I own nothing relating to any series, including Harry Potter.

Loosely based on Don't Fear the Reaper by Reptilia28

The Dark Lady Potter

Chapter 1

Rose sat up from her bed, taking a moment to look at her surroundings. A small smile spread across her face as she noticed she could see clearly despite her lack of glasses. "Looks like those fucks weren't lying," she said, speaking to herself. It was a habit she couldn't break after decades of Azkaban, and not one she entirely minded. It helped her think, and kept her distracted when a dementor got too close.

She stood from her bed and stretched, enjoying the feeling of her body obeying her command. While she had plenty of freedom in the Ministry of Death, it didn't compare to a living, breathing body that lacked the years of torment at the hands of Voldemort, his Death Eaters and then dementors. She looked down at her right forearm, reaching to trace the large, oval scar.

"After second year, good," she murmured. "I can save Sirius. He's probably outside right now." A manic grin almost split her face at the thought of her godfather. Another way she could tell she wasn't just experiencing dementor nightmares. Too much hope and the potential for hope.

She had gotten a fair few concessions from the Ministry of Death considering her adverse reaction to the condescending, completely sexist asshat that was supposed assist her after each time she died, not just toss her back after giving her vague instructions and then wiping her memories of the events so she wouldn't even remember what she was supposed to do instead of doing what she did and dying again.

Her Reaper eventually got so tired of her dying - not entirely her fault if you looked at everything that was stacked against her, including her Reaper - that he manipulated her and events so that she'd wind up in Azkaban for an extended duration. Keith, or whatever his name was, had even tried to guilt trip her into doing as she was told, despite her mental state being absolutely appalling. She was still insane, but she had worked with several therapists for a dozen metaphysical years to get her insanity under control.

Her favorite concession, thus far, was the ability to use magic without a wand, rendering her undetectable to the normal tracking methods. Plus it'd confuse those scans for magical signatures because her magic wouldn't be filtered through a wand. And the fact she was now immune to negative potion and potion effects, had a body that would automatically condition itself to its most optimal state, decades of training in every subject - she really did mean every subject, including the darkest of dark arts and muggle studies - and so much more.

They had even agreed to remove the majority of her scars! She still had the one from the basilisk and the one that used to house Voldemort's soul shard, but they couldn't remove the latter and the former was proof of her own efforts. After tonight, she'd have no more proof of the Dursleys interacting with her. Other than the mental scars but those would never go away.

She took a minute to change clothes, transfiguring the baggy hand-me-downs into something more fitting and fashionable, at least from her perspective. After taking another minute to admire her young, not-so-abused body in a conjured full-length mirror. It was nice seeing how she looked before Azkaban. Merlin, she was almost drooling at the prospect of a shower, she hadn't had one in ages.

She blinked and looked down at her outfit. "Ah, phooey. I just got these comfortable. Meh, I can use cleaning charms." She wasn't exactly sure how her highly negative viewpoint was taken by those upstairs, but they sent her back regardless so she figured they were at least somewhat fine with it.

Humming quite happily to herself, she skipped down the hall and slid down the railing, a mad cackle escaping her as she arrived on the landing. "I'm free, I'm free, I'm free!" She sang loudly, slipping into the kitchen. Her two male relatives looked at her in varying states of anger, confusion and disgust.

Vernon looked like he was about to say something when she grabbed one of the smaller kitchen knives and immediately stabbed Dudley, who was getting up to hit her or something of the sort, right in his pudgy belly. Seven times before Vernon reacted. While a poor balance, she had been given a lot of weapons training, so throwing the mass-produced cooking utensil into the fat man's chest was easy.

While not a fatal throw, she had enough time to grab more kitchen knives and finish Dudley off with one to the throat before she slowly walked over to Vernon. The fat man pulled the knife out of his chest, his fingers pressing down on the, sadly, non-fatal wound to stem the bleeding. His rage, shock or both had numbed the pain, his face had turned a disgusting shade of puce and he took a wild swing at her with the knife that had been inside him, but it was easy enough to dodge and slice his forearm with enough force to utterly ruin his ability to hold anything properly ever again. Not that it'd be a problem for long.

