Marrietta's betrayal (was Depression ... in OotP - Cho/Ma...)

[ReturnOfTheMutt at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 110884

Del writes:
> It was her friends who were doing illegal stuff. She did *not* deserve
> to be punished for setting her own situation straight


Signing the sheet didn't mean that you were joining DA.  It just meant that 
you were there at that initial meeting and agreed not to tell.  There was 
nothing that said you had to go to or participate in meetings.  It was just a roll sheet for a group of people hanging out together before it was against the 
rules for groups to form.  She wasn't require to be a member of DA.  She could 
have stopped going.

As has been said, we don't know what she was thinking.  Maybe she wasn't 
being malicious.  Maybe she was trying to help some very misguided people.  They have public service announcements on TV that tell teenagers to tell an adult if a friend is in a gang or is using drugs.  I don't see where this is any different.

1) Your friend is doing drugs, which is harmful to him/her. 2) If you tell, 
you're betraying them, but ultimately it's in their best interest.
1) Your classmates are members of the DA.  2) If you tell on them you're 
betraying them, but you think it's in their best interest.  We don't know that 
Marrietta believes Harry, we just know she's there for Cho.  Yes, the Quibbler 
article came out, but a lot of people still weren't convinced.  Umbridge wasn't. 
 Maybe Mariette was a skeptic.  Maybe she thought Harry was delusional.  
That's bad enough, but, not only is he delusional, he's teaching other people 
DADA.  We have a delusional, underage wizard teaching dangerous magic.  Even if 
they don't get hurt, they could still get in trouble, but, lots of kids are 
taught that if they fess up the punishment won't be as bad.   

I don't think Mariette set out to hurt anybody or to just save herself.

"ReturnOfTheMutt"