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.

Warnings: This story will have violence and torture.

A/N: I'm back. I've changed this story quite a bit, although this first chapter is almost the same as before. I'm not promising that I'm going to finish it this time, but I'll see how far I get with it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this! Let me know what you think :)

Prologue

Her long ebony hair was flowing around her. It reached down to her feet creating a cape of wavy strands protecting her form the outside world. Her deep green eyes stared intently in front of her. She was absentmindedly twirling a lock of hair around her finger and biting her full red lips.

She was wearing a plain floor length black dress and matching heels. She twirled her wedding ring nervously before looking around the room and seeing the small birthday card chucked carelessly on her desk. She picked it up and read it over.

Dear Scarlett,

You made it to your 40th birthday! Congrats! You are as beautiful as ever! It seems like you haven't aged a day after your 20th birthday.

I remember when we were still in school and we used to think that we might not live past seventeen...

Sorry I couldn't be there with you today, but you know how busy things have been since the Muggles Abductions started...

But enough about that... you shouldn't be thinking about the war today... you should celebrate! I heard from Hermione that you have plans to go out with her and Ginny tonight.

Be careful but make sure you have fun

Always thinking of you

I love you

Neville

That had been two weeks ago.

The day after that, Neville had gone missing.

One week ago, he'd turned up dead.

Today was his funeral.

And Scarlett Lola Potter didn't feel anything.

Ever since the day she had finally defeated Voldemort once and for all, Scarlett had felt empty, like she was missing an important part of herself. At first, she told herself that it would pass, that she just needed time to heal, but after two years she decided to stop hoping to find happiness again and to focus on letting everyone think that she was perfectly fine.

And so, Scarlett developed her first mask. She would attend all the parties, she would laugh, joke, sing, dance and sometimes even cry, and everyone thought that she was the perfect Golden Girl, the Vanquisher of all Evil.

Then people started asking her why she hadn't settled down yet, why she wasn't married. And so Scarlett developed her second mask. She flirted, she teased and in the end, she married Neville.

Did she like him?

Yes.

Did she love him?

No.

Scarlett wasn't whole enough to love anyone, but everyone said what a good match her and Neville would make; and how proud her parents would have been; and so when he asked her, what could she say but yes.

And so, Scarlett became the perfect wife, with the perfect husband and the perfect Manor. But whilst Scarlett pretended to be happy, she also paid attention to what was going on in the Wizarding World. And she didn't really like what she saw.

With the Light side in power all the Dark families were persecuted even if they didn't practice the Dark Arts. Then came the restriction on all the Dark creatures. This was followed by the restriction on all creatures: Light and Dark. Then Muggle relations were increased and Muggleborns started revealing magic to Muggles. Then the Muggles panicked. A new war begun.

As soon as there was news of a war everyone looked to Scarlett for guidance. After all she had ended the previous two wars, surely, she could end this one as well. And so Scarlett developed her third mask. She planned, she trained and she fought all the while resenting the people she was fighting for.

She slowly started to distance herself from all her friends. Her marriage with Neville only worked because he was always too busy to notice any problems, but that suited Scarlett just fine. When she had married Neville, she had quit her job to become the perfect wife so she had hours of free time with nothing to do... and so she trained.

She started by studying Light magic... then she moved on to Neutral magic... and then she began exploring the Dark Arts. Scarlett was at her happiest when she was practicing Dark magic. She could almost ignore the void by losing herself in the hazy feeling of controlled madness and suddenly she understood why Dark magic was dangerous: it was highly addictive. But it also made her feel alive.

Soon the war had started getting out of control. Muggles learned that without their 'sticks' Wizards were useless and so they began snapping wands and massacring wand makers. Everyone panicked and locked themselves in their unpplotable manors and Scarlett thrived in the chaos. The Golden Girl had turned Dark. Whilst everyone ran around in mindless terror. Scarlett learned. Scarlett mastered wandless magic and she felt safe.

The day Scarlett found out about Neville's death she tried to feel sorrow, grief, pain, anger, but she couldn't. She didn't care. And so she developed her fourth mask. She cried, she wept and she brooded. But she didn't feel anything.

Scarlett stood by the black coffin, an appropriate expression of grief on her face as she leaned into Hermione, seemingly seeking support. Suddenly she heard a beeping coming from the coffin, but before she could do anything.

BOOM!

The coffin exploded. Scarlett coughed, waiting for the dust to clear. She had been quite far away so she wasn't killed but her leg was broken. She looked up to see a gun very close to her face.

Bang!

Scarlett was dead.

When Scarlett opened her eyes, she found herself on a black platform. She frowned in confusion. Last time she had 'died', she had been on a white platform.

"Hello Mistress," said a deep voice from behind her.

She jumped and spun around coming face to face with... a human shaped black mist? It looked almost like a shadow.

Scarlett raised an eyebrow. "What are you?"

"Oh me?" the mist asked. "Death, at your service," it said with an exaggerated bow.

Scarlett raised her other eyebrow. "You're Death?" she asked sceptically.

"I most certainly am. And you are my mistress!" It cackled happily, clapping its hands.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You are my Mistress" Death repeated. "You collected all the Hallows and now you control me!" It said with a flourish.

"Um... Ok... And what does that mean exactly?"

"It means that your every desire is my command, but only if you keep killing people for me and that can only happen if you are alive."

"Sooo... I'm not dead..."

"No of course not!" Death snapped "I can't kill my own mistress, can I?"

"Ok. So what, I'm going to go back to my body like at the end of my 7th year?"

"Actually... No. That only happened because you were the owner of the wand but you hadn't actually claimed it yet... now you can do whatever you want!"

"So… I could go back in time and save my parents?" Scarlett asked hopefully.

"Unfortunately, no. You see you can only go back to when you become the owner of the first Hollow so you won't be able to save them, because they have to die for you to gain ownership. Sorry!" Death said, not sounding sorry at all.

Scarlett actually got the impression that the being was slightly insane.

"Ok so what can I do?" she asked

"Well... I can send you to the Universe next to this one where everything is the same except for the tinsy winsy fact that Grindelwald and Voldemort are working together."

Scarlett looked at him sceptically again.

"Is that all?"

"I can also give you a power boost if you like?"

"What power boost?"

"I'll tell you what, you will have the power to absorb knowledge by killing a being. Whoever you kill, whatever you kill, however you kill them, you will gain one of their skills. Ooooh and if you manage to kill some magical creatures you can have one of their powers. For example, if you kill a Veela you get their allure. How does that sound?"

"So, if I kill... say four Vampires I would get their healing skills, super strength, super speed and shadow travel?" Death nodded enthusiastically and then frowned.

"Actually no, there is one downside to this deal. Obviously, you won't be able to die, but your healing cannot be sped up. Cuts and bruises will heal quickly, but any internal injury, including broken bones will require time and a healing sleep. The worse your injuries are, the longer the sleep will be." It said, trying to look solemn, but letting a hint of gleeful excitement slip through at the very end.

"I guess that's reasonable… And would I be able to choose in what order I get them? So, which one I get first?" Death nodded again cackling.

"Oh! Can you answer one more question for me?"

"Anything my Lady." Death bowed low again.

"Will I feel whole again?"

Death cackled. "Of course you will, because your soulbonded will be alive!"

"I had a soulbond? Who with?"

"No, no, sorry can't tell you. You have to work it out on your own my Lady."

"Fine. I'm ready to go now."

"Right you are. See you soon my Lady. If you need me all you have to do is call and I'll be there. Ta!" Death waved his hands dramatically and Scarlett's world went black.

Coming up: Scarlett's early years.