- "Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of two faithful souls..."
- — Ceremony official[src]
Marriage is a legally binding contract that says two people stay together until their death. Many people have a celebration at the start of their marriage known as a wedding. The end of a marriage is known as divorce. Two people planning to be married in the near future are known as engaged.
Molly Weasley claimed that during the First Wizarding War many people were "rushing into" marriage in the worry that they may not be able to do it in the near future lest they were killed.[1]
Wizarding marriage laws
There are known divorces in the wizarding world. Celestina Warbeck married three times, and divorced two times.
J. K. Rowling stated that homosexual relationships do not suffer as much discrimination in the wizarding world as in the Muggle world[2], so it is possible that same-sex marriage is legal, however this has not been confirmed.
Types of marriage
Respectable
Nonetheless, some wizards and witches have made their families proud by making "respectable pure-blood marriages" like Narcissa Black, Bellatrix Black, Orion Black, and Irma Crabbe. Apparently, in some cases the contractors are not in love, but still married to maintain purity within their families, making it sort of an "arranged marriage". For example, Bellatrix's true love was Lord Voldemort rather than her husband Rodolphus.[3] The House of Gaunt had a tendency of marrying their own cousins to remain pure, which led to severe genetic problems in the later generations.
Low status
Even though there is no discrimination for homosexuals in the wizarding world, there has existed notorious discrimination toward "morganatic" marriages. Many Pure-blood families have disowned their own relatives for their marriage to Half-bloods, Muggle-borns and Blood traitors, and such outcasts are seen as "second-class" wizards and witches, e.g. Andromeda Black, Cedrella Black, James Potter, Eileen Prince and Merope Gaunt.
Many marriages would have been looked down upon, such as James Potter's marriage to Muggle-born Lily Evans, or Ron Weasley's marriage to Muggle-born Hermione Granger. Harry Potter's marriage to Ginny Weasley would have been looked down upon as Harry was a half-blood and, although a pure-blood, Ginny was a blood traitor.
Known marriages
Magical marriages
The marriage between a wizard and a witch & a wizard or a witch and a non-human, in rough chronological order.
| Bride and groom | Wedding date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Arthur Weasley | summer 1968-November 1970[4] | The Weasleys settled on a large Tudor pigpen located on the outskirts of Ottery St Catchpole, in Devon. As the family grew over the birth of their children, the couple started building upward with add-on bits of architectural salvage they picked up wherever they could find, thus building the Burrow.[5] |
| 1982 | The marriage was a very happy one, and a period of great fulfilment for Minerva, although she did keep her maiden name, as she had always been something of a feminist. The marriage was cut short in 1985 after Elphinstone's accidental death from a Venomous Tentacula bite. | |
| Minerva McGonagall | ||
| James Potter | summer 1978- autumn 1979[6] | Lily and her sister Petunia were not on good terms, so neither Petunia nor her husband Vernon Dursley attended the ceremony. The best man was Sirius Black. |
| Lily Evans | ||
| July, 1997 | The ceremony was quiet and hurried, as it took place during the height of the Second Wizarding War and because the Ministry of Magic had just passed legislation that was not favourable to werewolves. The couple had one child, Teddy Lupin who was in born in March shortly before both of his parents' deaths. | |
| Nymphadora Tonks | ||
| 1 August, 1997 | The bride and groom's younger sisters, Gabrielle Delacour and Ginny Weasley, served as bridesmaids, and Bill's younger brother Charlie Weasley served as the best man. The reception was interrupted by the news that Lord Voldemort had taken over the Ministry of Magic, and guests fled as Death Eaters arrived to try and capture Harry Potter. The couple went to live at Shell Cottage, a house that belonged to an aunt of Bill's, in the outskirts of Tinworth, Cornwall, which was presumably also where they raised their children: Victoire, Dominique, and Louis. | |
| Fleur Delacour | ||
| 2000s | Harry and Ginny get married sometime after the Second Wizarding War, presumably before their first child is born in 2004. The couple goes on to have three children: James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna Potter. It is very likely that they married soon after Ginny completed Hogwarts, due to their friends marrying at a young age. Placing the marriage in either late 1999 or early 2000. | |
| Ginevra Weasley | ||
| Late 1990s or early 2000s | Ron and Hermione get married sometime after the Second Wizarding War, presumably before their first child is born in 2006. Hermione decided to keep her maiden name. The couple goes on to have two children Rose and Hugo Granger-Weasley. It is founded that they married at a extremely young age and therefore it probably took place in either 1999 or even 2000. | |
| Hermione Granger | ||
| Late 1990s or early 2000s | The couple lives in the ancient Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire,[7] and have a single child: Scorpius Malfoy. Draco and Astoria presumably married before their child was born in 2006. | |
| Astoria Greengrass | ||
| Late 1990s-2010s | As Hannah becomes the landlady of the Leaky Cauldron, the couple lives above the pub, a fact that Neville's students consider to be "cool".[8] | |
| Hannah Abbott | ||
| Late 1990s-2010s | The couple goes on to have two children: Fred Weasley II and Roxanne Weasley. | |
| Angelina Johnson | ||
| Late 2000s or early 2010s | The wedding takes place "rather later" than her friends' marriages.[9] The famous Magizoologists have two twin children: Lorcan and Lysander. | |
Muggle marriages
The marriages between two Muggles.
