CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Prisoner of Azkaban Chapter 4: The Leaky Cauldron

[Joey Smiley]

No: HPFGUIDX 189490

Eric Oppen wrote:
[snip]
It also may have been that he was left  
> more-or-less "in charge" by his mother when she was busy with baby Ron  
> and Ginny, and the twins resented being given orders by another kid.

Joey:

What you say is possible but I'm not sure if that is the case. The twins do not seem to spare Bill or Charlie either (they put beetles in soup and comment about Charlie's failure to pass the Apparition exam in the first try). It seems to me that they are pranksters in general, sparing none in the process. 

Percy bore most of the brunt of their pranks because, like you and others have rightly said, he never found them humourous (and hence, regarded them as irresponsible and immature) and thus they got quite a few opportunities to goad Percy. 

Also, Molly idolized Percy especially when she told off the twins for their behaviour - this might have irked the twins and they could have taken it out on Percy as they could not do that with their mother. 

Moreover, Percy was not popular amongst his other siblings too - there are instances where he was asked to "shut up" or "stop boring" by Bill and Ron too. This could have emboldened the twins further as they had a good audience to laugh.

Cheers,
~Joey :-)