PERCY: DD's Personal Spy or Ministry's Puppet? (Long)

[Brenda M.]

No: HPFGUIDX 111313

I have been (somewhat) trailing this thread with great interest and
surprise. Mainly because it never occurred to me.

I read Kim's interpretation of Percy's letter (Post 111068),
Carolina's version (Post 80213) and Del's explanation (Post 69029) --
which were all very insightful and took me by great surprise. The
thing that struck me during my first-time OoP reading was how
ridiculously LONG Percy's letter was. Why bother? Ron never really
listened to Percy, and now that he left the family there is even less
chance. So why?

I wanted to divide (what I think are) Pros and Cons of Percy being
DD's personal spy, and why the letter was a means to send secret
message.



PERCY: [DD's Personal Spy] or [Ministry's Puppet]?
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[Percy is the Spy]


(1) How would a smart lad trust Fudge over Dumbledore?
-- Yes, Percy seems to worship whoever is his boss at any given time.
So when he was at Hogwarts, the Headmaster. As Crouch's assistant his
loyalty was to Crouch. Then to Fudge. I perfectly understand his
admiration of Crouch; Crouch was strict, competent, respected,
charismatic and hard-working. But why Fudge? Percy should know that
Dumbledore was once supported by many in WW to become the MoM. Fudge
asked DD for guidance in his early days of MoM. DD is widely known as
the greatest wizard, Percy says so himself to Harry. Percy should
know that DD is far more powerful and competent than Fudge. So why
would the smart, ambitious youngster like Percy would want to lose
respect from the greatest wizard of his times?


(2) The letter is ridiculously long:
-- Perhaps Percy wanted to show off his writing to Ron, perhaps he
was confident that once he explained himself and ranted fully, Ron
would change his mind. Who knows. Then in Post 69029, Del said
something that clarified this (to me at least):

>> Del: I read a magazine about coding secret messages the other day.
> And yesterday, while I was re-reading Percy's letter to Ron,
> it struck me hard: this letter feels fake. It feels to me like
> Percy is desperately trying to say something to Ron. <<<

If it was indeed coded message to the trio, Percy would know how.
Which leads me to next convincing point--


(3) The letter was sent to Ron at night, not during breakfast:
-- IIRC Percy's letter arrived on the same night as Sirius' common
room visit via Fireplace? So it would indicate that Harry's owl was
already being intercepted. Why would a Ministry official, who has
nothing to hide up in his sleeves, send a Umbridge-favor letter at
night, secretly, to the dormitary? If Umbridge saw the letter she
would be highly delighted, Percy might even get a raise! So why all
the praise and unnecessary repetition/emphasis on "Ministry is good
and holy, DD is nuts?"

UNLESS he did this *in case of* emergency. He wanted to overgloat the
Ministry to get himself out of tight holes. He also knows once Ron
reads it, so will Harry and Hermione. Hermione and Percy always got
along very well, which implies he regards her as his intellectual
equal. I believe this letter was meant for Ron to read, but for
Hermione to understand. "Congrats on Being the Prefect" excuse is
just... corny, hehe.

Too bad we don't see Hermione's reaction to the letter, just that she
was "looking at Ron with an odd expression on her face". I always
found this curious, why so calm? She certainly burst in outrage on
numerous occasions before when their classmates attacked Harry!


(4) Over-displayed Attack on Harry:
-- Percy must be a true dung if he really thought he could persuade
Ron by attacking Harry. They are best friends! Ron must've talked all
about their exciting adventures at Hogwarts to the whole family
during summer (for 4 years now!). Percy should know better, about the
obstacles Harry & co went through, and generally just how deeply
involved they were in various secrets and conspiracies of WW. Harry
is after all, the Boy-Who-Lived, the only one to survive AK (besides
VM) and defied him on several incidents. Harry is clearly much more
powerful than Fudge or Umbridge, Percy should know at least that bit.

Unless he was tipping Harry off with what the Ministry and Daily
Prophet think of Harry, that it only got worse.


(5) How does Percy know about Podmore?
-- Yes, how the heck DOES he know? The Order is a *secret*
organization, how did Percy know that Podmore, DD, and his parents
were associated together?


Alright, that should pretty much sum it up. Now to the downside...
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[Percy is the Silly Ministry Puppet]

(1) Percy loves the Ministry:
-- Haha, where should I start? Well, he looked vividly jealous when
Fudge talked to Harry very casually in PoA. He loves everything about
the Ministry, he thinks the Ministry can do nothing wrong, as
observed in many occasions throughout GoF and OoP...


(2) Percy is very Arrogant:
-- Both Carolina and Del have mentioned this point:

>>> Carolina in Post 80213:
> ..."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. <<<

While I can see how this can be interpreted this way, I can't buy it.
Percy is supreme in his arrogance: he can't get enough of himself!
Proud, very proud. Throughout the whole series he almost seems
unaware and oblivious to Ron's dislike for Percy's 'highway
promotion' (sorry, can't think of better words!) I think he truly
believes that everyone must strive to follow his footsteps. He also
knows Fred and George don't like it and they made fun of him
constantly. Why the sudden change of attitude? This is very
stereotypical of Percy: "Yes, finally my little brother taking my
route! I am the 'next big thing' and so good for you."

Unless one would like to argue this was all in act and disguise.
That's a bit too much stretch for me.


(3) What good is warning in only few hours in advance?
-- Brandy raised this very good point in Post 111262:
>>> But on the other hand, why warn them the night before? What good
could it possibly do them to know twelve hours in advance? <<<


(4) Why don't Molly and Arthur know?
-- What could be so important that even his own parents must be kept
in dark? While their hearts have been broken and deeply scarred? So
that they could keep Percy's cover? I don't know, I think that's too
much to ask, especially when their 2 sons are in the Order as well.
It is a heavily demanding, life-threatening position to be in, and to
let them deal with emotional damage and betrayal from their own flesh
and blood... that is very cruel and inefficient. Wouldn't it rather
slow them down with the responsibilities as the Order member? If my
son was working very deep undercover, it would greatly motivate me to
perform my duties much better, to keep him safe at all cost.


(5) What about Dumbledore escaping in front of Fudge and Percy?
-- I was waiting for *someone* to explain this, but so far nothing,
so I'm raising this point. At the mini-trial of DD in his office
after DA was discovered, Percy seemed besides himself. He was quite
hyper being the secretary of the hearing, and utterly disappointed
and upset when DD escapes.

> Potioncat:
> > The other thing is, he may not be a spy for the Order, but just
> > for Dumbledore...in the same sense that Snape wasn't a member of
> > the Order in the first war, but worked for DD.

So are you saying that Percy might have helped DD with his escape??


(6) So *everyone* in Potterverse is either Spy or Death Eater?
-- I like the idea of Percy, the immature and stubborn youngster,
being totally misguided by propaganda. Fooled by the Ministry and
used as the political manipulation victim, right under his nose. It
is more realistic that way: that some people are genuinely misled and
fooled, others fight in war or cause the war. Just because we *want*
certain characters to behave the way we want (be good or evil but
really just in disguise) it doesn't mean they are, or should be. I
personally don't want everyone to be either spies, or the Order
members, or the Death Eaters, or the former DEs. That's too boring,
no?
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Whew, that's as far as I can think of. I just wanted your feedbacks,
criticism, explanation, you name it.


With HPness,
Brenda