Percy -- Harry as Half-Blood

[Penny & Bryce]

No: HPFGUIDX 30453

Hi everyone --

Well, as a proud member of P.I.N.E. (Percy is not Evil), I'll chime in 
on Percy discussions.

 
Elizabeth wrote: > "Ok, I'll buy that Percy may not be headed straight off for V's camp.
> (Yuka's argument that some of his desire for status does depend on
> what his family considers high-status is good.) My question is more,
> why is/was he a Griffyndor? Did he change over time, so that his
> ambition overshadowed his bravery?" - Elizabeth
> 
Jamie added: > I think we actually have three camps instead of the
> perceived two.
> 
> 1 - Voldemort and the Death-Eaters
> 2 - The Ministry of Magic
> 3 - Dumbledore & Co.
> 
> Though the second group (MoM) isn't really evil, they are also
> helping Voldemort gain power not just by refusing to try and stop
> Voldemort's new rise to power, but by not even believing that
> Voldemort has returned.  I believe that there will be dire
> consequences to this.

I agree with Jamie's division of the "groups."  I do not believe that 
Percy will willingly or intentionally turn to Voldemort's camp.  In GoF, 
Hermione chastises Ron for his remark about Percy sending his family to 
Azkaban if they got in the way of his career.  I think that's yet 
another example of Ron making a snap judgment (& the conversation serves 
as a red herring for Percy's ambition IMO).  Percy is quite clearly 
devoted to his family members, including Ron (proudly shouting that Ron 
got past McGonagall's chess set in PS/SS & running out to the Lake's 
edge in the 2nd Task in GoF when he perceived Ron might be in danger). 
He is undoubtedly ambitious, but this does not make him evil.

His ambition does make him susceptible to manipulation by the Dark Side, 
but then, many of the characters have weaknesses that could be exploited 
by Voldemort's forces.  I do believe that he will really struggle for 
some time over whether to ally himself with those at the MoM who will 
refuse to believe that V is back.  There will be conflicts within the 
Weasley family; I think we can be sure of that. I rather suspect that 
Percy will be a pivotal player in OoP, as I think his struggle to ally 
himself with the "right side" will be highlighted.  I think he *will*, 
however, end up on the right side, but I'm worried that he or someone 
else may die if he makes ill-advised decisions in the name of his 
ambition along the way.  He was sorted to Gryffindor for a reason. 
We've never really reached consensus on whether the Sorting Hat sorts a 
person based on traits they *have* or traits they *value* (Hermione on 
the surface looks like a Ravenclaw for example).  I suspect Percy has & 
values bravery, and when push comes to shove, he'll display this bravery.

Someone (Pippin?) wrote a really interesting post some time ago about 
Percy perhaps ending up in Azkaban in OoP; the details escape me right 
now, but it was a very interesting theory.

HARRY AS HALF-BLOOD -- Joshua mentioned that Malfoy never taunts Harry 
with being half-blood.  That may be true, but Riddle certainly tells 
Harry he's a half-blood down in the Chamber of Secrets.  I believe Harry 
is considered half-blood.

Penny