a/n: i didn't hate marietta, i didn't hate the dursleys. oops.

The Grudging Half-Truths of Marietta Edgecombe

1.

The thing about it was that she never meant to directly hurt anyone.

That's also a bit of a lie.

2.

Marietta didn't exactly detest Potter, but she wasn't inclined to be overly fond of him. He was the slightest edge of a whisper in the Ravenclaw dormitories, always accompanied with some grudging respect or wonder. He hadn't seemed to do much; he was short, pinched-looking, with hair that stuck up in small tufts all over his head. He seemed foolhardy and impulsive, as sulky as a small child.

"He's really quite-" and here, Cho would stop and look quickly down at her hands. Maidens in love, wistful sighs, it was something straight out of Canterbury Tales. It made her sick to watch. "Oh, Marietta. You're being silly. He isn't that bad."

She remembered Potter from last year. Shy and wide-eyed, clumsy in his eagerness to please. He had scoured the halls for Cho even then, eyes flicking away quickly under thick spectacles to nudge his loud-mouthed friends into shutting up. He'd walk slowly behind them, his head turning back to look at Cho, who didn't seem to notice.

Potter from last year, Potter from this year. He changed year to year, became more stooped and worn-down. He wasn't good for anyone. He could barely take care of himself.

"Possibly. He seems to be a bit of twit, that's all." A bit of an idiot, a bit stupid. A bit too quick to trust people. She didn't know he wasn't already dead. He probably would be soon with the way he carried on.

3.

She fingered the pustules on her face. Granger, now that she'd had a chance to whisk herself away to the dorms and examine it properly, had done some impressive work, she had to admit. They rose like small mountains out of her skin, the lurid-colored 'SNEAK' for all to see. Well done, Granger, she thought miserably. Well done.

4.

"I don't regret it." she said fiercely to Cho when confronted. "I don't. Not one bit. Did you really think that we could go on like that-all fun and games? He was getting dangerous, Cho, and I did what I had to. He's got his heads in the clouds and you listen to me, alright? He was going to drag us all down with him. None of us are ready for that! For god's sake, we're just children!"

5.

The most marvelous thing about it was that she didn't feel very guilty afterwards. She'd been congratulated by her mother on doing The Right Thing, and Umbridge had been pleased and no one blamed her much.

That's also a bit of a lie.