Understanding Percy
I believe Percy’s behavior in the beginning of OP was, if not justified at least understandable.
His Stand In The Family:
Percy was the resident joke for 19 years. This is bound to finally drive anyone over the edge. I find it very hard to sympathize with the twins. I’m not going into detail about their behavior here because it has already been discussed in thoroughly by others, some good examples being Pharnabazus and ajhalluk . To me, the twins’ casual, continuous, cruel tormenting of Percy sounds little different from Dudley’s Harry Hunt and although milder in form essentially the same as the Death Eaters making sport of muggles. And it wasn’t only teasing, they tried to imprison him in a tomb! In GoF They say Percy apparates in the kitchen everyday just to prove he can, I personally found it very ironic when they started apparating loudly every few steps in OP.
I believe Percy deeply felt the fact that he somehow did not fit with his family very well. He could see the painful truth that all his thriving and accomplishments could not impress his family, particularly and most importantly his father, as much as a thoroughly stupid and potentially dangerous joke from the twins.
Percy is painfully, naively honest about his ambitions. And the twins can get the better of him far too many times. These lead me to believe that he isn’t particularly clever. Certainly not stupid, but not more than fine average. Putting this beside the splendid job he does in school and later at work, it is obvious that his shining accomplishments were chiefly, if not thoroughly, due to an unbelievable amount of hard, earnest work. This makes the fact that it STILL failed to impress his father much more painful.
Percy is not very clever. He’s exactly the sort of person who, when thrown the question “how’re cauldron bottoms going?” would ramble seriously on for quite some time until he noticed, with great embarrassment and fury, that the questioners were rolling on the floor in laughter. It’s very painful to understand that not only are you made a fool for their amusement, but also that all you believe to be important and/or serious is downright ridiculous to others.
And cauldron bottoms ARE important, dammit! Standards seem to be regarded VERY carelessly in the wizarding world (partly due to the ease in which most injuries can be taken care of) but it doesn’t mean they are unimportant in essence! I mean, please, in the real world there are standards for pencil leads and nail clippers and paper bags and every other unimportant everyday gadget. Correct me if I’m wrong, but cauldrons are actually laboratory equipment, aren’t they?
No, Percy didn’t fit with the rest of the Weasleys. There is enough proof to suggest that no one but Molly misses him in the Burrow.
I think I can see why Percy is quick to jump on the Down-With-Potter bandwagon. Much as I think it was stupid of him, I find it easy to understand why he resented Harry. This is a boy who doesn’t even bear the name of Weasley and yet he is accepted to a far greater degree in their fold than Percy is with his own family.
But.
Despite all this, Percy still loved, and loves, his family. Though I can give it the benefit of doubt after the treatment he was given in the very frosty Christmas we saw in HBP. The letter he sends Ron in OP is quite notable. Percy is evidently trying to reestablish at least some of the severed ties. And it’s easy to see why he feels he will have more chance with Ron. Ron is the youngest brother he has always tried to watch over. Ron is a prefect. And most importantly, Ron too has been a usual victim of the twins’. The fact that Percy still loves his family suggests to me that although he didn’t quite belong with them, he still wouldn’t have left if it hadn’t been for something else. Something that did him more harm than all of the twins’ tormenting and the public mocking he received on a daily basis.
The Last Straw On The Camel’s Back:
The nasty quarrel with Arthur. So, Percy came home and brandished the fact that he had achieved more in one year than his father had in 20 in Arthur’s face. Surely he meant it only to impress his father, but it looks like it wasn’t how Arthur interpreted it. And, rare as the instances are that he gets really angry, when it happens he gets quite carried over the edge. I find it significant that we never heard what Arthur said on that night. All we heard was what Percy had said, and it came from VERY biased witnesses. Arthur’s temper is hard to rise, but when rose it can be very nasty.
Put yourself in Percy’s shoes, what would you think if your father told you Fudge is playing around with you and wants you to spy on him? I would personally have some very unpleasant notions:
1. My father thinks I’m a fool who can be played at.
2. He feels I don’t deserve what I have worked so hard for.
3. My father thinks I WOULD spy on my own family if ordered to!
We’re talking about a 20-year-old who has been thriving and failing to impress his father all his life, who feels he has only just given his father the news that would *finally* make him proud of his son. If that couldn’t crush Percy, I don’t know what could.
