Punishing Marietta

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 120837


> Lupinlore wrote:
> 
> It seems to me that actions such as Hermione's hex can be undertaken 
> for two reasons, both of which can be legitimate in certain 
> circumstances and illegitimate in others.  
> 
> 1) To enforce rules.  This implies that the rules are at least 
> reasonably clear and that the party invoking the punishment has the 
> right to enforce the rules;
> 
> 2) To throw down a gauntlet and draw battlelines, i.e. this is where 
> we stand and there is where you stand and all parties be prepared to 
> defend your territory
> 

Neri: 
Erm...  there's a third reason: simple security consideration.
Hermione's jinx wasn't designed against Marietta personally. It was
designed to warn the DA that they have a traitor in their midst. This
is why it was pustules spelling "sneak", so the traitor won't be able
to hide it in any way. We have very clear canon that this was the
case, a day after the Hog's Head meeting:

*******************
OotP, Ch. 17:
    'Someone must have blabbed to her!' Ron said angrily.
    'They can't have done,' said Hermione in a low voice.
    'You're so naive,' said Ron, 'you think just because you're all
honourable and trustworthy — '
    'No, they can't have done, because I put a jinx on that piece of
parchment we all signed,' said Hermione grimly. 'Believe me, if
anyone's run off and told Umbridge, we'll know exactly who they are
and they will really regret it.'
    'What'll happen to them?' said Ron eagerly.
    'Well, put it this way,' said Hermione, 'it'll make Eloise
Midgeon's acne look like a couple of cute freckles.'
********************

This is also why Hermione didn't tell the people who signed the
parchment about the jinx. Had she done so, the potential sneak would
be warned and could attempt a counterjinx before the actual treason.

I would also add that strong magic in the Potterverse frequently takes
its power from a deeply moral (or immoral) choice. For example, the
Secret Keeper spell takes its power from the Keeper's decision not to
betray friends, and the Unforgivables take their power from someone's
resolve to cause harm. I think it is safe to assume that the sneak
jinx was so powerful because the jinxed party had taken a choice to
sign a statement that she won't do what she actually did. It was
Marietta's own signature that gave the power to the jinx.

Moral or not, this is of course for each of us to decide, but looking
back at the plot of OotP, it seems a pity that DD didn't make all the
Order members and Kreacher sign a similar parchment. Not only
Kreacher, but also Podmore would have been found before they could
have caused any harm.  

IMHO, Hermione's real mistake here was leaving the parchment in a
place where Umbridge could find it if she find the Room of
Requirement. She should have hidden that parchment somewhere safe.
Granted, it was a mistake shared by Harry and everybody in the DA, but
Hermione was more responsible for it because she had personally
promised Ernie she won't leave it where Umbridge can find it, and she
did just that. IMO this was Hermione's biggest mistake in OotP, a
mistake that proved critical even more than Marietta's sneaking.
Perhaps this is JKR's poetic justice at work: because of Hermione's
lake of judgement, her parchment framed the only person in it who has
never signed it - Dumbledore.

Neri