"Oh Vernon," Rose said as if amusedly exasperated. "You've had this coming for a long, long time. But don't worry, I've made sure you'd get a front row view of Dudley being tortured in hell! Petunia too!" She let Vernon swing his left fist at her, waiting for it to get close enough to almost touch her skin before she apparated behind him. Grabbing a handful of his hair, she forced his head backwards until he was looking at the ceiling. Well, at her, but she was obstructing his view so that didn't count.

She didn't gloat in the slightest, quickly dragging the sharp blade across his throat. She did watch his blood spill out in fascination, an amused hum escaping her. "I thought so. Your blood is just as red as mine. I wonder why you hated me so much then… Oh well!" She pushed him forward and let him drop, an amused smile on her face as she let him bleed out.

Better than Dudley, at any rate, he was still going to live for at least a few more minutes. Half an hour at best.

Humming again, she raised a palm, "Point me, Petunia." A little silver arrow appeared above her palm and pointed upwards and to the left. "Oooh, Auntie is napping… or is it morning and she's being a lazy sod?" Shrugging, she grabbed another new knife and started making her way up to the horse-like woman.

"Petuuuunia!" She sang loudly as she neared the room containing her aunt. A blasting charm destroyed the door and she spotted her aunt in a bath towel. "Oooh, you were showering. That makes sense… Anyway, bye bye!" She threw the knife hard, sending the blade hilt-deep into the woman's forehead. She was dead before she hit the ground.

"Maybe I should've let her see Vernon and Dudley before I killed her…" She shrugged, "Meh. Not like they're the worst I've come across. Torturing them wouldn't have been worth the effort it would've been otherwise. So, shower first or vanishing stuff?" That wasn't a hard question.

She left the room as is and went to the main bathroom. She did have to cast cleaning charms across the room, Dudley was a pig, but she really wanted a shower and she wasn't going to let a bit of a mess stop her.

The burning water was bliss on her skin. Cleaning charms could've done better, but they didn't feel the same. And Petunia always stocked good shampoo for Dudley, some floral scented stuff that she was never allowed to use. She wasn't even allowed to use the hot water but that wasn't an issue anymore either.

After wrapping herself up in conjured towels - the Dursleys didn't have anything fluffy enough for her liking - she started vanishing everything in the house that would've shown there was someone living in it. The only things that remained were the permanent fixtures that had been there after construction finished on the house. And the tacky wallpaper Petunia had put in the living room. Nothing, not a picture, not a hair, nothing remained in the house except a change of clothes for herself and a bit of cash she stole from Vernons wallet and Dudleys room. She even repaired the door she shattered.

"It's a fucking wonder," she said softly, "that so many magicals get caught when you can just vanish the bodies. No body, no murder. Even the fucking Wizengamot has to abide by that. Can't investigate when there's no body to instigate."

She blinked as she looked around the kitchen. "Ah, fuck. I should've saved the food. Sirius is a scrawny shit at this point." She quickly counted up her ill-gotten cash, "Four hundred and seventy seven pounds. Should be enough for a few changes of clothes and… two weeks of food? Three if I stretch it a bit.

"Calentempus," she murmured. Gold mist rolled out of her palm, coalescing in the air as golden numbers. "Oh, goodie! Marge was supposed to be here today. Vernon was going to pick her up at the airport. Should I kill her or leave her to suffer the mystery of what happened to her brother?"

She only mulled it over for about ten seconds, "Leave her alive, kill her if she tries to make trouble. Other than her dog attacking me when I was seven and her insulting my parents, she's never done much to me."

She wove a notice-me-not ward over the property. It wouldn't last long, just long enough for her to vanish the car, which took a fair bit of power. Not too much though, she still had more than enough to vanish every house on the street if she had been inclined to do so. " Voldemort's equal indeed. When I was fifteen months old maybe."

Magical beings constantly had their powers growing, from birth to death. It was the reason why older magicals were usually feared, the majority of them were powerhouses. Voldemort would still be her equal, perhaps greater than her if he had a body. Not likely, considering the strain two magical bindings and the blood wards put her magic under.

The fact she had even been able to cast spells with one percent of her magic unbound was a miracle, double so when she was considered magically powerful. Not the strongest, but powerful. Of course, there was no way to quantify magic using numbers or any defined scale so strength was moot unless it could be proven using an impressive feat of magic.

