Chapter 25: MATRIMONY

"Hey, we're here to celebrate my birthday! Stop talking about wedding!" Ron exclaimed in annoyance.

"You will have your birthday every year, Ronald," Ginny retorted sourly, looking up from her notes. "but my wedding will only happen once. In ten weeks, mind you. So it's obvious which one is more important."

This was another Weasley's tradition after the war, if someone's birthday fell on Saturday their weekly Sunday brunch would change to Saturday dinner for celebration. This year was Ron's and it's not often he got this kind of celebration where everyone could attend, thus Hermione wasn't surprised at all by his outburst.

However, three weeks ago Ginny had announced her engagement to Harry and their (read: her) plan to marry in May so predictably every conversation in any family gathering afterward would never far from wedding plan. Usually it was Mrs Weasley who initiated it, tonight oddly it was Ginny who brought it up to the point that it seemed she intentionally wanted to hijack Ron's party.

"We can still postpone it, dear, more time to prepare. Nothing has been arranged yet, no harm if you change the date," said Mrs Weasley gently. This was not her first attempt persuading her daughter. "Fall wedding maybe, it will be nice with the colour."

Her counterargument was also same as the previous one. "Mum, I explained why this is the only available time, right? Besides, I already have everything planned to detail, all what's left is the execution." She waved her notes to emphasise her points.

It's evident that Mrs Weasley wanted to make huge celebration for their union. Unfortunately between Ginny's Quidditch calendar and Harry's unpredictable work, there's little option in picking the date unless they delayed it indefinitely – which Ginny was strongly opposed. Or so it seemed.

Admitting defeat for now, she moved to Angelina. "You sure you don't want this, dear?"

This was not the first occurrence either but before any sound could escape her opening mouth, George stepped out from the doorway, his five weeks old baby in his arms, and intervened.

"Stop pestering her, Mum. He wants you," he added in gentler tone, handing the fussing baby to his partner. Angelina quickly excused herself to nurse him as the baby started whimpering, demanding his meal.

"But Little Fred–,"

"–is a Weasley," he finished her sentence. "Angie and I agreed that he will be Weasley." Before Mrs Weasley could launch another, he nipped it ahead. "And if we decide to marry, it will be because we want it, not because we have baby together."

His tone was firm, clearly indicating that he wouldn't accept any contention. Sending a warning last look to his mother, he spun and left the room. It was very rare for the normally playful George to be so stern and serious, but Angelina had regaled them on how their sleeping pattern was badly disturbed by their new baby so his tiredness likely was a factor.

Mrs Weasley seemed still to have some say in the matter though, only to be sidetracked by Bill's arrival. Half asleep Vicky nestled her head on her father's neck.

"It's almost her bedtime. We should get her home," he informed his wife.

Fleur nodded demurely. She extended her hand to her husband to help her to her feet. For an eight months pregnant woman, she personified the term of yummy-mummy to perfection. Her pregnancy only amplified her beauty.

"I still have chocolate cake in the kitchen, do you want to take it with you, dear?"

"Sure. Thank you, Molly."

As Fleur and Bill said goodbye, leaving the table with Molly in tow, Harry also rose from his chair.

"Come on, Teddy. It's time to return you to your Nana," he told his godson who'd been sitting quietly beside him like a lovely little cherub he was.

"But Ginny say I have important job." He turned to Ginny for an affirmation.

When the first word of wedding planning had been uttered at the end of the dinner, one by one the men wisely started to find excuse to leave the table. All except Harry and Ron, being the groom and his best man respectively hence their 'participation' was a must – as proclaimed by the bride to-be. While Victoire chose to be with her father to 'practise' in her preparation to be big sister with Little Fred, Teddy stayed after he'd been told of his very important role as pageboy. Thus gone were all Harry's excuse to leave and there's no way he'd let Ron make him the only adult male there.

"You do, love," Ginny assured him. "In fact, tomorrow I will go to your home to have private talk about this. Just you and me. What do you think?"

