Percy (Was: "What's Arthur been up to")

[hermionegallo]

No: HPFGUIDX 80931

hg, replying to Jen (post 80925):

Jen quotes hg (snipped):

"There is a  clear change in Percy from the last we see and hear of 
him in GoF to when he first shows up in OoP, and all the way through 
> OoP, each time we see him the point is driven home farther that 
he's way over the top....  And, as Entropy said just today in post 
80904, when did Percy ever refer to Harry as "Harry Potter," 
or "Potter," or anything other than "Harry," for that matter?
I'm open to speculations as to WHY Percy has changed, but I am 
sticking by my observation that there has indeed been a change in 
him."


Jen replies: (snipped)
"I'm with you on this one...here's my theory:
> 
> Clue #1:  "Percy had committed the fairly large oversight of 
failing to notice that his boss was being controlled by Lord 
Voldemort."
> Clue #2:  "Percy got into a load of trouble about Crouch, 
> there was an inquiry and everything." 
> Clue #3: Yet he's promoted anyway, into Fudge's office, where 
> Umbridge also happens to be. And Umbridge also happens to have 
> influence over Fudge.
> 
> OK, add in the fact that Umbridge is not above sending dementors to 
a Muggle area, and using the Crucio against a student....and I'd say 
> Percy is under the Imperius Curse at the moment.
> 
> Yes, that's been done before with Crouch, so here's theory # 2, 
which I don't like but it's a possibility:  Percy was so wounded by 
his failure at his first job that he cast his scruples aside and made 
a deal with Umbridge to get into Fudge's office.  His ambition got 
the better of him, and in order to go through with his devious plan, 
he decided to shut out his family, who largely act as his conscience 
and are definitely a ballast for his ego."

hg replies:

Before I get too far in to my reply, I'd like to point to my post 
80225, where I quoted the letter Percy wrote in GoF.  Note how 
significantly it differs from the letter in OoP, and also note that 
H/R/H have NO RESPONSE whatsoever to the letter in GoF.  I was 
responding to Del's post 69029, which was a breakdown of how the OoP 
letter could be written to ellicit particular responses from the 
trio; I don't recall Del posing a reason why (Imperio, caught between 
a rock and a hard place, working undercover).

Jen, I agree that the clues you point to from OoP are hugely 
relevant.  I went back and reread all that myself, and the whole 
series, actually, trying to figure out why Percy's been acting 
differently.  These are my theories: 

1) Imperious
2) Replacement 
3) The obvious: Percy is a huge git who has finally gone off the deep 
end
4) Percy is acting way under cover for Dumbledore, and can't tell any 
of his family
5) Percy is acting under cover to the knowledge of only Dumbledore 
AND Arthur or Arthur and Molly

I've never liked option 3: although it goes along nicely with one of 
the big themes of the series (the right choice vs. the easy choice), 
it still seems too simple.  But I've tried to remain open to it, 
mainly because I haven't found anything rock solid to disprove it.  
But I haven't found anything rock solid to prove it, either.

Imperious (1) is highly likely.

Replacement (2): this one is interesting.  Percy could have gotten so 
worried about Mr. Crouch and his upcoming inquiry, that he went to 
Mr. Crouch's house (this would have happened after he wrote to Ron et 
al in GoF) -- when he got there, he found Wormtail and/or Voldemort, 
who could have either disposed of him or taken him as a wonderful 
opportunity to "worm" (ha) even deeper into the Ministry.  Polyjuiced 
Percy hasn't been too warmly received anywhere I've presented it, but 
it's not such a stretch.  The only thing that would say it's 
ridiculous is the fact it's been done before.  And actually, that 
could be evidence that it could happen again.  I've thought that the 
way Percy talks and acts in OoP seems more like Wormtail than Percy.  
Problem: the silver hand.

Percy deep under cover (4): Percy always had deep respect and 
admiration for Dumbledore, who returned the same to him.  I could see 
him asking Percy to do something extremely difficult, probably right 
after the Triwizard tournament and Percy's inquiry, when he's going 
around gathering his troops and placing them where they need to be.

Percy under cover, Arthur knows, of course Dumbledore, maybe Molly 
(5):  They'd have to keep it secret to protect him and everyone else, 
and so playing the part of rejection etc.  I talked about this some 
in post 80641, "What's Arthur been up to."  It would have been 
precipitated by Arthur and Percy's fight, which would have led Arthur 
to disclose some things that have been kept secret previously, 
because Percy so clearly needed to understand.

Sandy in post 80928 brings up two points: one, we haven't seen or 
heard from Penelope Clearwater for quite some time; two, what Percy 
says in the letter contrasts with how he's quoted the next day in the 
Daily Prophet (Sandy, did you deliberately misspell Prophet 
as "Profit?"  I hope so, because that's rich!)
Entropy adds in post 80929 that he refers to Mr. & Mrs. Weasley 
as "our parents" rather than "Mum and Dad."  

I've been aching to discuss this for so long, it was so wonderful to 
see someone write something about Percy other than, "Percy is a git, 
move on."

hg.