Traitors, friends, loyalty and betrayal (was Evil Hermione) long

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 155160


> Nikkalmati:
> Lanval touched on the central question regarding Marietta and  Hermione.  Two 
> virtues appear to be paramount in Potterverse: courage and  loyalty.  The 
> Marietta incident is just one example of betrayal found  throughout the books and 
> I think it has to be seen in conjunction with all the  other incidents.
> The books begin with a huge act of betrayal by Pettigrew for the base  motive 
> of saving his own skin, thus, an act against both courage and  loyalty.  
> Sirius is the opposite character in this scenario, displaying  both courage and 
> loyalty ( he advised Pettigrew he would have died rather than  betray the 
> Potters and he broke out of Azkaban when he realized Harry was in  danger, for 
> example).

Pippin:
Loyalty is important, yes, but loyalty to what? To a person or a group? Or
to a set of values? I think it's the values, people. JKR makes that clear
when Neville is rewarded for turning against the Trio.

It is difficult for me to judge Marietta's actions, because I don't know what 
values she was choosing when she went to Umbridge. Was she choosing to 
enrich herself as Alla seems to think, or was she choosing between her 
mother and an unstable, erratic boy who leaves her best friend  in tears half
the time?

But I know what Hermione's values are supposed to be, and that bothers
me, because the parchment hex does not exemplify choice. First and 
foremost, it doesn't allow for the choice of mercy. 
Regardless of whether mercy would have been appropriate in this
case, the parchment leaves no option for it. Some have said that
Hermione would show mercy if she was asked to, but Hermione's 
friends have received mercy unasked. The Flying Car incident 
was in its way a betrayal of the whole WW, but Hermione would
be very lonely at school if Harry and Ron had been expelled.

Secondly, although everyone else's future was just as much at stake as 
Hermione's, she  didn't give any one else a choice about how that future 
was going to be protected. That's elitist, IMO. I know Hermione doesn't want
to be elitist, so I think this was  a case where she, as was often the
case with Sirius, didn't live up to her personal philosophy. She took
it for granted that her choices would reflect what she believes in,
but her judgement was whipsawed by her "faults and fears."

Pippin