Mother Molly / playing favourites?

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 125205



 
> Alla:
> 
> I am not one of those who considers Percy already  "evil and lost 
> cause", but I don't have much love for him either, frankly. Is it 
> possible that something went wrong with Persy, NOT with all other 
> Weasleys?
> 
> I strongly disagree that twins hate Percy and teased him more than 
> others ( well, I love them after all), but EVERYBODY in the family 
> teases Persy. Are you saying that Bill and Charley also hate him?

a_svirn:
There has been said a lot about Molly and Percy and how she plays 
favourites. But although she does seem frustrated, "toxic", and 
narrow-minded on occasion, and so on I would rather acquit her of 
this accusation. When it comes to Percy she is not being 
deliberately "unfair", she is being protective. I don't mean that 
she feels she must protect him from the twins (although they do get 
carried away on occasion). But it so happens that Percy is the most 
vulnerable of her children. It's nobody's fault actually, but he 
simply less "interesting" that his other brothers (except Ron). 

Bill is everyone's favourite and so he should be – being as he is 
brilliant, dashing, good-looking and easy-going. Charley might be 
less brilliant, but he was the best Quiddich player in his Hogwarts 
days, and this alone makes up for quite a lot. Fred and George are 
extremely talented and fun to be around. Compared to this lot Percy 
is at a considerable disadvantage. He certainly does not lack 
intelligence or magical ability but among his brothers he looks just 
plain ORDINARY. 

Now, with less driven and much "nicer" person (Ron, for instance) 
that wouldn't be such a big deal. Ron is humbly prepared to play 
supporting roles for his brothers or Harry for that matter. But 
Percy is not "nice", he is also very ambitious, and the necessity to 
compete with more "interesting" brothers makes him feel very 
insecure. And Molly, being a mother-hen that she is, is trying to do 
her clumsy best to support him, to encourage him, to make it up for 
him. 

I am sure for instance, that the notion of "rewarding" her children 
upon being made prefects was first introduced when Percy got the 
badge. When she asked Ron what he would have liked to get, she 
mentioned Percy getting an owl, but she didn't say she bought 
anything for Bill and Charley. I don't think it was because she 
loved them less. I believe it's because for them (especially for 
Bill) it wasn't such a big deal. Of course he was made a perfect— 
who else? But with Percy everything was given a status of an 
achievement to be noted and admired. And so it went.

She meant it for the best. She wanted to ensure that Percy felt more 
confident and sure of himself. Of course she achieved exactly the 
opposite – he was so desperate to prove himself that he developed 
the sort of obsessive hypercorrection that alienate him from the 
rest of the family still further. But on the other hand what else 
could she do? Just give up on him? This seems to be approach Arthur 
took, but although in general I like Arthur much better then Molly I 
don't think much of his attitude towards Percy. 
a_svirn