Percy the Prefect

[deborahhbbrd]

No: HPFGUIDX 141263


<CH3ed, with snips: Seems Percy should have been a Ravenclaw or a 
Slytherin rather than a Gryffindor ... But then he might have 
requested to be a Gryffindor like Harry and Hermione did. He is
proud, but doesn't seem to have the courage to face the music when he 
is wrong. Even Seamus has shown a Gryffindor like courage in making up 
with Harry in OoP. ... I think he showed some concerns toward his
siblings at times .... >

Deborah, now: Like Hermione, Percy is an academic top achiever -
perhaps an overachiever. The argument most used about Hermione is that
Ravenclaw membership wouldn't have taught her anything new, whereas
being in Gryffindor certainly did. Looking at Percy, I think a point
worth making is that he's not the only bright child in his large
family, but he is the only one who doesn't care about sport, another
way of saying he's no good at it. And kids who are perceived as bad at
sport often run into unpopularity or are just discounted for that
reason alone.  At home and at school ... If they're megabright, so
much the worse.

So, then, what did Our Perce learn from his Gryffindor years? The
reassuring message that the opinions of one's family don't necessarily
count for anything! There he is, ignored or unpopular among his
siblings, a poor sportsman, but he still gets to be Head Boy, just
like his big brother. (I'm assuming that he would realise, like any
child, that deep in the job description of every mother is
unconditional love for her children; nothing personal, therefore, and
something he can overlook.) This reinforces his natural urge to
believe that he's right all the time. Not necessarily a bad person.
Just a pain in the neck.

However, what I'd really value is some sign, however small, that
there's more to our sentimental little airhead, Lav-Lav, than meets
the eye. (Parvati at least went to the Yule Ball with her sister and
two guys who were then deeply uncool and clueless, took the
initiative, and dumped them. Not kind, but bloody bold and resolute!)
Especially if there really are two missing Gryffindor girls who are
just too naff to mention – think what she's being compared with! 

Come to think of it, what House could have suited the future Professor
Trelawney? We assume that Hufflepuff is the catch-all House for the
kids who don't fit in anywhere else ... perhaps Gryffindor also has
that function?


Deborah, who doesn't begrudge Sybill the cooking sherry