Under Wraps

[arabellasq]

So, Percy

Comments

[peachespig]

Percy is traveling around attending the Minister of Magic, after all. And that's a really convenient position in which to have a spy.It seems like too quick a change to me. Percy's defining characteristic, I think, is his faith and trust in the hierarchy, his belief that everything always needs to be done through the official channels according to the established system; I think part of the reason he is this way is to contrast with Hermione, who started the series with similar feelings but learned thanks to Harry and Ron that sometimes the best results came through bent rules. Although I'm sure he was shaken by the return of Voldemort, I suspect that he was then reassured by the switch in Ministers

[jiminyc]

I had the same question rolling through my mind...and kept bumping up against that same problem. I tried telling myself that, if he was performing the services of a spy, it would probably be best to keep that from the rest of the Weasleys. That way, even under Veritaserum, they couldn't give him away

[prettyveela]

JKR gave an interview awhile back that unfortunately, Percy was acting under his own will in OotP, and it made my respect for Percy go down even lower than it was.

I've had an intense dislike for Percy since OotP. Yes Fred and George teased him a lot, but they loved him too(Christmas in GoF). If Percy isn't undercover for the Order, I'll never be able to like him again properly. Slamming the door in your mother's face(OotP) and showing very little warmth to her in HBP while she's crying, is a deal breaker in my eyes. Molly and Arthur did a lot for that little snot, and he's lucky to have them both.

[jiminyc]

Slamming the door in your mother's face(OotP) and showing very little warmth to her in HBP while she's crying, is a deal breaker in my eyes.

Definitely.

I think it's because I'm a mom that I'm holding on so desperately to the hope that he's working undercover...because I get this monster lump in my throat when I even imagine my son treating me this way.

[mysticblueside]

:(

*hands chocolate* I can't even imagine it. (Is it sad that when you said 'moster lump', I thought of Harry's 'monster? ;) I need to stop commenting here...)

:) (since I started this off with a frown, I though I'd end with a smile!)

[arabellasq]

It's by far the most horrible thing he does, IMO. Slamming the door in his crying mother's face. Especially since it's Mrs. Weasley and we know her so well, and we know her deep love for her children. It does seem to be a "dealbreaker."

But... pride is a monster. Pride can overrule sense and decency. Pride leads to the fall. I don't write Percy off for having done this to Mrs. Weasley, even though it's sickening that he did it. I don't write him off at all. I wouldn't be surprised if, in the end, he were nothing more than a Ministry sycophant... but neither would I be surprised if, in the end, his pride had cracked and he had chosen some form of redemption for his actions.

I NEED BOOK SEVEN.

[melissa_tlc]

Yeah, I don't know. I keep wondering and wondering and hoping for some goodness for Percy, too. He is brave, he did end up in Gryffindor, which isn't something you automatically get with heritage, as Sirius has shown. So I just don't know. She has hinted that he'll redeem himself, so fingers crossed...maybe she was just holding him in abeyance until his moment. Damn, she's got to do a LOT in the next book.

I wondered, after ootP, what would become of Percy; he really was displaced. He was wrong at the Ministry, and wrong about his family. The Ministry seems to have no problem using him when he's useful, just like before, but then, they have no problem doing that to anyone. I would love it if he were keeping tabs on the Minister for the Order, I just don't know why he needed to be secretive among the Weasleys about it. Maybe because there's less suspicion on the Ministry side, if he does. I don't know. Oh, he makes my brain hurt.

[edeainfj]

I think one of the reasons he's stayed at the Ministry is because he feels he has nowhere else to go. His family, apart from his mother, have practically disowned him. He busted his butt at Hogwarts to attain a position at the Ministry - if he abandons it, what does he have left? He saw Fred and George goof around, and now they're huge successes. Basically, I think he feels very alone and unfulfilled, but that if he stays at the Ministry, everything will work out for him eventually.

It's just as likely that Percy saw the truth but could not admit that he was wrong

Yes, that hits the nail on the head.

[mysticblueside]

Good point. :)

[peachespig]

I really like the counterpoint you're alluding to between Percy and Fred/George - Percy did everything his mother asked at school, set himself on a career path she thoroughly approved of and respected, and yet found himself rigidly denying the truth and estranged from his family; meanwhile F/G drove their mother crazy, stubbornly set out to achieve goals she didn't understand and couldn't at first support, and yet they ended up enormous successes and a source of pride to their mother - even if she does think they're going to be murdered in their beds. :D

So yes, I can only imagine Percy's inner bewilderment when he compares himself to his brothers.

[arabellasq]

Oh, excellently put.

I love the range of personality types we get in the Weasley family.