She blinked twice, "Oops. Got caught up in thoughts. Think out loud Rose, it helps keep you focused.

"Sirius is out of Azkaban. He needs good food and clean water. And definitely a bath. Small meals at first, build him back up to healthy meals. Don't let him stay at Grimmauld Place, that place wasn't good for him. Better than Azkaban, but not good. The Potters have loads of little houses stored around the country, and a few larger ones. He can stay in any of them. Hell, I'll pay for hookers to keep him in there if he needs that motive. Veela hookers."

A smirk tugged at her lips, "That'd get his attention. Should I let him know things though? Wouldn't hurt… but only after he's recovered some. Only Merlin knows how scrambled his mind is."

She freed Hedwig and sent her on her way to Hermes with her shrunken trunk and a hastily scribbled note before she cast one last charm on the house to force the doors to lock before she used the point-me spell again, this time aimed at her wayward godfather. She turned towards where the arrow was pointing and started making her way that way.

~Z~

It was only about a half hour and one additional cast later that she found the mangy grim that was her godfather. "Sirius?" She asked. "Sirius Black?" She trained her wand on him. Best let him think she was in control for the moment.

The sad whimper as he closed his eyes was all the answer she needed before stunning him. And then she performed the animagus-detection charm to be safe. The green glow around the mangy mutt was good, so she disillusioned him and levitated him. An expensive hotel, a confundus charm and some rest for her godfather and she could talk to him without possible outside interference.

~Z~

She didn't know why she didn't think about conjuring fake money earlier. A few bills here and there - she kept it at ones, fives and tens - and some light confounding and she had a dozen changes of clothes and some cute dresses… she might've been insane, but she still had an eye for fashion.

She also bought a light meal - two salads, a cheap burger, a lot of chicken nuggets (hers!) and three different two liter drinks for the two of them - for her and Sirius. He would have to make do with transfigured clothes for the time being since she had no idea what his proportions were and she wasn't going to lug around a dozen outfits for no reason.

She didn't bother knocking as she let herself into the hotel room. Sirius was awake, the shower was going and she laughed a bit at that. He was taking advantage of the situation a lot like she would've.

Knocking twice on the bathroom door, she opened it and walked in. "Padfoot," she called out sweetly. "I got some shampoo and better soap than the hotel shit. I even got you some body wash. Merlin knows you need it." The shower itself was covered by a translucent tempered glass pane where she could only see his general coloration. She snickered at the yelp he let out by her letting herself in.

"Don't do that!" He yelled, shifting around like he was trying to hide his bits.

"Oh shush you and take the stuff. You smell like a wet, rotting dog carcass." She walked up to the shower door and raised the bar and bottles over the side. She didn't see his hands take the things but they were pulled out of her grasp. "Take your time, but I wanted to let you know I have some food out there." she added. "I swear, if you don't smell like a flower shat all over you by the time you're done in there, you'll have a new boggart."

She heard him murmur, "Just like Lily." before she left the room, a wide, not-quite-insane smile splitting her face as she accepted the compliment. She was halfway through the tea and almost through her salad, having eaten all of her chicken nuggets, when Sirius walked out of the shower.

He lacked all of the dirt and grime that she had first seen him with, but he seemed to have all the tattoos. She wondered why she thought he wouldn't have those. It wasn't like the dementors gave them to him in Azkaban. She did, however, snicker at the fact he had his hair up in a towel like she would have.

Looking like he wanted to rush over and hug her, she raised a hand, "No hugs from the naked man, Padfoot. You might've gotten away with that with my father but you won't with me." She gestured to the salad and wrapped burger, "Do come eat though, you're more of a twig than I am."

He shot her a playful glare before sitting at the table and tearing into the burger. Literally, the wrapper almost hit her as he took large bites out of it and barely spent time chewing before he swallowed. She barely got two bites of her own salad before he finished and reached for his own.

She summoned the salad over to her, placing her hand on top of the closed container, "Give your stomach a minute. It's got solid food in there for the first time in years. I don't want you throwing it up."

He nodded and sat back, staring at her as she ate.

"You can ask questions, you know," she said in between bites. "I'll answer them to the best of my ability."

