Marietta

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 169561


Dana wrote:
<snip> Many students already had an opinion about Harry or DD due to
these campaigns and Marietta coming from a home that supported the MoM
would have known this too. That is why she did not go to DD or her
head of house to report the illegal DA group but instead went to
Umbridge. If Marietta would not specifically have known anything about
the smear campaign that was going on, then the highest authority at
Hogwarts at that time was still DD and not Umbridge and she therefore
should have reported to him instead.  <snip>

Carol responds:

We don't know what Marietta knew. I think it's likely that she
believed what her mother believed, which would be that DD was trying
to take over the Ministry and was therefore a threat. It's possible,
however, that she believed the smear campaign, as many other people
did, and thought that Dumbledore was losing his grip. Either way, she
didn't believe Dumbledore's unsupported assertion that Voldemort was
back, and either way it's understandable that she didn't go to him. He
was either a power-hungry liar trying to terrify the public or a
deluded old fool. And had Marietta gone to her mother, her mother
would certainly have informed Umbridge. She could conceivably have
gone to Flitwick, her Head of House, assuming that Umbridge had not
undermined her trust in him. 

Unfortunately, however, she would still have had the purple pustules.
Hermione tells the not-yet-illegal group, "So if you sign, you're
agreeing not to tell Umbridge--*or anybody else*--what we're up to"
(OoP Am. ed. 346). So Marietta was up a creek. She was coerced by Cho
to to attend a group she wanted no part of, one that was clearly
anti-Ministry from its inception and more so as it went along. (She
gives Cho a reproachful look before signing the parchment, and
certainly would not have done so if she'd been warned about the hex.)
True, she was breaking her word not to tell anyone by going to
Umbridge, but at the time she gave her word, the group was not yet
illegal. She should have been given the chance to walk away.

Hermione persuades Ernie to sign by stating that she isn't going to
leave the parchment lying around, which may also have been a factor in
Marietta's signing (as the lethal-looking sharp instrument in George's
hand was possibly a factor in Zach Smith's signing). And ultimately
it's the parchment, not Marietta, that gives away the identity of the
group. And Cho bears some responsibility for dragging Marietta to the
meetings against her will. She should have respected Marietta's wishes
in the first place, especially after the meetings became illegal.

Carol, not excusing Marietta, just pointing out that she couldn't have
told *anyone* what the group was "up to" wothout triggering the hex