Percy

[absinthe at mad.scientist.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 15394

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Magda Grantwich <mgrantwich at y...> wrote:
> > <<(CoS Ch 16) After Ginny's abduction, Percy sends an owl to his 
> > parents then locks himself in his dormitory. Fred, George and Ron
> > sit in the Common Room. I would categorize Ginny's abduction as 
> > a "time of trial", yet Percy isolates himself from his brothers. 
> > Throughout the books, Percy is portrayed as reliable and 
> > responsible and ready to show it. As the eldest Weasley at 
> > Hogwarts, Percy was the de facto 
> > head of the Weasley family. Yet, he is locked up in his dormitory 
> > while his younger brothers sit together in shock. That's not being 
> > terribly supportive or consoling at a time of trouble.>>
> 
> Yes, but....
> 
> Let's turn that example around.  Before Ginny was abducted Percy was
> acting in a strange manner because (as we find out later) his
> girlfriend was one of the petrified victims.  Yet none of his three
> brothers asked him why he was particularly down and one of them
> suggested it was because Percy never thought the monster would 
attack
> a fellow prefect.  Where was the brotherly consolation or concern
> from the younger three then?
> 
> As for locking himself away after Ginny was abducted, I think we can
> safely add a huge load of guilt to Percy's shoulders.  Not only is
> his girlfriend still petrified but his kid sister is another victim
> and he should have done more to find out why she was so stressed or
> if she might have known something rather than assuming she wanted to
> fink on his love-life.
> 
> Poor Percy.  First of all shackled with an uncool name in a family 
of
> normal ones and then suspected of being hard of heart (and at worst 
a
> perfect recruit for the Dark Side).  

I agree with you about Percy feeling guilty. I think he came to the 
same conclusion as Ron that Ginny knew something about the Chamber. 
But guilt or not, Ginny disappears and her brothers are in shock. As 
the oldest, Percy should have tried to comfort his brothers instead of 
locking himself in his room. I know it's unfair but the older kids in 
a family are usually given the job of being mentors to the younger 
kids, you know, the "big brother or big sister". Percy kind of shunned 
his duty, so to speak.

:-)Milz (who's getting worried about all the responses Demelza's 
getting and is hoping she'll get her password so I won't have to copy 
all these responses and e-mail them to her....)