"You're Rose," he said. It wasn't a question. "You smell like her. Merlin, you look like a mix between James and Lily. You've even got Lily's eyes."

"Huh… should've guessed a dog animagus would have a good nose for scents." She shrugged, "Yes, I'm Rose. Yes, I know you're innocent. No, I won't say how until you're of sound-ish mind."

After a second, he spoke again. "... can I have some clothes so I can hug my goddaughter?"

Rose snorted softly but did conjure clothes for him. "We'll go out and get you some clothes after you've put those on and eaten some salad."

He undoubtedly had more questions but stood, tucking his towel tight so he didn't flash her by accident, and took the clothes to the bathroom. He came out a moment later, looking almost like a muggle. Knee-length cargo shorts, which she knew he was wearing Gryffindor red boxers under and a plain white t-shirt. If it weren't for the tattoos, the mess he called hair and how emaciated he was, he'd be a picture perfect muggle.

"I have so many questions," he said as he sat down at the table across from her again and she slid the salad over. He eyed the leafy greens, pulling the plastic top off and grabbing the plastic fork.

As he looked around the table, she answered his first unasked question, "No dressing. The only types they had were a bit heavy and the burger was pushing what I was comfortable with you having. And only because the meat was pretty dry."

He nodded and stabbed his salad, eating without complaint. He still ate fast, but slower than the burger. He was about half way through before he asked his first proper question, "How do you know who I am?"

She shrugged, "I could say the Daily Prophet, but that wouldn't account for me being as nice to you as I am. I could say I remember you from my time as a toddler, but that would be a lie…" She tilted her head in thought and tapped her foot, "The best way to explain it is that I've seen what happens to me and, more importantly, what happens to the people I care about if I just let things play out. I rather not have that happen, so I've taken it upon myself to prevent that outcome."

"Why you?" He asked. "Why not tell someone and get them to do it? You're not even thirteen!"

She looked at him in the eyes, frowning, "Because I said I've seen what happens. The only person I trust right now is you, and I can't even do that because you've only just gotten away from Azkaban and your mental state is appalling."

"How can you trust me? You don't even know me."

She tilted her head to the side slightly, "Of course I do. I've seen the type of person you are and I know what you'd do to protect me." She spoke over him when he tried to argue, "Sirius, if I don't make changes, you will die in less than three years. I don't even get a body to bury you. You don't get a grave and the Ministry shoves the blame of what Voldemort and his Death Eaters did on you. I will not allow that to happen again."

She knew her voice was full of venom and her eyes were crazed but she didn't care at the moment. She needed to get her point across and the more insane she seemed, the better. Even if he wouldn't take her advice, he would listen.

They stared at each other for who knows how long before he spoke, "Okay, what's the plan?"

She blinked once, twice, three times before a wide grin split her face, "Oh goodie, you're almost as insane as I am!" She shrugged, "But I'm not gonna tell you anything until your brain's not so screwy. Are you done eating?"

"What?" He looked confused.

"Are you done eating? I'll tell you some of what happened while we're out shopping… also, how attached are you to your tattoos?"

"... what?"

She just grinned.

~Z~

She could have, admittedly, applied numbing charms to Sirius to prevent the pain from the tattoo removal but, as much as she loved him, she had to prove she was more than just a thirteen year old girl.

The removal of his tattoos, a stylized haircut that had the stylist flirting with him - he was quite handsome, yes, and he'd look better once he got some food in him and a bit of healthcare - and a couple dozen sets of new clothes and he barely looked like himself anymore.

"Getting distracted again Rose," she said to herself. She looked around Diagon Alley, all but abandoned due to the lateness she had decided to arrive. There were only a few places open so late, such as Gringotts and The Leaky Cauldron, but not many. And Ollivander's shop was the only place other than Gringotts that was always open. Immortals, or borderline ones anyway, were weird like that.

Getting her key back from the Weasleys had been laughably easy, as had been grabbing Peter. She couldn't kill them yet, the blame would be tossed on Sirius due to the timing. "Damn thieves," she grumbled. "They could've asked me for money, but nooo! They just had to think I wouldn't care if I had noticed. Which I didn't thanks to those damned potions they were all but shoving down my throat. Where they ever got the idea I'd want to date Ron, let alone marry him is anyone's guess. I'm just glad I had a fucking growing immunity to that shit, or else they would've killed me. Or worse, I would've let Ron have his way with me at the drop of a fucking hat."

