Painted Black Chapter 1: Prologue, a harry potter fanfic

PAINTED BLACK -PROLOGUE

Regulus Black has been set a task by the dark lord; to discover his secret completely in 365 days. With all hope lost, Regulus asks Merlin for a miracle. Merlin gives him Hermione Granger. HG/RB AU.

"When hope fades, all we can do is hope for a miracle."

The dark paneled room would have made for an incredibly spacious and comfortable study, had it not been for the darkness in which it was usually kept. The beautifully polished oak was all in the best state, however it seemed like the curtains to the room were always drawn, as if they wanted to keep something, or some idea in or out.

There was little light within the study as well; only a small candle, half-way finished, emitting a soft, low light. It was hardly the type of light needed for a study, however the man slumped over the chair at the desk did not seem to care at all. In fact, he was simply watching the candle's flame dance, his head resting on the desktop. His eyes were sunken, and he looked like he had not slept in several days, still, his concentration on the candle did not waver.

The only noise present in the study was a soft ticking noise of a clock, but the man did not seem to notice that either.

Tick…tick…tick…

The desktop was empty, except for an inkpot, a quill and a piece of parchment which had few choice words carefully inscribed on it 'closer to cheating death than any other, for I plan to live forever.' The man continued to stare at the candle, which was losing height by the minute. Voices reeled in his head, blocking out the quiet ticking sound of the grandfather clock.

'Your three hundred and sixty five days start today, Mr. Black, I would suggest you start formulating and solving.'

That voice hadn't left Regulus much of a choice, now had it?

"Ah good, Regulus. Punctual as usual." The dark lord kept his back turned to the young man, although he was pacing back and forth slightly. Regulus had felt the burn of his dark mark only a few minutes before when he had been with Bellatrix. She smiled a cool Bellatrix smile; the one of pride and of slight jealousy. Regulus knew that Rudolphus had always been green about the fact that Bella was so dedicated to the dark lord, but only a fool wouldn't hold his tongue.

Finally, Voldemort turned to look at Regulus, who hadn't moved from the position that he had entered the room in. He found it easy to be so statuesque around these people; no one had really made hum jump since Sirius, although mentioning that fact to anyone in his family considered 'worth his time' was tabooed.

"Regulus, I have a proposition for you, something very important that must be completed in the greatest of secrecies."

'Proposition' when used by Voldemort meant anything but the actual dictionary reference. It meant, like almost everything that came out of the dark lord's mouth that you did it, or you would face the consequence of death.

Voldemort didn't wait for Regulus to respond, but rather, paused for his own dramatic effect. "You see, I have in my possession a terrible secret that, should it fall into the wrong hands could be very dangerous for me. No one is more powerful that I, but alas, with the right resources, someone such as Albus Dumbledore could prove to be quite the threat."

Regulus had expected him to ask him to destroy it, or bring it back to him so that he could deal with it as necessary. After these few moments however, Regulus learned quickly to never expect anything. Things happened in their own way, and nothing was going to stop that.

"Now my secret, for the moment, is still completely safe. However, if Dumbledore was ever to…catch wind or haggle a guess as to what it might be…well, I would prefer to think that it would still remain safe."

Regulus still said nothing. The dark lord tended to take his time getting around to things, most of the death eaters noticed it as part of his charm to use his eloquence to wrap people in, so once they finally found out what they were doing, nothing else was in their minds.

"Regulus, you are perhaps, one of the most intelligent death eaters I have, and although I would be the likely candidate as far as that test, I cannot complete this task myself. Therefore, I think it is best for you to handle this affair for me." Voldemort stepped forward, and drew one long pale finger down Regulus' cheek.

"It is an honour to serve my lord."

Voldemort stepped back, and smiled – as well as his body form could. It was more of a satisfied look than a smile; knowing he could still force others to bend to his will in order to find his ends.

Voldemort passed over a piece of paper of Regulus, which had one simple phrase.

'Closer to cheating death than any other, for I plan to live forever.'

"My secret is simply this, Mr. Black, and I will give you one year, that is, 365 days to completely decipher it. Should you fail, I will know that if Dumbledore is alerted to my plan, I shall have enough time to properly act to protect it. In 365 days, I shall see what you have obtained, although I do expect everything from my secret to be in your possession, or within quick attainability for that meeting. Do not attempt to pretend that my security is strong enough…if you should fail with this I will see to it that the consequences are quite dire."

The way Regulus was viewing this little 'proposal' he seemed very screwed either way.

"Your 365 days, or one year if you prefer, begin now."

Regulus knew a dismissal when he heard one; he bowed and muttered my lord. This would be interesting.

The flame of the candle started to flicker lower, and lower.

Regulus glanced at the clock. His 350 days had just turned into 349, and he was no closer than he had been at 365. The way that Regulus understood this proposal, death was waiting for him at either door. Should he discover the dark lord's secret, Voldemort would deem him too dangerous to be kept around, and he would be disposed of, maybe if he was lucky even by Voldemort himself! Regulus let out a bark-like laugh bitterly at the last thought.

