Prefects Who Gained Power

[jenny_ravenclaw]

No: HPFGUIDX 55700

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pegruppel" <pegruppel at y...> 
wrote:
 
> I agree that Percy isn't quite as awful as he's portrayed.  Although  
he's a "prig" he's also in Gryffindor (and not, I think, just because  
all of the rest of his family has been).  I think the Sorting Hat put  
him there on his own merits.  When push comes to shove, Percy will be  
a hero.  We're seeing Percy from the viewpoint of his younger siblings 
and Harry, who aren't likely to see him as he is.  They just notice 
how much of a pain in the rear he can  be.>

Welcome, Peg!

I can't say that I think Percy is awful, but I don't see him as a 
hero, either.  I think he is more complex than that.  I think Percy is 
basically a good guy who is a bit ego-centric.  He has the damaging 
tendency to think he is right all the time, which is certainly not 
evil, but it isn't good, either.  He is also eager to please and likes 
to work hard, which is again, good in theory, but can cause (and has 
caused) ugly results.  Percy was insistent that he knew his own boss's 
handwriting, when, in fact, we discover that Percy didn't know Crouch 
Sr. any better than Crouch Sr. knew Percy (the parallels between the 
two unnerve me).  

I wonder if Percy will still want to rise in the ranks of the MOM 
after what has happened: he had a boss who didn't bother to learn 
Percy's name, he worked endless hours without any recognition, and he 
*possibly* could have helped thwart Voldemort's rise to power again if 
he *had* noticed that something was wrong with the very boss he was so 
intent upon impressing.  Percy is feeling pretty humiliated right 
about now.

I like Barb's ideas about Percy's ambitions being confused with his 
hormones.  I think that goes with the idea that Percy is not quite 
what he seems to be.  Just because Percy received top grades does not 
mean he is smart in other ways.  His brushing off of Ginny in CoS is 
one example, and his ignorance of his boss's situation is another.  
Percy has trouble seeing beyond himself.  Let's see if he learns how 
to do that after what he has experienced.

--jenny from ravenclaw, who works with people just like Percy, and 
would love to see one of them come down a notch as well 
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