Marietta, was Slytherin's Reputation

[k12listmomma]

No: HPFGUIDX 185642

> Carol responds:
> I think, though, that you've forgotten that Kingsley Obliviated
> Marietta, so she has no way of telling Madam Pomfrey what happened.

Shelley:
Are you assuming, then, that this Obliviation is permanent- that Marietta 
would have no way of remembering EVER that she betrayed the DA? I just don't 
see that in the books- I think Cho and the others would have told her or she 
would have figured it out from the events that happened. Certainly, if she 
had no way of remembering that she was a snitch, then she would have asked 
her friends, or her classmates from the DA who knew would have told her, why 
that word was on her face. Are you assuming that no one thought to tell her 
why she had that word on her face? I still think she would have had the 
choice to be sorry for her actions, or merely feel like she was the victim, 
once she had learned from the others what she had done. I see the Obliviate 
as a temporary confusion- she forgot why she was there, what she was going 
to testify before Umbridge and the others, and then she was hit with the 
curse and completely was befuddled for the moment. But later, I think she 
did have the means of putting things together to know why she was being 
scorned by other DA members. I think the pustules were not the only 
punishment she recieved- surely she had some dirty looks and nasty comments 
of "thanks for the betrayal" from the other DA members once word got out of 
whom had done it, given all the severity of rule changes that followed for 
the whole school. I think the DA and it's betrayal was such a huge thing 
that the whole school knew about it through the grapevine, and even students 
who weren't in DA might not be sympathetic to her.

> Carol:
> I don't think that the hex will reverse itself. There's no indication
> that it has done so in the books. She's hiding behind either a
> balaclava or heavy make-up when we see her again. (she doesn't appear
> in DH.) Evidently, dittany didn't help since Madam Pomfrey know about
> it. (Snape made sure that she gave it to Draco to prevent scarring
> from Sectum Sempra.) It must be permanent or at least extremely
> difficult to remove if that's the case.

Shelley:
No, we see in the books that the specific remedy must be applied for the 
particular ailment- a beezor stone removing poison, for example. Miss the 
exact remedy, you don't get results, but that is not to say that the exact 
cure is "hard". I hardly think that Madame Pomfrey, being a school nurse, 
would know the solution for EVERY hex or jinx that the students would come 
up with, especially since they have an entire library full of them at their 
disposal, should they be smart enough to look some up, as Hermione was. I 
think Pomfrey missed that this was a curse, which required a different 
treatment than the usual hex of pimples. I don't think it would have been 
hard to cure Marietta at all.

> Carol
> Since Marietta's mother was at
> this point a Ministry employee (what happened to her when the DEs took
> over, we don't know), I suspect that her mother would have sent her to
> St. Mungo's or had sufficient influence to get special advice from a
> Healer, but, if that's the case, it didn't help much.

Shelley:
I don't get that either from the books- we are notified when people 
disappear from the school to go to St. Mungos, and we are not told of that 
of Marietta, leaving me to believe that she stayed at Hogwarts. If Madame 
Pomfrey believed that she could fix it with Dittany, or some other topical 
solution, and Marietta was in no way prevented from still taking classes and 
doing her school work from this (on the surface appearance, very minor) 
ailment, then there would be no real "need" to go to St. Mungos. Thus, I 
don't think her parents would have been notified that she needed hospital 
treatment to begin with. Madane Pomfrey would have dismissed or 
underestimated the severity of the pustules, thinking she could still fix 
them. I think her parents were told "she's been hexed with pimples, we are 
working on it, no need to be concerned". We (as the readership) know she's 
been cursed, but do the others who were taking care of Marietta realize 
that? No, they wouldn't.

> Carol:
> And Snape, the
> Potions master in OoP and DADA teacher in HBP, could perhaps have
> helped her if he'd been asked, given his knowledge of Dark magic
> (Hermione's hex would be small potatoes compared with the ring and
> necklace curses), but either no one thought to ask him or he, too,
> thought that Marietta deserved it.

Shelley:
Again, I don't get that Marietta "deserved" it, so that people in power and 
position continued to punish her, just that the real solution was missed. I 
don't see Snape being consulted for any "routine" medical matter, only 
life-threatening, immediate dangers. The teachers seem to be very clear 
about who has which job, and seem not to step over each other's positions 
out of respect. Snape would only be called in as the "expert" when he was 
needed- who would think to call him for a hex of pimples if that is what 
Madame Pomfrey thought it was? Snape would have been affronted to be asked 
to take care of such a small matter!

We (as the readership) know what must be done to help her, but this a story 
that Rowling tells, and the people in the story missed the solution, and 
thus Marietta continues to suffer from the pustules months later.