Predicting the future, Trelawney style

[KathyK]

No: HPFGUIDX 78931

Okay, I think I've got everybody straight.  Apologies for attributing 
quotes to the wrong person.

Eli Predicted:

>>>5. Percy: A double agent. 
EVIDENCE: Noted to be lurking in the COS Slytherin halls. Didn't 
visit his dad in hospital (who does that, I ask you?!).<<<<

And Hickengruendler replied:

>>>He lurked in the Slytherin halls, because he was meeting 
Penelope. She was the person Harry and Ron met before Percy. Also, if 
Percy would indeed go evil, it will probably be, because he is power 
hungry.<<< <snip>

Causing Sherrie to ask:

>>Why would Percy lurk in the SLYTHERIN halls to meet Penelope - a 
Ravenclaw & a muggleborn?<<  

Eli Responded:
 
<snip> >I think he was lurking around Slytherin to spy on Slytherin 
(and not to meet Penelope ... <snip leaving Percy in CoS movie 
without Penelope>. I think the fact that he didn't visit his father 
was motivated by a desire to appear more estranged than he is; I just 
don't buy that Percy would become so disconnected from his family so 
quickly ... In most circumstances, he would visit his 
potentially dying father in the hospital.<

Now KathyK throws in:

To start, I think they left in Percy and left out Penelope of the 
movie was because the whole Percy has a girlfriend was unnecessary to 
the film and was not even mentioned IIRC.  Leaving Percy in is 
important because with Percy is where Malfoy found them and from 
there led them back to the Slytherin Dorm.  Plus there's an element 
of humor and suspense when movie Percy asks what their names are and 
Harry and Ron can't remember who's who.  I don't think it has 
anything to do with Percy being a spy for Dumbledore.

Harry and Ron were wandering the Dungeons *looking* for the Slytherin 
dorm.  The Slytherin rooms are not the only thing down there.  They 
first recognize the dungeons as the place where they see the 
Slytherins come from for breakfast.  Then they see the Ravenclaw girl 
later determined to be Penelope Clearwater leave there.  Fifteen 
minutes later they encounter Percy coming out a side room.  Malfoy 
finds them.  They leave Percy and turn down the next passage and 
shortly stop in front of the stone wall that is the entrance to the 
Slytherin dorms. (CoS ch. 12 "The Polyjuice Potion")

and then, on US Paperback 341:

"'It's that Ravenclaw prefect, Penelope Clearwater,' said 
Ginny.  'That's who he was writing to all last summer.  He's been 
meeting her all over the school in secret.  I walked in on them 
*kissing* in an empty classroom one day.'"

Isn't it most likely that Percy was down there looking for some 
private time with his girlfriend?  There are other places down there 
besides the Slytherin Rooms.  Percy could be coming out of a 
classroom.  And Penelope just left the Dungeons.  I think it's more 
unbelievable that she just happened to leave right before he did than 
it is unbelievable that Percy would be in the Dungeons for any other 
reason than spying.  

In case you missed it in the oddly worded previous sentence, I don't 
think Percy is a spy for Dumbledore.  I also don't think he'll turn 
out to be evil.  I agree with what serious_schwartz says in unrelated 
post #78925.

serious_schwartz:

>I reread GoF recently and smirked while reading the part where 
Harry, Ron, and Hermione are leaving the cave after meeting with 
Sirius. Hermione chastises Ron when he says that Crouch reminds him 
of Percy. <snip> She says that Percy would never throw his family to 
the dementors. And Ron reacts skeptically, saying that he wasn't so 
sure of that... esp. if Percy thought his family was standing in the 
way of his career plans. More proof of Percy as the future Fudge? (In 
CoS, one of the Weasleys boys says that Percy's goal is to be 
Minister of Magic.)<

Percy has shown throughout the books ambition and a desire for 
power.  He has worked hard all his life to be the best he can.  He's 
determined to succeed.  I think we've seen hints that things would go 
the way they did in OOP, such the ones above.  

Believing Dumbledore and supporting his family through that year 
would have contradicted what we know about Percy.  It would have 
jeopardized his career at the Ministry, which he takes very seriously.
I don't see how spying for Dumbledore fits in with Percy's lofty 
ambitions, either.

So we know already that Percy's thrown in with a wrong side.  And he 
did it to an extreme.  The question now becomes will Percy fall back 
into the Weasley fold now that Fudge has been proven wrong, or will 
he continue to pursue his career at the expense of the people he 
loves?  At some point I believe he will realize what he's done.  I 
hope he realizes it before he does something abysmally stupid to his 
family or causes his own demise.  So that's my speculation and hope 
for Percy.  

KathyK (who, as with Fudge being a DE, will only believe Percy is a 
spy when JKR says so outright)