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 favouriting, following and lovely comments. I'm so glad you are enjoying this story!

Part 2 - Chapter 2

Ever since she was a little girl, Luna had always known things. She'd known where to find the rarest of creatures, she'd known which mushrooms would lead to her untimely death and she'd known to hug her mum just a little bit tighter before she'd headed off to carry out that last experiment. As she boarded the Hogwarts Express, Luna knew which carriage she should sit in, she knew she would finally be meeting her best friend, and she knew that said best friend was the Mistress of Death. So when Scarlett Potter came to sit down next to her, sweetly introducing herself and her friends, Luna couldn't help but smile widely.

"I'm Luna Lovegood" she said dreamily and, once she knew everyone else was suitably distracted, she added quietly just for Scarlett's ears, "I've been waiting a long time to meet you Lady Hela. We are going to have so much fun."

Scarlett laughed her beautiful laugh, just as Luna knew she would.

"I've been waiting to meet you too" she whispered back with a wide smile.

Luna hummed happily to herself and went back to reading her copy of the Quibbler as Scarlett was drawn into conversation by her other friends. No more needed to be said to cement their friendship. Luna knew it was going to last forever.

"Can you believe that Gilderoy Lockhart is going to be our professor this year?" Hermione practically swooned.

"Assistant professor" Scarlett muttered. At this point she'd take Grindelwald over the fraud. She couldn't stand him. She wondered if she could get away with killing him before classes started.

"Think of all the experience that he has!" Hermione carried on. "The things he must have seen and done in his travels…"

Scarlett could practically see the hearts in her friend's eyes.

"And he's so handsome too!" Ginny giggled. "Have you seen his smile?"

Scarlett scoffed in disgust.

The train ride to Hogwarts had gotten off to an excellent start. Scarlett had been thrilled to find Luna sitting in the first carriage she'd opened. There weren't many people that she missed from her old life, but Luna had certainly been one of them. The girl had become one of her best friends, one of the few people who had see behind the masks that she had cultivated and who had been just as disappointed as her with the direction the Wizarding World had taken after the war.

Seeing Luna looking so young, with her wide, silvery eyes and Butterbeer caps necklace, Scarlett had been hit with a strong sense of nostalgia, which turned into absolute delight when she realised that Luna knew her. Of course she did! She was Luna! She was the fist person to understand exactly who she had chosen to become in this lifetime, the path she had chosen to travel on. Luna had seen the monster lurking behind the Girl-Who-Lived facade and she'd not balked, she'd accepted her, murderous tendencies and all.

It was unfortunate that Ginny and Hermione were now determined to ruin her good mood with their fawning.

"I read all his books over the summer" Hermione was saying, oblivious to her friend's growing irritation. "Do you think that…"

"I'm going to go for a wander" Scarlett abruptly stood up, ignoring Luna's amused look and leaving the carriage before anyone could stop her. She couldn't bare to listen to another word about Lockhart.

She wondered through the train, politely greeting the other students as she strolled past, stopping when she saw Draco and Daphne sitting in a compartment with Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle.

"Greetings!" She said, opening the door with a dramatic bang.

"Get lost Potter" Parkinson sneered predictably. However, Draco and Daphne also didn't seem too pleased to see her.

"Gotten bored of your real friends, have you?" Draco asked rather snidely.

"What's wrong Draco?" Scarlett frowned. "You know you're my real friends too. Well, you and Daphne anyway" she finished playfully.

"Then why weren't we invited to your birthday party?" Daphne asked just as snidely as Draco.

Scarlett groaned. She had enjoyed her surprise party; however, Sirius hadn't invited many of her actual friends; in fact, she still wasn't sure who exactly had been there. She'd spent most of the time with Hermione, trying to persuade her friend to try some alcohol. Scarlett had been impressed if slightly petulant when Hermione hadn't even been persuaded by her most pitiful puppy dog eyes. She had to admire her friend's determination to follow the rules. Her outraged gasp when Sirius had given Scarlett a glass of wine had also been particularly amusing. She'd forgotten how easy it had been to rile up a young Hermione.