I think a look into Percy and Arthur’s relationship and personalities will give us a more realistic view into their fight. While we’ve never seen Arthur mistreat Percy he laughs at him along with others. I think we’ve given a very biased look into their fight, thus automatically blaming Percy. We curse Percy for returning Molly’s sweater. Stupid as I think he was to do that, we fail to notice that Arthur did essentially the same thing by kicking Percy’s image out of the photograph of his family he keeps on his desk at work. We know that people’s images in a photo are unaware of what happens to their *real selves* (Lily and James sitting beside Peter in the photo Moody shows Harry). On the other hand, we know that you can make them move at your will (as Moody does). It’s clear to me that Arthur, in a fit of anger, banished Percy’s image from the photo.
Let’s see just how right Arthur’s idea was.
May I draw your attention to the fact that Fudge DIDN’T throw Percy away after he broke up with his family? If Arthur was right and they had promoted him only because they wanted him to spy for them, why did they still keep him after he was no more in any position to give them any kind of info on his family or Dumbledore?
May I draw your attention to the fact that Scrimgiour didn’t get rid of him either? True, he keeps Umbridge too, but that only shows that he doesn’t only keep those who are noble of spirit, but those who are useful and practical. He wouldn’t hesitate one moment to kick Percy out if he was no good. And the fact that Percy cooperates with him doesn’t mean he is evil or anything, as the oh-so-noble Arthur Weasley does the same in HBP. Not only he cooperates, he helps in keeping the info about Stan Shunpike’s innocence quiet.
May I draw your attention to the fact that Percy DID become Crouch’s personal assistant in a very short time. And I refuse to believe that it had anything to do with the Imperius, Voldemort was only making Crouch go through his daily activities *normally*. And normally, Crouch was a demanding boss with VERY high standards.
I believe that after making sure Percy hadn’t had anything to do with Mr. Crouch’s *madness*, the Ministry officials most probably noticed something which was completely lost on Arthur. That this 19-year-old, wet-behind-the-ears employee had run the entire Department of International Magical Cooperation all by himself for One Solid Year. That he had done such an effective job under such overloaded circumstances that no one ever noticed a single defect in the Department’s normal efficiency, which had to be high, considering who the Head was.
Dumbledore might believe that Percy is finding it very hard to forgive his family for being right, but I daresay I can’t agree with the old man there. They gave Percy the job because he deserved it. Because he had *proven* he deserved it. No, Arthur is the one who is too proud to admit he was wrong. And I can’t help but have an annoying feeling that deep down, Arthur didn’t really believe that they wanted Percy to spy on him. The boy HAD accomplished in one year more than he had in several, after all.
And, sad as the fact is, many fathers tend to be jealous of their sons.
Molly:
Molly is the only one who ever showed any respect toward Percy. She was the only one ever to value his thoughts or his achievements. She is the only one who misses him. She is the only one who is happy to see him back in the very frosty Christmas in HBP. And she is, I believe, the only one Percy has truly, and deeply, wronged.
I will try to explain here Percy’s confused, bitter feelings regarding his mother in the beginning of OP. Please keep in mind that I’m only trying to *explain his feelings* not *justify his actions*.
Percy is a boy. His father’s pride matters more to him, and when he fails to get that he finds his mom’s love (which he views as molly-cuddling) frustrating and, in the state of mind that he is in the beginning of OP, sickening. And then there is the blaring fact that even his mom is on the opposite SIDE. And yes, of course Percy has drawn a line separating him and Arthur(yes, it’s thoroughly stupid but it was Arthur who began this foolish competition). He finds Molly’s behavior hypocritical. He can’t accept that she can want him and Arthur at the same time, and he’s too angry to stop to think that it’s Molly’s *love* that makes her want them both, not her reasoning for or against any of them.
Penelope:
I can say little in this regard due to lack of data. But the fact that they held it going for about 2 and a half years and, unlike Ginny and Michael, did not break up after Gryffindor won over Ravenclaw hints that it was more than mere snogging. In PoA Penny is stated to be the only one who listens to him going on about the “proposals he has to make about Magical Law Enforcement.” I wonder if they’re still seeing each other, and if she can understand him, help him get over his feelings, see his own mistakes as well as his family’s and finally manage to make a healthy and friendly, if not close, relationship with his family.
