Percy: The Prodigal Son? Man or Mouse?

By Devina (The Charmed One)

    I was reading The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter by David Colbert and this is an extract from that book: "…most of the legends focus on a character named Perceval. Born into a peasant family, Perceval eventually proves his virtue and becomes a Knight of the Round Table. Whether Percy Weasley will show the qualities exhibited by his namesake remains to be seen." Right now, I'll warrant a guess that most of you want to strangle Percy Weasley. Trust me, I wish I could do that too. But lets analyze Percy's role in the story until now…and what his future prospects are.

    We saw Percy in the first three books as a pompous and a little over-bearing Prefect and Headboy. In the third book, Ron mentions that Percy could do anything for his career. In the fourth book, Percy gets a job at the Ministry of Magic and he dreams of doing great things. But we've seen how Ron's predictions come true, so it was little surprise when, in the fifth book, Percy leaves home and refuses to side with his family. That's when we felt like throwing the Avada Kedavra curse at him.

    Why exactly did Percy leave anyway? Percy was the only one in the Weasley family who sided with the Ministry (read: Fudge) about Voldemort's return. He even opposed his father joining the Order and siding with Dumbledore. He did the unthinkable; he raised the matter of his familys' income problems. He left home and his image in the family photo walked out as well.

(1) Ambition? Probably. He might have felt that it was time to break free and if he was in Fudge's good books, he might be more successful rather than being known as Arthur Weasleys' son. He wanted to assert his independence and tell the world, 'I am not my father'. Which is a pity, as his father is a gem of a person.

(2) He was scared. If Voldemort had truly come back, being a member of the Order implied risks and dangers perhaps even death. Not many would be prepared to lay their lives on the line. Percy has never exhibited true courage as such before, which leads me to think of his cowardice coming into play. Leaving the Order could give him a life without having to look over his shoulder. However, if Voldemort was back, he'd probably have to do that anyway, but who can explain the irrationality of Percy's mind?

(3) However, there is another aspect to be considered. Percy might have done this deliberately. Look at the fact that he knew about his family joining the Order, but he still did not reveal this to Fudge. Why didn't he? Yes, they are his family, but didn't he leave? Didn't he break all ties with them? He could have jolly well told Fudge about the activities. True, he left a week before the Weasley family left for Grimmauld Place, but that's not to say he didn't know about it. I find this highly suspicious. It's quite possible that he left the Order amidst a hullabaloo so as to ingratiate himself with the anti-Dumbledore ministry and pick up useful hints. True, Arthur Weasley was still in the Ministry, but what were the chances of picking up information considering how close he is to Dumbledore? If this were true, who are were in the know? Arthur Weasley definitely, as well as Dumbledore. I don't think Molly knew; there was no way she could have faked her grief. If this theory is true, well then, Percy Weasley might just be as good as his namesake. Besides, remember the owl he sent Ron? Ya, he was totally against Harry, but he sent it at night…away from Umbridge's prying eyes. There might be something in that.

    What's Percy going to do, now that Dumbledore has been proved right? Will he crawl back for forgiveness? Will he stay aloof? Will he reveal himself to be an Order member? I think that now Fudge has finally accepted that Voldemort has come back, there are any of the 2 following actions that Percy can take:

(1) He'll come back grudgingly to the family. He'll realize that it was his mistake and he should have trusted his family from the beginning. And even if he doesn't come back on his own, I'm sure Molly and Arthur will be willing to forgive him. They are his parents and no matter what, parents will always forgive their child's' transgressions. Molly would probably tell him to come back and let bygones be bygones.

(2) If he was an undercover member of the Order, then, well, then there is no problem at all is there? He'll go back home and will probably be glad of the ending of the farce.

Those are all the speculations I have about Percy. Hope you enjoyed it. If you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to email me at supersleuth_87@hotmail.com.