Will Percy join Lord Voldemort?

[En]

I think all of us have some ambition in us, which we express in whatever ways we have learned to express it. Ginny wanted to be good at quidditch, so she practiced. Ron has Wizard's Chess. Fred and George must have learned a lot in order to do their pranks properly. Percy wanted political power. Charlie chose a very dangerous profession. Bill chooses to express himself even if it's in ways people don't approve of. But that doesn't mean they have some kind of ambition gene passed by Slytherin relatives. It just means they're human.

The fact that Percy is letting his ambitions become more important than his love for his family doesn't tell us he's evil. It just tells us that he's not being very smart about how to express his ambitions. Maybe he hasn't learned good ways to express them, or maybe he is just having trouble controlling his reactions to things. Heck, maybe he's under the Imperius Curse. But I think it's more likely that he's just immature.

[Natz]

I don't think that percy is under the impervious curse although i do think that fudge has put him under a similar frame of mind from brainwashing him.

Was it fudge who told percy that his dad was holding him back i wonder?

I think that at some time probably in the next book percy is going to have to make a big decision about whether he values his job more than the family.

Good point En because most people are ambitious to get what they want or where they want to be.

[hermoine]

Since Percy isd around the ministry a lot, it is possible, that people like Malfoy planted that idea in that brain of his. We know that Malfoy is always criticising Arthur because of his job.

[En]

Oh, I think that's part of where Percy got the idea, but not directly. Percy probably doesn't like Lucius Malfoy much; Percy's still a Gryffindor after all. But not being able to get respect from people like Malfoy probably bothers him a lot, and Percy probably thinks he can get Malfoy to respect him if he plays his part in the Ministry right. Poor little git hasn't figured out yet that people who are made to take notes at court hearings don't get much respect from anyone.

[hermoine]

It's something like you want to be friends with someone, who doesn't want to be your friend. You become like him/her to maybe get them to accept you.

[MagPie]

Yeah, or maybe he feels he has to be even more suck-up-ish to make sure they, oh I don't know, remember his name? (Am reading GoF right now). But he also likes to feel important so he makes every little thing he does sound like it's top priority.

[Natz]

I agree with MagPie because Percy does like to make his work sound important as we learnt in the goblet of fire with his cauldron bottom report as he pretended it was a world changing job.

I think that Percy is doing what En said sucking up to people so that he can get promoted within the ministry and the sad part is so far he hasn't learnt any differently because fudge promoted him despite the fact that percy was ignorant of the fact that his boss was working for you know who he was more concerned in thinking about what lay ahead for him.

[hermoine]

Mag, you're reffering to Crouch by any chance?

Umm...if you're reffering that Crouch was working for Voldemort, well it was Crouch's son who was working for him actually.

[En]

*sighs a little* I do feel badly for Percy that he needs affirmation so much that he thinks he has to suck up at work to get it. It would have been nice if old Crouch had been able to remember his name; that had to hurt.

Remember, too, that Percy probably feels like he has a lot to live up to; Bill and Charlie were both prefects, and Bill was Head Boy, and both of them now have interesting jobs... so Percy is probably impatient to prove that he's just as accomplished, and this in combination with his fear of being "mediocre" as he perceives his father to be....

[Natz]

It is true that Percy has a lot to live up to but so do Ron and Ginny but they do not seem to show it in the same way. I suppose everyone deals with competition in different ways.

I don't think that Percy needed to suck up to crouch to get work but the name thing must have hurt for him. Do you think that was what triggered off Percys feeling of inferiority and backed up his ideas that he would have to leave his family if he wanted to progress? As in book four he didn't agree with his fathers opinions and only took a liking to those who played by the rules.

[guinevere]

I think Percy is going to go with the side he thinks will win..the stronger side--more dedicated side..the side with a plan. He is more or less an obsessive/compulsive fellow and he likes his trains running on time.
In the SKing book THE STAND, those with brains who liked technical stuff (finding the bombs, nuking the other side) and liked everything neat and tidy, went with the Walkin Dude--the really bad guy..
kinda reminds me of Percy.

[Natz]

I think that Percy is going to have to make a difficult decision whether he wants to risk his job at the ministry by going over and supporting the other side. Or whether to what extent would he go to protect it?

I think that Percy will probably start off to protect his job as he doesn't want to leave as it might start allegiations about him and crouch. The other option is that he could cross over to the dark side if it means keeping his job which will not be good news for either his family or the ministry.

So percy basically has a choice between offending the minstry or offending his family. Or offending both by crossing over to the dark side as if he did this the ministry would not be able to deny the existence of voldermort. Whatever he decides its goin to take guts and determination to pull it off.

Sorry Magpie but i haven't heard of the book. I do agree with you that Percy is obssesive compulsive about rules even if they are stupid ones.

[hermoine]

True, and if he actually had some sense in his brain of his, he'd realise that he should NEVER go over to the dark side. First, his job would be ruined to begin iwth if ther Ministry found out, second, there'd be no turning back. If he decided to go back over the good side, Voldy'd kill him. As simple as that.

OOC: Natz the book Mag mentioned, GOF, is the Goblet of Fire. Were you referring to guinevere?

[En]

See, and there's one of the reasons I think Percy won't go over. He still thinks he's following the rules; he wants to follow the rules. He wants to win by playing the game well, if differently from how his father plays. But I don't think he could ever go over to Voldemort, because he'd realise that it's against the rules. If he was really smart, he'd also realise that Voldemort changes his own rules -- kills his own followers. But I think that the thought of getting caught as a Death Eater and ruining his career would be enough to keep Percy from becoming one.

I think he still wants to do good, he's just gotten confused about how to do that.

[Nie]

I've been reading this and thinking about it and I don't think Percy will cross over and become a full fledged Death Eater either. However, I think there is a possibility that he'll become a pawn of sorts without his knowledge.

Percy is so wrapped up in proving to everyone that he's brilliant and is going to advance to high places in the Ministry and is better than his father that he might be a little blinded by it and do things for the Ministry that would aid Voldemort without thinking much about whether it will or not. He still has so much blind faith in the Ministry and that it can sniff out an foul play and abolish it. I think I can see Percy voting his father out of the Ministry even. All he needs is someone whispering in his ear telling him that getting Arthur out of the Ministry would get Percy a promotion of sorts. Being as blind and immature and gullible as he is at the moment, I think he'd jump at the oppurtunity. This of course would be, to me, worse than joining Voldemort, or at least just as bad.

Percy isn't really evil, he's just been on the recieving end of ridicule and mocking all his lifeand it's because of his lineage. He wants to feel accepted and make people see he's more than just a Weasley.