"Tomorrow?" he chirped enthusiastically.

She nodded vehemently. "Yes." Then she paused, as if she suddenly remembered something. "But don't you think we'll need to get your Nana's permission first? Do you think you can help me talk to your Nana tonight so by tomorrow she already agreed?"

He beamed. "Okay."

With the two gone, it left only Hermione, Ginny, and Ron at the table. Under normal circumstance this wouldn't be a problem but while Hermione kept her stand as observer like before, Ron started to become restless. Her suspicion that something was brewing between the siblings seemed to be on spot. For whatever it was, Ginny did this intentionally.

"Stay where you are, Ronald Bilius Weasley," she hissed. Her tone was ice cold, enough to freeze him mid standing.

Hermione knew better than to involve herself in this siblings quarrel, but she figured her presence here was still required, just in case. Therefore, she remained still on her chair, mouth shut while eyes carefully continued assessing the situation. Clearly Ginny had a bone to pick with her brother and by the look of it, it wouldn't end well for him.

"I'll advise you to take a note on what we're about to discuss for I reckon you may need it for your future."

The last word was dripping with acid that she gathered her decision to stay was right; Ron would need rescuing very soon. Not that he appeared to notice, judging by how his posture had slackened off considerably which confirmed his previous reaction was likely only due to the mention of his full name.

He groaned. "This won't be the first time I participate in a wedding, Gin. Besides, I'll deal with Harry more than you," he huffed petulantly.

"If you say so," she sneered menacingly. "Then you won't care if I make Louisa Phillips as my second bridesmaids, will you?"

He got the message at last. Glancing to the door, he growled, his words were almost inaudibly, "You don't even like her."

"Let's just say I change my mind after I find out why Mum dragged me to have another 'talk' last month." She shot him a scathing glare. "Anything you want to say, dear brother of mine?"

Colours were drained from his face in a second. But this was Ron, he quickly went to defensive.

"He's been grinning like a loon. There's only few thing that can make a bloke behaving like that. How should I know that you two were engaged?"

And it finally clicked in Hermione's mind, how two particular seemingly random past incidents were connected. One was the boys abrupt dynamic change around New Year which appeared to be out of nowhere since within her knowledge, the boys didn't have any falling out. It was one sided on Ron's part, Harry had confided how confused he was for he couldn't recall what had he done to warrant a cold shoulder from his oldest friend.

The other was between Ginny and her mother. It was quite a sight to witness Ginny's fury that day. Considering that she'd just returned from her routine mid season training camp, her first guess was she lost the game night again. Her conjecture was proved wrong in an instant because right after, she sprouted variety of expletive which could be summarised as her displeasure of another 'witch-and-wizard conversation' with her mother. She detested it the first time and sufficed to say, her feeling hadn't changed any bit. It's no wonder that Ginny didn't visit the Burrow for awhile until she dropped the news on her engagement.

"And what?" she spat, glaring at him. "You thought he got lucky and you suddenly want to play protective brother by selling me out to Mum?! It's none of your business, Ronald, I'm free to do whatever I want. You have no right to do that!"

As the mood in the air gradually rose, Hermione promptly formulating which course of action she'd take if she wanted to play referee in this approaching show down. This was Ron, jumping to conclusion without proper assessment was not unknown tendency of his. Still, this was originated from simple misunderstanding, a brawl between two grown up siblings seemed to be rather excessive.

"Do what?" a cheerful voice broke the tension momentarily.

Harry rejoined them, obvious of the proverbial dark cloud hanging above. His jolly expression would only mean that his short trip went in a positive note.

"Ron was saying that he fancies a private audience with Mum to discuss his genital," Ginny replied, her tone clipped.

By Ron's accusing glare, he got a clue what this conversation was about. Offering him a sheepish apologetic grin, he muttered, "Sorry, I slipped up. I didn't know about your mum."

