Marietta Edgecombe

Marietta Edgecombe was a witch who was a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who started between 1990 and 1993. She was Sorted into Ravenclaw House and was the best friend of Cho Chang. In the 1995-1996 school year, Marietta joined Dumbledore's Army at Cho's urging, despite being reluctant to get on Dolores Umbridge's bad side. When she became afraid that her mother's job at the Ministry of Magic might be threatened by her membership in the organisation, Marietta betrayed the D.A. to Umbridge. This activated a jinx that caused boils to erupt on Marietta's face, and a Memory Charm was later placed on her by Kingsley Shacklebolt in order to prevent her from fully incriminating her fellow D.A. members.

Early life
Little is known of Marietta's life before she began attending Hogwarts. It is likely that Marietta obtained her wand from Ollivanders Wand Shop before she went to Hogwarts at the age of eleven. She was born into a wizarding family, so it is assumed that she had received her Hogwarts acceptance letter by owl.

Early years
Marietta began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as early as 1990 and as late as 1993. She was sorted into Ravenclaw house. At some point, she met Cho Chang, and became a member of her group of giggling friends.

1994-1995 school year
When Harry Potter asked Cho to the Yule Ball, Marietta was amongst the group of friends to giggle at the boy, much to Harry's discomfort. When Cho fell into a somewhat emotional wreck due to Cedric Diggory's demise, Marietta was the only one of her many friends who remained with her. Cho considered her a true friend because of this loyalty. However, Marietta was forbidden by her parents to go against the Ministry during the summer of that year, as the Ministry had denied Harry and Albus Dumbledore's claims of Voldemort's return; this would later put her at odds with Cho, who believed Harry.

1995-1996 school year
During the 1995-1996 school year, Marietta was made to attend the first meeting of what would become Dumbledore's Army in the Hog's Head pub in Hogsmeade by her friend Cho Chang through peer pressure, despite her obvious suspicion of Harry Potter's intentions as well as his claims that Lord Voldemort had returned. She gave Harry a thoroughly distrustful look to tell him that, given her way, she would not be there. She also gave Cho a disapproving look for signing the piece of parchment drawn up by Hermione Granger for all members to sign and only added her name reluctantly.

Despite Harry's extremely effective teaching methods, Marietta did not enjoy the lessons at the very least, especially during the first lesson when Cho accidentally set her sleeve on fire, and continued to resent Harry's words, thinking of him and Albus Dumbledore as liars and nutters. She acted disrespectfully to Harry, behaviour which Cho told him to ignore. Her membership in the D.A. became particularly difficult as it increasingly came into conflict with Hogwarts High Inquisitor Dolores Umbridge, who was at Hogwarts as the representative of the Ministry of Magic where Marietta's mother worked. Even after the Death Eaters' mass breakout of Azkaban and Harry's interview being published in The Quibbler, Marietta continued to distrust Harry.

After six months of the meetings, and from the pressure her mother gave, Marietta finally betrayed Dumbledore's Army to the Ministry. After dinner, while the rest of Dumbledore's Army was learning to cast the Patronus, which everyone was eager to learn, Marietta instead went to Umbridge's office and gave her an advantageous hint about the Room of Requirement. With a little further questioning from Umbridge, Marietta confessed that a meeting was taking place there. Right after that, Marietta came to regret her decision, as the parchment she and the other members of the D.A. had signed at the first meeting was jinxed, making anyone who betrayed the organisation break out in pimples that spelled the word "SNEAK" across their face. Upon catching her face in Umbridge's mirror, Marietta decided not to show her face for shame.

As this jinx caused Marietta to cover up her face (which muffled her voice), she was unable to verbally confess everything to Cornelius Fudge. As such, Umbridge simply asked her and told her to nod. However, just before she was to confess all to Umbridge, Kingsley Shacklebolt, an Auror and a secret member of the Order of the Phoenix, took advantage of Marietta's silent shame to perform a Memory Charm on her so that she could not implicate Albus Dumbledore and Harry. The sudden change in her testimony angered Umbridge so much that the professor began shaking her violently and only stopped when Dumbledore pointed his wand at her in anger and caused Edgecombe to emit a forcible charge.

