Percy!

[Penny & Bryce]

No: HPFGUIDX 35843

Hi all --

Amy Z threw down the gauntlet:

> Here's a challenge to Percy-lovers (like Penny doesn't have enough to do):
> compile a list of *positive* Percy moments.  I like Percy against all
> reason, but the more I reread, the more evident it is that JKR doesn't like
> him and doesn't intend her readers to.  The thing I like least about Percy
> is, in fact, that he's very cartoonishly written.  Not as bad as Lockhart,
> but up there.  He bustles, he says things pompously, he looks smug--almost
> every time we see him he's given a negative valuation.

Thought I wasn't paying attention, huh?  Huh?  Okay ...fine.  :--)

First let me just say that if we're not supposed to like Percy, then we 
are likewise not supposed to like Molly.  Percy is Molly re-made IMHO. 
But, putting aside familial similarities for the moment, sure, I can 
compile a nice list of Percy positives.  I see Eileen has already given 
it a good start:

> A few positive Percy moments.
> 
> 1. "A genius, but mad yes." A certified joke.
> 2. The bet with Penny. More a Fred and George thing, if you think
> about it.
> 3. Rushing off to fight that mob in GoF and coming back with the
> bloodied nose.
> 4. Concern for Ginny in CoS.
> 5. His reaction after Penny is petrified.
> 6. His boasting of Ron at the end of SS/PS.
> 7. Rushing out to Ron at the end of the Second Task.

I would add:

8.  Tailing Harry in CoS (yes, it irritates Harry ... but Percy's heart 
is in the right place)

9.  Grief-stricken when Ginny is taken to the Chamber (yes, I realize 
others put a negative spin on this, but I've always maintained that 
everyone is entitled to handle sadness, despair, crisis & the like in 
the way that most suits them).

I haven't time to actually do a comb-through of all the books at the 
moment.  But, I'll add that to my "to do" list when I comb through the 
books to make a list of all the inter-Trio interactions (you know, to 
catalogue all that witty banter that Ron & Hermione are exchanging all 
the time -- <snerk>).

I do think that all these Positive Percy Polaroids do present an overall 
picture that JKR is conveying Percy is a good person under the officious 
& ambitious exterior he presents to the world.  I think she paints his 
negatives in broad brushstrokes to throw us off-bait; his positive 
moments are generally subtle.  But, I believe that JKR does want us to 
know that there's a kind and gentle Percy lurking in there.  I truly 
don't see that she's trying to convey that Percy is to be disliked as a 
character.  I think that as with other characters 
(:::cough:::Ron:::cough) she is pointing up some of his failings and 
flaws that may be problematic for him on down the road.  :--)

Penny