"Why you have to marry my sister, mate?!" He racked his hair in frustration. He then turned to Ginny again, hissing, "I get your warning, okay, but don't drag her into this. Your issue is with me."

Seeing an opening, Hermione chimed in, careful to maintain neutral tone. "Gin, I know this is your prerogative, but if you really want to have additional bridesmaids, wouldn't it better if it's one of your teammates?" she reasoned in a placating tone to the irritated siblings.

"And Ron, she's our friend too. It would be strange not to invite her and since she doesn't many people amongst the guests, it's more make sense if she sits with us than with your Dad's colleagues or your families. You can't keep her away from your mum forever."

Ron and Louisa had been dating for several months, but for some reason he still kept it a secret. Only handful of people had been told about their relationship status complete with a warning not to tell anyone, especially his mother. Hermione had several theories on the why, but still she couldn't comprehend the necessity of it. Nonetheless, it's not her place to concern about it.

"You're discussing about guest list already?" Harry piped in, attracting their attention to him. "Good. I have a favour to ask from you two."

Somehow he managed to diffuse the heavy air around only to present them with another grave subject. "I want to invite Malfoy," he stated straightforwardly.

She reckoned she must have a similar feature of surprise as Ron's on her face, though she supposed his reason was different than hers. The lack of reaction from Ginny indicated that she had known this beforehand. After all as his bride-to-be, Harry would have asked her opinion and approval first.

"Malfoy? You mean the Draco ferret Malfoy?"

Harry raised his hands placatingly, trying to soothe him. Coming from Ron, this was not unexpected but to his credit, it was more of disbelieve than bolt out anger.

"He's been my partner for over three years," he explained in an even tone. "He's changed and I want to give him a chance."

"By inviting him to your wedding?" Ron replied incredulously. He let out a sarcastic cackle. "Do you think he'll be willing to deign his presence to us peasant?"

But Harry was prepared on this contention, likely this was surfaced during his conversation with his fiancée. "If I publicly invite him, he'll have no choice but to attend. He won't miss an opportunity to regain his reputation too," he expounded.

"Even though it will be a private ceremony, the wedding will still attract huge publicity. Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly will not miss it. And him being in my wedding, with the well known history between us, will send good message of peace, forgiveness, and unity. After all, we didn't go through a war only to head to another just because we can't remove prejudice in our society."

Once more Hermione and Ron wore similar expression, of bewilderment this time, dumbfounded by his 'oration'. She knew that he no longer saw everything in black and white like his younger self – in part due to Snape's memory – and he also had been mending his relationship with his cousin, but it's still surprising to see him went further.

"Golly! Since when are you into Ministry's propaganda?" he said teasingly.

"Oh, come on, Ron!" Then he shifted to Hermione. "You see how he is in the Ministry right, Hermione?"

"I what?!" She was jolted out from her stupor. Surely Harry didn't find out about her past secret rendezvous, right?

"Don't tell me you didn't notice how he is in DMLE, he's even attended one of your class," he elaborated. "You can see that he's not the same Malfoy we knew at school, right? Yes, I still want to hex him sometimes, but he's decent now."

Before Harry could sing more praise of Draco's good quality or how he had changed, Ron put a stop on it.

"I get it, Harry. I already told you once, I have better thing to do than nursing a grudge over past teenage fight," Ron assured him, though a wicked smile on his face implied that he's not done in teasing him. "So what do you want from us?"

"Just keep him company occasionally, okay. Obviously he'll be the only Slytherin in our year, so he may not have anyone to chat. I still have to work with him and I don't want him to make my day miserable just because he thinks that this is my way to humiliate him or something."

"No problem. As long as he doesn't start provoking me, I'm good," he acceded. "But tell my sister, no more bridesmaids." He said it to Harry but his eyes were on Ginny.

The siblings were instantly having another staring contest, as if they could throw daggers from their eyes merely by willpower alone. Despite that, there's a little doubt that Ginny would concede. She wouldn't be willing to risk a commotion between her brother and mother in her own wedding just for spite.

