Marietta and the DA- Hermione's Mistake

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 121701



> 
> "pippin_999"
> 
> > 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?

Eggplant:
> Yes, if they knew about the meeting and refused to come.

Pippin:
What? No other priorities? No heavy dates, dying grandmothers, 
people who've already taken their OWLs and aren't trying for a 
DADA NEWT (probably most of the sixth and seventh years) etc?

Pippin:
> > And if Marietta was an Umbridge toady or
> > a coward, why didn't she inform on the
> > DA for six months? 

Egghead:
> Only Marietta knows why she took that last step, but I don't think 
> it's important why she chose to become a traitor, the important 
> thing is that she is one.

Pippin:
Motive is generally thought to be important in analyzing a crime.

> 
> > 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." 

Eggplant:
> She ONLY said that?! She just told her everything she needed 
to  know, from that point it's easy, Umbridge can learn the rest on 
her  own.<

Pippin:
But she couldn't, could she? She didn't know what she was 
looking for -- it could have been some students using the room 
to generate dungbombs. Highly against the rules, but not exactly 
a Ministry case. Unless Willy Widdershins was able to identify 
Marietta   at the Hogs Head, Umbridge would have no reason to 
connect Marietta with the DADA group -- if it weren't for that hex.

> > I doubt that Marietta wanted to get her friends in trouble.

Eggplant:
> If  Marietta didn't know that would get her "friends" in trouble 
 then she shouldn't be at Hogwarts, she should be in a special 
school  for the mentally challenged. <

Pippin:
We're talking about a sixteen  year old girl   who doesn't know 
about the quill, or about Umbridge setting dementors on Harry to 
try to get him expelled. How would she even imagine what 
Umbridge is capable of? 


> > 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. <<

Eggplant: 
> So much for the argument that Hermione was mean to make 
the curse so  strong.<

Pippin:
My point concerned the visibility of the curse--such a powerful 
hex was in itself a reason to believe that the meeting was 
important. Marietta never did say it was a DADA group or that 
Harry Potter was involved...Umbridge had to have put that 
together from what Widdershins told her. Without the hex she 
might never have made the connection.

> 
> > Marietta's mother was policing the  floo network for 
Umbridge,  which made Marietta a security risk whatever her 
own views. > 

Eggplant:
> Hermione probably felt it was unfair to judge somebody by their 
> family. Do you judge Harry by the Dursleys?

Pippin:
It would hardly be unfair to ask Marietta, in private, if she saw a 
conflict and how she would handle it. Hermione wouldn't have 
lost anything by allowing Marietta to leave the group, since 
Umbridge found out about the Hogs Head meeting anyway, and 
she would have gained increased security for the meeting site.

Pippin