Hermione and Marietta

[lanval1015]

No: HPFGUIDX 154981

> Carol responds:
> How is Marietta supposed to apologize for a "crime" she doesn't
> remember, and which, to her knowledge, had no consequences other 
than
> the temporary and voluntary removal of the headmaster? And doesn't
> Hermione know that Marietta was Obliviated? If she's waiting for an
> apology, she's going to wait a long time. And we have no indication
> whatever that she regrets having hexed the parchment. IMO, neither
> Hermione nor Marietta thought ahead. Neither realized the potential
> consequences of her actions. But Hermione can now see the 
consequences
> of her action and Marietta can't because there are none and she
> doesn't know what she did. All she knows is that she's (apparently)
> scarred for life, and only one friend is loyal enough to stand by 
her,
> right or wrong, scarred or unscarred.

Lanval:
And that loyal friend might well have told her what went on that 
day, in the weeks before, and in the aftermath. Marietta's memory 
may have been Obliviated, that doesn't mean she can't take in new 
information concerning the event.

Even considering Cho doesn't know all the details, she knows enough: 
Marietta snitched, the DA meeting was disrupted, and DD had to flee 
the school. 

Besides, don't you think that Marietta would feverishly ask 
questions of everyone? She spent time in the Hospital wing; do you 
really think she took it all in silence, never wondering why her 
friend was perhaps angry with her, why there was a huge SNEAK mark 
across her face?

It would of course be interesting to know exactly how this memory 
modification worked. Did Kingley remove only Marietta's memory of 
attending the DA? Or did he remove her entire memory of the previous 
months? In the first case, that would be quite a feat. It appears to 
be very difficult even for skilled wizards to pick out specific 
thoughts and memories, let alone modify them.

In the second case? that would be harsh, and more than a little 
morally questionable. Can Obliviate wear off? can it be cast in a 
way to wear off after a while? is there a countercurse?

> 
> My guess is that Hermione not only feels no remorse but never 
thought
> to figure out a counterjinx, which in any case would probably just
> undo the jinx on the parchment.
> 
> Carol, who hopes that some of the posters on this list would feel 
more
> compassion for a real-life teenager who makes a big mistake than 
they
> apparently do for the imaginary teenagers in the HP books. Let him 
who
> is without sin cast the first stone.
>
Lanval:
Certainly, but then we should show just as much understanding for 
another teenager, who is at times self-righteous, too smart for her 
own good, and annoyingly arrogant, but has hardly shown evidence of 
being the budding monster some see in her, a cold-hearted, malicious 
Future Umbridge who'll walk over dead bodies to get her way.