Percy

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 166035

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "eggplant107" <eggplant107 at ...>
wrote:
>
> "Phyllis D. (P. D.) Barnes" <phyllisdbarnes@> wrote:
> 
> > I have always found him [Percy] insecure but not a bad person.
> 
Eggplant wrote:
> Would you say that if he had another last name? <snip> Percy happily
took part in a proceeding that attempted to destroy a boy and send him
to Azkaban, a boy who had always been kind to him and who saved his
sister's life. Percy tried to destroy the friendship between Ron and
Harry. Percy refused his mother's Christmas present and didn't visit
his father in the hospital when he was near death or even ask about
him, then he called Umbrage "delightful".
> 
> And besides, a black sheep would be fun, our story does not need
another good Weasley, an evil Weasley is much more interesting. 

Carol responds:
As Hermione says, evil is a strong word. Percy has not yet killed
anybody, or performed any Unforgiveable Curse, or joined the Death
Eaters. All he has done is sided with the Ministry, sharing their view
that Dumbledore has become a doddering old fool and that Harry is
unstable and possibly violent. (Granted, he should know better, but if
Fudge doesn't believe that Voldemort is back, why should Percy? I
don't think he knows exactly *how* Harry saved Ginny from the monster
in the Chamber of Secrets. Harry's killing the Basilisk isn't common
knowledge, as one of the Ravenclaws makes clear in the Hog's Head
chapter of OoP. I wonder exactly how much Percy *does* know about what
happened in the CoS, actually.)

Yes, Percy calls Umbridge "delightful," but possibly his letter to Ron
is being read by his superiors and he wants to be sure it gets
through. Or possibly he, being a bit pompous and very pro-Ministry,
doesn't see through her as Harry does. (Good for him not to judge her
based on her toadlike appearance, but not so good to be fooled by her
poisoned-honey voice and her seeming concern for all those helpless,
foolish little children at Hogwarts whom she wants to protect from
"lies" about Voldemort.)

BTW, forgive a sidenote but I want to sneak it in here since I'm on my
last post of the day. Umbridge's werewolf legislation is passed *two
years* before OoP, according to Sirius Black (somewhere in chapter 14)
and therefore predates Snape's revelation to his students that Lupin
is a werewolf. In fact, it has nothing specifically to do with Lupin
except that it may be one of Dumbledore's reasons for hiring Lupin at
the beginning of Harry's third year, and nothing whatever to do with
Snape.

To return to Percy, I think that Ron is spot on in calling him "the
world's biggest git" (also OoP). Not being British, I don't know
whether gitiocy is curable, but in Percy's case, I think it is. Many
young people have hurt their parents' feelings with gestures that
resemble Percy's returning the jumper that Molly knit for him. Many
have walked out of the house and refused to speak to their fathers
after misunderstandings and quarrels. (Percy expected to be praised
for his promotion and instead is accused of being hired to spy on his
family. I don't know how you would act if that were the case, but if I
were Percy, and not yet twenty, I'd have acted just as he did. But if
I'd been Arthur, I'd have acted as he did. And I feel sorry for Molly
and empathize strongly with her feelings. Everyone is perfectly in
character, and all their actions and reactions are understandable
under the circumstances, IMO.)

I know that Percy is pompous and rule-centered and overly concerned
with his own advancement. I know that , like Ron and the Twins, he's
annoyed by the family's (relative) poverty and wants to escape it.
(What's wrong with that?) Like Fudge, who (IMO) is also under
Umbridge's influence throughout OoP, he's not a very good judge of
character. But I also remember his wading out into the water to
embrace a thoroughly embarrassed Ron after the second task in GoF.
Percy loves his family, and he'll remember it before the end (I
predict). And he may be Scrimgeour's man as he was Crouch's, but
Scrimgeour in his own way is an opponent of Voldemort. He's no Death
Eater, and neither is Percy. I think we'll see a change in Percy now
that he knows that Voldemort is really back and that Dumbledore is dead.

Carol, who thinks that the last thing the books need is a wicked Weasley
s