.***.

One would naturally assume the fact that Ginny was going to marry the boy – now a man – she'd had crush on since she's eleven would make her wanting for grand ceremony, a wedding she might have pictured in great details when she's a young girl. Adulthood tended to make her leaning more on practicality than grandeur, although she seemed to still hold on some particular details from her dream wedding.

When Ginny told her about her engagement and consecutively asking her to be her maid of honour, Hermione expected there'd be much running around from place to place considering the time constraint, even for a small ceremony. But then when she read how detailed her list was, she reckoned that there's not much she'd have to do. From flowers to foods, dress to guests, Ginny had already made a detailed list not only on what and which but also on where and how. That's how she deduced that she'd been engaged for awhile.

Apparently adulthood also brought secrecy.

"Want to share what's on your mind, Hermione?"

She looked up from her portion stack of RSVP cards.

"Nothing," she mumbled weakly.

Ginny pushed the seating plan she'd been working on to the middle of the table. Just two weeks after the showdown at the Burrow, they're already in the process to finalise the seating plan. When Mrs Weasley had made her remark, she certainly would never guess that the invitations had already been printed and ready to be sent the next morning.

She folded her arms on her chest, staring at her intensely. "I'm listening ...,"

She sighed helplessly. When Ginny was making that face, she wouldn't back down until she satisfied with what she got.

"I know it's not my business, but are you sure about this, Gin?" At her questioning raised eyebrows, she continued, "I mean, both of you are still young, just starting your careers. You said it yourself, next year you'll be very busy with Quidditch. Do you think it's wise to marry now? What about having long engagement?"

Even if there were still 5 matches left, the outcome of those matches wouldn't affect Harpies' standing. They're guaranteed to win the League this season. Which was why Ginny, as first liner, was given a necessary break since she'd only play one match amongst those 5 matches. Come summer, the team would go through rigorous training and matches as they'd play on The International Quidditch Tournament while defending their title on the League. Hence, spring was the only she'd have for wedding. That was what she said to her mother.

Except, the same reason was also exactly why Hermione thought that starting a married life didn't sound as a good decision. Rationally speaking, it would be tricky to juggling new life style – not just adapting to live under the same roof with new person, but also the new role as wife – while her career was taking off. Multitasking was one thing, but still the risk was too high.

A sardonic chortle certainly was not what she expected to get for her genuine concern.

"Long engagement? You're joking, right?" she said in derisive tone. "Can you imagine what Mum can do if I give her enough time? She'll insist to do it the old way. As the first born, Bill can get away thanks to Voldemort fiasco and Fleur being French. But I'm her only daughter and I'm marrying Harry Potter, there's no way she'd back down."

Obviously they both saw things differently because she found it hard to contemplate why the type of wedding ceremony could weigh more than the marriage itself. Her expression must have reflected her thought and Ginny noticed it.

"Sorry, I forget that you're Muggle-born, of course you didn't know about old wizarding marriage custom. It takes a lot of preparation, not to mention tiring and bothersome," she remarked. Exhaling a distasteful sigh, she reclined to the sofa. Clearly she didn't keen to explain it to her, but she did.

"In total, it can last for three days and careful timing, Hermione. So it starts a day before the actual wedding ceremony," she began. "Separately, at their own parents' home, the bride and the groom will go through something called 'Purification' performed by their House's elders which has to be concluded just after sunset. Please don't ask me to elaborate what it entails, I'm not well verse on it.

"Then the groom and his entourage – mostly his core family – will go to the bride's home. The bride's family will provide accommodation – like tent or such – for them to stay while the groom's parents and elders will 'inspect' the bride. The so called accommodation should be exactly one mile from the house and the perimeter warded.

"It is said that the bride hasn't met his elders' approval, the only way he still can be with her is to kidnap her at night and consummate their relationship so both side won't have any choice but to marry them in the morning. If she gets an ok, Handfasting and Bonding will be performed in the morning in front of the whole wedding congregation followed by wedding breakfast as a sign from her family welcoming their new son-in-law. Then there's Blessing which will be attended by the bride's guests who will also give their blessing and move to the groom's. Wait, I think I miss something."

