was impressed to note that Snape was managing to sneer at her whilst at the same time muttering what she assumed to be the counter curse. Meanwhile Quirrel and Riddle were both staring intently at her. So who was trying to kill her this time?

Scarlett was pretty sure that Quirrellwald was the culprit as she would have recognised Riddle's delicious magic; nevertheless, the bastard was just blankly staring at her with unfathomable eyes. He was willing to let her die. AGAIN! Riddle had obviously noticed what was going on. She was being swung from side to side for Merlin's sake! Scarlett was annoyed to realise that a small part of her wanted him to react somehow, she at the very least wanted him to be a little worried. She thought they'd grown a little closer since the whole troll debacle, but apparently she'd been wrong. Well screw him. She didn't need nor want his help anyway.

"Slytherin in possession - Flint with the Quaffle - passes Spinnet -passes Bell - hit hard in the face by a Bludger, hope it broke his nose- only joking, Professor - Slytherins score - Ah no…" Lee was still commentating, apparently not many had noticed what was happening to her.

Scarlett gritted her teeth as her broom kept rising higher whilst trying to throw her off. She mentally swore to herself as a strong lurch managed to dislodge her and she was left hanging from the handle. Good thing she was strong!

Scarlett glanced towards the ground, which was admittedly quite far away now, and snorted. How ironic, she'd finally caught sight of the Snitch again. It was innocently floating about halfway between her and the ground. Scarlett looked at the staff who had yet to do anything to help her and back to the Snitch.

"I guess I can't die… so really, what's the worst that could happen?" she muttered sarcastically to herself. "Well, here goes nothing."

Scarlett looked back at the Snitch to make sure it hadn't moved, then made eye contact with Riddle, who was still uselessly staring at her, and let go.

When Tom saw Potter's broom going out of control he immediately realised what was happening. He could only assume that Gellert wanted to make her death look like an accident. The idiot obviously didn't realise that Snape had already noticed and was trying to counter his curse, admittedly without much success.

Tom felt a sense of deja vu as he stared at the petite girl who was now swinging from her broom. How had no one else noticed? Just like with the troll, Tom was more than capable of helping her; in fact, all he had to do was break Quirrell's line of sight. But he couldn't help her. She was their enemy. She had been marked for death before she'd even been born. He'd have to kill her eventually so there was no point in delaying the inevitable. Maybe it was better this way. Tom wasn't sure he'd be able to kill her. Even now he was having to fight against his magic to stop it from going to her aid. But she had to die. Scarlett Potter had to die.

When Potter let go of her broom, Tom was sure that his heart stopped beating for a few seconds. He felt as if all the air had been sucked out of him. It must be excitement at the prospect of such a great win for the Dark side.

But Potter's body never hit the ground. The Bloody Baron, moving faster than Tom thought possible for a ghost, had stopped her fall, catching her in mid air. The whole school stared in shock as the girl jumped out of the ghost's arms, thanked him for catching her, giggled and pecked him on the cheek. The Bloody Baron looked far too smug. Tom wished he too could touch him just so he could have the satisfaction of punching that smirk right off his face. For ruining his victory of course. Why else would he be so angered by the scene taking place right in front of him?

Tom's violent thoughts were interrupted by Potter punching her fist in the air, grinning wildly.

"I've got the Snitch!" she shouted. And if he looked closely, Tom could just make out its fluttering wings as Potter waved it above her head.

"GRYFFINDOR WINS!"

Tom only distantly heard the cheering and applause as Gryffindor celebrated their victory. He had yet to take his eyes away from Potter as she was lifted up by the Weasley twins and crowded by the rest of her friends and teammates. He was being engulfed by anger as it sunk in that she'd let go not because she hadn't been able to hold on anymore as he'd first thought, but because she'd seen the Snitch and wanted to catch it. She'd risked her life for a game.

Tom was quick to reassure himself that the reason he was so angry was because she'd risked her life and survived. AGAIN! And he definitely hadn't wanted her to survive.

And yet he couldn't help but be slightly impressed by her audacity, by her lack of fear. She couldn't have known that the Bloody Baron would have caught her. She couldn't have been sure that she wouldn't have simply plummeted to her death. Did she not fear death at all?

Tom watched Potter laugh as she was carried towards the castle, showing no sign that she'd just had a near death experience and all he could think was that maybe, just maybe, there was a very small part of him that was relieved to have more time to figure her out.