| Bride and groom | Wedding date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mr Evans | pre 1959 | They settled at Cokeworth, and lived in walking distance from Spinner's End, where the Snapes lived. The couple had two daughters: Petunia (born in or before 1959) and Lily (born 30 January, 1960). |
| Mrs Evans | ||
| Vernon Dursley | late 1977[12] | Fearing that she would be overshadowed, Petunia refused to have her sister Lily as a bridesmaid, which upset Lily. At the reception, Vernon would not talk to James Potter, but described him as "some magician" within his earshot. Petunia had little contact with her sister thereafter.[13] Vernon and Petunia settled at 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, shortly after their wedding. They had a son, Dudley, on 21 June, 1980. |
| Petunia Evans | ||
| Mr Granger | pre 1979 | The couple had one child, Hermione, a witch. She was raised in the Grangers' house, on an unspecified location in England. |
| Mrs Granger | ||
| Dean Thomas's mother | 1980/1991[14] | Dean Thomas's biological father was a wizard who abandoned his Muggle wife and infant son in a courageous effort to protect them from the Death Eaters. He was soon after killed by the Death Eaters when he refused to join their cause. He never told his wife that we was a wizard and, shortly after his death, his wife married Dean's stepfather, a Muggle, who raised Dean as his son. |
| Dean Thomas's stepfather | ||
| Dudley Dursley | c. 2000s | The marriage produced two Muggle children[15]. While Dudley and Harry Potter (who married Ginevra Weasley) were "on Christmas-card terms", the two couples would visit each other out of duty, and sit in silence so that their children could see their cousins.[16] |
| Mrs Dursley |
Mixed Marriages
The marriage between a wizard or a witch and a Muggle.
| Bride and groom | Wedding date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cho Chang | c. 2000s | Cho married a Muggle man after the Second Wizarding War |
| Muggle | ||
| Robert McGonagall Snr | c. 1930s | Isobel married Muggle Robert McGonagall and they had a blissful honeymoon. Isobel did not tell her husband she was a witch until many years later. The couple had three children: Minerva, Malcolm, and Robert Jr. |
| Isobel Ross | ||
| Tobias Snape | c. 1950s | Eileen married Muggle Tobias Snape, the two had a troubled relationship and had one child Severus. |
| Eileen Prince | ||
| Lyall Lupin | 1959 | Lyall Lupin married Muggle Hope, they had a good relationship and joyful wedding. Hope accepted Lyall's proposal enthusiastically and committed herself to planning their nuptials. Their wedding included a cake featuring a Boggart -shaped topper. The couple's union resulted in one son, Remus. |
| Hope Howell | ||
| Tom Riddle Snr | 1925 | Merope used a love potion to attract Muggle Tom Riddle. The two eloped in a forced marriage, as she was controlling him through magical means. Merope finally stopped giving him the potion and Tom left her pregnant and alone. He never bothered to find out what happened to their child. |
| Merope Gaunt | ||
| Mr Finnigan | 1970s | Mrs Finnigan is a witch that married Muggle Mr Finnigan, he did not find out until later that she was a witch. The two had one son, Seamus. |
| Mrs Finnigan | ||
| Mr Thomas | Dean Thomas's father married Muggle Mrs Thomas. Mr Thomas was murdered by Death Eaters after he refused to join them, his son never knew him. | |
| Mrs Thomas | ||
| Mr Lockhart | c. 1960s | Mrs Lockhart married Muggle Mr Lockhart, the couple had three children: Gilderoy and two daughters. Gilderoy was the only magical child the two conceived, as the two daughters were Squibs. |
| Mrs Lockhart | ||
| Mr Wright | Middle Ages | Mrs Wright married Muggle Mr Wright and the two had a son named Bowman. |
| Mrs Wright | ||
| Bob Hitchens | 1800s | Pure-blood Iola married Muggle Bob Hitchens, as a result she was burned off the Black family tree and disowned. |
| Iola Black |
Appearances
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (First mentioned)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Mentioned only)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (video game)
- Pottermore (Mentioned only)
Notes and references
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- ↑ Pottercast Interview "So I think you could be gay, pure-blood, and totally without any kind of criticism from the Lucius Malfoys of the world. I don't think that would be something that would interest him in the slightest."
- ↑ Bloomsbury.com web chat
- ↑ Arthur Weasley was born in February 1950 and Molly Weasley was born in October 1949. They both attended Hogwarts from 1961 to 1968, and they had their first child together, Bill, on November 1970. They must have married sometime between their graduation from Hogwarts and the birth of their first child.
- ↑ Harry Potter Film Wizardry - see this image
- ↑ In Deathly Hallows, Chapter 33, Dumbledore refers to James as Lily's "husband" in the scene where Snape asks him to protect Lily. This scene can be determined as having occurred in autumn 1979, based on the description of the setting ("...the sound of the wind in the branches" and "Though leaves and branches still flew through the night air around them..."), and J. K. Rowling's statement during her 2007 Carnegie Hall appearance that the Potters went into hiding when Lily was pregnant. James and Lily must have thus married sometime between leaving Hogwarts in June 1978 and autumn 1979.
- ↑ Pottermore - "The Malfoy Family"
- ↑ JK Rowling comments at Carnegie Hall
- ↑ 30 July 2007 Web Chat with J.K. Rowling
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- ↑ In a deleted scene on disc two of the Blu-ray edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Petunia tells Harry, "I have lived in this house for twenty years", indicating she settled at 4 Privet Drive in 1977, since the scene is set in 1997. Since the Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Vernon and Petunia Dursley" at Pottermore mentions Lily was still in her final year at Hogwarts during Vernon and Petunia's engagement, and Lily's final year was 1977-1978, the engagement must have thus occurred on or after 1 September, 1977 and the wedding and moving in together by 31 December, 1977.
- ↑ Pottermore - New from J.K. Rowling: "Vernon & Petunia Dursley"
- ↑ When [Dean] was a kid
- ↑ After "Harry Potter", J. K. Rowling's First Novel for Adults at The New Yorker
- ↑ 19 October 2007 J.K. Rowling at Carnegie Hall