Marietta and the DA

[ravenclaw001]

No: HPFGUIDX 121263


I've been following these threads about Marietta Edgecombe and the 
DA, and I think it's time I put my two knuts' worth in.  

Firstly---having her join at all was an example of Hermione's biggest 
weakness.  While I yield to none in admiration for Our Miss Granger, 
her "people skills" are, frankly, not so hot.  Whether it's trying to 
free house-elves that don't _want_ freedom, not spotting that 
Marietta was seriously not keen on an anti-Umbridge group, or riling 
the centaurs, Hermione has shown that she's not exactly as good with 
people skills as she is with fact-based stuff.  Even as far back as 
SS/PS, a less oblivious person would have figured out that her 
extreme eagerness was winning her no friends, and cooled off.  

Secondly---I am going to withhold judgement on Marietta until I find 
out the exact circumstances under which she talked.  If, forex, she 
was hauled into Umbridge's office by the Inquisitorial Squad and Put 
To The Question, I'd say that she's a lot less culpable than she 
would be if she strolled in under her own power and began to make 
like a canary.  Yes, I know that DU said that she came in freely; 
however, I do not consider darling DU a shining pillar of Truth, to 
put it mildly.  We don't know how ubiquitous the Inquisitorial Squad 
was outside of Gryffindor House, do we?  As far as I can remember, 
none of the Gryffs were in it, and we know that Malfoy and his Merry 
Men were, but how many Huffles and Ravenclaws might have been in it?  
All it might have taken was Marietta demonstrating that she had 
knowledge that she couldn't have obtained through darling Dolores' 
class to the wrong person or people, and she could have been hauled 
off to Umbridge by the scruff of her neck.  And, once there---do any 
of you think that Dolores would hesitate to threaten, if not use, 
physical sanctions?  Do you really think that awful quill is the only 
weapon in her armory?

While I'd love to pick up a torch and join the happy mob in lynching 
Marietta in Effigy, I'm forced to hold my peace until I find out 
more.  Maybe in HBP we'll find out just what went down.