he only needed to look at Hermione's borrowing records.
The list comprised a what's-what of complex potions, as well as restricted and semi-illegal spells. Ron and Harry's records, in marked contrast, remained entirely innocuous. Hermione had always been reluctant for the boys to check out restricted volumes under their own names. The discovery of 'Mending and Caring for Your Invisibility Cloak', by Cora Dodd, in Harry's borrowing records might have looked a tad suspicious to an investigating teacher.
Luckily for them, Madam Pince seemed to maintain some sort of Librarian's Code, which probably went along the lines of 'thou shall not divulge the contents of a student's borrowing records to faculty, unless explicitly required by irate Potion Masters'. She might have taken a strip of hide from a student for damaging a book, but over the years, Pince and Hermione had developed a comfortable alliance.
Perhaps there was something in the serious Librarian that enjoyed speculating about what the trio got up to after Hermione's research stints. Perhaps Pince was even living vicariously through the friends. The latter thought made Hermione smile.
Either way, Hermione was thankful for the woman's no-questions-asked policy. The request for assistance in locating the Fida Mia text had resulted in a thin, raised eyebrow and nothing more.
Hermione rolled the stiffness out of her shoulders and glanced around the library. Said text had been sitting open in front of her for nearly the entire lunch period. Just the sight of it made her palms sweaty and her stomach coil and tighten in nervousness.
Apart from a pair of third year Ravenclaws who were industriously scribbling away on parchment in a far corner, Hermione was alone. She was safely nestled inside a small, windowed alcove that she had come to call her own during her schooling at Hogwarts.
The spot was her corner of the library and a haven for the perpetually conspiring. It was hard to speculate about the number of times she had sat at the table with Ron, Harry or Ginny, whispering at each other over a great stack of books
Turning her attention back to her task, Hermione shook off her post-graduation nostalgia like water from a wet coat, and continued reading.
Chapter Three: Origins
Hermione found it odd that Fida Mia had originated as a spell to demonstrate loyalty in one's vassals.
An enchantment of honour my Aunt Gerty's tea towel, thought Hermione, with a mental snort.
The spell was hardly a benign thing. Like Chinese Whispers, Fida Mia had been distorted and misshapen over time, molded and recast again and again by those who found new use for it. This was a fate common to spells, as Professor Binns would often tell them.
Even though wizards tended to be an insular, backward lot, magic undoubtedly evolved through the centuries. There was hardly an incantation used in current times that did not originate as something quite different.
Hermione made quick notes as she speed-read through Tallowstub's lengthy, slightly over-written account of the application of Fida Mia in medieval times. The pages of her well-used, dog-eared notebook filled up quickly.
She paused to read over her latest entries.
- Two parties may undertake Fida Mia, i.e. two 'initiates'. Typically, one is dominant (liege), the other submissive (servant).- Initiates are marked willingly, with a symbol or standard of the dominant party (i.e. tattoo or branding).
- Despite the existence of House or family insignias, markings may not be specifically chosen by either party prior to the casting, rather, the spell 'chooses' a representation of one's partner and reproduces this mark via the medium of tattoo.
It seemed mind-boggling that a person would willingly submit to being magically branded and literally owned by another. And yet the fanciful illustrations in the book would claim this to be the case. It showed buxom maids kneeling before their benevolent looking lieges with expressions of rapture as dark, coiling marks were enchanted into the skin of their wrists, shoulders, calves and on page six hundred and seventeen, buttocks.
With a disgusted expression, Hermione turned to the following page a tad too sharply, causing one corner of the stiff paper to rip. She looked up; half expecting Madam Pince to come running from her office at the sound of such desecration, but was thankful when the Librarian did not appear.
Despite the romantic connotations (and really, one had to have suffered from a Bludger to the head to find Fida Mia romantic), the spell was quite unsavory. Not as heinous as an Unforgivable, certainly, but it smacked of Dark Magic. It was a spell forged in a