Marietta and the DA- Hermione's Mistake

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 121683


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "eggplant9998" 
<eggplant9998 at y...> wrote:
> 
> "Steve" <bboyminn at y...> wrote:
> 
> > Once people start signing, it would 
> > be extremely difficult for a kid to
> > go against their peer group. 
> 
> Yes, but examine exactly why it would be difficult. Marietta knew 
if  she did not sign the others would think less of her, they would 
conclude she was a coward or one of Umbridge's toadies or 
both; and  their judgment would be absolutely positively 100% 
correct. <

Pippin:
There are supposed to be around a thousand students at 
Hogwarts, and only 28 or so were in the DA. Are you saying 
everyone else was a coward or an Umbridge toady?

And if Marietta was an Umbridge toady or a coward, why didn't 
she inform on the DA for six months? Even when she went to 
Umbridge, she didn't  rush in and say, "Professor, there's a 
secret meeting going on right now in the Room of Requirement 
-- if you hurry, you can catch them."

She only said that "if [Umbridge] proceeded to a secret room on 
the seventh floor, sometimes known as the Room of 
Requirement, [she] would find out something to [her] advantage."

Umbridge goes on:
"I questioned her a little further and she admitted there was to be 
some kind of meeting there. "

We know that Umbridge has used illegal methods to question 
students, so it is hard for me to hold Marietta responsible for 
what she said.  It's worth noting that what she said freely didn't 
trigger the hex. I doubt that Marietta wanted to get her friends in 
trouble. My sense is she only tried to get the meetings stopped, 
as they would be if Umbridge started watching the RoR. 

Marietta seems to have been a very reluctant spy. In fact if it 
weren't for Hermione's hex, Umbridge might have wasted a lot 
more time trying to get Marietta to talk, and the DA might have 
escaped.

Marietta's mother was policing the floo network for Umbridge, 
which made Marietta a security risk whatever her own views. It 
would have been wise for Hermione to do a little background 
checking before she signed people up. 

Pippin