She paused, a frown etched between her brows. She counted her fingers while mumbling, then nodded to herself before continued, "Anyway, there's Despatch ceremony then she'll be brought to his home – only accompanied by the similar entourage like the groom prior. When they arrive, there'll be another Blessing – this time from the groom's side – then the Welcoming. All of it must finish just after sunset, no sooner no later, due to some superstition.

"Later on, while the guests enjoying the Feast, basically dinner and entertainment, the newlywed will be led by both sets of parents and elders to a prepared tent for the Bedding Ceremony where they suppose to consummate their marriage, but I'm pretty sure they will be too tired to do anything other than sleeping."

"Wow, it does sound very archaic. Don't tell me the consummation has to be witnessed."

"Of course not! Who the hell will do that?!" she reproved. Her feeling at the mere idea was made clear by the disgusted look on her face.

Hermione could recite at least 5 cultures that had the said tradition complete with how one was worse than the other in term of invading the married couple's first night, but it's a story for another times so she just gave a tepid shrug.

"They'll just give the final Blessing as the couple seated at the bed, exit the tent, and cast protection circle around the tent so nobody can go in or out. They'll open it in the morning, then her parents will collect her Maidenhood blood – supposedly from the consummation – and take it home as parting token. And that's the end of the whole marriage ceremony."

That managed to make her speechless.

"Rather repulsive, right? No chance I'd ever do it."

Well, there're parents who kept their children's umbilical cord so perhaps every community had their own strange – to put it mildly – custom. She closed her mouth that she didn't realise was hung open by the information. A thought came up in her mind.

"Wait, Harry's parents are no more, so even if your Mum wants it, you can't."

Ginny snorted. "Oh yes, we can. Or more accurately, my Mum can make it happen. Parents and elders are interchangeable, for the procession you can have either or both. Harry, or more likely Mum, will only need to find his closest relative from his paternal side to fill the role of elders, it will do. Dad knows many people by working in Ministry and Harry is an Auror, it would be easy for Mum to guilt-trip them to do it for her."

She leaned forward to reach the seating plan, signaling that she considered this conversation was over.

"By the way, Harry and I decide to wait to have baby. So I'll need your help to arrange a visit to Muggle doctor. Muggles seems to have more variety in contraception than what I initially thought and I'm interested to know. I can't just rely on Harry to wear that thing called condom, right?" she added, looking utterly nonplussed when saying it.

Good to know that they didn't decide to jump into family life straight away, that would be one more reason why this marriage was not a good idea. In fact, Ginny should have answered her with this than lecturing her about old marriage custom.

"I can't believe I didn't notice that you're engaged," she stated, passing her RSVP list she compiled earlier. "Especially Harry, he used to be very easy to read and predictable. I can't believe I didn't catch any sign that he planned to propose."

"Well, Harry is a good Seeker. Hovering on the side and next thing you know, he already caught the Snitch," she commented cheerily. "Hmm, Wilbur will come alone, I can move him elsewhere then."

"Oh please, not another Quidditch reference again," Hermione moaned.

Without removing her eyes from the seating plan, she spoke, "More often than not, it proves to be quite spot on to assess how men will be in relationship, certainly better than your Muggle zodiac."

"Oh, really?"

"Well, take George for example. He's a Beater, unpredictable and never plays by common rules, a type you'll seek if you like an adventure. A Chaser will pursue you, but just like Beater, unless you can keep their interest on you, you'll never know what they'll do. Then most likely to be loyal are Seeker and Keeper. Harry is a Seeker, hovering in the perimeter for one target, only make a move when he sees an opening and either he'll get it or miss it. You'll never see a Seeker type incessantly pursuing girl like Chaser type."

