Ginny (was Re: Why it took Percy so long to be with the good guys.)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 192096

Geoff:
> In the second quote, he re-emphasises the fact that he wants her out 
> of danger.
> 
> In the last quote, his concern becomes very much at the forefront of his 
> thoughts.
> 
> I don't agree that Ginny was betraying Harry. However, what she was 
> doing was displaying the stubbornness and pigheadedness of a 
> Weasley female. By going off to do "her own thing" despite being 
> instructed by Harry to stay out of things she comes dangerously near 
> to seriously distracting him at a crucial point in the battle which I 
> believe was selfish and thoughtless towards the person she apparently 
> loves.
>

Pippin:
Sooo...Ginny looks bad, and her loyalty is questioned,  because she participated in a battle she was ordered to stay out of. Meanwhile, the Slytherins look bad, and their loyalty is questioned,   for *not* participating in a battle they were ordered to stay out of. Sounds like a classic double-bind to me. :)

Ginny's reckless impulse to join the fight is not only typical Weasley, it's typical Gryffindor. But actually she doesn't run off on her own to join the fighting against Harry's order to stay out of the way. She fights alongside Tonks *before* Harry tells her to stay safe, and then we don't see her fighting again  until much later,  when Harry is supposedly dead, and not going to be distracted any more. It seems that she fought her impulse to charge into battle  and  stayed out of the fighting as long as she thought it would do any good. 


In any case, Ginny could not have warned Harry that Draco was outside  the room of requirement, because Little D and his pals were using disillusionment charms. 

"So how did you get in here?" [Harry] asked, trying to distract them.
"I virtually lived in the Room of Hidden Things all last year," said Malfoy, his voice brittle. "I know how to get in."
"We was hiding in the corridor outside," grunted Goyle. "We can do Diss-lusion Charms now! And then," his face split into a gormless grin, "you turned up right in front of us and said you was looking for a die-dum! What's a die-dum?"
HPB ch 31, American hardcover pg 629.

The conversation overheard was this one, which takes place after Harry has skidded "around a final corner" on his way to the Room of Requirement, a few pages before:

"I know what the diadem looks like, and I know where it is," said Harry, talking fast. "He hid it exactly where I hid my old Potions book, where everyone's been hiding stuff for centuries. He thought he was the only one to find it. Come on."
-- ch 31 p627 ibid

Draco's group only had to wait unseen until Harry had changed the room back, Probably they tiptoed  in right behind the Trio, which adds no little irony to Ron's incredulous question, "And he never realized *anyone* could get in?" 

But that brings up something I never thought of before --  Draco and the Inquisitorial Squad also knew that the DA had used the room of requirement as their hideout in OOP.  They were on their way with Umbridge when Harry got Dobby's warning. 

Yet none of them seem to have told the Carrows where they should be hunting. If they had, it wouldn't have been much use for Neville to instruct the Room not to admit any Carrow supporters. No DA members would have been able to enter if the Carrows had blocked off the corridor or set up an ambush for them. 

   So the hideout remained unsuspected for two weeks as the DA reassembled in DH  not least  because Draco and the other members of the Inquisitorial Squad didn't give it away. 


Pippin