Percy's letter

[Carolina]

No: HPFGUIDX 80213



Or "How to write for the MoM, Hermione, and Ron" - long post
warning.

This post comes a bit late...

See Den's "Percy (yes, again :-)" #69029. One of the basic ideas of
that post is that the letter was edited by Umbridge, that Percy
wouldn't write that. I think he would.

The letter (266-268 UK Bloomsbury version) is a huge amount of
condensed canon, at which I'd like to take a closer look.  I'll 
quote something by Den:

"He says he's sending the owl at night so Ron can read it on his
own. How thick would he have to be to believe that ? <snip> Sounds
to me like Percy is trying to protect his OWN privacy, not Ron's !
Something like : I have to send this letter at night so hopefully
it won't be intercepted, I don't trust neither the Ministry nor the
school post anymore."

I agree with this, with other approach: I think the letter was not 
edited by Umbridge but rather, was written to be read by at least 
three people: Ron, Hermione and Umbridge (the MoM). Percy knew it 
was going to be/could be intercepted, he might have even said to 
Fudge that he was going to write his brother after being told about 
Ron's badge (what would be more natural?).

I start with the assumption that Percy is not stupid and knows Ron 
well enough to anger him on purpose by being a git.  I'll call that 
m!Ron, short for manipulated Ron.

(1) Number are for paragraphs.

Umbridge-->Fudge-->Him.

1: The MoM is interfering, and look how close to the top Umbridge 
is. This is directed at Hermione.
2: Percy and the MoM are a bunch of happy people with nothing to 
hide, this one is to be read by the MoM, that's clear.
3: The very mention of Umbridge is going to upset Ron.


(2)

..."what we might call the F&G route, rather than following my
footsteps"...  Ron would hang himself rather than follow the Percy
route.  With this single line, Ron's bound to do the opposite of 
whatever
Percy advises in the letter.

(3)

Percy sends the owl by night to make sure the trio is going to read 
it, and adds the excuse line to assure that Ron hands to them.  It 
also provides an excuse if the MoM intercepts it.  Notice that the 
word "advice" is used first, this is a cue for m!Ron to do the 
opposite.

(4)

"From something the minister let slip when telling me you are now a
prefect, I gather that you are still seeing a lot of Harry
Potter"...

This line is quite interesting, and ties with (1). Not only does it 
prod m!Ron, but gives an excuse for the letter to be written. 
H/R/H's friendship is there for Umbridge to notice in the first 
week.  It is very likely that she asked Fudge to use his influence 
on Percy to 'spam' Ron with propaganda, and the prefect's badge is 
a perfect excuse. Or Fudge just wanted to interfere with Harry, and 
he had Percy working for him. 

More babble directed at m!Ron and the MoM... "continued 
fraternization with that boy" serves both then "DD may not be in 
charge at Hogwarts much longer and the people who count..." yikes, 
this is directed at Hermione, and reveals that DD's fall is so 
generally assumed that it is far from a secret, then more lines for 
m!Ron /MoM "a different - and probably more accurate - view of 
potter's behavior".

"The Daily Prophet tomorrow" - for Hermione. He wants to make sure 
that the one who can think about something to counterattack the MoM 
with will pay close attention.  I think Hermione's SPEW is 
well-known enough in the Weasley family.

(5)

A lot more to goad m!Ron:  "you do not want to be tarred with the 
same brush as Potter"... and then "He got off on a mere 
technicality", a clear throwaway line for the MoM's benefit.

(6)

The same, with the strange/notorious Umbridge line:

"...Dolores Umbridge, a truly delightful woman who I know will be
only too happy to advise you." --> sounds like the music of the
Wonderful Wizard of Oz to me. Strikes me as propaganda, MoM 
approved, the same as Harry being violent.

In regards to this, I must say (and I hope not to be killed), that
Umbridge *can* be a truly 'delightful woman', if you are on the same
side as her, and fulfilling you role instead of opposing her. I see
her as a fanatic (and sadist, that's granted), but I'm sure she has
been truly delightful to Draco Malfoy at some time (I suspect more
than once) during OoP, and I don't think he is the only student she
has favored.

(7)

Repetition of DD's  fall and Daily Prophet for Hermione, more to 
annoy the hell out of Ron and allow Percy to position himself 
firmly with the MoM.

(8)

Brings more "we are a happy bunch of people and they are evil"
propaganda.

"If you are writing to mother, tell her that a certain Sturgis 
Podmore, who is a great friend of DD...'," : Here Percy states he 
is aware that she knows DD and DD knows Podmore, but it is also 
written in a way that Percy can be appearing to explain who he is, 
as if she didn't already know that... just in case the MoM reads 
the letter.

As a good MoM boy "It pains me to criticize our parents"... , and 
ends with: "I sincerely hope that, in time, they will realize how 
mistaken they were and I shall, of course, be ready to accept a 
full apology when that day comes" - do you hear the Disney music? 
the Oz music?  Choose one.

The letter ends here.  Let's look at how the reaction is narrated.

Ron's is as expected, he hands the letter to H/H, after that
Ron/Harry talk, Ron claims his brother is a git, and the 
conversation digress to schoolwork.

We are not given a first reaction shot of Hermione, we have
to wait a while to just obtain "H was looking at Ron with an odd
expression on her face" followed by a change of theme. This drives 
away the reader's focus, but Hermione is really quick catching MoM 
interference, as she has demonstrated so far, and I know she has 
read the letter another way.

In conclusion, Percy has written what can be read as a petulant
multi-tasking letter, designed to:

Get Ron and Hermione very close to Harry.
Advise Hermione about the future.
Try to manipulate Ron.
Be proofread against possible MoM filters.

silmariel