After Dumbledore took blame of the organisation's formation, Marietta was one of the few people who witnessed the fierce battle between Fudge's brigade and Dumbledore in the Headmaster's office. However, as she went to the hospital wing to clear up the blemishes, she was unable to give anyone a full account. Throughout her stay there, Madam Pomfrey was unable to make the slightest change in the jinx. Cho was upset for her friend and defended her to Harry Potter, saying Marietta merely made a mistake, and called Hermione's jinx a "horrible trick" while trying to persuade Harry to forgive Marietta. Harry, however, considered Marietta a traitor and her informing the ruining of the D.A., to which he replied that the jinx was a "brilliant idea". After this row, their relationship fell apart.

At the end of the year, Marietta was seen wearing a balaclava to cover her disfigured face, accompanying Cho on the train, evading Harry.

1996-1997 school year
Marietta still had blemishes on her face from the jinx the following school year, and took to wearing thick make-up to try to cover them up, with limited success. She sat with Cho on the train to Hogwarts for their final year; they saw Harry Potter during this journey, but did not speak to him and looked away when he walked past them on the train.

Later life
It is unknown if Marietta returned to Hogwarts and participated in the Battle of Hogwarts alongside Cho, nor if she survived the reign of Lord Voldemort, but given her loyalty issues and that she was considered a traitor by all other members of the D.A., she was at least not accepted back into Dumbledore's Army.

The formation of the pimples on her face eventually faded, but left a few scars.

Physical appearance
Marietta is described as having curly, reddish-blonde hair. After she was struck with the Dumbledore's Army parchment jinx for betraying the D.A., she bore pimples spelling "SNEAK" across her face. During the time she bore those boils, Marietta covered them up with a balaclava and then thick makeup, the latter of which did not completely hide them. They faded with time, but Marietta was left with a few scars.

Personality and traits
"She's a lovely person really. She just made a mistake..."

- Cho Chang describing Marietta.

When Cho became depressed over Cedric's death, Marietta was presumably comforting and supportive, being the only one to remain with her when the other friends left irresponsibly. Cho claimed Marietta is a lovely person, an attribute that was mostly unseen in her appearances.

However, Marietta is one of the many people who were loyal to the Ministry of Magic and was skeptical of Harry Potter's statement of Lord Voldemort returning. She thought that he and Albus Dumbledore were liars and remained cynical towards him even throughout Dumbledore's Army, and would not be swayed by genuine article within The Quibbler; she only joined because Cho wanted her to.

Marietta's mother was a Ministry employee and as such, Marietta felt strong pressure to be on Dolores Umbridge's good side. Her apparent faithfulness to Cho Chang diminished when Cho forced her to join an illegal organisation, and eventually betrayed Dumbledore's Army and having her fellow classmates (including Cho) who were in the organisation almost expelled from school. Even if it meant that she would forsake a chance to learn more practical defence, especially the Patronus Charm that others were so eager to learn, Marietta chose her family's loyalty first. Harry Potter felt that Marietta was disgraceful and an unforgivable traitor, while Hermione commented that she was "stupid".

However, given the level of anti-Dumbledore propaganda she was likely to have received at home, combined with some fairly understandable anxieties at joining an "illegal" study group, Marietta should not entirely be blamed for her betrayal, a consideration that Cho heavily emphasized on, to which Harry rejected.

However, for all her loyalty to the Ministry, she is still sensitive of her physical appearance, and when her face was horribly disfigured for her betrayal against Dumbledore's Army, she refused to uncover her face to testify verbally, leading to some setbacks for Umbridge and Fudge that ultimately gave Kingsley a chance to modify her memory.

Magical skills and abilities

 * Nonverbal magic: During the first D.A. meeting, when her sleeve catches on fire from an incorrectly done Expelliarmus spell by Cho Chang, Marietta puts out the flame without seeming to say any incantation.
 * Defence Against the Dark Arts: Although an unenthusiastic member of D.A., Marietta has learned many spells against the Dark Arts from Harry (assuming she did not neglect paying attention and efforts). However, during the Patronus lesson, she instead went for Umbridge, thus missing a chance to learn how to produce one.

Family
Marietta's mother works for the Ministry, and therefore, Marietta herself is loyal to it; her parents forbade her from getting onto the Ministry's bad side during her school year. She feared that any bad impressions left on Dolores Umbridge, a Ministry representative at Hogwarts, would injure her mother's reputation at office, and therefore refused to get on Umbridge's bad side.

