Unholy Alliance Part 3
Weasley Cottage, June 1939
Septimus paced uneasily in his room, watched by his highly amused parents. He was getting married today. Somehow, it didn't seem possible. He was so wound up he could barely see straight.
"Lad, if you don't calm down, you're going to pass out." His father said. "Quit pacing about like a caged dragon. It's time to start getting ready anyway."
Septimus gave an amused snort, but obeyed, slowing to a stop near the door to his room. "Like you were any better."
"No, son … I was worse." His father readily admitted with a smile. "Your grandfather threatened to hit me with a Rennervate at one point, I was so close to passing out."
Septimus laughed. Then he walked out of his room to the bathroom and closed the bathroom door behind him, grateful it was time to begin preparations and give his mind something to do other than fret.
Septimus had been baffled, the first time he'd observed even part of a Muggle wedding. Wizarding weddings were so very different from Muggle weddings. His confusion had only deepened when he learned about all the usual traditions surrounding muggle weddings.
Or more precisely, the remarkable lack of truly meaningful traditions that seemed to surround muggle weddings. Oh, they had a few, like the items a bride was supposed to have at the actual wedding - something old, new, borrowed, blue. White or cream being the traditional colors for a bride, depending on her state of sexual purity. That, however, seemed to be the end of it. Even more baffling to Septimus had been the concept of divorce. By comparison, Wizarding weddings were up to their eyeballs in meaningful and mostly necessary traditions.
One of the few not-necessary traditions was that there were absolutely no parties or gift-giving of any kind prior to the wedding. To do so was seen as severely bad luck. How that superstition got started, no one knew, but it had been around for a very, very long time.
Sexual purity was not (to the surprise of many a muggleborn) of any importance when entering into a marriage. That said, fidelity once married was of extreme importance. Infidelity was one of only two acceptable reasons to separate (as divorce was impossible) from one's spouse, the other being abuse. The burden of fidelity was shared equally between the married couple - unlike among muggles, there was not a double standard where men were more easily forgiven for infidelity than women.
Of nearly equal importance was coming into the marriage without any trace of duplicity or artifice. As a result of that, it had become tradition that colognes, makeup, glamours, artificial hair color, and anything else along those lines were forbidden. Additionally, wedding robes were deliberately simple in cut, not designed to conceal or enhance any given physical feature.
Once in the bathroom, Septimus took a thorough shower using a special scentless soap. While it wasn't required, it had become tradition to bathe thoroughly just before the wedding – symbolically washing away all that came before, and any impurities on one's person. That done, Septimus pulled the deep purple robe over his head and smoothed it out before heading back out into his bedroom where his parents were waiting for him.
Wizarding brides always wore a shade of pink, and the grooms wore purple. This was primarily because of the fact that the most commonly used flowers that represented fidelity were in shades of pink and purple, thus linking those colors with that quality. Everyone else in the wedding party wore cream colored robes with either pink or purple accents, depending on which of the wedding party they were family to.
Unlike muggle weddings which took place all year 'round and were most often done indoors, Wizarding weddings took place in spring, summer, or fall, and whenever possible outdoors. Many a wedding party had resorted to canopies or spells to keep things dry in the face of an unexpected squall during the proceedings. Only truly foul or outright dangerous weather could drive the wedding indoors and there was sufficient warning of such foul weather, the wedding was usually changed to another, more clement day.
Septimus sat down on a chair that had been brought into the room. His mother pulled a basket of flowers she'd brought with her onto the bed, and began weaving them into a crown on Septimus' head, anchoring the crown in his deliberately-grown-longer hair so it didn't get blown off by a strong breeze. There were cherry blossoms to symbolize love and good fortune, and purple amaranth and pink rosemary for fidelity. As the groom, Septimus' crown had much more amaranth in it than rosemary, though it still had some of the latter. Cedrella would be wearing a similar crown, but with much more rosemary than amaranth.
It didn't take his mother long to construct the simple crown, by tradition the only ornament permitted the bridge and groom. Once that was done, Septimus stood up and the three of them headed out. As it was June and the weather was cooperating, Septimus was barefoot, while his mother and father were wearing simple sandals. Their own robes, while more elaborate than what Septimus and Cedrella would be wearing, were still far simpler than was the norm for day-to-day wear. Septimus' father also had on the belt that signified him as Head of the groom's Family.
The back lawn of Weasley Cottage had been transformed. There were pink and purple blossoms of every variety that had good meanings everywhere. Garlands and swags and wreaths of them draped on every available surface and twined in among the leaves of the trees, making it look like they were abloom.
A largeish circle of bare earth had been cleared in the lawn, on which to conduct the brief ceremony. The edges of the circle were ringed with stones buried in the earth that had been carved with runes – runes for protection, fidelity, fertility and luck among other things. There were also a few runes designed to contain the backwash of magic that would result when the vows were sealed and accepted by magic.
Those runes were not always needed, but they were always included in marriage circles like this. The strength of the backwash depended on a number of largely unpredictable factors aside from the magical strength of the pair swearing the vows. There had been cases, before the runes were included as a matter of course, of the backwash affecting things as far as twenty kilometers away. Granted, the effects were never destructive or punitive, but it was still problematic. In every such case, plants and animals within range of the wash, and any couples (married or not) that bore enough love for each other to be inclined to carnal relations … well, let's just say there was a bumper crop of births and plant growth after such weddings.