Scarlett was woken up very early on Christmas morning by an insistent pull on her magic. Immediately alert, she followed it to the pile of presents at the bottom of her bed. She carefully moved the parcels around until she found the offending item. As soon as she picked it up she realised what it was. Her precious Invisibility Cloak! She hadn't been sure that Dumbledore would have returned it to her again, but she was incredibly pleased that he had. And, judging by the persistent pull, so was the cloak.

Delicately unwrapping the package, Scarlett let the cloak pool on her lap. She softly stroked the material as she read the accompanying note which was eerily similar to the one she could remember from her previous life. Scarlett's magic gave a pleased shiver as it seemingly merged with that of the cloak, which appeared to almost purr in satisfaction. One Hallow down two to go! Scarlett smirked thinking of the power she would feel once she collected all of them again.

Absentmindedly casting a silencing charm around her bed, Scarlett summoned Death.

"My Lady" it said with an exaggerated bow.

"Death, I just wanted to wish you a Happy Yuletide." Scarlett smirked, running her fingers through the Invisibility Cloak.

Death cackled loudly and a sinister smile formed on its lips.

"You honour me Mistress," it said. "It is all the happier now that you have been reunited with my Cloak."

"Yes, I hadn't realised that I'd feel so much more powerful with it."

Death smirked.

"You have bonded with it now in a way you hadn't before."

Scarlett smirked right back.

"Indeed I have."

"So, my darling Mistress," Death said in a singsong voice. "Will you gift me with violence and mayhem on this festive day?"

Scarlett laughed and shook her head.

"No violence I'm afraid. But maybe a little bit of mayhem" she said, her eyes twinkling mischievously. "After all I never got back at our dear Voldie for being willing to let me, his own soulbonded, die twice."

Scarlett had been biding her time since the Quidditch match to find the perfect moment to get revenge on her favourite Dark Lord. She hadn't changed her behaviour towards him and had unwillingly found herself drawn into conversations and discussions about obscure topics after every class. She told herself that she was just staying behind to spend time with Nagini, but there had been a couple of times when the snake hadn't even been there and she'd still found herself debating with Riddle about various spells, potions and random magical theory.

Nonetheless, no matter whether she did or did not enjoy their conversations, she had not forgotten nor forgiven his lack of help, whether she'd actually needed it or not; therefore, a little payback was in order.

Death's laugh rattled ominously in the silent room, startling Scarlett out of her thoughts.

"Oh Mistress, I love watching you play with him!" It squealed delightedly. "And what about Grindelwald? Will he also receive a… present from you?"

"No, we'll let him be for now," Scarlett smiled threateningly. "We'll have plenty of time to deal with him later. I don't want to impose him on you too soon!"

Death cackled.

"As you wish, my Lady! In that case I'll leave you to open your presents. Goodbye!"

And with a twirl the being disappeared.

Despite having already officially met her godfather, Scarlett hadn't been invited to spend Yule with him. They'd been sharing weekly letters and he'd explained that he would have liked to invite her but he'd yet to finish his mind healing sessions and he hadn't finished restoring the house yet.

Whilst Scarlett would have loved to spend some quality time with Sirius, she was just as happy to remain at Hogwarts for the holidays, especially since all the Weasleys were also staying at the school. Scarlett and Ron had never become overly close; however, since joining the team, she'd formed a strong bond with the twins who she'd won over by introducing them to Peeves. The new partnership led to incredible chaos around the school and more frequent danger zones around the castle. Peeves was happy to take most of the blame and the twins were smug about getting away with many more pranks without any punishment. As they'd told Scarlett on multiple occasions: less time in detention means more time to plan the next prank!

Fred and George had also been fascinated by Scarlett's ability to tell them apart. Apparently not even their mother managed it. Truthfully, in her previous life she hadn't noticed any difference between the two either and it was only the feel of their magic that differed slightly and allowed Scarlett to tell them apart now. Nevertheless the twins had been very impressed and had taken it as a challenge to try and confuse her, with zero success so far. It was an ongoing battle that Scarlett was proud to say she was winning.

So on Christmas morning, as previously agreed, Scarlett had met the Weasley boys in the common room so that they could all open their presents together. She had of course, left her Invisibility Cloak upstairs as she'd rather keep that specific present to herself for now.

