[HPforGrownups] Re: Being Good and Evil ( Draco and a bit of Ron)/

[rebecca]

No: HPFGUIDX 154760

>Alla:
> Hermione  marked a traitor, Umbridge hurt an innocent. Lots of
> difference to  me.
>
>
<snip>

> Julie:
> Hermione marked a 15 YEAR OLD girl. Let's try not to forget that.
> She's still a child. The more this incident gets discussed the more
> I'm bothered by it. To leave Marietta with purple pustules all over  her
> face for months on end, perhaps forever (assuming Hermione has
> no intention of removing them, which she hasn't shown to date), is
> not a nice thing, certainly not the act of a truly "good" person. I
> mean, would you do that, even if a girl betrayed your secret and
> almost got you expelled? And would you leave her that way for
> months, passing her in the hallway and seeing her disfiguring
> purple pustules--all the while knowing she doesn't even remember
> how or why it was done!--and feel not the slightest twinge of
> guilt or the impulse to remove the curse, thinking perhaps she's
> suffered enough? Or would you be like Hermione and not give it a
> second thought when passing her, feeling perhaps nothing but
> satisfaction at her mortification and pain (aren't pustules open  sores?)
>
<snip>
>
> Oh, and while there is a difference in intent--Hermione marking  Marietta
> for betraying her and her friends, and Umbridge marking Harry because
> she's a vile sadist--that doesn't make one action right and the other
> wrong. It just makes one wrong and one even more wrong. Same
> with some of the twins' pranks. Perhaps their intent isn't the same
> as the Dursley's, yet their "pranks" still hurt others at times.
>
> JKR is all about the grey, IMO. The bad guys can have noble impulses
> and the good guys can give into their worst impulses. That was the  whole
> purpose of the pensieve scene. We like to imagine we are far removed
> from those who practice evil, but it's just not so. It's not that far a 
> fall
> once you start down that slope.

Rebecca now:

Hermione is a 15 year old girl who understands that betrayal can lead to the 
death, and loyalty and trust are virtues/values highly prized.  For example, 
Marietta's betrayal of a "secret" if she were an adult and in the Order 
would have gotten someone else in the Order killed - instead, it almost got 
Harry tortured by Umbridge. Marietta made a choice to rat them out, it 
wasn't a mistake.  In effect, she's a traitor:

'She's a lovely person really,' said Cho. 'She just made a mistake -'

Harry looked at her incredulously.

'A lovely person who made a mistake? She sold us all out, including you!'

'Well. we all got away, didn't we?' said Cho pleadingly. 'You know, her mum 
works for the Ministry, it's really difficult for her -'

'Ron's dad works for the Ministry too!' Harry said furiously. 'And in case 
you hadn't noticed, he hasn't got sneak written across his face -'


The next line in that exchange is Cho thinking that it was wrong of Hermoine 
to jinx the list and not tell them, but unfortunately I disagree. You take 
an oath, you perform to the oath. And yes, Julie, I would in this case as 
Hermoine pass Marietta with her disfigurement and not give a damn - loyalty 
and trust are that important to me. To me, the whole structure of what JKR 
has written emphasizes that this is serious business, acts of committment, 
trust and loyalty are not to be taken lightly.   It's also intriguing that 
instead of going to her mother and telling her, Marietta chose to tell 
Umbridge directly. Doubly worse, IMO.

I also think that even though her memory was modified, Cho could have told 
her why she had them. God knows one can speculate that Umbridge wouldn't 
have shut up about it to Marietta's mother, since they're both in the 
Ministry and Umbridge seems to play dirty pool pretty well so there's 
another avenue there for someone to tell her why she's afflicted.

Curious how Marietta still has the pimples (not pustules) so the jinx must 
be wearing off in HBP - one would think since Marietta's mother works for 
the Ministry, she would have taken her to St. Mungos. They cured Katie Bell, 
so one would think a 15 year old's jinx wouldn't be something they couldn't 
have handled.

Rebecca