A SEA BETWEEN

Chapter 3: Bride! Meet Groom!

Draco sighed and for whatever reason went through the pages again, for he still couldn't believe this was happening, so he read and reread the following over and over.

Stipulations of the Ravenclaw-Malfoy agreement

· 1. Princess Mara Ravenclaw of Leidal is to wed Draco Malfoy of Astella in a quick ceremony on July 22nd in Astella's Arvendon Castle.

· 2. The princess and prince are to marry before God, in church. Arvendon Castle has a church on the premises where the ceremony will take place

· 3a. Princess Mara Ravenclaw is required to live with Prince Draco Malfoy the entire duration and not allowed to visit/stay in Leidal or any other country for more than three weeks

· 3b. If the Princess stays longer away than is necessary measures will be taken that could negatively influence Leidal's autonomy negations

· 4. After the wedding has taken place an immediate ceasefire and truce will be initiated

· 5. Neither Leidal nor Astella can engage in hostile activities towards the other during the two-year period

· 6a. In that timespan Leidal is free to negotiate with Astella for independence and could come up with three draft proposals before handing in one definitive one.

· 6.b. Autonomy can be granted to Leidal ONLY ON ASTELLA'S TERMS; details of mentioned terms could be described in detail and mentioned in the draft proposals

· 7a. Consummation of the marriage is required for stability purposes and is required to take place within one year.

· 7b. If consummation does not occur within one year, the Princess had an immediate right to annul the marriage and was not obligated to remain married

· 8. The birth of a child is not obligated but favourable since it would even more bond the countries together

· 9. The marriage will end by default after the treaty expires upon which both parties could marry someone else and remain married if they wish

· 10a) A "infidelity clause" is not included in this treaty

· 10b). Henceforth there will be no penalties given to either party if they were to be "in the company of others".

There were other pages and even more stipulations, but these where the main ones Draco was told.

He couldn't help but snort at the "in company of others" reference. They could have used ample other references like sleep with or use the good old word "fornication". He liked that word and Draco chuckled. There were plenty of alternatives, but Draco supposed to "in company of others" was better worded than "cheating". He was glad that at least one of his dumb advisers had put that line in as a loophole.

He would ponder what to do with the consummation clause next, maybe at a later point he could persuade his father to strike that one off the list and maybe he could weasel himself out of it or something. He didn't know what to do and at this minute thinking about it gave him a headache, so he decided to dwell on that dilemma later.

Draco sighed again, not being able to get rid of the gloomy feeling aching in his chest. He sincerely hoped time would abide him, and that two years would go by fast for the sooner he could get on with his life; the better.

They were sitting in the garden, staring at the beautiful flowers, and making idle conversation, deliberately ignoring the elephant in the room It was a lovely summer day and, in the past, Mara had loved to go swimming or going on a bike ride when the weather conditions were like this but today, she couldn't muster the energy. At one point her friend couldn't take it anymore and decided to address the issue.