Marriage

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of two faithful souls..."

- Ceremony official

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.

Often the female takes on the surname of the male during marriage, however this is not always the case (such as when Minerva McGonagall married Elphinstone Urquart in the 1980s).

In the wizarding world, many couples have been married, such as Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewett, and James Potter and Lily Evans.

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.

Magical marriages
The marriage between a wizard and a witch & a wizard or a witch and a non-human, in rough chronological order.


 * Fleamont Potter and Euphemia
 * Percy Weasley and Audrey
 * Mr. Prewett and a woman
 * Septimus Weasley and Cedrella Black
 * Orion Black and Walburga Black
 * Rodolphus Lestrange and Bellatrix Black
 * Ted Tonks and Andromeda Black
 * Phineas Nigellus Black and Ursula Flint
 * Licorus Black and Magenta Tripe
 * Jimbo Blishwick and Misapinoa Black
 * Sirius Black I and Hesper Gamp
 * Cygnus Black I and Ella Max
 * Cygnus Black II and Violetta Bulstrode
 * Cygnus Black III and Druella Rosier
 * Herbert Burke and Belvina Black
 * Arcturus Black II and Lysandra Yaxley
 * Arcturus Black III and Melania Macmillan
 * Pollux Black and Irma Crabbe
 * Charlus Potter and Dorea Black
 * Harfang Longbottom and Callidora Black
 * Caspar Crouch and Charis Black
 * Ignatius Prewett and Lucretia Black
 * Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black
 * Reginald Cattermole and Mary
 * Percival Dumbledore and Kendra
 * Cornelius Fudge and a woman
 * Bartemius Crouch Sr. and a woman
 * Hagrid Sr. and Fridwulfa
 * Monsieur Delacour and Apolline
 * Tilden Toots and Daisy Hookum
 * Celestina Warbeck and a man

Muggle marriages
The marriages between two Muggles.

Mixed Marriages
The marriage between a wizard or a witch and a Muggle.
 * Cho Chang and a Muggle
 * Robert McGonagall Sr. and Isobel Ross
 * Tobias Snape and Eileen Prince
 * Lyall Lupin and Hope Howell
 * Tom Riddle Sr. and Merope Gaunt
 * Mr. Finnigan and Mrs. Finnigan
 * Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Thomas
 * Mr. Lockhart and Mrs. Lockhart
 * Mr. Wright and Mrs. Wright
 * Bob Hitchens and Iola Black

Marriage laws in the wizarding world
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, so it is possible that same-sex marriage is legal, however this has not been confirmed.

Respectable marriages and Marriages of 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 Tonks, Cedrella Black, James Potter, Merope Gaunt and Eileen Prince.

Nonetheless, some wizards and witches have made their families proud by making "respectable pure-blood marriages" like Narcissa Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, 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 Lestrange's true love was Lord Voldemort rather than her husband Rodolphus. 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.

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.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * 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

Notes and references
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