Hermione stood there, silent as Marietta lashed out at her. She didn’t make the decisions she had lightly–and so she stood there and took the words that, truly, should be directed at her and no one else. It was true, Hermione had a soft spot for her friends–Harry and Ron, the first people to befriend her ever, Ginny, the first girl she really felt she could connect to without fear of being mocked… she would do what she had to, all in the name of doing what she thought was right and what kept them safe. Hermione Granger would set a teacher on fire, brew illegal potions, send Umbridge off at the mercy of a herd of centaurs–and yes, she would curse a girl’s face for betraying them. Did that make her vile? Maybe it did, but she had done what she thought was best to keep as many people as possible safe. Under the circumstances, and with the information she’d had at the time, she wasn’t sure if she could’ve made a different decision.
“Us being warned was sheer luck and had nothing to do with you, Marietta. It’s only by chance that we weren’t all stuck in detention, slicing our hands open or getting whipped–or worse–if Umbridge had her way. They wanted to snap Harry’s wand, expel him, if it hadn’t been for Dumbledore they would have and it would have been your fault–and if they had Voldemort would’ve found him, defenseless–he could have died because of your slip-up.” Hermione argued back furiously, eyes narrowed, “We started a group to learn to defend ourselves because we had no one else to help us, and Harry’s lessons were all that we had! A group that none of us made you join, for the last time! You were there of your own volition! And that parchment was designed to protect us all, yes, Marietta, including you if you had let it–but you didn’t!” Her own voice had raised in pitch, the stress of the argument and the tears from the other girl finally getting to her, “I–me, Harry, we all did the best we could, and we never forced you to do anything, Marietta! None of this would have happened to you if you had just kept your word!”
She took a deep, shaking breath, suddenly exhausted, “I don’t e n j o y seeing you like this. It doesn’t give me any pleasure to know my charm caused it, it doesn’t. But I can’t forgive you for what you did, either. I–I may not like what I did but–I did what I had to.”
—- “NONE of that happened. NONE OF IT. it’s hard to care about your ifs and maybes when your face is fine.” she shook her head, “how are you like this? i joined for a friend, because a friend wanted me to. because a friend p u s h e d me to. i joined because i was too weak to say no to someone i care for. not everyone is made of rigid steel, a fact you seem to forget.” marietta’s nails had begun to dig into her own flesh, an effort to keep from lunging at the other girl. “what you did to that parchment wasn’t protection. it was a CHEAP, nasty, vicious trick. the BEST you could?! don’t even. i know what you lot think of me. i know that you all think i deserve what i got. i see the way i’m looked at when i walk through the halls here!! i tried my best, too. i ignored the fact that we were a bunch of clueless teenagers waving wands at wooden statues, that what we were doing was ILLEGAL. i never volunteered to be interrogated when umbridge came for us. i never asked to be put in that chair. i never fucking asked for any of this!! of course i feel awful for doing what i did, OF COURSE i regret it every day. but i’d chose my mum over a bunch of malicious teenagers that think it’s okay to permanently damage other people’s faces every time. you should know that threats from people like umbridge wouldn’t have meant my mum just simply losing her job. yeah, well, the best you could do ended up in me DESPISING myself, right along with the rest of you, so you’ll excuse me if i don’t express my gratitude for your efforts!!” she screeched.
“——— have you even considered that for what you did to me, i COULD have gone and given up your names? that i should have shown the same disregard you and your mates have for me, and listed off every single student apart of it. i still remember, hermione. and i’ve said NOTHING. i’ve kept you all a secret despite how much i fucking hate you.”
marietta LAUGHED in hermione’s face. “oh, you don’t like what you did to me?! but poor hermione just had to, right, to protect her friends? gallant, h e r o i c hermione, doing what she had to in order to keep people safe. what the FUCK do you think i was doing for my mum, then? shove your fake regret. you don’t care about what happened to me for a second, and your forgiveness would be too little to late to save me, anyways.” marietta pushed past the girl, ( rather forcefully, ) to continue through hall and willed herself to hold in anymore crying until she was alone.