Cho Chang
Marietta is one of Cho Chang's gang of giggling friends, and accompanies with her to almost everywhere. However, after the rest of the friends left Cho due to her emotional breakdown from her late boyfriend Cedric Diggory's demise, Marietta is the only one who remained with her. This means that while the others only followed Cho for her popularity, Marietta is indeed loyal and true. However, when Cho brought Marietta to Dumbledore's Army against her will, Marietta's loyalty for Cho faded rapidly, and eventually betrayed her and the entire group, and was willing to have even her best friend expelled for being part of an illegal organisation. Cho however still stood up for Marietta, refusing to let Harry Potter badmouth her, and ultimately broke up with him due to this.

Harry Potter
When Harry Potter first asked Cho to the Yule Ball, Marietta was one of the many girls that giggled at him, something that irritated Harry. The following year, when the Ministry had the Daily Prophet printing about how Harry is a lunatic for claiming Lord Voldemort returned, Marietta believed it due to her family's connections with the Ministry. As such, when she was forced to join Dumbledore's Army, which Harry was the leader, she became very distrustful and disrespectful to his words and actions. Despite Harry's extremely effective methods of teaching and The Quibbler printing out Harry's version of the story, Marietta continued to believe that Harry was an unstable lunatic, and distrusted him, an attitude that Harry ignored at Cho's behest. After Marietta betrayed the organisation, Harry felt no sympathy for her despite her mother's position, and he insulted her, leading to the ultimate breakup between him and Cho when she defended Marietta.

Dumbledore's Army
Cho forced Marietta to attend the illegal organisation, Dumbledore's Army, against her will, despite it being a great potential of ruining her mother's reputation at the Ministry. None of the members seemed to care too much about Marietta's cynical behaviour against their formation, until she betrayed them to Umbridge, nearly expelling them all. Once that happened, they considered her a traitor and felt that many of the following events were her fault; Hermione referred Marietta as "stupid" while Ron thought up of a large amount of insults when Harry brought up the subject. Also, this betrayal led to an argument between Harry and Cho Chang, Cho being the only member to stand up for Marietta.

Dolores Umbridge
Marietta, being the daughter of a Ministry employee, was adamant in not doing anything that may go against Dolores Umbridge, who is a high-ranking Ministry official assigned to Hogwarts as a teacher and inspector, fearing that doing anything that seemed rebellious may damage her mother's reputation and standing within the government. As such, Marietta was very reluctant in joining the illegal Dumbledore's Army, being pressured by her best friend Cho Chang. Eventually, her loyalty to her mother and Umbridge overwhelmed that to Cho, and Marietta betrayed DA's whereabouts to the High Inquisitor. Umbridge, desperate in getting more information in expelling Potter, put up a falsified sweet side to coax Marietta, who was too ashamed to show her face when Hermione's jinx disfigured her face, to reveal more to Cornelius Fudge. When Kingsley Shacklebolt secretly modified Marietta's memories to contradict what Umbridge was made to believe earlier, Umbridge lost her temper at this change of testimony, and even violently shook the girl until Dumbledore threatened her. It was then that Umbridge deemed Marietta untrustworthy

Albus Dumbledore
For the first few years of her schooling, Marietta had no problem with the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, who was also highly revered within the wizarding community. However, when the Ministry campaigned against Dumbledore and Potter, Marietta, out of loyalty for her family, believed the Ministry over Dumbledore, and thought the man was going senile and insane for declaring Voldemort's return. Even after Harry's interview in the Quibbler, Marietta refused to believe either of them, and continued to think of them as nutters and liars, and ultimately betrayed Harry and Dumbledore's Army. Despite this distrust and betrayal, Dumbledore seemed to hold no grudge against Marietta, and even defended her from Umbridge's assault.

Etymology

 * Marietta is a female given name, an Italian diminutive of Maria. It means "little bitter".
 * Edgecombe is a misspelling of Edgcumbe, an English surname. The name Edgecombe was also used for a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina, named after Richard Edgcumbe, a Member of Parliament from 1701 to 1742 and a Lord of the Treasury, who became 1st Baron Edgcumbe in 1742.

Behind the scenes

 * In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Marietta and her acts were cut, as Cho Chang was the one who betrayed the D.A. whilst under the effects of Veritaserum, though Marietta was mentioned in the game when Harry asked Cho to bring her to the DA meeting when trying to ask her for a date.
 * In the books, Marietta has no distinguishable dialogue, though other characters have discussed and made references about her.
 * J. K. Rowling confirmed that Marietta's pimples faded but left a few scars, commenting "I loathe a traitor!"

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game) 
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7

Notes and references
Marietta Edgecombe Marietta Edgecombe Мариэтта Эджком Marietta Edgecombe