That backwash was also the primary reason behind why only parents and heads of families were present at the wedding ceremony itself. Parents were largely immune to the arousal effect of the backwash because half of it was generated by their child, and Heads were protected from influence of any sort by the magics that made them Heads. Siblings were not traditionally included in the wedding party because one or more of them could be underage, and even if they were half immune thanks to being so closely blood-related to one of the wedding party, exposing underage witches and wizards to such a backwash was anathema. Anyone else would get hit by the full effect, thus they were forbidden from attending.
The backwash was also why the ceremony was conducted on bare earth or stone. It was very common for plants (even trees) to spring up in the circle if it wasn't stripped of plants and seeds. There was more than one rather amusing tale of a particularly strong backwash growing a ten-foot-tall tree in mere moments, hoisting one or more of the unsuspecting wedding party aloft as it grew. Such tales were amusing to tell, but no one wanted to have it actually happen to them, so clearing the ground had become required.
Cedrella was escorted out by both her parents and Sirius. Septimus couldn't help but smile when he saw her, because despite the deliberate simplicity of the wedding robes, she looked … truly beautiful. If he was going to be completely trite and smitten, she looked radiant.
Not that he'd ever admit to that. Not after all the teasing he and Charlus had given Harfang when he'd made the mistake of admitting to thinking that very thing when he saw Callidora in her wedding robe. He'd never hear the end of it, and he wasn't dumb enough to invite that sort of aggravation when it could be avoided.
Everyone stepped into the circle, careful not to step on the runes (another bad luck omen). Septimus and Cedrella took their places at the center of the circle, while their parents and Sirius took their places near the ring of runes. Once they were all in position, Septimus' father spoke.
"I, Gaius Weasley, Head of the Weasley Family, do here invoke the Family Magics, that they bear witness to and bless the union of this child of my Family."
There was an immediate wash of warmth and welcome, and the day's light seemed to brighten as ancient magics stirred.
Sirius spoke next, his words identical to those of Septimus' father, except for reciting his own name and Family. There was another immediate swirl of ancient magic, this one deep and dark, deepening the shadows that had been brought into sharp relief by the wash of light.
Gaius spoke again, this time with his wife, as parents of the groom. "I, Gaius Weasley, father of the groom, do here give my blessing to this union." His mother's was the same, just with her name. Then Cedrella's parents gave their blessings. One after the other, four magical threads wove around the circle, invisible to the naked eye but each easily discerned from the other, one from each parent.
Finally, it was Septimus' turn. He took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and then spoke. "I, Septimus Weasley, in the name of the spirit of Magic that resides within us all, by the life that courses within my blood and the love that resides within my heart, take thee Cedrella Black to my hand, my heart, and my spirit, to be my chosen one. To desire thee and be desired by thee, to possess thee, and be possessed by thee, without shame, for naught can exist in the purity of my love for thee. I promise to love thee wholly and completely without restraint, in sickness and in health, in plenty and in poverty, in life and beyond, where we shall meet, remember, and love again. I shall not seek to change thee in any way. I shall respect thee, thy beliefs, thy people, and thy ways as I respect myself."
Cedrella smiled briefly at him before she spoke. "I, Cedrella Black, in the name of the spirit of Magic that resides within us all, by the life that courses within my blood and the love that resides within my heart, take thee Septimus Weasley to my hand, my heart, and my spirit, to be my chosen one. To desire thee and be desired by thee, to possess thee, and be possessed by thee, without shame, for naught can exist in the purity of my love for thee. I promise to love thee wholly and completely without restraint, in sickness and in health, in plenty and in poverty, in life and beyond, where we shall meet, remember, and love again. I shall not seek to change thee in any way. I shall respect thee, thy beliefs, thy people, and thy ways as I respect myself."
Two more magical threads joined the rest as they spoke, weaving around the pair. Once Cedrella finished her vows, they looked at each other, and then in chorus spoke one final time. "These be my vows to thee, sworn on my life and my magic, so mote it be."
The magic coalesced into a firestorm, just visible at the periphery of one's vision as a warping, wobbling mirage tinted with all the colors of the rainbow. Warmth, love, and devotion swamped everyone present inside the runic circle as the magic swirled around them, seeking an outlet … and only finding one. Like a tornado collapsing in on itself, the bulk of the magic wrapped itself around Septimus and Cedrella, binding them together in just-visible chains of magic before it slowly dissipated.
It took a few minutes for everyone to clear their heads and regain their equilibrium. Sort of. Septimus and Cedrella, having absorbed the bulk of the magic, were very wide-eyed and slightly on the hyper side. This would be the other reason the newly married pair were fully expected to ditch the after-party as early as they could humanly manage. All that energy had to go somewhere, sooner rather than later.
"Well." Sirius said, blinking his eyes a few extra times. "That was one of the stronger bindings I've seen."
"Agreed." Gaius said, giving his head a shake to clear it. "You two all right?" He asked the new couple.
"Yeah. Buzzing, but functional." Septimus said, then glanced at Cedrella. "You?"
"The same." She said, patting his arm reassuringly.
"Well then. Off to the party we go." said Cedrella's mother. "I can't *wait* to brag about this."
"Mother!" Cedrella sounded more amused than anything else.
"Pish, dear. It's a mother's right to brag when her daughter makes such a strong match." Her mother said.
"Indeed it is." Septimus' mother agreed.
Septimus and Cedrella shared an amused glance before following everyone out of the runic circle and heading for the party.