Percy and Ginny (was Re: Percy)

[muggle-reader at angelfire.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 15114

True, Percy did insist Ginny take the pepper-up potion. However, I 
was referring to Ginny's mental distress in CoS Ch. 16.  
Perhaps, "ignoring Ginny's mental distress" was a poor choice of 
words on my part. "Questioning Ginny's integrity to save his own 
skin" would have been more accurate.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CoS, Ch. 16 American ed.

Just then, Ginny Weasley came over and sat down next to Ron . She 
looked tense and nervous, and Harry noticed her hands were twisting 
in her lap.
<snip>
Ginny didn't say anything, but glanced up and down the Gryffindor 
table with a scared look on her face that reminded Harry of someone, 
though he couldn't think who.
<snip>
Harry suddenly realized Ginny looked like. She was rocking backward 
and forward slightly in her chair exactly like Dobby did when he was 
teetering on the edge of revealing forbidden information.
<snip>
"I've got to tell you something, " Ginny mumbled, carefully not 
looking at Harry.
<snip>
"Ginny looked as though she couldn't find the right words."
<snip><snip>
Ginny drew a deep breath and at that precise moment, Percy Weasley 
appeared, looking tired and wan.
<snip>
Ginny jumped as though her chair had just been electrified, gave 
Percy a fleeting, frightened look, and scampered away. Percy sat down 
and grabbed a mug from the center of the table.

"Percy!" said Ron angrily. "She was just about to tell us something 
important!"

Halfway though a gulp of tea, Percy choked.

"What sort of thing?" he said, coughing.

"I just asked her if she'd seen anything odd and she started to say--"

"Oh--that--that's nothing to do with the Chamber of Secrets", said 
Percy at once.

"How do you know?" said Ron, his eyebrows raised.

"Well, er, if you must know, Ginny, er, walked in one me the other 
day when I was--well, never mind,--the point is, she spotted me doing 
something and I, um,  I asked her not to mention it to anybody. I 
must say, I sis think she'd keep her word. It's nothing really, I'd 
just rather--"
------------------------------------------------------
Clearly Ginny is in a state of mental distress. She is anxious, 
panicky, and hyperreflexic. Upon learning that Ginny was about to 
divulge "important" news, Percy, with egocentric urgency, 
thinks "It's all about ME!", hence choking on his tea. He does not 
even consider the important news is about the Chamber, much less that 
his sister could possibly have any information about the Chamber. 
Percy's only "concern" is to save himself. In one fell swoop, Percy 
discredits Ginny's "important" news, questions her integrity and 
discredits Ron's concern for Ginny. A similar situation occurred  in 
PoA, Ch 13, where Percy disregards Ron's claims that Sirius Black was 
in his dormitory AND where Percy tells McGonagal that he not only did 
not authorize the gathering in the Common Room, but also, that 
Ron "had a nightmare". In both of these examples, Percy has jumped to 
a wrong conclusion while dismissing the credibility of his siblings 
and has attempted to save his reputation at the expense of his 
siblings reputations. (Ginny's "important" news couldn't possibly be 
about the Chamber and she can't be trusted with a secret; Ron only 
had a nightmare.) Moreover it shows that Percy follows his 
preconceived notions when assessing a situation rather than listening 
and sorting through the facts. Ron's response, to Hermione's comment 
that Percy wouldn't give any of his family to the Dementors, of "I 
don't know, " said Ron. "If he thought we were standing in the way of 
his career
Percy's really ambitious you know
"( GoF, Ch 27)
doesn't 
seem completely off the mark in light of Percy's history.

There is nothing completely wrong with following rules or authority 
figures and that is an admirable Percy trait. However, there is a 
danger when they are followed blindly. Here's a Percy quote from GoF, 
Ch 10 about Winky and her loyality to Crouch.

"Now look here, Hermione!" said Percy. "A high-ranking official like 
Mr. Crouch deserves unserving obedience from his servants---"

That quote sheds a very, very bright light on Percy's mentality: 
authority figures deserve not just plain ordinary obedience, but 
UNSERVING obedience. That is exactly what Percy gave to the Imperious 
cursed Crouch and is what made him the perfect pawn of the Dark Side, 
enabling them to succeed in their plan to control the Triwizard 
Tournament. I firmly believe a less rigid person would have found 
Crouch's extended holiday-illness and communications via post 
somewhat odd (Sirius was only following Crouch's behavior by the 
newspaper and HE thought something was odd and has Ron to write a 
letter to Percy concerning Crouch). I can easily see Percy uttering a 
similar sentence when he is told of Fudge's refusal to believe 
Voldemort's return ("Impossible! Cornelius Fudge is the Minister of 
Magic, the highest ranking official in the Ministry! He would never 
hide from us anything as important as You-Know-Who returning!"). 

I truly want Percy to side with Dumbledore and the rest of the 
Weasley's in the upcoming books. J. K. Rowling could have Percy see 
the light. But at this point, Percy's character can convincingly go 
either way.  

Demelza