Hermione snorted, half amused. "Is that why you're with Harry? Because he'll always loyal to you while you're 'playing around'?"

"Exactly! You get the gist. If I 'fly' too far, he'll catch me like a Snitch before I cross the line," Ginny confirmed. "And Ron is a fine example of a Keeper. A constant fixture in your life who you'll always know exactly where to find because he's always there, waiting. For a man in this type, you have to be the one who do all the hard work both when initiate it and, if it ends up go pear shape, to end it."

Her feature suddenly became subdue. "Talking about Ron, instead about Harry and me, it's him you should be worried."

"Why?" At that, Ginny shot her a meaningful look. "Ah, you mean about Louisa. If it's about him keeping his relationship secret, I don't see anything wrong about it. Maybe they still want to enjoy it just between them, not ready to share it with the world – which they don't have any obligation to do since it is between them two."

It's not that she had any right to criticise Ron anyway. She certainly also didn't want to explain her strange friendship with Draco to anyone.

"They seem to like each other. As their friend, I think it's more important than whether they flaunt their dating life to us or not. I certainly prefer their current discretion than a repeat performance of Won-Won and Lav-Lav," she bristled, in which Ginny responded with a snicker. "Just give her a chance, Gin. It's obvious that she makes him happy."

It surely took time for her to sort out her feeling on Ron's new relationship status, but she managed. She no longer felt that tugging pang in her chest when she saw them together and although she only had ever seen them kissing twice, she didn't feel any urge to send a flock of canaries to anyone. If she could make peace with her feeling and genuinely glad for Ron's happiness, there's no need for Ginny to antagonise Louisa for her sake.

"You seriously didn't notice?" she cried in disbelief. "She's basically the French blonde version of you. It's like Ron still hung up on you and he projects you on Louisa. It's not healthy!"

"How can you say that? We're not!" she denied.

"Oh, let's see," She started to count using her fingers, "a know-it-all, arrogant like she'll always know better than anyone else, stubborn and never want to listen anyone's opinion because she always know better, which make her insufferable most of the time. Godric, I salute Ron for not losing his mind by now for dating her."

She could feel her heart beat picking up, pumping blood faster through her veins. If those characteristic was what made Louisa similar to her, then it meant those words were also directed to her.

"Well, you manage to tolerate me." She tried to hold her tone, but some snippiness still managed to slip.

"To be frank, your controlling tendency can be really unbearable sometimes, even Mum is not that bad," she remarked nonchalantly while flipping through her cards. "I can tolerate living with you because I've known you since I was eleven."

The buzzing in her ears was getting louder.

"Oh, that's rich coming from you," she bristled defensively. "I'm not aware that reminding you to not leave the door unlocked or to turn the tap off when you're not using it can be considered as controlling. What can you say about you telling me what I should wear or how I should use my spare time, then? Self-centred? That the world needs to revolve around you the way you like it?"

Ginny's eyes were snapped from the parchment. "I certainly am not!" Her tone had an edge in it. Temperature in the room was rising. "Maybe if you can deal with your self-esteem issue, I don't ever need to tell you that."

She was opening her mouth for rebuttal but interrupted by a knock on the front door. It must be the pizza they had ordered.

Hermione rose from the floor, mumbled, "I'll get it," while Ginny also stood and subsequently murmured, "I'll make tea."

For the next hour, they continued their work in silence. The only sound that occasionally could be heard was a cling of tea cup under the unspoken agreement of cease fire and that there'd be no revisit of the previous quarrel for quite some time. Let bygones be bygones.

"Hermione, you still have that blue floral scarf, don't you? Can I borrow it for the week?" Ginny broke the silence after awhile.

Too immersed in her task of adjusting the food calculation with the final number of guest which she almost finished, she plainly replied, "Sure. I think it's in the drawer." One more item and she's done.

That's when she heard Ginny shout, "I can't find it, Hermione!"

"Left drawer, Gin," she shouted back as she stood up to head to her room lets Ginny ended up rummaging her whole wardrobe.