Should he fail to discover the dark lord's secret, he would be deemed as a failure, because to Regulus it was quite obvious that even if Voldemort would not admit it, the dark lord feared greatly what Dumbledore could do. Failure to do what was commanded as a death eater led down the same path as the other; death, however, probably a more brutal one, merely preformed by someone such as Bellatrix.

She wouldn't hesitate at all to kill Regulus for Voldemort; he was her king, and she was the most loyal vassal any monarch could hope for. In a way, it saddened him greatly, because he remembered exactly who Bella used to be.

Regulus looked over at the candle, which was flickering dangerously low. He made no move to get a new one, but simply stared at it.

Tick…tick…tick…

Any path he took this year would lead him to the very same end.

He looked back down at the paper.

'Closer to cheating death than any other, for I plan to live forever.'

Nothing seemed to make sense; the words jumbled in places they shouldn't and even simple sentences couldn't form coherently in his brain. It was almost as if Voldemort had confounded the paper, although that seemed incredibly unlikely. Nothing seemed plausible; a philosopher's stone allowed you to live forever, however, it was hardly original, as the first section of the line suggested. Any other methods of elongating life, or avoiding being murdered seemed completely out of the question, especially when it came to originality, or 'further along the path' because they were all tested out by previous people.

The candle was barely glowing.

With a sigh, Regulus licked his fingers and deadened the wick, leaving him the complete darkness of the study.

Regulus Black had never prayed for anything in his life. In the cold black of his study, he started to pray to Merlin for a miracle.

Little did he know, Merlin was listening. And Hermione Granger was definitely a miracle.

No one had expected the battle to take such a sour turn. The order members had been advancing quickly on the death eaters, luck clearly on their side. However, it seemed, in a moment, everything changed. With a triumphant stroke of luck, the death eater who had been dueling Mad-Eye Moody made a break, and the green light was everything anyone needed to know.

With the fall of a great hero, the battle took a terrible turn for the worse. With its back against the wall, the previously energized order was pushed back into a corner, and unlike a cat who was most dangerous at that point, they seemed to be failing. Hermione Granger was in the back of them all, a few encircling her as she worked in a final attempt to break down the anti-apparation guards.

"They're down Harry, go!" With a proud and thankful smile, Harry yelled the final retreat orders. Little did he know, Hermione wasn't listening.

Once the rest had disappeared, the death eaters closed in, easily, knowing what Hermione had, and what Harry hadn't; she had to stay to make sure that the guards stay down, which meant that herself apparating away was impossible.

"A bold sacrifice, it's too bad you're mudblood filth." Hermione was surprised to have even gotten a compliment such as that.

"Let's just get this over with." She was going to die. That was inevitable. Bellatrix gave a terrifying laugh.

"You don't deserve it quick and easy mudblood filth, no, this will be quite entertaining." She raised her wand and then paused, looking down at her left forearm. She sneered.

"You're lucky mudblood, the Dark Lord wants us." Her baby voice was really starting to irk Hermione. She had to make this sacrifice; for the order, but more importantly, for Harry. "Goodnight, filth."

It had been quite different than Hermione had expected; no pain, like she would have had if it was a muggle death. It was quite instantaneous actually, just as quick as the green light had ended, so had she.

Bellatrix spat on the ground, and turned to leave, quite unaware of what she had actually done.

Hermione had often wondered, especially after she had been involved with the grand adventures of Harry Potter, what it would feel like to die. If there was truly a heaven, or if there was just blank eternity, and she was just another droplet in the huge ocean to be forgotten amongst the rest.

"You can't die yet my dear; you've got work to do. Everyone deserves a second chance at life, but you're the lucky one who gets it."

The small voice had whispered in her ear from nowhere. Her head was pounding, and when she blinked once, she was quite aware that her surroundings were not familiar. She tried to move her arm into a more comfortable position, but it seemed as if she couldn't. Hermione blinked again, and the room came into focus. She was tied neatly to a chair, in an extremely dark paneled room. Across it, once she blinked again, she noticed the outline of a man sitting in a chair.

"Some light perhaps?" He snapped his fingers once, and the torches on the walls flared on. Hermione blinked again, and things came into focus once more. The man was dark haired, with striking bone structure and handsome features, even if he looked like he hadn't slept in days. He was twirling a wand between his fingers, which Hermione quickly recognized as her own.

"Who the hell are you?" It was very likely she should have been more polite, but her pounding headache didn't leave much in her for pleasantries.

"Why the hell are you in my study then?" He seemed every bit as confused as her, even if he was attempting to hide it.

"I don't know, I'm supposed to be dead."

Oh yes; expect the unexpected.

Well, I'd love to know what you guys think of this, it's just a base idea, and I've got a plan for where this story will go, and actually, I already know how it's going to end pretty much, which is always a good thing. Any comments are wonderful. (:

Lots of love!

QUITERIE -