[HPforGrownups] Ambition

[Kathleen Kelly MacMillan]

No: HPFGUIDX 1233

I am finding this ambition thread fascinating.  Just some thoughts:


>I think if Percy is
>forced to make difficult choices, he will, in the end, choose his
>family.  I also think that Percy will struggle with the decision but
>choose to abandon upward mobility in Fudge's MoM in favor of family
>loyalty.

I agree with you here.  Hermione sees this, even if Ron doesn't.  I think the 
thing that makes me absolutely sure of Percy is his reaction when Harry pulls 
Ron out of the water at the Second Task--he comes running over, white-faced 
and worried.  (Surely a foolish looking reaction for a Ministry official--but 
Percy doesn't care, as he is too worried about his brother.)  Also, it has 
been stated that Hermione gets along better with Percy than Ron and Harry do, 
so it makes sense that she would understand this about him more than they 
would.

Speaking of Hermione, I think part of the reason she understands this about 
Percy is that she has it too.  We have been talking about Ron, Harry, Snape, 
Percy in relation to ambition, but let's not forget who is the top of her 
class and even resorted to time travel to take all those classes!  Although 
her ambitions take a different form, it is pretty clear that Hermione is just 
as ambitious in her own way.  (Her tenacity involving S.P.E.W. comes 
immediately to mind.)  I think the difference is, Hermione has a more 
pronounced streak of compassion than the others we have discussed, which maybe 
obscures her ambitions a little.  But they're there.


Kathy