Evil Hermione

[lanval1015]

No: HPFGUIDX 154862

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "huntergreen_3" 
<huntergreen3 at ...> wrote:
>
> Eggplant wrote:
> >> I think Marietta got off very lightly. Marietta was part of a 
> secret underground organization that was trying to oppose a brutal 
> tyrant, and she betrayed them.
> 
> HunterGreen (jumping in very late on the discussion):
> Except that it wasn't a "secret" organization when she joined, now 
> was it? Nor was the goal to oppose a tyrant. 

Lanval:
It may not have been stated that way explicitly, but I believe the 
DA WAS precisely that, at least partly -- opposition to a tyrant, 
albeit a minor one at this point. The tyrant Umbridge overthrew a 
study schedule that has hitherto worked well, and declared years of 
tradition null and void, at the worst possible time. Arguments, 
questions, were nipped in the bud. Shut up, children. The Ministry 
knows what's good for you. 

But Harry & Co aren't little children. Hermione in fact is smart 
enough to see through Umbridge's blather the first night: The 
Ministry is trying to interfere at Hogwarts. Not a Good Thing. 

If the first DA meeting wasn't about a secret organization, then why 
the Hog's Head? Why the fear that the veiled figure might be 
Umbridge? Why the alarm, when Ginny imitates Umbridge? Why the 
parchment? Why the hesitation by some to sign? As Ernie says, what 
if Umbridge finds out?

Marietta may not have been completely aware that she was about to 
join a secret organization when she set out for Hogsmeade that day, 
but by the time she got back, there could have been no doubt. 



> HunterGreen: 
At the time she joined 
> the group, it was neither against any rules, nor was it stated 
that 
> its purpose was to upset Umbridge (though it clearly WOULD upset 
her, 
> that was not the purpose of the group, they didn't sit around 
> thinking of ways to get Umbridge out of the school, after all). 
She 
> was taken to a pub to talk about a defense club, the purpose of 
which 
> was to practice spells to pass their OWLs and oppose Voldemort.

Lanval:
A mere few days later, the DA most certainly was illegal, and 
therefore more secret than ever. 
THAT would have been the time for Marietta to decide whether she 
wanted to continue.

> HunterGreen: 
Yes, from Harry's point-of-
> view (and from the reader's point-of-view) its a very clear-cut 
> situation, that being the the Ministry is being overly-paranoid 
about 
> Dumbledore and short-sighted about Voldemort, but that doesn't 
mean 
> that Marietta agrees, or sees it the same way. From her point-of-
> view, she's breaking school rules every time she goes to one of 
those 
> meetings, and she DOESN'T have a family who will be able to 
> understand in the least bit why she's doing that (even Ron's 
mother, 
> who is a memeber of more official anti-Voldemort organization, 
> doesn't want him in the DA). 

Lanval:
Hermione was quite aware of breaking school rules. They all were. 
None of the others seemed to have a moral problem with this, right? 
Rules are only rules, after all, and Umbridge's rules had not even 
the merit of tradition; foolish, dangerous, and immoral rules not 
only can, but must be broken at times, when so much is at stake. 

By the way, was there anything in the book about Marietta's family, 
beside Cho remarking that M's mother works at the Ministry, and that 
her parents have forbidden her to do anything that might upset 
Umbridge? I don't recall. 

So to say that Marietta MUST have been raised in the firm belief 
that the ministry can do no wrong, that she really had no free will 
in this matter, strikes me as nothing but speculation. For all we 
can guess, her parents may have told her to stay out of trouble from 
fear. Disobeying one's parents doesn't seem that much of an effort 
for Cho, who strongly believes in what she's doing, or the Weasley 
kids. At fifteen, it usually has crossed a person's mind that 
parents may just occcasionally be wrong, and that the time has come 
to do one's own thing.


> HunterGreen: 
She most likely thought she was doing 
> the right thing. She wasn't trying to be vindictive, or evil, or 
> spiteful, she was trying to do what appeared, to her, to be 
> the 'right' thing to do in an odd situation. And for that, does 
she 
> deserve to be branded for life? Not really. 

Lanval:
As I've said before, no. Not for life. For a while? Absolutely.

Not tryin to be vindictive?

Read what Umbridge tells us (and I see no reason why she would lie 
here):

"... Miss Edgecombe here came to my office shortly after dinner this 
evening and told me she had something she wanted to tell me. She 
said that if I proceeded to a secret room on the seventh floor, 
sometimes known as the Room of Requirement, I would find out 
something to my advantage. I questioned her a little further, and 
she admitted that there was to be some kind of meeting there..."

Marietta could have told Hermione she was uncomfortable with the DA, 
and that she wanted out.

She could have confided in her best friend. 

She could have gone to her Head of House.

She could have written to her parents.

The hex would still have gone into effect, if she had mentioned 
details or names, but I would have had a bit more sympathy for 
Marietta.

Yet what *does* she do? Of all the people she COULD have told, she 
chooses Umbridge! By this time, anyone in the school has a fairly 
clear idea of what Umbridge is about. Who besides Draco & buddies 
approves of Umbridge? Not even the other teachers do. Sorry, I don't 
see how Marietta could not at the very least have come across the 
idea that Umbridge and her vile behavior might be, you know, 
misguided? Or plain and simple WRONG?

Notice also the manner in which she tells Umbridge. This is not a 
tear-stained, distraught girl worn down by doubt, ready to confess! 
This is a calculating, nasty little traitor who rats out other 
students, including her BEST FRIEND. Nor do I see evidence that she 
mentioned her own involvement in the DA, at least not a first. 

Oh no. She sneaks to Umbridge, at precisely the right time (she 
doesn't want Umbridge to merely know about the DA, she wants them 
caught in the act!) and tells. 

Not "I found out about something very troublesome". Not "I think 
this is wrong, and you should be told."

No. Umbridge will "find something to her advantage". Eww. The more I 
think about it, the more disgusted I get. 

Does anyone find it a mite strange, btw, that no one in the WW seems 
to feel even a fraction of the discomfort and indignation 
expressed on this group, about Mariettas continuing disfigurement? 
We don't know what Marietta's parents did over the summer, but what 
with the WW being so small and gossipy, if they had raised an outcry 
over what happened to their daughter, I'm certain it would have been 
picked up by the Prophet. Does Cho go to Hermione, pleading or 
yelling at her to take off the hex? Do any of the other students, 
who were not in on the whole story, question the fact that someone 
has "sneak' etched across her face? 
Every single one of the teachers, several of whom know what went on 
with the DA, see Marietta every day, and none seem particularly 
inclined to do something. Not even Healer!Snape (if he can deal with 
horcrux-related injuries, surely a schoolgirl's hex wouldn't pose 
much of a problem for him?) has been too busy or willing to find a 
cure... or if he has, the author has yet to see a reason to mention 
it.

Lanval