A Brief History of Our Diamond

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. We all know it was written by Emma Watson. Queen.

A/N: This is my first story on this account, and my first story after a very long break from writing fanfiction. Of course, everything in this prologue and the rest of the story is fiction mixed with very little facts to further along the story. I included the Hindu aspect because 1. I myself am Hindu, and I like to put in some personality with my stories, and 2. the diamond in question, does, in fact, have Hindu origins. Then again, very little of this background is true, so don't fret too much about its validity.

Disclaimer #2: This whole fic is based heavily off of a Bollywood movie called Bang Bang!, one of my favorite movies ever. I changed some of the details, so it's not completely a copy, but if you've watched the movie, you will notice the similarities. Anyways, enough rambling. Onward ho!

You would think after 3 suicides have been attributed to a stolen, cursed, and black (known by your high school lit teacher as the color of evil and death) diamond, it would be left alone. Then again, you remember all of humanity's stupid mistakes and superstitions, like the attacks on the Mongolian ambassadors at a time when the Mongols were screaming bloody murder on just about everyone they saw, or draining blood during the Plague to get rid of the "sick part"; the ones you painstakingly learned about during your high school world history teacher's monotonous lectures. Seriously, the guy was the most drab being alive; he coached the girls' soccer team, was probably a pedophile, and drank at least 3 cold brews every hour. The least he could do was spark some interest.

The Black Orlov Diamond originates in a city in India called Pondicherry, though not indicated by its Russian name. It seems like Europe has a knack for stealing precious gems from India, the Kohinoor Diamond being a prime example. Nevertheless, this time Europe did not steal the diamond from its birthplace. Surprise. Our story begins with a monk, one from the fables of Hinduism, who lived in poverty and devoted his life to the gods. Obviously, he wasn't too devoted, as he happened upon a shrine of one of the most powerful Hindu gods, Brahma, and his first thoughts were, "Shiny stones. Steal. Money. Yum".

Brahma is a part of the Big Three gods(no, not Percy Jackson), and he is known as The Creator. He is responsible for the creation of life and the universe as we know it, not really a god to be messed with. Well, our monk here noticed a statue of Brahma set on a pedestal within the shrine, and glittering in the eyes of the three-headed god were 6 beautifully cut black diamonds.

Of course, any sane person at the time would know that the temple that owned the shrine was just trying to increase devotee visitation; they had no credibility in calling the stones diamonds. The monk was smart, an Aladdin type guy. Swift as the night, he stole the 6 stones and escaped, hatching a plan to travel to the nearest merchant market and set up a booth. For what, you may ask? Tricking the innocent, gullible, and largely egotistical noble families of the land to buy his self-proclaimed "67.50 carat, nature cut 'Eye of Brahma' black diamond, blessed by the Creator himself". Maybe the monk would have escaped Brahma's wrath, had he known one of his six diamonds actually happened to be a 67.50 carat, nature cut black diamond. And Brahma really would have considered forgiving him, had his rage not been fueled by the fact that a greedy, fake man had stolen an extremely valuable diamond from a statue of Brahma himself, and committed a crime of leaving a statue of god blind. From that moment further, the Eye of Brahma diamond was cursed to leave death in its wake, the blood of its victims splashed across the pages of superstitious history. Oh, and the monk did end up dying. Touché.

Fast forward little under 100 years later: the diamond has arrived under the ownership of a European diamond dealer by the name of J.W. Parris, whose poor soul has no idea about the dealings of a curse and angry Gods that have come under his ownership as well. Long story short, the diamond is sold a week later to a buyer in New York, and Parris's body is found at the bottom of a Manhattan skyscraper somewhere on 5th Avenue.

1917, princess Nadia Vygin-Orlov of Russia, who – you guessed it – the Black Orlov Diamond derives its name from, is escaping from the Russian Revolution and heading towards Italy, black diamond in hand. 30 years later, and 15 years after Parris's suicide, her mangled body, too, is found beneath a building in Rome.

How does this correlate, exactly? Two suicides over the span of 30 years, in two different places across the world shouldn't alarm anyone, although both victims coincidentally held ownership of the Eye of Brahma diamond. Well, one month before Nadia's death, Princess Leonila Viktorovna-Bariatinsky of Russia had been found to have committed suicide. Lo and behold, who do you believe held ownership of our beloved black diamond?

Naturally, this diamond has quite a history; however, Brahma's curse was believed to be broken when then-owner Charles F. Wilson cut the diamond into 3 pieces. He's still alive, somewhere, so it can be assumed that the diamond's curse has been temporarily subdued (though I doubt the ability of a jeweler to break a 200-year-old curse by one of the most powerful gods in Hinduism is even tangible). The middle piece of the Black Orlov Diamond, a cushion-shaped jewel, currently resides in the Natural History Museum in London, with as much security as the U.S. President's Secret Service detail. No one knows where the other two pieces reside, and I wonder about the chaos they would cause if they were reunited...

Then again, it could just be a dumb superstition made up by our dumb human minds to "explain the inexplicable and provide meaning to the universe and all we don't know", in the words of James Potter, when he does end up stealing our prized jewel. I find it tacky, personally. Our story revolves around this diamond, though, and it's always helpful to have a bit of historical precedent about an object before you read a story centered around it.

I'm aware that this story is supposed to be romance, and action, and sinful suspense, ooh-la-la. In fact, in a world where everything is either romanticized or politicized, this diamond plays a huge role in the development of our very unlikely pair. For a small, dark rock, James and Lily do have to dodge quite a few obstacles and jump out of a few planes. I'm not going to explain everything to you now, of course; what would be the point of the story, then?

Intrigued? Me neither. And, points to you if the three pieces of the diamond reminded you of the Invisibility Cloak, Elder Wand, and Resurrection Stone. First chapter coming soon, please stick around. I'll make it worth your wait, I promise!

- Niha