Her steps fell into immediate stop when she saw Ginny, standing next to her drawer, with a dark blue cloak on her hand. Heaven above, she had entirely forgotten that she still had it.

"Blimey! Is this gazar, Hermione?"

Rousing from her shock, she only uttered, "What's gazar?"

"The fabric," she answered brusquely. "Merlin, I think it is silk wool gazar! How much you spend for this? No, that's wrong. Why the hell you bought a gazar cloak?!"

"That's not mine."

"Then whose is it? It's in your drawer," she prodded.

"A friend. I accidentally spilled my orange juice on it so I had to bring it to laundry service before I can return it."

She's actually speaking the truth, all of it. The cloak was inside her handbag for quite sometimes, every time she had wanted to return it to Draco one or other thing had happened that made her fail to return it. Until one day, she hadn't closed her drink bottle properly before storing it into her bag and her orange juice had spilled all over inside the bag.

Two of her books would forever blotched (she had tried various spells to restore it, but none had worked) and same on the cloak. She eventually had given up and brought it to laundry service before she tempted to make another attempt that would destroy it instead. Most likely she unintentionally had put it into her drawer after she took it from laundry and then had forgotten of its existence.

"Your friend must have had lot of spare money to have something like this. Merlin, you're lucky that the laundry service managed to clean it without any damage."

Well, that certainly explained the sour expression she got from the laundry worker and the ridiculously pricey bill. But now that she knew this was no ordinary cloak, not to mention how long she's been keeping it, sending it by owl was just rude. Thus, one more reason why she had to brave herself to face Draco, no more avoiding him.

A/N:

Few trivia I've found when I was looking for inspiration for the wedding custom Ginny's been talking about:

- Javanese has something called Siraman Soak, which is a cleansing ritual for the bride and the groom and is held the evening before the wedding day. Basically they just sit on a chair then one by one their elders and parents will pour water over their head.

- Traditional Indian wedding can last 3 days (more if the whole pre-wedding rite days prior is counted). There's ritual in the bride's home first; in the night before with several rituals, priest, pampering the bride, and other else, then the wedding itself in the morning. Sometime the bride will be carried by her father into a car (or horse or whatever they use travel to the groom's home). When they arrive, there are many more rituals of welcoming the bride lead to the wedding night.

- Handfasting nowadays is more associated to Neopaganism but around the 12th to the 17th century in England it's simply a term for "engagement to be married". These days, some couples still incorporated "handfasting" in their wedding (it's not legally binding by law, though). In Church of England wedding, there's a moment where the priest's stole is wrapped around the hands of the couple just before the blessing.

- Bride-kidnapping (differ from elopement) is actually prevalent in many places around the world and still has been practiced in some places. In some place, a man can literally kidnap woman he likes (in some case going as far as to rape her) to force her to marry him then he'll go to her family to apologise and offer gift as restitution (some countries in Africa). In other, it's consensual and actually part of wedding ritual because the groom is from lower class so they can't marry in regular custom (such as in Bali where the bride will be left in a designated place to be 'kidnapped' by the groom complete with a mock 'chase' usually led by the bride's brother or relatives) or to avoid bride price like in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

- Bedding ceremony is another 'popular' tradition. There's a lot of culture that has this particular tradition, including in Europe. It varies from leading the couple to their wedding chamber then blessing their bed and leave, to witnessing the consummation itself (in mediaeval era, especially among royals). Presenting a blood stain sheet is even required in some cultures (e.g Tonga or Kiribati), both as proof of consummation and the bride's virginity.

(source: Wikipedia and various sites)

PS: I've never seen any cloak made of gazar fabric (nor knowing if it even exists). My aunt is a tailor and one day I found this ridiculously pricey fabric for a dress she'd been working on, and since Draco is a Malfoy I can imagine him owning this kind of unnecessary pricey thing. Btw, if you're confused about the cloak, it's the one from chapter 5, so yes, she's been keeping it for over 3 years.