Percy...was Ron's "poor me" syndrome.

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 106529

Shannon wrote :
> Look at it this way:  Percy, from the first moment we meet him, is 
> the overachiever of the Weasley family.  He takes everything he does 
> very seriously, and strives to be the absolute best.  For this, he is
> praised by Molly and Arthur.  They even tell Fred and George that 
> they should be more like Percy.  His every achievement is met with 
> lavish praise and support, and rightfully so.  Percy, understandably 
> enough, expects that same reaction when he gets his promotion.  But 
> he doesn't get it. It's probably the first time in his life that he 
> isn't praised by them for an achievement.  
> 
> I can certainly understand that he'd be hurt, and can even 
> see him holding a grudge for a few weeks over it.  But to do what he 
> did? 

Del replies :
The way I see it (well, one of the ways I see it, the one that favours
Percy most :-), Percy was not only *hurt* by his father's words, he
was *thrown off-balance*. 

His neatly organised world (you get praised if you follow the rules,
you get promoted if you work hard) had just been turned upside down a
few weeks earlier by the discovery of Mr Crouch's madness. An inquiry
had been made over Percy's work, honesty and seriousness. He had been
under a tremendous stress for days. But finally in the end the
Ministry had recognised that Percy had been an exemplary Ministry
employee and they even offered him a promotion.

So now Percy goes back to the only place that still feels safe, the
only place where he still feels like the rules will always be
respected. He rightfully expects his parents to praise him for his
promotion, as they've *always* done, all his life.

But they don't. They, too, suddenly decide to change the rules, to not
follow them anymore. Instead of praising him, they tell him he's
stupid, they tell him he didn't earn that promotion.

Well, Percy is a 19-year-old who's just had the 2 most important
institutions in his life (indeed, the *only* two institutions in his
life), the Ministry and his family, pull the rug from under his feet.
I don't wonder that he lost his balance completely, and that he went
looking for support and acceptance from those who had just recognised
and rewarded his qualities : the Ministry. It was stupid, sure, but
Percy was *lost*.

And as time went by, and Percy saw his family ally themselves to
people who were doing and saying strange things without any real
proof, it's quite natural that he would only entrench himself further
with those who seemed more logical and more reasonable.

Percy is *not* the reflective kind. He does *not* wonder why people do
things. He sees people do things and he automatically jumps to the
most logical conclusion. So when he sees DD pretend that LV has
returned but he, Percy, can see no sign of LV, he automatically agrees
with Fudge who says that DD has lost his marbles.

Should Percy think more ? Yes. But he wouldn't be Percy anymore.

Del