"I'm sorry!" Scarlett said earnestly. "It was a surprise party. Sirius, my godfather, organised it. I actually barely knew anyone there. Don't worry, if I ever throw a party you'll be at the top of the guest list."

Daphne was easily appeased by the explanation; however, Draco still looked rather miffed.

"You'll forgive me, won't you Draco?" Scarlett pouted, widening her eyes and batting her eyelashes.

Draco looked momentarily dazed, blinking a couple of times before shaking his head with a huff.

"I guess life would be boring without you around" he grudgingly sighed.

Scarlett grinned in victory and sprawled into the last empty seat, which happened to be next to Parkinson. She was amused when the girl scowled and moved as far away from her as possible as if worried she might catch something.

"Where is your usual entourage Scarlett?" Daphne teased. "I didn't think Granger ever let you out of her sight."

"I had to flee our carriage" Scarlett grimaced. "They kept fawning over Lockhart of all people."

Daphne tilted her head to the side curiously.

"He is quite attractive though, don't you think?" She asked.

"Not you too!" Scarlett moaned.

She supposed that Lockhart could be considered stereotypically attractive with his lightly tanned skin, wavy blonde hair and charming smile, but his personality squashed any attraction Scarlett might have felt for him. Anyway she'd always preferred a darker kind of beauty. The image of Riddle holding her possessively popped unbidden into her mind and was immediately squashed. She was not attracted to him! Stupid mirror was still messing with her thoughts.

"Potter why am I not surprised to find you at the centre of this commotion?" Severus sneered as he observed the spectacle taking place in the Entrance Hall.

The ghosts seemed to have forgone their usual tradition of scaring the new first years, instead they had congregated in the entrance and had swarmed around Potter as soon as she'd walked through the doors.

The girl looked to be indulging them by allowing them to touch or kiss her hand, the ghosts grinning delightedly when they made physical contact rather than pass through her. Severus personally found the whole thing rather unnerving, unlike Potter who seemed to love it. It was yet another way for her to be the centre of attention.

"Move along everyone" Severus snapped. "The Sorting will begin any minute."

He made to head back to his spot at the head table, but paused when he heard a surprised squeal. The Bloody Baron had decided to hoist Potter onto his shoulders and was dashing around at full speed. The brat probably thought she deserved to be carried around. So spoilt, just like her father. He could only imagine how much worse she'd be this year after having lived with Black for the past few months.

"Put me down, Barry" Potter said without any real heat to the words, her laugh echoing around the hall. Surely the girl hadn't actually nicknamed the ghost Barry?

"I'm merely taking you to your seat, my little friend" the Baron was grinning. Severus couldn't believe it. He didn't think he'd ever seen the feared ghost even so much as smile.

"Stop" Potter tried to sound stern, but she was grinning. "You're going to get me into trouble."

"Nonsense" the ghost chuckled. "No teacher would punish you for something I've done" he said, aiming a pointed glare at Severus.

Potter certainly deserved to be punished. She was the cause of all this madness after all, but before he could start taking points, the ghost and the Girl-Who-Lived had already disappeared into the Great Hall. Severus could unfortunately still hear her delighted laugh as the Baron moved faster than he'd thought was possible for a ghost.

Severus entered the room to see Potter back on her feet, the Bloody Baron bowing to her. Of course, she'd want to be treated like a princess. How arrogant.

"My lady" the ghost brushed his lips over the girl's knuckles.

"I really have missed you, Barry" she said, patting his cheek fondly. "Now, why don't you go scare the first years? I wouldn't want to be the cause of you breaking tradition." She smiled mischievously.

Severus stalked across the room, pausing by Potter's chair.

"10 points from Gryffindor for delaying the Sorting, Potter."

It was a coincidence that the Baron had already left by this point. Severus certainly wasn't intimidated by the ghost.

"Open" Scarlett hissed, gathering her magic, ready to fend off any potential attacks.

