Afterward
There's a lot of grisly stuff in the story's brief two chapters – depression, loss of friends, feelings of suicide, and suicide. Believe it or not, this happens every day. There are teenagers like Marietta who feel that their situation is so helpless and incurable, they take their own lives. Some of them simply survive for months and months before taking their own lives, like Marietta in my story. Or worse, they suffer and never kill themselves, and live out their lives as an empty shell. They do not live, but merely survive.
So, you ask, what's the point of this story? To show that there are two sides to a story, even if nobody wants to acknowledge it. Most Harry Potter fans probably skimmed over the parts with Marietta in it, and felt angry that she sold out the entire Defense Association and caused Dumbledore to get sacked. Those people feel only cold anger and acid pleasure at Marietta's problems and difficulties. The truth is much grayer than that, but Rowling only briefly touches what could be a very powerful and touching tangent of the Harry Potter world. Unfortunately, considering that Marietta is the antagonist, and not the hero, she only gets a brief but pivotal role in the plot, but not much detail into her motivation and aftermath.
Marietta is a weak-willed person. That fact is something none of the trio (Harry, Ron, and Hermione) or anyone else realizes or notices. Cho even said that Marietta never wanted "to be here but [Cho] made her come with me" (395). Marietta is uncertain what to do, and loses both ways in the struggle. She tells the authority about the D.A, earning the wrath and disrespect of the group. But she cannot confirm the hard fact that the D.A had met for six months because her memory was modified, and earns the wrath of Umbridge and Fudge. Neither of them can expel Harry now because they have no proof. They manage to sack Dumbledore, however, and Marietta earns the wrath of the entire school and the professors. She gets shunned from both arenas – both student and authority.
I may have exaggerated what happened as a result, but Marietta obviously was driven into her own self, criticizing, talking, and insulting who she was inside and what made she did that made her so unpopular. She begins to feast and roast on her own doubts, insecurities, and fears, which is extremely unhealthy. She does this because in the Hogwarts in my story, nobody ever tells her what happens. She is left to simply stew in her own juices. The "sneak" scars only embellish her own shame and desire to die, because they are a visual and damaging sign of betrayal, not only for the D.A (the obvious target) but for her own conscience, which doesn't remember what happened. This leads to her inevitable suicide when she loses all her hope and desire to live.
You don't know someone's private life, or what happens at home or in the dormitory. Simply put the trio (Harry, Ron, and Hermione) and the rest of the D.A thought she was doing it out of spite and vindictive pleasure (because Cho burned Mareitta's sleeve in the first meeting). But her world was far more blurred. At her own home, her mother strongly forbade her "to do anything that might upset Umbridge" (395), which encompasses illegal school organizations (Education Decree Number 24).
The motive was much more fearful than vindictive. She was never 100% certain of what she did. As Cho pointed out, Marietta was forced to come along to the meetings. With this in mind, what makes you think that she was 100% certain she was doing the right thing when she reported the group? She instantly regretted it when she realized the impact (Dumbledore sacked, but 28 students might have been expelled). But she bears the irreparable impact of the pimples and the humiliation of covering her face all the time now; Harry sees her "wearing a balaclava" (865), more than two months after telling on the D.A. But because nobody ever thought into what she experienced at home, or the impact the pimples had on her self-esteem, they simply believe "she got what was coming."
These things happen all the time. I'm about two months shy of my sixteenth birthday, and I feel those same doubts and insecurities. But unlike the Marietta I fictionalized, I grew up in a warm and loving environment, with both parents together. And yet those feelings still persist, even now. But only by talking and going to social groups, I have avoided the last and most desperate thoughts of suicide. The signs are painfully obvious – sudden withdrawal, not talking, scars and other marks – but only if someone notices and acts on them, as the Marietta in my own story concluded that nobody had. For thousands of teens yearly, nobody notices, or takes action.
So what am I saying? Notice, observe, and think. There are thousands of teens like Marietta committing suicide daily because they don't talk to people and feel helpless. They become darker, talk less, bow their heads, and lose passion in life and the desire to live. All they want is someone to talk to. It's not healthy to stew in anyone's own thoughts. Even the smallest gesture of talking and acknowledging them – something that most depressed teenagers desperately want – might save them.
Truth: Most things people do are out of their own fear, not their vindication. Marietta didn't mean to get Cho or anyone else expelled, or to get Dumbledore sacked, but she bore the entire weight of everyone's anger for too long. In my fictional story, she committed suicide because of the guilt and anger. The next time you get angry, mad, and shout at a repressed and shy individual, ponder how they will absorb what you said and how they will react to it. And wonder: what will eventually become of them later because you shouted at them?
hbdragon88
Additional note: I have J.K Rowling to thank considerably for putting enough of Marietta in Order of the Phoenix to make into a side story. If you are interested in knowing when Marietta is referred to, here are some page numbers (USA edition):
Hog's Head meeting – 355, 337, 340, 347; First Meeting (Room of Requirement) – 394-395; Dumbledore's office – 612-622, 625; Cho defends Marietta against Harry – 637; Ron's rant on Marietta – 652; and On the Hogwarts Express – 864
There's a lot of grisly stuff in the story's brief two chapters – depression, loss of friends, feelings of suicide, and suicide. Believe it or not, this happens every day. There are teenagers like Marietta who feel that their situation is so helpless and incurable, they take their own lives. Some of them simply survive for months and months before taking their own lives, like Marietta in my story. Or worse, they suffer and never kill themselves, and live out their lives as an empty shell. They do not live, but merely survive.
