Percy Weasley: The Rift

When Ron explained about the recent rift in the Weasley family, and Percy's obvious absence, we're supposed to see the fault as being all on Percy's side for refusing to believe Harry and Dumbledore.

It isn't, and I don't.

I should put the disclaimer that a lot of this is conjencture and head-canon, and readers are free to disagree or have their own perspectives. The mark of a good fandom is being able to disagree without resorting to personal attacks. (Yes, [redacted fandoms], you know who you are...) With that in mind, read on.

I've written before about my take on Percy and why he isn't the bad guy. Tumblr has a lot of really good Meta Discourse. This is more of the same. So, some background context.

When the Big Argument happens, Percy is already under a lot of stress. He was newly graduated from the equivilent of High School, only 18 or 19, when he was given the kind of responsibility that people twice his age would struggle with.

In "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", Percy is employed in a department that has to not only pull of the Quidditch World Cup, but also the Tri-Wizard Tournament in the same 12 months.

Percy hasn't even been employed six months before he's promoted to Mr Crouch's Personal Assistant, and is basically running the Department of International Magical Co-Operation while his boss is off sick/under the Imperious Curse. Percy does it well enough that the other senior members of the Department are clearly content to leave him to it rather than stepping in as Interim Head, but that doesn't change the fact that this is not a task that someone less than a year out of Hogwarts should have been dealing with. Percy is clearly capable, but he lacks experience.

But no-one notices, or if they do, no one mentions it. The Ministry, at the very least, should have done something about an entry-level employee running an entire department. It's like a Political Aide or Intern stepping in as Minister of Foreign Relations. The Ministry of Magic might not be the pinacle of competency, but this is a pretty big miss.

Then Mr Crouch disappears.

Oh, one of the Triwizard Champions makes a wild claim about him showing up at Hogwarts, raving and attacking him, but the biggest issue there, as far as Percy is concerned, is the furor of potential sabotage by a government official and complete lack of evidence of physical proof. Besides, it happened at Hogwarts, so until actual charges are brought, it's Dumbledore's problem to deal with. Let that be the end of it.

But it isn't. There are credible witnesses to the confession that Mr Crouch has been missing and dead for months. A confession from the man who murdered him, who turned out to be the son that everyone thought was dead, but who was not only alive, but who Mr Crouch had freed from Azkaban, before keeping him under an Unforgivable Curse for decades. A witness that Minister Fudge had given the Kiss, and can no longer provide testimony before an actual court.

It's a massive scandal, and suddenly now the Ministry is shocked and horrified that the DIMC is being run by a teenager who didn't even notice that something was wrong. Percy may not be great at reading a room, but it's very clear that he's being set up as the scapegoat. He'll be lucky if he gets a job sweeping streets in Knockturn Alley, never mind the well-paying Ministry job that he's dreamed about for years.

Then, suddenly, a lifeline. Minister Fudge offers him a position as Junior Assistant in his office, a position that most people need a massive 'donation' or immediate powerful connections to get. Fudge was so nice about it, too! Of course a Department Head had to be someone with Experience, but Percy's hard work has been noticed and rewarded, just like it was at Hogwarts.

Percy goes home to tell his family the good news: he's not fired, the Burrow won't lose their second income, and there's even a rise in pay and prestige! Percy is a heady combination of relieved and thrilled. He expects his family to be, if not as pleased as he is, at least happy that he won't have to move to Nowheresville, Feckthatistan, to get another job.

And Arthur Weasley choses THEN to have the talk about how the Ministry can be sketchy, and this offer is actually extremely suspicious, and Fudge will do anything to hold onto power.

Not before Percy started working for the Ministry, and could have gone in eyes-open. Not when Percy was in over his head, shouldering the burden of managing an entire department. Not even a few weeks or days ago, when Percy was scared of losing his job and would have been more open to such a talk.

Percy thinks that he's been rewarded for a job well done, and his father calls him an idiot who can't see when he's being used.

Of course Percy snaps!

[Percy] came home really please with himself … and told Dad he’d been offered a position in Fudge’s own office. A really good one for someone only a year out of Hogwarts – Junior Assistant to the Minister. He expected Dad to be all impressed … Dad reckons Rudge only wants Percy in his office because he wants to use him to spy on the family.”

Harry let out a low whistle.

“Bet Percy loved that.”

Ron laughed in a hollow sort of way.

“He went completely beserk. He said – well, he said a load of terrible stuff. He said he’s been having to struggle against Dad’s lousy reputation ever since he joined the Ministry and that Dad’s got no ambitions and that’s why we’ve always been – you know – not had a lot of money.”

Why in the world would the Minister of Magic want to spy on a housewife, a few students, and the Head of a two-person department? How dare he imply that Percy would do it in the first place? Percy's ambition is to have a steady job and stop being poor, and maybe if his father hadn't been so obsessed with Muggles all these years, maybe it wouldn't be Percy's responsibility to do so!

Percy has been biting his tongue about this for years. He's struggled with the disadvantage of hand-me-down robes in a field where Presentation is 60% of the job. (Percy spent his first week at work in old school robes with the crest and colour removed, and his first paycheck on new robes that actually looked professional) Unlike his classmates and later co-workers, Percy can't mention that his father can do this favour, or the connections he has.

None of his family, except possibly Mrs Weasley, have ever appreciated his work ethic, or the effort he puts into everything he does. But then, when has anything Percy done been something other than one more aspect for his siblings to mock? He's done, and he's not putting up with it anymore!

Whether or not the Weasleys are right isn’t the point; the point is that what Percy hears in that moment is that instead of being proud of him, his family doesn’t think he could have earned the position on his own under normal circumstances. He has worked so hard to achieve a place in the Ministry for himself, worked so hard to stand and be judged on his own merit, not his family name, and now he’s told by his family, “They only want you because you’re a Weasley.”

How that must have stung. No, Percy didn’t handle the situation well, but neither did Arthur. There is fault to be shared on all sides.

We, as readers, know that Voldemort is back, Fudge is a gutless weasel, and Harry and Dumbledore are telling the truth.

The average witch and wizard, as evidenced in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", does not know this. If Voldemort is really back, why isn't he running around killing people, like his last reign of terror? Why is the only witness a teenage boy who is already seen as being given preferential treatment? Lies or a mental break make so much more sense.

It's almost a year before Percy is revealed to be wrong, a year in which neither side makes any real gestures to reconcile. Mrs Weasley sends a jumper for Christmas, but Ron doesn't reply to Percy's well-meaning letter, Mr Weasley and the twins don't reach out... even Bill and Charlie don't try to get in contact. Percy found out through the rumour mill that his father was in St Mungo's.

"Obviously", they don't want him back.

(Christmas in Book 6, where Percy does return for Christmas with Minister Scringemour and spends the entire time being ignored or pranked, only reinforces this belief.)

In conclusion, the rift in the Weasley family was realistic, believable, and well-written in both how it happened, and the fallout.

I just don't think that Rowling did so on purpose.

If you liked this story, leave a heart or a tip, and follow me on Vocal and Medium!