She was sat staring at the golden locket for what felt like the hundredth time since she'd acquired it over the summer. She'd often found herself drawn to the Horcrux's magic which, whilst not as powerful as Riddle's, was just as deliciously dark. It would have been almost soothing if she didn't know that it wanted to devour her magic the first chance it got.

The Horcrux could obviously feel when someone was nearby and it always tried to lure her in, occasionally coming close to succeeding, Scarlett sometimes barely being able to stop herself from putting it on. She knew she should just leave it alone and keep it hidden away, but she couldn't help but return to it again and again. It was like a weird addiction and today, hidden away in her four-poster bed, she'd decided to give in to her curiosity.

The locket swung open with a very anticlimactic click and she came face to face with a slightly younger looking version of her favourite Dark Lord.

"Hello" she said with an awkward little wave.

Locket Riddle just stared at her in apparent disbelief.

"I'm Scarlett" she added when the silence dragged on for way too long.

"Who are you?" Locket Riddle's voice was dark and gravelly.

"Er… I'm Scarlett?" Scarlett repeated herself, wondering if perhaps the solitude had addled the Horcrux's brain.

"I got that the first time" he sneered, looking rather unfriendly. "Who are you in relation to me? Are you my daughter?"

Scarlett choked on air and it took her a few seconds to get her expression back under control.

"No" she said with a little hysterical laugh. "I'm not related to you and I'm most certainly not your daughter. Merlin!" Why would the Horcrux even come to such a ridiculous assumption.

"Who are you then?" He asked, brows puckered in a frown. "Clearly you're not my lover…"

"Excuse me?" It was Scarlett's turn to sneer. "What is that supposed to mean? I am an excellent lover. You'd be lucky to have me! If I wanted to be to your lover that is. Which I don't. Obviously."

She trailed off as she noticed the locket's eyebrows steadily rising higher and higher.

"You are a child, are you not?" He asked condescendingly. "I am not a pedophile."

Scarlett felt heat rising to her cheeks and valiantly fought down her blush. What did she care what he thought anyway? Clearly it had been a mistake to open the stupid thing.

"Right… Well, you are very rude" she scowled. "I thought you might have enjoyed some conversation after Merlin only knows how long, but it seems I was mistaken. Goodbye!"

Scarlett slammed the locket shut before it could utter another word. What a dick.

Tom walked into his classroom and scowled darkly. He had left the room for exactly five minutes and in that time Lockhart had managed to turn it into some sort of freaky shrine to himself. Everywhere you looked there was a photograph of the man posing in some ridiculous way.

Unfortunately, before he could restore the room to its normal state, the students started filing in. Potter gave him a particularly unimpressed look as she waltzed past, shaking her head as if she was disappointed in him. Tom's scowl intensified.

"My little hatchling!" Potter had barely sat down in her usual seat when she was practically attacked by his familiar, Nagini coiling around her and her chair until the girl could barely move.

"Oh how I have missed you! You have the prettiest eyes and you are the best at scratching. My Master just doesn't know how to find the right spots like you do!"

Potter chose that moment to reach up and start gently scratching one of Nagini's favourite spots. His familiar preened, hissing extra loudly as if to show him how much she was enjoying herself.

"Stop it Nagini" Tom hissed a little petulantly. "You always beg for my touch."

The snake curled around Potter's neck so that she could better stare at him.

"Don't be jealous, Master" she chided him. "If you ask her nicely, I'm sure the little hatchling will show you how to stimulate the most pleasurable spots."

Potter started choking, her shoulders shaking under his familiar's weight.

"Get off of her Nagini" Tom ordered. "You're choking her."

Nagini immediately relaxed her hold so that she was no longer strangling the girl who, aside from looking a little flushed, seemed mostly unfazed. Did she not care that his familiar had been on the verge of killing her?

"I'm sorry my little hatchling" Nagini nudged her head apologetically against Potter's. "Nagini didn't mean to hurt you."

His little puzzle just smiled and caressed the snake's head soothingly. Why wasn't she scared? If Tom didn't know any better he would think that she had understood the conversation, but that was impossible. There were no parselmouths in her family tree.

