分卷阅读64（2 / 2）

In preparation for a traditional wizarding wedding, it was the job of the marita to provide the robes for both partners. Traditionally the clothing had to be hand sewn by the marita, but over time the custom had evolved so that the marita only had to pay for the clothes. The maritus would pay the “bride price” of the marita to the head of the marita’s family, or the closest male guardian of the marita in the event that the marita had no family. This price was set by tradition of how wealthy and noble the family was that the marita was marrying into, and not, as muggles had used it, set by how much the marita was worth to the marita’s family.

The actual wedding ceremony was done outside the doorway of the house that the couple were going to live in. The marita was walked up the driveway surrounded by the marita’s family, and was led by his/her closest male relative/guardian. The maritus waited just outside the closed doors to the house and when the marita reached the doors, he/she was given over to the maritus.

The rite of marriage itself had three parts. First the marriage vows were given in the language of the birthplace of the two to be married, a symbol of the connection between not only the two to be married but that there was now a connection between the lands that the two came from as well. “Where you are Gaia, I am Gaius” was spoken by the maritus, to which the marita replied, “Where you are Gaius, I am Gaia”. The wedding rings were then exchanged. Then the wedding vows were said again, this time in Latin, to invoke the forces of magic themselves to watch over the couple to be married. “Ubi tu Gaia, ego Gaius,” was said by the maritus, to which the marita replied, “Ubi tu Gaius, ego Gaia.”

The next part of the marriage was the opening of the house doors, in which the couple quite literally opened the doors of the house. If the doors would not open it was a sign that the magical forces looked down on the marriage for some reason and the ceremony could not continue (Harry had no idea what would happen if the doors wouldn’t open no one had recorded what would happen in such an event.). The marita was then carried over the threshold into the house (for it was considered unlucky if the marita tripped over the threshold when entering the house) and was carried to the ball room where the third part of the wedding took place: the traditional dances.

This was something that wasn’t strange to Harry. Muggles used the same kind of dances at their weddings. The couple would dance first (and at this point they were considered married), then the marita would dance with the closest male guardian/parent to him/her, and finally the maritus would dance with the closest female guardian/parent to him/her. In cases with homosexual pairings, the gender of the person either partner danced with did not change.

But what surprised Harry the most was that it seemed to be proper for an engagement to last for years and then be dissolved without marriage. Even after the elaborate courtship ritual, it was proper in the wizarding world for the partners to be split, either for family or their own reasons. If the engagement terminated while a partner was under seventeen, that partner would return to being not an adult, or not legal, in the wizarding community. But if the engagement terminated after both partners were of legal age, they would retain their legal status. And in the case that a partner died while another was under the legal age, that surviving partner would still remain legal.

When Harry entered their bedroom that night, Draco did not comment on how late Harry was or how Harry had missed dinner. Neither boy spoke, both too enveloped in their own thoughts to voice them.

The Great Hall was a buzz of hushed excitement the next morning and Harry realized through the haze of half-shaken-off sleep that there were no more missing students at the Gryffindor table. His gaze shifted sharply to the Slytherin table as Draco took his customary seat in-between Crabbe and Goyle. They weren’t eating as they normally were but were sitting there looking imposing, for once at their own housemates. The subjects of their gazes were sitting across from Draco, looking as out of place as First Years before the Sorting.

This morning Blaise and Pansy couldn’t even look at Draco, decked out in the same colors he’d been in since the beginning of the week and would remain in until his father’s funeral. Draco, on the other hand, looked as regal and condescending as ever, acting as if the two opposite him were not worth his time.

Harry frowned. He didn’t know how friendships worked in Slytherin, but from what he’d seen in Malfoy Manor, those two had cared for Draco in a way that friends cared for each other, but Blaise, at least, had betrayed whatever ties he’d had with Draco. Pansy hadn’t done that as far as Harry had seen. Yet she acted just as Blaise did, ashamed of her own actions.

Draco nodded only to Crabbe and Goyle as he left the table, walking towards the dungeons. They began to load food onto their plates as if they had just discovered what lay on the table, and Pansy whispered something in Blaise’s ear.

“Harry?” Ron’s voice redirected Harry to the Gryffindor side of the room. “You’re being rather obvious,” he muttered under his breath, and Harry looked down the table to see most of the Gryffindors looking at him and whispering to each other.

Just great. They were probably wondering if there was any connection from that article to his behavior. At least no one had made a scene yet.

Movement caught Harry’s eye and he hastily stood as Blaise left the Great Hall.

“Harry?” Hermione asked. “You haven’t touched your breakfast.”

“I’ll see you in class,” Harry said hurriedly and left the room.

“Malfoy,” Ron mouthed and Hermione nodded, returning to the parchment in front of her. Ron watched for the next few minutes as she wrote franticly, crossed things out, and scribbled notes around other scribbles.

“What are you doing?” Ron asked finally, scooting closer so he could see over her shoulder.

“I’m plotting. What does it look like I’m doing?”