So, you ask, what's the point of this story? To show that there are two sides to a story, even if nobody wants to acknowledge it. Most Harry Potter fans probably skimmed over the parts with Marietta in it, and felt angry that she sold out the entire Defense Association and caused Dumbledore to get sacked. Those people feel only cold anger and acid pleasure at Marietta's problems and difficulties. The truth is much grayer than that, but Rowling only briefly touches what could be a very powerful and touching tangent of the Harry Potter world. Unfortunately, considering that Marietta is the antagonist, and not the hero, she only gets a brief but pivotal role in the plot, but not much detail into her motivation and aftermath.
Marietta is a weak-willed person. That fact is something none of the trio (Harry, Ron, and Hermione) or anyone else realizes or notices. Cho even said that Marietta never wanted "to be here but [Cho] made her come with me" (395). Marietta is uncertain what to do, and loses both ways in the struggle. She tells the authority about the D.A, earning the wrath and disrespect of the group. But she cannot confirm the hard fact that the D.A had met for six months because her memory was modified, and earns the wrath of Umbridge and Fudge. Neither of them can expel Harry now because they have no proof. They manage to sack Dumbledore, however, and Marietta earns the wrath of the entire school and the professors. She gets shunned from both arenas – both student and authority.
I may have exaggerated what happened as a result, but Marietta obviously was driven into her own self, criticizing, talking, and insulting who she was inside and what made she did that made her so unpopular. She begins to feast and roast on her own doubts, insecurities, and fears, which is extremely unhealthy. She does this because in the Hogwarts in my story, nobody ever tells her what happens. She is left to simply stew in her own juices. The "sneak" scars only embellish her own shame and desire to die, because they are a visual and damaging sign of betrayal, not only for the D.A (the obvious target) but for her own conscience, which doesn't remember what happened. This leads to her inevitable suicide when she loses all her hope and desire to live.
You don't know someone's private life, or what happens at home or in the dormitory. Simply put the trio (Harry, Ron, and Hermione) and the rest of the D.A thought she was doing it out of spite and vindictive pleasure (because Cho burned Mareitta's sleeve in the first meeting). But her world was far more blurred. At her own home, her mother strongly forbade her "to do anything that might upset Umbridge" (395), which encompasses illegal school organizations (Education Decree Number 24).
The motive was much more fearful than vindictive. She was never 100% certain of what she did. As Cho pointed out, Marietta was forced to come along to the meetings. With this in mind, what makes you think that she was 100% certain she was doing the right thing when she reported the group? She instantly regretted it when she realized the impact (Dumbledore sacked, but 28 students might have been expelled). But she bears the irreparable impact of the pimples and the humiliation of covering her face all the time now; Harry sees her "wearing a balaclava" (865), more than two months after telling on the D.A. But because nobody ever thought into what she experienced at home, or the impact the pimples had on her self-esteem, they simply believe "she got what was coming."
These things happen all the time. I'm about two months shy of my sixteenth birthday, and I feel those same doubts and insecurities. But unlike the Marietta I fictionalized, I grew up in a warm and loving environment, with both parents together. And yet those feelings still persist, even now. But only by talking and going to social groups, I have avoided the last and most desperate thoughts of suicide. The signs are painfully obvious – sudden withdrawal, not talking, scars and other marks – but only if someone notices and acts on them, as the Marietta in my own story concluded that nobody had. For thousands of teens yearly, nobody notices, or takes action.
So what am I saying? Notice, observe, and think. There are thousands of teens like Marietta committing suicide daily because they don't talk to people and feel helpless. They become darker, talk less, bow their heads, and lose passion in life and the desire to live. All they want is someone to talk to. It's not healthy to stew in anyone's own thoughts. Even the smallest gesture of talking and acknowledging them – something that most depressed teenagers desperately want – might save them.
Truth: Most things people do are out of their own fear, not their vindication. Marietta didn't mean to get Cho or anyone else expelled, or to get Dumbledore sacked, but she bore the entire weight of everyone's anger for too long. In my fictional story, she committed suicide because of the guilt and anger. The next time you get angry, mad, and shout at a repressed and shy individual, ponder how they will absorb what you said and how they will react to it. And wonder: what will eventually become of them later because you shouted at them?
hbdragon88
Additional note: I have J.K Rowling to thank considerably for putting enough of Marietta in Order of the Phoenix to make into a side story. If you are interested in knowing when Marietta is referred to, here are some page numbers (USA edition):
Hog's Head meeting – 355, 337, 340, 347; First Meeting (Room of Requirement) – 394-395; Dumbledore's office – 612-622, 625; Cho defends Marietta against Harry – 637; Ron's rant on Marietta – 652; and On the Hogwarts Express – 864