She shuddered at that thought. "Barely even liked Ron before Molly got the idea of dosing me with loyalty potions. Then, all of the sudden, I can't live life without him! I'm just glad he didn't come to the conclusion that I'm a girl until the ball. Can't wait to see that idiot's face when I'm kissing Hermes."

A small, wholy sane grin set itself on her face as she thought of the bookish boy. Hermes Granger, her actual best friend. While bossy and far too dependent on authority figures, he always had her best interest in mind… or at least what he thought were her best interest. It wasn't a lie in the slightest for her to admit she loved him. Though whether or not that was platonic or something else, she wasn't sure. "Damn Dursleys. I can at least keep him away from Ginny this time. Foul little harpy. They only potioned him because they saw how close the two of us were. Couldn't make us hate each other without it becoming suspicious. Ginny doesn't even like Hermes. Little whore was fucking every boy in Hogwarts but her brothers, and she probably wouldn't have cared if they paid her enough."

Her mind instantly cleared as she made her way into Gringotts. The goblins, while evil little bastards, guarded their vaults with ruthlessness unlike most others and she couldn't afford the distraction.

She had her invisibility cloak on, cleansed of all bewitchments added by previous bearers. It was interesting to learn she had been using it wrong. It truly was a fragment of Death's cloak but it was more like a bodysuit than a cloak. Because why would Death wear something that a stiff breeze could expose the wearer?

The cloak also had more features than she had originally been aware of, such as complete silencing of the wearer. She had to be careful not to touch anyone or dodge projectiles because they could still interact with her, but she could pass through wards as if they weren't there, no matter how hostile or sensitive they were.

She was completely silent and focused as she walked through Gringotts, or rather, Gringotts banking caves. She was going to kill the goblins too, all of them, but that had to wait until she was done with the actual threats.

Every vault she visited belonged to a Death Eater, a would-be Death Eater, an unmarked supporter, a would-be unmarked supporter or a corrupt member of government. She even visited the vaults of some, though not all shop owners and proceeded to rob all of them blind. By the time she was done, she was a very rich witch, much more so than she had been.

With no money, the Ministry would yell and attempt to bully Gringotts into doing their bidding and taking blame for the theft, which would lead to worse relations between the two and could very well start an all-out war between the two factions. She didn't know if it would and didn't entirely care if it happened, she had plans to get the Grangers out of the country at a moment's notice, alongside the Tonks'. Luna, if she knew the girl well enough, would undoubtedly be safe. Seers were weird like that, and Luna's gift was powerful.

She made her way past the lowest vaults in Gringotts, slipping past the guards that were supposed to protect the entrance to their home caves without them noticing her whatsoever. While never having been so deep inside Gringotts before, it wasn't hard to find the furnaces that the goblins used for their smelting of precious metals.

It wasn't even hard to destroy their gigantic furnaces, an application of a permanent cooling charm, an unholy amalgam of bombardment hexes (that mimicked carpet bombing without the fire) over a very small area and causing a cave-in, she crippled the goblins and the Ministry severely. Even with the goblins skill with stone, it would take them at least a decade to rebuild and re-enchant them.

Smiling at the destruction and havoc she caused, she left the goblin tunnels and Gringotts itself without anyone noticing her. She had a bit of trouble actually leaving the bank due to the fact it was sealed from her actions, but it was hardly a wait. They roughly interviewed the non-goblins within the bank with veritaserum, which was illegal, before determining that the perpetrator still had to be within the tunnels and letting the victims go. It took two hours in total, waiting by the entrance, but she would hardly call that a long wait.

With Sirius sleeping, he really needed it, she made her way out into muggle London, walking towards where she knew Hermes lived. It would take a little bit, but she needed to visit her friend.

~Z~

Rose tapped on the second floor window to get her friend's attention. Even in the darkness of the night and without a light on in his room, she saw him just fine. One of the many adjustments the Ministry of Death had given her as an apology for her original reaper.

It was close to two in the morning and it took her several attempts to make the bookish boy stir.

Hermes looked over at her through his window.