TBAY: Superfluous!Percy?

[lucky_kari]

No: HPFGUIDX 44800

Eileen looks up from her desk and sees a horrible sight. Captain Cindy
is doing the hornpipe (or something possibly meant to be the hornpipe)
on the deck of a a GARBAGESCOW.

That can't be good. That just cannot be good.

She jumps into the kayak moored at the Theory Bay dock and rows
towards the GARBAGESCOW. 

"Permission to come aboard or do I want to?" she calls out to Cindy.
"You see, I have concerns about this vessel."

"Well, come on board and state them. Heaven knows we could do with a
little conversation."

Eileen jumps on board. She flicks a few spots of dust off her clothes,
adjusts her glasses, and straightens her P.I.N.E. badge. "My concern
is that nowhere in Theoretic Alley or Inish Alley can I find mention
of this ship. You ended up your post by referring me to those
ill-famed streets but no-one there could tell me anything about what
GARBAGESCOW stands for. However, due to my brilliant detective work, I
think I'm beginning to get the picture. It's a place for superfluous
characters?"

"Like Percy Weasley," said Cindy.

"You do want to generate some excitement on the Bay, don't you? You
are aware, of course, that Penny, Elkins, myself etc. believe that
Percy is key to the entire series and only becomes more important the
further you go?"

"Really?" smirks Cindy. "Well, let's take a look at his role in canon."

"Yes, let's," says Eileen. "May I warn you that I have gone through
all four books and catalogued Percy appearances? And I assure you
Percy has a role. A big role."

A look of fear appears on Cindy's face, but it quickly disappears.

> "Does he now?" Cindy asked, her hands on her hips.  "OK, let's walk 
> through Percy's Big Moments in the plots of the four books.  This 
> shouldn't take long, I'm thinking," she added with a smirk.
> 
> "First up is PS/SS.  What does Percy *do* in PS/SS?"

"Oh, I'll give you that. Percy does nothing in PS/SS. In fact, when I
first read PS/SS I was quite disappointed by how JKR had handled the
plot and characters. I thought she had really messed up actually. You
know that scene where the Sorting Hat suggests Harry belongs in
Slytherin? Never in the entire book does she adress that intriguing
question. I complained about that to everyone."

"But she adresses the question in CoS!" cries Cindy.

"So I discovered when a few days later I got my hands on CoS. So now
that you've proved my point..."

"What point?" cries Cindy.

"The point that JKR likes to set up situations and characters for
future books. I don't think I need to go far into that. It's discussed
often enough on the list. PS/SS does not feature a Percy plot but it
does set up Percy for the future plot."

"How?"

"Well, there's the elementary establishment of who Percy is. The
red-haired prefect with the glasses and the bossy streak. But PS/SS
also sets up the crucial aspect of the Percy plot. His relationship
with his family. If we didn't have the Christmas scene in PS/SS, we
wouldn't be able to judge that things are going wrong later. PS/SS is
the calm before the storm. It's the book in which Ron is not hostile
to Percy (check his conversation with Harry on the train) and in which
Fred and George show a great deal of affection for their older brother
(the Christmas scene.) This is all important because it's going to
change."

"That analysis only holds up if Percy takes on a more important role
later," says Cindy scornfully. "And he doesn't."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, >Now in CoS, Percy has a bit 
> of a role there.  He catches Ron outside Myrtle's bathroom or 
> something.  And Percy kisses his girlfriend, and we're supposed to 
> buy Percy as the villain in CoS.  But I really doubt anyone fell for 
> that."

"Well, I bought Draco's line Percy was snooping around and I thought
he was going to get it, to tell the truth. I was very surprised when
it was Ginny who was dragged down to the Chamber."

"Anyway, where's Percy's role there?"

"He catches Ron outside Myrtle's bathroom."

"That's all?" says Cindy.

"Let's take a look at it. "You don't even care for Ginny." Very nasty
thing for Ron to say, don't you think? What had Percy done to deserve it?"

"I thought you were a member of C.R.A.B."

