Responses to Marietta

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 169214

> Bart:
> I'm disturbed too. But I have a hard time believing that Hermoine 
COULD find and cast a spell that strong, that nobody could break it. 
On the other hand, I DO know of a case where students cast a bit of 
magic which nobody seemed able to break; Fred & George's swamp. 
However once Umby the Pink was gone, suddenly the magic didn't seem 
quite as powerful. 
> 
> Now, let's look at Marietta. Frankly, I DO feel a bit sorry for 
her; it was very clearly shown that she was more or less dragged in 
by Cho. She absolutely did not take it as seriously as the rest of 
the members. So, one can see her being the weak link. However, 
consider the consequences of her actions; it caused Dumbledore to 
become a wanted wizard, tossed from the school. MAJOR LEAP OF LOGIC: 
I think that whoever her parents took her to, or even possibly her 
parents, decided that she should live with it a mite longer for the 
lesson to set in. 

Magpie:
I have a hard time believing that, given that part of the reason 
given for Marietta siding with the Ministry was that her mother 
worked there so she thought she was doing the right thing. (And 
really, how much longer is a "mite longer" since she's starting a 
new school year with them?) It seems a little too much saying that 
the whole world really agrees with the heroes even if they do 
something mean to their own children. A parent might agree that 
their child did something wrong, but I doubt they'd get behind some 
other student doing that kind of punishing.

Besides which, while I totally support the risk the students took 
with the DA because there was a good reason behind it, I think it's 
odd when it all comes down to Marietta making this happen when the 
whole point was that the Trio and then the other students were 
taking a conscious risk with the DA. Dumbledore's thrown out to 
protect Harry and crew who have intentionally gone around the 
official school rules. I just feel like if I were in the DA, no 
matter how justified I felt in taking the risk and having the club, 
I'd still feel responsible for that risk that I knowingly took. 
Although it's a very different situation since the DA had good 
intentions in mind, it still seems too much like saying it's Harry's 
fault that Lucius Malfoy went to jail for breaking into the MoM. Of 
that if MWPP had gotten expelled for their werewolf jaunts because 
Snape told on them, Snape would have gotten them unfairly expelled 
and it would be all his fault. 

Just to be clear, I'm not blaming the DA--I know Umbridge is the bad 
guy here and I don't think they deserved to be expelled for starting 
the group. It just seems a little wonky to me to have the kids do 
this thing, but then put the consequences all on someone else. It 
seems to keep them from owning the action entirely, so that the 
stakes are high for Marietta but not when it comes to their own 
actions. (Especially since the way they went about it, imo, courted 
disaster that didn't require villains.)

-m