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"I was a fool!" [...] "I was an idiot, I was a pompous prat, I was a - a -"
— Percy apologising to the Weasley family

Percy Weasley is a wizard and character in the Harry Potter book series. He is the third child of Arthur and Molly Weasley, the younger brother of Bill and Charlie Weasley and the elder brother of Fred, George, Ron and Ginny Weasley.

He is a high achiever at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When he graduates, he works for Barty Crouch Snr. and then is Junior Assistant to Cornelius Fudge. During the Second Wizarding War, he takes Fudge's side and denies the return of Voldemort, cutting off his family for two years. Percy eventually realises he is wrong and joins the family at the Battle of Hogwarts, joining the Order of the Phoenix, which he survives.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Percy was the third child of Arthur and Molly Weasley. He had two elder brothers, Bill and Charlie, three younger brothers, Fred, George and Ron and a younger sister, Ginny. He was raised at The Burrow in Devon. His family were kind and welcoming, but poor and considered blood traitors.

Percy adopted a pet rat which he called Scabbers at the end of the First Wizarding War, unaware it was Peter Pettigrew in Animagus form. At the age of eleven, he started attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was Sorted into Gryffindor house. He was very academic and a high achiever.

Philosopher's Stone[]

At the start of his fifth year, Percy had been made a Prefect which he was very proud of. He annoyed his younger siblings by constantly bragging about it. His parents rewarded him with his own owl, a screech owl that he called Hermes. No longer needing Scabbers, he gave him to Ron. Molly and Arthur also purchased new robes for him.[2]

In September, he went through the wall to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters first and immediately put his new robes and Prefect badge on. He was in a hurry to say goodbye to Molly because he was in a rush to join the other Prefects in their own compartment. Fred and George started winding Percy up by mocking him for talking so much about being a Prefect. Percy told them to shut up and said goodbye to Molly.[2]

At the Sorting ceremony, Percy proudly shook Harry Potter's hand when he was Sorted into Gryffindor and then pompously said "well done" to Ron when he was also sorted into their House. During the feast, Percy tokd Hermione Granger what subjects she would be studying. Harry remarked that Dumbledore appeared to be a bit crazy, to which Percy replied that even though he sounded crazy, he was the "best wizard in the world". Percy took the first-years to their common room.[2]

When a troll was loose in the school, Percy took first-year Gryffindor students back to their common room. He called for first-years by telling them he was a Prefect and they would be safe if they did what he said.[3] During the Christmas holidays, Percy, Fred, George and Ron stayed at Hogwarts. Molly sent her children jumpers that she knitted herself, but Percy didn't want to wear it. He wanted to spend the Christmas feast with his fellow Prefects but Fred and George pointed out that it was a "time for family". That evening, Fred and George took Percy's Prefect badge and he chased them around the room to get it back.[4]

Chamber of Secrets[]

During the summer holidays, Percy was secretly dating Penelope Clearwater and spent a lot of the time sending letters to her. Percy very rarely joined his family and refused to let Ron borrow Hermes to send a letter to Harry. During a shopping trip to Diagon Alley, he spent an hour on his own in a bookshop reading Prefects Who Gained Power.[5]

Percy was one of the few people furious at Harry and Ron for taking the Ford Anglia to get to Hogwarts. He was scowling and wanted to shout at them, but a celebratory crowd got in the way because they thought it was "brilliant", so Percy couldn't get close enough.[6] In October, Percy had to push Ginny into taking a Pepperup Potion because he thought she looked peaky.[7] He did not know she was possessed by Tom Riddle's Diary.[8] Later, Percy bellowed at Fred and George when they used a salamander to conduct an experiment in the common room during which it spun around the room in sparks.[7]

Ginny was very upset when she heard Ron, Harry and Hermione were suspected of causing Mrs Norris's petrification. Afraid they would be punished, Percy told her that they were innocent but he later found Ron, Harry and Hermione at the scene the petrification searching for clues. He shouted at them about how it looked but Ron accused Percy of being worried about how it actually made him look, in case it ruined his chance of being Head Boy. Percy took ten house points from Ron for arguing.[9]

Ron and his friends continued to search for clues, hiding out in the girls bathroom. Following a Quidditch game, Percy saw Harry leaving the Hospital Wing and congratulated him for earning their house fifty points by catching the Golden Snitch. Harry asked if he had seen Ron and Percy passed a comment that he hoped Ron was not in the girls bathroom searching for clues again. Harry forced a laugh and left. Later, Percy saw Fred and George scaring Ginny by jumping at her and he shouted at them, saying he would send a letter home if they didn't leave her alone.[10]

Fred and George also started joking about Hogwarts being scared of Harry whenn everyone thought was the Heir of Slytherin. Percy shouted at Fred and George for marching down the corridor ahead of Harry and telling everyone a "Dark wizard" was passing through. Fred told Percy to get lost. Percy spent the Christmas holidays at Hogwarts because he thought it was his duty to stay and support the teachers.[11]

Percy spent a lot of time patrolling the dungeons which Draco Malfoy thought was because he was trying to catch the Heir of Slytherin. He and Penelope were in the dungeons one evening when Harry and Ron, pretending to be Crabbe and Goyle with Polyjuice Potion, headed to the Slytherin common room and saw him with her. Ron asked Percy what he was doing in the dungeons and he told him that it was none of their business and he was a Prefect. Draco then joined and asked Percy the same thing and he reiterated to everyone that should show respect to a Prefect.[11]