Whilst Tom had been distracted, Lockhart had come prancing into the room, dramatically posing in front of the biggest portrait of himself.

"Me" he said pointing to his portrait self who took a little bow. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League, and five times winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award - but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!" He grinned roguishly and winked at Potter.

"That's enough Lockhart" Tom said, vanishing all of the man's portraits with a wave of his wand. "Stop waisting time and let me get on with my lesson."

Lockhart looked horrified at the disappearance of his pictures, but refused to get out of his way. Tom wished he could vanish him like he did the portraits.

"Wait" the man said "I brought a special surprise for the start of the year."

Tom sighed and fought against the strong urge to Crucio the man.

"What is it?" He snapped impatiently. At this rate the whole lesson would be wasted.

Lockhart practically skipped over to the storage closet and emerged with a large, covered cage, which he placed on the desk at the front of the classroom.

"Now I must warn you" he said dramatically. "It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind!" That was not in fact his job, but Tom refrained from correcting him in the hopes that he would soon be finished with his dramatics.

"You might find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room, but know that no harm can befall you while I'm here. Please try to remain calm" Potter rolled her eyes.

"Please try not to scream" Lockhart said ominously. "We don't want to provoke them."

Tom watched as everyone except for Potter held their breath. She just looked as done with the theatrics as he was. Lockhart finally whipped off the cover, revealing a cage full of Cornish pixies.

A few snorts were heard around the room, which Tom was pleased to note seemed to annoy Lockhart.

"You might think they're funny now but they can be devilishly tricky little blighters" he said loudly. "Let's see how you handle them!"

Tom mentally cursed when, before he could stop him, the idiot opened the cage. The pixies immediately took to the air, shooting in every direction like tiny rockets, and the classroom dissolved into complete pandemonium. Within seconds, books had been shredded, papers torn, ink bottles smashed and windows shattered.

Tom could feel the temperature in the room dropping as his anger increased, his magic swirling dangerously around him. The pixies also seemed to sense the shift and started to looked a little worried.

"Peskipiksi Pesternomi!" Lockhard bellowed, uselessly waving his wand.

Was that even a real spell? If it was it had not been cast correctly as it had zero effect aside from emboldening the pixies to up their antics, one of them stealing the pathetic man's wand and throwing it out the window.

Lockhart, like the coward he was, decided to flee the room leaving Tom to deal with his mess. Before stepping in, Tom observed his students to see whether any of them managed to handle the pixies. Apparently not. Half of them were hiding under their desks and the other half were running around in a panic, trying to protect their belongings. Only Potter remained in her seat, an amused glint in her eyes as she observed the chaos taking place around her.

Tom was surprised to note that the pixies hadn't tried to go near her. All of her stuff had been left untouched, the pixies merely fluttering around her as she lazily kept stroking Nagini. Eventually, one braver pixie seemed to muster up the courage to venture into his little puzzle's chaos free bubble and Tom watched intrigued as it turned to dust without Potter having to utter a single word. She hadn't even moved for Salazar's sake!

The Girl-Who-Lived slowly untangled herself from Nagini and calmly blew the dust away from where it had landed on her book. Then she stood up, turning to face the other pixies who had all frozen in terror. Potter regarded them coldly, her narrowed eyes flashing the colour of death, her magic spreading across the room threateningly.

"In" she commanded, pointing to the cage which was still on Tom's desk.

The little creatures didn't hesitate for even a second, flying over each other to get back to the cage in a rush to appease the girl. Tom had to hide a snort when they went as far as closing the door, staring hopefully at Potter as if wanting to be praised for the extra effort.

His little puzzle had the audacity to wink at Tom as she sat back down.

"Shall we get on with the lesson, Professor?" She asked sweetly, her features softening so that she was back to looking like the innocent Light girl she was supposed to be, but Tom was no longer fooled.

There was nothing innocent about his little puzzle.

A/N: What do we think of Snape? Will he be able to get over his hatred of Scarlett?