Other Weasleys (Percy, Fred)

[Ebony AKA AngieJ]

No: HPFGUIDX 16471

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Amy Z" <aiz24 at h...> wrote:
> =Warning: listies who accompanied Fred to the Yule Ball may want to 
> skip this post <eg>=

A list member actually went to the Yule Ball?  Wow... lucky girl.  ;-)

> > Percy is the victim of a very slanted POV:  Ron dislikes him, and 
we get a lot of our information about Percy via Ron.  If you go 
through and look at the negative portrayals of Percy, they are often 
filtered through a comment of Ron's as well as through Harry's POV.  
I wonder what we would think of Percy if we saw him through, say, 
Bill's eyes.
> 

Very well said!

> Aha!:  On chat the other day, I was trying to remember the 3rd 
thing I'd noticed was a Fred, not George, nasty trick on Ron.  Susan 
has now supplied it and added a fourth.  Thank you, Susan.
> 
> My point was that we lump Fred and George together (at least I do), 
> but all the instances I can think of of childhood traumas inflicted 
on Ron by "the twins" were in fact Fred's doing.  Sorry, Ebony!
> 

Don't be sorry.  I do think Fred's the leader of the two... and I'm 
not half as defensive about Fred as I am critical of Ron.  I also am 
quick to defend Percy most of the time, but Penny's done a great job 
of it over the past couple of days.

Fred can defend himself, I'm sure.   

> 1) (least serious IMO) telling him you have to wrestle a troll to 
get Sorted (PS/SS)
> 2) changing his teddy bear into a giant spider (CoS)
> 3) giving him an acid pop that burned a hole in his tongue (PoA)
> 4) (most serious IMO) Beating his puffskein, apparently to death 
("I used to have one of these" "What happened?"  "Fred used it for 
Bludger practice":  clear implication is that the past tense is due 
to the Bludger practice) (FB)
> 
> So, my question is:  what's with Fred?  Are other people growing as 
> disturbed by the overall picture of him as I am?
> 

Nope.  But then again, I'm not hugely protective of either Ron or 
animals.  We established this fact in chat.  ;-)

I actually don't think that any of the above makes Fred evil.  I have 
little sisters who I did mean things to as a child.  Sometimes 
because they annoyed me.  Sometimes just for the heck of it... even 
the Percys of the family have their bad days, when their sibling's 
very presence grates on the nerves.  

We don't hear if Ron ever did anything to the twins or Percy to 
provoke these reactions.  There are two sides to every story.  If 
Ron's like most younger sibs, then... never mind.

I close with a long quote from PoA.  Please, note Fred vs. George 
below.

*******************************
"Harry!" said Fred, who looked extremely white underneath, the mud.
"How're you feeling?"

It was as though Harry's memory was on fast forward. The lightning --
the Grim -- the Snitch -- and the dementors...

"What happened?" he said, sitting up so suddenly they all gasped.

"You fell off," said Fred. "Must've been -- what -- fifty feet?"

"We thought you'd died," said Alicia, who was shaking.

Hermione made a small, squeaky noise. Her eyes were extremely 
bloodshot.

"But the match," said Harry. "What happened? Are we doing a replay?"

No one said anything. The horrible truth sank into Harry like a stone.

"We didn't -- lose?"

"Diggory got the Snitch," said George. "Just after you fell. He didn't
realize what had happened. When he looked back and saw you on the
ground, he tried to call it off. Wanted a rematch. But they won fair 
and square... even Wood admits it."

"Where is Wood?" said Harry, suddenly realizing he wasn't there.

"Still in the showers," said Fred. "We think he's trying to drown
himself."

Harry put his face to his knees, his hands gripping his hair. Fred
grabbed his shoulder and shook it roughly.  "C'mon, Harry, you've 
never missed the Snitch before."

"There had to be one time you didn't get it," said George.

"It's not over yet," said Fred. "We lost by a hundred points"

"Right? So if Hufflepuff loses to Ravenclaw and we beat Ravenclaw and
Slytherin --."

"Hufflepuff'll have to lose by at least two hundred points," said
George.

"But if they beat Ravenclaw..."

"No Way, Ravenclaw is too good. But if Slytherin loses against
Hufflepuff..."

"It all depends on the points -- a margin of a hundred either way."

Harry lay there, not saying a word. They had lost... for the first 
time ever, he had lost a Quidditch match.

After ten minutes or so, Madam Pomfrey came over to tell the team to
leave him in peace.

"We'll come and see you later," Fred told him. "Don't beat yourself 
up, Harry, you're still the best Seeker we've ever had."

The team trooped out, trailing mud behind them.

**************************

--Ebony AKA AngieJ