His Stand In The Family:
Percy was the resident joke for 19 years. This is bound to finally drive anyone over the edge. I find it very hard to sympathize with the twins. I’m not going into detail about their behavior here because it has already been discussed in thoroughly by others, some good examples being Pharnabazus and ajhalluk . To me, the twins’ casual, continuous, cruel tormenting of Percy sounds little different from Dudley’s Harry Hunt and although milder in form essentially the same as the Death Eaters making sport of muggles. And it wasn’t only teasing, they tried to imprison him in a tomb! In GoF They say Percy apparates in the kitchen everyday just to prove he can, I personally found it very ironic when they started apparating loudly every few steps in OP.
I believe Percy deeply felt the fact that he somehow did not fit with his family very well. He could see the painful truth that all his thriving and accomplishments could not impress his family, particularly and most importantly his father, as much as a thoroughly stupid and potentially dangerous joke from the twins.
Percy is painfully, naively honest about his ambitions. And the twins can get the better of him far too many times. These lead me to believe that he isn’t particularly clever. Certainly not stupid, but not more than fine average. Putting this beside the splendid job he does in school and later at work, it is obvious that his shining accomplishments were chiefly, if not thoroughly, due to an unbelievable amount of hard, earnest work. This makes the fact that it STILL failed to impress his father much more painful.
Percy is not very clever. He’s exactly the sort of person who, when thrown the question “how’re cauldron bottoms going?” would ramble seriously on for quite some time until he noticed, with great embarrassment and fury, that the questioners were rolling on the floor in laughter. It’s very painful to understand that not only are you made a fool for their amusement, but also that all you believe to be important and/or serious is downright ridiculous to others.
And cauldron bottoms ARE important, dammit! Standards seem to be regarded VERY carelessly in the wizarding world (partly due to the ease in which most injuries can be taken care of) but it doesn’t mean they are unimportant in essence! I mean, please, in the real world there are standards for pencil leads and nail clippers and paper bags and every other unimportant everyday gadget. Correct me if I’m wrong, but cauldrons are actually laboratory equipment, aren’t they?
No, Percy didn’t fit with the rest of the Weasleys. There is enough proof to suggest that no one but Molly misses him in the Burrow.
I think I can see why Percy is quick to jump on the Down-With-Potter bandwagon. Much as I think it was stupid of him, I find it easy to understand why he resented Harry. This is a boy who doesn’t even bear the name of Weasley and yet he is accepted to a far greater degree in their fold than Percy is with his own family.
But.
Despite all this, Percy still loved, and loves, his family. Though I can give it the benefit of doubt after the treatment he was given in the very frosty Christmas we saw in HBP. The letter he sends Ron in OP is quite notable. Percy is evidently trying to reestablish at least some of the severed ties. And it’s easy to see why he feels he will have more chance with Ron. Ron is the youngest brother he has always tried to watch over. Ron is a prefect. And most importantly, Ron too has been a usual victim of the twins’. The fact that Percy still loves his family suggests to me that although he didn’t quite belong with them, he still wouldn’t have left if it hadn’t been for something else. Something that did him more harm than all of the twins’ tormenting and the public mocking he received on a daily basis.
The Last Straw On The Camel’s Back:
The nasty quarrel with Arthur. So, Percy came home and brandished the fact that he had achieved more in one year than his father had in 20 in Arthur’s face. Surely he meant it only to impress his father, but it looks like it wasn’t how Arthur interpreted it. And, rare as the instances are that he gets really angry, when it happens he gets quite carried over the edge. I find it significant that we never heard what Arthur said on that night. All we heard was what Percy had said, and it came from VERY biased witnesses. Arthur’s temper is hard to rise, but when rose it can be very nasty.
Put yourself in Percy’s shoes, what would you think if your father told you Fudge is playing around with you and wants you to spy on him? I would personally have some very unpleasant notions:
1. My father thinks I’m a fool who can be played at.
2. He feels I don’t deserve what I have worked so hard for.
3. My father thinks I WOULD spy on my own family if ordered to!
We’re talking about a 20-year-old who has been thriving and failing to impress his father all his life, who feels he has only just given his father the news that would *finally* make him proud of his son. If that couldn’t crush Percy, I don’t know what could.
