Percy Weasley, weak link

[Verin Haley <lunalarea@hotmail.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 49272

<snip>
<Snuffles> 
Looking at everyone at the Burrow, the only problem I see *is* Percy.
 First off, he is overly dedicated to the MoM. "He'd never come home,
if dad didn't make him" ( please forgive the paraphrase).

<Verin>
I think that JKR gives us a hint that this situation could have
changed by the end of GoF.  Percy is incredibly dedicated to his work
at the Ministry through all of GoF.  IIRC, however, the last time we
hear of Percy is right before the third task when Bill and Molly have
come to visit Harry.  (This is after Crouch's disappearance and death
have been made known to the Ministry.)

Harry asks how Percy is, and Bill responds, "Not good."  Molly
explains, "He's very upset.  The Ministry wants to keep Mr. Crouch's
disappearance quiet, but Percy's been hauled in for questioning about
the instructions Mr. Crouch has been sending in.  They seem to think
there's a chance they weren't genuinely written by him.  Percy's been
under a lot of strain.  They're not letting him fill in for Mr. Crouch
as the fifth judge tonight.  Cornelius Fudge is going to be doing it."
 (GoF American ed. hardcover 617-618)

Essentially, Percy's been called to account.  He's been "hauled in for
questioning," which to my mind sounds a great deal like an
interrogation.  They're accusing him of following orders that may not
have been genuine (and perhaps with complicity in the whole mess), and
they've pulled him out of his position of authority by not letting him
fill in as the judge (like he had been doing).  He's been suspended,
in a manner of speaking.

I think that shows very clearly the Ministry's lack of trust in Percy,
and Percy is almost certainly aware of that.  (While he may not have
taken issue with it, his reaction when his family hears Crouch calling
him "Weatherby" shows he is not oblivious to the insults.)  I'm not
sure how he could see it as anything other than a slap in the face
(even if he convinces himself that he "deserved" it as it came from a
position of authority).

IMHO, this questioning -- especially the high minded and accusitory
way it's being handled from the tone of Molly's explanation and the
statements that Percy is "under stress" -- could easily be perceived
by Percy as a betrayal.  He has trusted them, put his soul into his
work, and they respond with a slap in the face.  It's the type of
situation that shakes to the core a person's faith in an institution.
 It can cause fairly substantial personality changes even if the
person -- Percy, in this case -- understands perfectly the rational
behind and even, intellectually, agrees.

It still *feels* like betrayal.  While it may not be enough to make
Percy *dis*loyal to the ministry, I believe it's enough to make him --
at the very least -- question that loyalty.  I tend to think,
especially given this, that he will side with his parents, not Fudge.
 While his family, the twins in particular, may tease and ridicule
him, we are shown no point where they actually betray his trust. 
(Whether their dismissive and exclusive treatment of him can be
considered "betrayal" in its own right is another argument, but I
don't think, at this point in Percy's life, that it is at all
unexpected, which the Ministry's review would have been for him.)

-Verin