A Few Short Percy Apologetics

[blpurdom]

No: HPFGUIDX 37756

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "ssk7882" <skelkins at a...> wrote:
> In Chapter Seven of PS ("The Sorting Hat"), when Dumbledore
> announces that the third floor corridor is out of bounds "to
> everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death," Percy
> has the following exchange with Harry:
> 
> "Harry laughed, but he was one of the few who did.
> 
> 'He's not serious?'  he muttered to Percy.
> 
> 'Must be,' said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore.  'It's odd, because 
> he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go 
> somewhere - the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows 
> that.  I do think he might have told us Prefects, at least.'"
> 
> That doesn't strike me as at *all* the reaction of a believer in
> blind obedience to the rules.  Far to the contrary, it is the
> behavior of an independent thinker who fully *expects* for there
> to be some explanation given for a new rule.  When no explanation
> is forthcoming, Percy is disturbed and troubled.  

This is an excellent point.  Percy strikes me as being very similar 
to Hermione, really.  She wants an explanation for rules as well.  
(And interestingly enough, Ron has a similar relationship with each 
of them, involving nagging/reprimanding from Percy/Hermione and 
insolent responses from Ron--especially in the first two books.)

> On Percy and 'Prefects Who Gained Power:'
[snip] 
> Er...was I the only person who assumed that Percy was actually
> hanging around in that junk shop because he had previously 
> arranged to meet Penelope Clearwater there?  From what Ron 
> and the Twins say about his behavior over the summer, I think 
> that we can safely assume that he'd been corresponding with 
> her.  When he takes his leave from the rest of the Weasleys 
> outside of Gringotts, he does so by "muttering vaguely about 
> needing a new quill."  Ron and Harry run into him *very* 
> shortly thereafter.  If he needs a new quill, then what is 
> he doing in a junk shop, a shop which the text emphasizes 
> quite strongly sells nothing but old and fairly useless items?
> 
> I thought it fairly clear on rereading that what was really
> happening there was that Percy had previously arranged to 
> meet Penny in this obscure little shop, a place that he had
> *thought* would be safe from his younger siblings, and that 
> he was waiting for her to arrive when Ron and Harry stumbled 
> across him.  He was quite understandably annoyed, and desperate 
> to get rid of them, and that was why he snapped so rudely at Ron.
 
Okay, you're psychic, right?  I only recently came to this 
conclusion, but given that earlier in CoS, every time he's off by 
himself he seems to be doing something Penelope-related, it seems 
logical to assume that here as well.  It's even possible that he 
didn't notice the name of the book he was picking up.  He could, in 
fact, have been talking to Penelope already and had her duck down 
behind a stack of junk while he randomly grabbed a book to put in 
front of his face--and it happened to be the prefects/power book.
 
> It is an interesting trait in light of his later identification 
> with Crouch, though, isn't it?  All the same, I don't know if I'm 
> prepared to believe that five points from Gryffindor falls into 
> quite the same category as conviction to life in prison on the 
> basis of scanty evidence.
> 
> And besides, in the end poor old Crouch *did* value his family 
> relations over the rules, didn't he.  Much to his detriment.

What Crouch actually did was to value public appearances over all 
else.  He was going to do as he pleased in private, and put another 
face on entirely when in public.  Therefore he sent his son to 
prison but cooked up a plan for getting him out.  The facade is the 
most important thing to him.  I don't think he ever seriously cared 
whether his son was innocent or guilty.  He is the ultimate selfish 
person.  JKR has had this sort of character before, the chief 
example being Gilderoy Lockhart.  Lockhart wasn't quite as evil, 
however.  She gave him a rather comical comeuppance with the memory 
charm being turned on him (a taste of his own medicine).  Crouch's 
comeuppance for freeing his Death Eater son was death.  Hardly 
comical, but I believe JKR wanted the punishment to fit the crime.  
Crouch, Jr. winds up being responsible for Cedric's death and is 
almost responsible for Harry's.  Therefore Crouch, Sr., who set him 
free, dies.  She doesn't adhere to this strictly (hence we have Lily 
and James being killed by Voldemort, as well as Cedric).  But it 
certainly seems to be the case with Crouch and Lockhart.

It is this trap that Percy seems to have fallen into in GoF 
(foreshadowed by his convoluted attempts to keep his relationship 
with Penelope secret in CoS).  It is unclear whether Percy is clear 
of this danger by the end of GoF.  One of the running themes in the 
HP books is that looks can be deceiving.  Percy doesn't seem to have 
learned this yet.  (Neither has Hagrid, but his development seems to 
have been arrested at the thirteen-year-old level--which might be 
why Harry et al seem to get along with him best in PoA.)  Watching 
Percy's process of maturing is almost as fascinating as watching 
Harry's.  At this point, however, I'd have to say that Harry is 
actually more mature than Percy, but only just.  (He has a crush on 
a girl he hardly knows.)

I hope Percy trains to be an Auror or something similar...He's 
clearly bright and talented, and he managed to keep his relationship 
with Penelope a secret for quite a while in CoS.  However, I also 
have a bad feeling that he would do something self-sacrificing--
definitely NOT evil!

--Barb