Marietta

[lanval1015]

No: HPFGUIDX 169314

  > Charles:
> > And please remember that no matter what Marietta's motivations 
were,
> > she knew that she was in effect damning twenty-some odd students.
> 
> Pippin:
> No, she did not. The only information Marietta volunteered was that
> if Umbridge was in the 7th floor corridor at a certain time she'd 
hear
> something to her advantage. 

Lanval:
Er, not quite. Scholastic Ed., HB, p.613;
"...Miss Edgecombe here came to my office shortly after dinner this 
evening and told me she had something she wanted to tell me. She 
told me 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. 
Unfortunately at that point this hex,"she waved impatiently at 
Marietta's concealed face, "came into operation and upon catching 
sight of her face in my mirror the girl became too distressed to 
tell me any more."  Emphasis mine.


Marietta mentioned not only the seventh floor, but named the room. 
That's all it took for Harry & the DA to find it, back when they 
were searching for a safe place. Marietta might as well have taken 
Umbridge's hand and led her up there.

And p. 616:
"But there was a meeting tonight!" said Umbridge furiously. "There 
was a meeting, Miss Edgecombe, you told me about it, in the Room of 
Requirement! And Potter was the leader, was he not, Potter organized 
it..."

Sounds to me as if she not only mentioned the meeting but named 
Harry. Not 100% proof, but still. And she knew the list of names was 
on the wall.


>Pippin:
>That did not bring the sneak hex into
> effect, and if Umbridge had acted on that information then the DA
> would simply have been out of action until they found a safer 
> place to meet. 

Lanval:
Canon? Umbridge says "... at that point the hex went into effect." 
That does not necessarily mean the hex would *not* have gone into 
effect if Marietta had not volunteered any more info. We don't know 
anything about how long it takes to be 'activated'. It could be 
immediately, it could be  some minutes later. My guess (which is as 
good as yours, since I have no way to prove it either *g*) is that 
since Marietta went to Umbridge with the clear intent to rat out her 
friends (and have them caught in the act, which is even worse), 
opening her mouth to Umbridge and giving her directions was plenty 
enough for the hex.

And you bring up the exact point why it was so important for the hex 
to manifest itself. Umbridge acted without hesitating, which was bad 
news for the DA. Had she however waited, then every member of the DA 
would have known by the sight of Marietta's face that they had been 
betrayed, and who it was. Not only would they have refrained from 
assembling, they would have been spared the agonizing ordeal of 
suspecting each other. (Peter? Sirius? Remus? does that ring a bell? 
It did for Hermione, I'm sure. ).

At the time Hermione came up with the contract, she had also no 
foreknowledge of the members of the future Inquisitorial 
Squad, Umbridge's foul little helpers, who proved instrumental in 
the quick capture of the DA members. 

>Pippin:
I'm not saying what Marietta did was right, but
> it seems her intention was to find a way to quit the group without 
> offending Cho or getting anyone into trouble.

Lanval:
Really? On what evidence do you base that? That she went to see 
Umbridge at the exact time the meeting took place? Knowing that CHO 
was there and would be caught red-handed, along with everyone else?


>Pippin:
> What threats or pressure Umbridge used to extract the information
> that there was going to be some kind of meeting we don't know,
> but we did see her manhandle Marietta and shout at her.  
> 

Lanval:
Possible, but conjecture. She does not manhandle M until her 
frustration at Marietta's denial seems to overwhelm her. Umbridge 
knows Marietta's mother holds an important position; IMO she would 
have been careful not to frighten or bully the girl too harshly. 

Pippin:
> Also, Marietta didn't take any action until they started 
practicing to 
> repel dementors. At that time the dementors were still considered
> loyal servants of the Ministry. Harry had denied that he was 
planning 
> any revolutionary actions, and them he started teaching them how 
to 
> defend themselves from the Ministry's enforcers. Of course in
> Harry's mind the dementors were dark creatures who were going to
> join Voldemort any day, but there's no canon that he shared that
> view with the class. 
> 
> It'd be a bit like joining a self-defense class taught by a known 
> radical who declared that his intentions were peaceful, and then 
> being shown how to smuggle weapons past security. Marietta
> could have been worried  that  Harry really was part of a plot 
against 
> the Ministry and was involving people in that without their 
knowledge.
> 
Lanval:
Learning DEFENSIVE spells against the foulest creatures known to 
wizards, in order to save your life, is on the same level as 
joining a group headed by a "known radical' (who's all of fifteen 
years old, btw) who, by your descrption, sounds like nothing less 
than a full-blown terrorist/murderer?  
Learning to defend yourself (with the help of a PATRONUS of all 
things, not a gun or anything deadly!) is akin to an armed coup 
against the ministry??? Revolutionary actions? Really, sometimes I'm 
just baffled.