I think a look into Percy and Arthur’s relationship and personalities will give us a more realistic view into their fight. While we’ve never seen Arthur mistreat Percy he laughs at him along with others. I think we’ve given a very biased look into their fight, thus automatically blaming Percy. We curse Percy for returning Molly’s sweater. Stupid as I think he was to do that, we fail to notice that Arthur did essentially the same thing by kicking Percy’s image out of the photograph of his family he keeps on his desk at work. We know that people’s images in a photo are unaware of what happens to their *real selves* (Lily and James sitting beside Peter in the photo Moody shows Harry). On the other hand, we know that you can make them move at your will (as Moody does). It’s clear to me that Arthur, in a fit of anger, banished Percy’s image from the photo.
Let’s see just how right Arthur’s idea was.
May I draw your attention to the fact that Fudge DIDN’T throw Percy away after he broke up with his family? If Arthur was right and they had promoted him only because they wanted him to spy for them, why did they still keep him after he was no more in any position to give them any kind of info on his family or Dumbledore?
May I draw your attention to the fact that Scrimgiour didn’t get rid of him either? True, he keeps Umbridge too, but that only shows that he doesn’t only keep those who are noble of spirit, but those who are useful and practical. He wouldn’t hesitate one moment to kick Percy out if he was no good. And the fact that Percy cooperates with him doesn’t mean he is evil or anything, as the oh-so-noble Arthur Weasley does the same in HBP. Not only he cooperates, he helps in keeping the info about Stan Shunpike’s innocence quiet.
May I draw your attention to the fact that Percy DID become Crouch’s personal assistant in a very short time. And I refuse to believe that it had anything to do with the Imperius, Voldemort was only making Crouch go through his daily activities *normally*. And normally, Crouch was a demanding boss with VERY high standards.
I believe that after making sure Percy hadn’t had anything to do with Mr. Crouch’s *madness*, the Ministry officials most probably noticed something which was completely lost on Arthur. That this 19-year-old, wet-behind-the-ears employee had run the entire Department of International Magical Cooperation all by himself for One Solid Year. That he had done such an effective job under such overloaded circumstances that no one ever noticed a single defect in the Department’s normal efficiency, which had to be high, considering who the Head was.
Dumbledore might believe that Percy is finding it very hard to forgive his family for being right, but I daresay I can’t agree with the old man there. They gave Percy the job because he deserved it. Because he had *proven* he deserved it. No, Arthur is the one who is too proud to admit he was wrong. And I can’t help but have an annoying feeling that deep down, Arthur didn’t really believe that they wanted Percy to spy on him. The boy HAD accomplished in one year more than he had in several, after all.
And, sad as the fact is, many fathers tend to be jealous of their sons.
Molly:
Molly is the only one who ever showed any respect toward Percy. She was the only one ever to value his thoughts or his achievements. She is the only one who misses him. She is the only one who is happy to see him back in the very frosty Christmas in HBP. And she is, I believe, the only one Percy has truly, and deeply, wronged.
I will try to explain here Percy’s confused, bitter feelings regarding his mother in the beginning of OP. Please keep in mind that I’m only trying to *explain his feelings* not *justify his actions*.
Percy is a boy. His father’s pride matters more to him, and when he fails to get that he finds his mom’s love (which he views as molly-cuddling) frustrating and, in the state of mind that he is in the beginning of OP, sickening. And then there is the blaring fact that even his mom is on the opposite SIDE. And yes, of course Percy has drawn a line separating him and Arthur(yes, it’s thoroughly stupid but it was Arthur who began this foolish competition). He finds Molly’s behavior hypocritical. He can’t accept that she can want him and Arthur at the same time, and he’s too angry to stop to think that it’s Molly’s *love* that makes her want them both, not her reasoning for or against any of them.
Penelope:
I can say little in this regard due to lack of data. But the fact that they held it going for about 2 and a half years and, unlike Ginny and Michael, did not break up after Gryffindor won over Ravenclaw hints that it was more than mere snogging. In PoA Penny is stated to be the only one who listens to him going on about the “proposals he has to make about Magical Law Enforcement.” I wonder if they’re still seeing each other, and if she can understand him, help him get over his feelings, see his own mistakes as well as his family’s and finally manage to make a healthy and friendly, if not close, relationship with his family.