In April, Percy was very upset when Penelope was Petrified and he looked pale and shocked.[12] Before it happened, Ginny had found Percy and Penelope kissing in a classroom and he had begged her to keep their relationship a secret.[13] In May, Percy thought a pale Ginny was going to tell Harry and Ron and he interrupted her.[14] She was actually going to tell them about her involvement in the Chamber of Secrets.[13] She was later taken into the Chamber of Secrets herself by the monster. Percy sent their parents an owl about it.[14]

Ginny later told her brothers and Harry about Percy and Penelope. Fred and George told Ginny they wouldn't say anything but Harry could tell they would.[13]

Prisoner of Azkaban[]

During the school holidays, Percy found out that he was Head Boy. He started bragging about it and wearing the badge everywhere.[15] He visited Bill on a month-long family holiday and they appeared on the front page of a newspaper in an article about Arthur's Grand Prize Galleon Draw win.[15] While he was there, Fred and George tried to lock him in a pyramid but their mother stopped it.[16]

When he greeted Harry on the final day of the holidays, he did so in a very cold, pompous way to which he nearly laughed. Percy scowled when Fred and George appeared and started copying his behaviour. Their mother was proud of Percy and told Fred and George to set a better example to Ginny. Percy promised her that she had other brothers to set one for her. At dinner, they found out Ministry cars were taking everyone to the train station. Percy asked why, to which Fred and George replied it was for him because he's a Humongous Bighead. Percy ignored it and asked a second time. Arthur lied that he secured it for working there, when in reality it was for Harry's safety against Sirius Black. At the end of dinner, he discovered his Head Boy badge had disappeared and told Ron to help find it. Fred and George were outside with it, having changed the wording to say Bighead Boy.[16]

Goblet of Fire[]

After graduating, Percy started work at the Ministry of Magic where he was the personal assistant to Barty Crouch Snr. in the Department of International Magical Cooperation. He was very obsessed with his work and talked about it constantly. If it weren't for Arthur forcing him to go home, Percy would have lived at work. He also kept talking about a secret event happening after the 422nd Quidditch World Cup hoping that his siblings would ask and he could gloat that he knew and they couldn't.[17]

While he was working one day, Percy received dragon dung in his in-tray which someone slipped on. He thought it was just a fertiliser sample from Norway and nothing personal, but unbeknown to him, Fred and George had actually sent it.[17] He also passed his exam to get a license to Apparate and started Apparating down the stairs of the Burrow every day to show off to his siblings.[18]

Percy was working in his bedroom one weekend and struggled to concentrate with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny talking outside. He was finishing a report for the Department of International Magical Cooperation on the standarisation of cauldron thickness. He told them they were "thundering" up and down the stairs, which Ron thought was an over exaggeration. Ron popped a patronising comment that his work on cauldron leaks would change the world, which Percy heatedly responded too.[17]

Later, he was disturbed by loud noises outside his room where Bill and Charlie were crashing tables they were setting up together for dinner with their wands. He shouted at them to keep it down and Bill grinned and responded by asking how the report was going. Percy told them it was "going badly". The report did not need to be finished any time soon, but Percy liked "to keep on top of things" and surprised Crouch by telling him he'd have it ready early. Work was very busy with the Quidditch World Cup and he thought Crouch would be grateful to him if he got the report out the way.[17]

At dinner, Percy talked with Arthur about his work with Barty, the disappearance of Bertha Jorkins and brought up the top-secret event that was happening. Percy thought Bertha's boss, Ludo Bagman was wrong for not taking her disappearance seriously enough. When Harry remarked that he hoped the final would go on for five days like it had the previous World Cup, Percy shuddered at the thought of being away from work for that long because his in-tray would get full.[17]

Percy travelled to the World Cup venue with his elder brothers at lunch by Apparating. He announced their arrival to Arthur and his younger siblings. Later on, he did not appear to approve of Ludo in person when he encouraged betting on the final and was not impressed when Fred and George bet with a fake wand. After hearing Ludo talk about his boss Barty's ability to speak a hundred and fifty languages, Percy told him it was actually over two-hundred languages.

After they were joined by Barty in person, Percy excitedly rushed over to offer him a drink. He was left embarrassed after a surprised Barty did not appear to know his name and called him "Weatherby". When he was leaving, he gave Percy his cup of undrunk tea. Despite this, Percy still told his brothers that Barty was "quite right" to stop Ludo revealing the big secret event that was to take place at Hogwarts that year.

In the Top Box before the World Cup final started, Percy revelled in the prestigious company of Ministry officials and kept getting up every few seconds to shake hands with people. Upon the arrival of Cornelius Fudge, the British Minister for Magic, he bowed and his glasses fell off his face.

After the final, the campsites were attacked by Death Eaters. Percy ran toward the danger to help the Ministry with Arthur, Bill and Charlie. When he returned to their tent later on. he had a bleeding nose. He was incredibly shocked when he heard Barty's house-elf Winky had been caught illegally holding a wand, and nearly got into an argument with Hermione on house-elf rights because he agreed with Barty's decision to sack her.

Appearance[]

Notes and sources[]