Percy vs Sirus Question

[hermowninny719]

No: HPFGUIDX 85481

Nikki wrote:
> Hi, My question is this is there any connection in Percy, who has 
obviously gone bad in OoP  being from a good family, and Sirus who is 
good being from a bad family? Is this JKR's way of irony or is there 
something underlying in these two comparisons, maybe that Love is not 
the root of all but friends and colleagues? 

Now Hermowninny (me) says in response:
First of all, I don't think it's *obvious* that Percy has gone bad.  
In fact, I don't think it's happened at all.  Now if Percy had become 
a DE, I might agree with you, but he did not.  He made a choice to 
side with the "government," and his parents/siblings made a choice to 
side with a rebel (Dumbledore).  Many people *could* say (not me, but 
others) that Percy made the responsible choice.

And I believe that the two things you mentioned above are just more 
examples of choice being so important.  After all, it's not our 
abilities, nor our ancestors, nor our upbringing that determines what 
we become, but our choices.  This fact is repeated many times and 
illustrated in many different ways throughout all of the books.

These two events also illustrate that you cannot judge a person by 
their family.  You can extend that to say that you can't judge a 
person based on their school house association.

Friends and Colleagues being the root of all--I suppose that could be 
said.  After all, you choose your associations.  The power of 
association is incredible.  A famous quote, though I'm not sure who 
said it says... "You will be exactly the same in five years except 
for the books you read and the people you associate with."  It's true 
in life and I'm sure it's true in the Potterverse--it you want to 
change yourself, change the people you hang out with.

Hermowninny
Though I'm not really sure if this made any sense.  I kind-of got to 
rambling.