Marrietta's betrayal

[mochajava13]

No: HPFGUIDX 111023

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at q...> 
wrote:
> If people can stand to hear just a little more about this, I think
> it's also interesting that the curse didn't activate at once. 
You'd 
> think, if Marietta had spoken to Umbridge with the intention of 
> selling out her friends, that it would have.  
> I believe someone has already pointed out that Umbridge's 
> method of questioning Marietta  "a little further" was unlikely to 
> have been benign.  
> But I think it's also noteworthy that the hex doesn't come into 
> operation as soon as Marietta starts telling Umbridge about the 
> Room of Requirement. What if that's because at that point 
> Marietta didn't have any intention of betraying her friends? Maybe 
> she hoped that if Umbridge started watching the room, the DA 
> would have to call off the meetings, at least until they found a 
> safer place to meet?
> 
> I can see where the publication of the Quibbler story and Cho's 
> date with Harry could have put Marietta in a horrible position. 
> After all, Marietta's mum probably knows who Marietta's best 
> friend is, and Cho and Harry didn't make a secret of their date. 
If  the word got back to Madame Edgecomb, I can 
> see her forcing her daughter to promise her that she isn't having 
> anything to do with that Potter boy, on pain of being forbidden to 
> associate with Cho.  And I can see Cho not being above a little 
> emotional blackmail herself and telling Marietta that if she won't 
> support Harry, then she, Cho, won't want to be friends anymore. 

> Pippin

Wow, that's a lot of supposition here!  First off, who knows if 
Marietta ever told her mother anything?  And even if Marietta's 
parents told Marietta to not associate with Cho, so what?  
Marietta's away at boarding school.  There's not much her parents 
can do to force her to stop being friends with Cho.  We don't even 
know if Marietta told anyone.  All we know is that Marietta went to 
tell Umbridge something.  Marietta didn't notice the spots until she 
said that there's a secret group, but the curse might have set in 
earlier.  Plus, we only know that Marietta and Cho are good friends 
at school, who knows if Marietta tells her parents anything about 
her friendships at school.

Also, we don't know exactly what the conditions of the curse were.  
Seamus wasn't at the first meeting, but he was at the last one.  
Someone had to have told him about the meetings, and no one else had 
spots on their face.  So what set off the curse?  Telling Umbridge 
or telling any authority figure?  

My biggest problem with Marietta's betrayal is that she could have, 
and should have, told someone else besides Umbridge.  The normal 
protocol at Hogwarts is to go first to the Head of House, who will 
then deal with the situation and bring the student to the Headmaster 
if necessary.  And Dumbledore was headmaster at the time.  But 
there's no indication that Marietta told Flitwick about the group.  
If Marietta told Umbridge out of some type of concern or coersion, 
she should have gone to Flitwick first.  In my opinion, the fact 
that Marietta told Umbridge, not Flitwick or even Dumbledore, points 
to Marietta tattling out of spite.

Sarah