Scarlett had bought small gifts for all her friends and acquaintances, but she was still surprised by the amount of presents that she'd received. Aside from Hermione, Neville, Draco and Daphne, her Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw friends had also all sent her little gifts. She'd also received a homemade green jumper from Mrs Weasley, which caused Ron, Fred and George to flush slightly in embarrassment, and Sirius had sent her a beautiful heart shaped pendant with a picture of her and her parents inside. Scarlett had been extremely touched by the gesture and she'd immediately worn her new jewellery.

Her favourite present however, which had been completely unexpected, came from the twins. They'd smirked at her mischievously when she'd unwrapped it to find empty parchment. Both Ron and Percy had been outraged at the seemingly rubbish present, but Scarlett had immediately recognised the Marauder's Map and she'd been touched and shocked that they'd be willing to part with it after only having known her for a few months. She'd squealed happily, leapt to her feet and hugged them, whispering in their ear: "Mischief Managed".

Amused by the various expressions of shock on the faces of all the Weasley boys, Ron's and Percy's because she'd liked a seemingly boring present and Fred's and George's because she'd known what they'd given her with only one glance, Scarlett settled back into her chair smirking to herself.

As the morning progressed and Scarlett relaxed by the fire, amusedly watching the twins chasing Percy around, trying to force him to wear his knitted jumper, she couldn't help but think about the present she'd sent sent to Voldemort. A deliciously evil smile curled on her lips and she chuckled lowly to herself. She hoped he enjoyed the surprise!

When Tom woke up on Christmas morning he wasn't expecting to find any presents waiting for him. He'd never received a gift and he saw no reason why he'd get one anytime soon. He didn't really have anything to do and was planning to spend the day reading until he had to attend the Christmas Feast so for once he allowed himself to relax for a few extra minutes.

His mind, as had become usual these days, was inevitably drawn to the little puzzle. Potter had been spending more and more time with him, staying behind after every Defence class to see Nagini. However, they usually ended up conversing about obscure spells and archaic magical theory. Tom couldn't help but be impressed by the girl's intelligence and maturity which was extremely advanced for someone of her age. In fact, he sometimes forgot he was talking with an eleven year old, an eleven year old who also happened to be his enemy.

Tom could admit that he didn't want to see the little puzzle die, purely because it would be sad to see such a waste of potential. No other reason. He'd been very careful to make sure that he wasn't getting attached to the little danger magnet. But he had been spending far too much time thinking about her. Pushing Potter out of his thoughts, Tom got up and started getting ready for the day.

It was only when he reached his living room that her realised that there was a present waiting for him on the table. It was carefully wrapped in emerald paper, tied together by a silver bow. Someone was clearly appealing to his Slytherin side. Cautiously nearing the package, Tom saw that there was a short note stuck to the side of it.

Every Beast needs a flower.

That's all. No signature, no indication as to who it was from.

As he read the note again, Tom was incredibly irritated to realise that it was a muggle reference. Unfortunately, he knew that the note was talking about the stupid muggle fairytale and implying that he was the Beast. How dare someone gift him a present referencing muggle popular culture? Insult aside, this also meant that someone was aware of his past and also maybe of his alter ego. This then led to a series of questions that needed to be answered. Who sent him this present? What did they want? And did he have to kill them?

Resigned to the fact that he wouldn't get any answers just by staring at the untouched present, Tom cast all the detection charms he could think of and, having ascertained that it would be safe, slowly unwrapped the gift.

As he probably should have expected after reading the note, sitting innocently inside the box was a flower in a glass dome. However, it wasn't a flower that Tom had ever seen before. Its stem was an inky black with no leaves and the petals were a deep red, the exact colour of freshly spilt blood.

Curious despite his misgivings and wanting to get a better look at the flower, Tom carefully lifted the glass dome. Immediately, he felt an extremely dark aura, which had up until that point been contained by what he now realised was magical glass, latch onto his magic and begin sucking it in at an alarming pace.

With a huge pull, that used up almost all of his remaining magic, Tom managed to detach himself from what he now realised was an extremely deadly flower and quickly covered it again with the enchanted glass which was obviously the only thing keeping it at bay.

If he hadn't had such a strong connection to his magic, he wouldn't have even realised what was happening, and even then, if he hadn't had so much magic at his disposal he wasn't sure that he would have been able to save himself. It was with the knowledge that he'd just survived an attempt on his life and that it would probably take a few days for him to recover from such extreme magical exhaustion that Tom crashed to the floor, unconscious. He'd always hated the Christmas period.

A/N: So what did you think? Reviews are always appreciated!