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

[hermionegallo]

No: HPFGUIDX 80964

reply to 80940
constancevigilance wrote:
"hermionegallo posted a brilliant post that I agree with 100%, so 
I snipped almost the whole thing, except:
 
Replacement (2): this one is interesting.  <snip>
Polyjuiced Percy hasn't been too warmly received anywhere I've 
presented it, but it's not such a stretch. <snip> I've thought that 
the way Percy talks and acts in OoP seems more like Wormtail than 
Percy.  Problem: the silver hand.
 
Constance Vigilance (me):
 
Actually, that's not a problem. We have canon to prove that physical 
infirmities are corrected in the polyjuicing process - when Harry 
becomes Goyle, his eyesight improves. The juiced person assumes the 
infirmities of the one duplicated, see Moody's eye and leg.
 
I really like this theory, because it also explains why Peter is not 
among the DE muster in the Dept of Mysteries. He's busy being someone 
else at the time. And besides, I believe in P.I.N.E. (Percy Is Not 
Evil). At this point, I would like to propose P.I.N.E.S.A.P. Percy Is 
Not Evil, Simulated Alternate: Peter!"
 
hg reply:
I love the acronym!  PINESAP has been my first line of thinking on 
Percy since I read OoP.  I felt 1) that the letter was trying too 
hard to sound like Percy; 2) that the fawning over Fudge was way 
beyond Percy's awed respect of his superiors (compare Percy offering 
tea to Crouch, Sr. at the QWC to Pettigrew buttering up Harry -- and 
everyone else, one by one -- in the Shrieking Shack, or even any 
Pettigrew/Voldemort scene); and 3) that slamming the door in Molly's 
face was highly suspect -- it could have been that the real Percy was 
in the room behind him, restrained.  There's a perfect time-gap where 
no one sees Percy, before the third TW task up until the fight with 
Arthur, which would allow for this explanation.

I have to admit that Undercover Percy has also been growing on me 
over the months as I've tried to remain open-minded about Percy.  

In 80946, klaustininia says:
(snipped) "Someone let Dumbledore know that Harry's trial time was 
changed. It may have been Percy. (and) Percy is in a position where 
he could easily pass information since Fudge thinks Percy is 100% 
loyal to him."  

These are excellent points that can certainly point to Percy being 
undercover.  I also had wondered about who told Dumbledore the trial 
time had changed; although we already have another operative in the 
Ministry, Shacklebolt, it couldn't have been him, because he was 
speaking with Arthur before the trial and didn't mention anything.  
He didn't know.  Therefore this really lends credence to Percy being 
undercover.

Several folks also added that Percy left Dumbledore's office before 
Dumbledore zapped everybody, but I should point out that Fudge 
directed Percy to leave, to go bring word to the Daily Prophet about 
Dumbledore's arrest.

n_longbottom01 adds in post 80954 that the revelation about BCrouch 
Jr could have pushed Percy into realization of the seriousness and 
validity of what his parents and Harry are saying.

As much as I'd like to jump onto a TBAY Percy craft -- heck, even 
take the helm of one -- I don't know if I could jump on PINESAP 
before ruling out Percy as Spy.  I wish I could, because PINESAP is 
so dear to my heart, the reason I went back and read ALL the books 
right after my first read of OoP.  But I've been thinking a lot about 
Arthur these days and wondering about his undercover assignment, so 
to speak, and in light of that it would make sense that Percy would 
be now involved in such a way as well.  I wonder if those of us who 
are especially interested in this could continue to pick at it until 
we reach some consensus, on board or on email.  I'm open to both.
hg.