"So I am, but I'm not letting Ron off the hook here. This is the first
sign that the Weasley family dynamic has gone sour. Because of the
Percy caricature, it reads as a very funny scene but it's not for the
participants. Ron accuses his brother for the first time of not caring
for the family, of valuing his ambition over them, and Percy reacts
abruptly, taking the points from Gryffindor, and rushing off. Later in
the book when Percy seems to be in shock after Penny and Hermione are
petrified, may I draw your attention to Fred and George's reaction?
They insinuate that he didn't think the monster of Slytherin would
attack a prefect. Again, very funny, but very cruel as well. That's
exactly how to respond to siblings in shock over classmates being
almost killed and left unconscious by unknown monsters. Wonder why
Fred and George don't respond to Harry and Ron's shock that way? All
is not well with the Weasleys. I think that this is more important
that a lot of the obvious plot of CoS."

"How about PoA?"

"Oh you mean the book where there isn't a friendly exchange between
Percy and his siblings from beginning to end?"

"But his role?"

"I'm suggesting that his role is tied up to his relationship to his
family. Yes, he's endearing trying to eavesdrop on Snape and
Dumbledore, but that's not his role. His role is best illustrated when
he and Ron start yelling at each other after Ron claims to have seen
Sirius Black in his bedroom."

"Percy was being an idiot there," says Cindy.

"I absolutely agree. I never said my perfect prefect was a saint. Of
course he has flaws. Of course he's irritating to live with. That's
why he's important."

"What about GoF then? >"Percy apparates, attends the 
> QWC, talks about his job, fixes tea for Mr. Crouch, splashes out 
> into the Lake at the second task and answers an owl from Ron.  He 
> wasn't even attending Hogwarts, for heaven's sake.  None of these 
> things had much to do with the plot."

"Cindy, aren't you ashamed of yourself?"

"Why should I be?"

"Because that is even more disgenuous than your humpty-dumptied BANG
assesments and that's saying a lot. I mean... what sort of a summary
is that?"

"A summary of Percy's actions."

"Hmphhhhh," says Eileen. "Here's a summary of Percy in GoF. Gets a job
at the Ministry, shows signs of becoming a workaholic, transfers
filial loyalties to Mr. Crouch, breaks with his parents, is avoided by
his siblings, is accused by Ron of being ready to betray his family to
further his ambition, yet nevertheless shows his love for Ron in the
second task scene. Oh and is used as a dupe to bring back Voldemort."

"How's that important to the plot?" asks Cindy.

"Cindy, you're hopeless. How can you read that summary and not see how
important Percy was in GoF and will be in future books?"

"Well, I don't see it."

"Let me spell it out. In fact, I'll quote myself back in February
responding to your allegations that Percy didn't have an important
role in future books:

-------------------------------------------------------------

JKR has promised that Percy's particular problem will be adressed in
Book V. How on earth can she have Percy making huge decisions, and not
develop him further. I don't see the Percy caricature holding for any
of the choices.

Imagine:
"I've decided to throw my lot in with Dumbledore," said Percy
pompously.
OR
"Oh well," said Fred. "Percy's joined Voldemort."
"Said it'd look good on his resume," smirked George.
OR
"Could you be a bit more quiet?" Percy said crossly. "I'm working on
waffling between good and evil. Oh, hello Harry."

No, there's a big choice to be made and by necessity the choice is
going to tell us a lot more about Percy.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Do you honestly believe Cindy that Percy isn't going to choose for the
Ministry or his family in the upcoming books? Because if you don't,
how can Percy not have an important role in the story? He's been set
up extensively. He has a choice ahead of him. That choice has the
capacity to destroy the Weasley family. I call this important enough.

Oh, and Tabouli we need a new acronym to prove to the Bay that
superfluous is not a word to describe Percy.

"Well who would you put on the SCOW?" cries Cindy. "You never drop by
here! Do you know what effect that has on Dicentra's psyche?"

"Well, how about McGonagall? She's either superfluous or doing a very
good imitation of it."

"That's not good enough, Eileen," says Cindy. "You owe Dicentra
something bigger."

"I would suggest someone but I know I'd be lynched."

"Who?"

"The Ever-So-Lame Draco Malfoy."

"Ahhhhhhhhhh..." says Cindy.

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For an explanation of the acronyms and theories in this post, visit
Hypothetic Alley at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/files/Admin20Files/hypotheticalley.htm

and Inish Alley at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/database?method=reportRows&tbl=13