Marietta and Pettigrew

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 176864

Alla:

Pettigrew was selling information for a **year**. Thanks to Hermione  -
ONCE would have been the most what traitor of the DA would have been  
able to do, since everybody would have seen him, no?



Julie:
You do realize you keep making as negative assumptions as possible  about
Marietta (that she might have kept feeding out information, which makes no  
real
sense, as once the secret is out, it is out), while making as positive  
assumptions
as possible about Peter Pettigrew (I recall nothing whatsoever about Peter  
being
tortured, only that he was afraid for his life, reasonably so I'm sure. And  
the finger
to his mother was a tribute, all that was supposedly left of his body when  
he died
a hero trying to stop that evil murderer Sirius Black, wasn't it?). At  least 
this 
disparity in your arguments seems the case to me. Let's look at the  facts...
 
Peter betrays two of his closest friends and their baby--yes, a BABY no  
less--
to *certain* death. He knows exactly what Voldemort plans to do and he  gives
him the information anyway.
 
Marietta betrays her closest friend (along with other students) to  possible
explusion. That is the canon threat, not torture by Umbridge (we have zero 
canon stating that Marietta knows what Umbridge did to Harry or  anyone else,
as we have no scene where said torturees display their torture marks to  the
DA, so that is only unsupported supposition). Further, she does NOT  betray
them to Voldemort or anyone outside the school authorities--and as  unpleasant
as Umbridge is, she isn't nor is implied to be connected to  Voldemort but to 
the 
Ministry. (And while explusion might be psychologically painful and  perhaps
damaging to a future career, it's still not torture, and certainly not  
death.)
 
Peter betrays his friends because he fears for his life, AFAWK. There isn't  
any
definitive canon that he wanted to get back at anyone, though there is  canon
that Sirius thought rather lowly of him and canon implication that James  kept
him around at least partly as a sycophant. Whether Peter resents this  we
don't know, so leave it at him being a coward, even as unsatisfying as that  
is
(why even accept the Secret-Keeper position, if he has any feelings at all  
for
James or Lily, or their innocent baby that I presume he'd at least met and 
maybe bounced on his knee? He could have refused it, admitting he  didn't
have the courage for it, even while hiding the fact that he'd apparently  been
spying for Voldemort for months. Witness that Snape would never have
deliberately betrayed Lily, so Peter could have avoided betraying those  he
cared about, if he cared about anyone.)
 
Marietta betrays her friends because she is torn by her loyalties to her  
mother
versus to Cho and the DA. Again, this is canon stated by Cho. And  perhaps
there was also some resentment on her part, that the DA evolved beyond  what
its original purpose or that she felt pressured to get involved  in something 
she
wasn't really enthused about from the beginning. But leave it at being  torn 
by her
loyalties, which incorporates fear that she will disappoint or anger her  
mother.
 
And what else...let's see...
 
Peter passed on information to Voldemort for a period of months (a  year?)
before he betrayed the Potters. We have no canon that the information  got
anyone tortured or killed, but since Peter was part of the Order, and the  
Order
was being decimated in the first War, it's very likely that the information  
in
fact did lead to just this outcome.
 
Marietta never passed on any other damaging information in canon, and has 
no reputation in canon for being untrustworthy among her peers. 
 
Peter intentionally or through gross negligence got 12 Muggles  killed.
 
Marietta got no one killed, or even hurt in the end.
 
Peter let Sirius rot in Azkaban for 12 years while knowing his "friend" was 
innocent of any crime.
 
Marietta has never sent anyone to Azkaban, and we have no canon that
any student could actually be sent to Azkaban if Umbridge even tried,  and
plenty of canon that Dumbledore, who is set on saving someone even as 
set toward evil as Draco, is not going to let any of his students be sent  to
Azkaban. Thus no canon that Marietta though this was a likely or even  a
possible result (as it indeed was not).
 
Peter became Voldemort's servant again, and helped this entirely evil  and
homicidal pyschopath regain a corporeal body. 
 
Marietta...well, she might have helped someone with his/her homework,  but
that seems to be about it. We certainly hear of no detentions being served 
for resurrecting evil Lords!
 
Peter helped set up Harry to be captured by Voldemort, with the  knowledge
that Harry would be murdered. (His whiny and belated plea to Voldemort  to
sacrifice someone besides Harry was, well, pathetic.)
 
Marietta...well, she's falling terribly far behind in  comparison, isn't she?
 
Peter killed an innocent teenager without the least compunction. Killed  him
with an Unforgivable. Without compunction. Without remorse. KILLED  HIM.
 
Marietta...maybe she killed a mosquito once? Or a fly?
 
Basically the comparison is between a girl betrayed her friends  in a one-time
school incident--a betrayal to be sure, and one that deserved some sort  of
outing (though to my mind what she got was extreme), and a boy/man  who
betrayed those who trusted him over and over again (giving info to  Voldemort)
and his friends to certain death and to incarceration in a hellhole prison,  
who
also murdered a teenager without remorse and set up another one to die,  and
who willingly and with complete foreknowledge resurrected a psychopath and 
thus was partly responsible for dozens (perhaps hundreds) who died  during
the second war against Voldemort. 
 
And you think there is a comparison??! Well, you can compare a nuclear  bomb
to a slingshot on the basis that both are weapons. But in reality  they are 
two
very different things, as Peter and Marietta are two very different people,  
one 
whose evil if pathetic nature destroyed dozens of lives literally and  
figuratively,
and one who acted in a very wrong (if you wish, "evil") manner exactly  *one
time* in canon. So it's beyond me that one can feel sympathy for Peter,  yet
feel none for Marietta. 
 
Incidentally, I seem to recall some debate over the long-lasting nature of 
Hermione's jinx, and if memory serves, several of the defenders of  Hermione's
actions stated if the effects of the jinx were permanent, then sure,  they'd 
think
Hermione went too far, while adamantly arguing the effects would  eventually
wear off. Well, it did turn out to be permanent, even if the permanence was  
in
the form of  scarring rather than oozing pustules, scarring that I  assume 
still
spelled out the word "Sneak."
 
Julie, who respects JKR's or anyone else's right to believe that Marietta 
deserved what she got, while believing in a more merciful and  forgiving brand
(oops, pun) of justice than the eye for an eye (or two arms and a leg for  an
eye) version.



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