Was Percy's sickle <snipped>/Percy's Betrayal

[kkersey_austin]

No: HPFGUIDX 150803

Angie wrote, in part:
> Given that it appears the Ministry promted Percy in the hopes that
> he could get them inside information on his own family, I think it
> is significant that the Ministry kept Percy in his "lofty" position
> even after it was clear that he was estranged from his family.  
> Unless my calculations are off, Percy's position as a Weasley was of
> no actual use to the Ministry for at least a year-and-a-half (during
> Christmas in HBP).  I guess the Ministry banked on Percy kissing and
> making up at some point.

Elisabet, proudly pinning on a D.O.P.E* badge:

Oh, come on now, whatever factors may have influenced his initial
hiring / promotion, don't you think that once Percy was in there he
didn't make the bestest, bestest junior bureaucrat ever? Bright,
capable, hard-working, compliant, deferent to his superiors... Who
wouldn't want him working his you-know-what off in their department?
He may not be one's first choice to hang out with at the pub after
work, but as long as he's making his boss look good**, he's going to
have a place in the organization. 

Angie: 
> Which raises a question to me:  did the Ministry believe that Percy 
> would deliberately give them info on his family or inadvertently?

...perhaps not *believe*, yet still *hope for* either eventuality. And
even if he never gets around to betraying his family, he's doing a job
he may very well have gotten in any case.

Arthur's assessment not withstanding, Percy is an asset (as well as an
ass). 

Elisabet

*D.O.P.E. -- "Defender of Percy's Exemplariness"

**He did manage to cover for Imperiused!Crouch for, um, how long was
that again? It's not your everyday underling that can pull that off.
He seems to have not had any trouble bringing that kind of wholesale
devotion to his job to his new positions.