The other day I encountered somebody who said (to another person)

[conuly]

"Having siblings can be fine if they're more like Fred and George and not like Percy."

I was dying to ask them to justify this statement, but one of my other rules of discourse is that I do not discuss Harry Potter with total strangers, only with people I know. So I didn't. There was no way that would end well.

But seriously, who the heck holds that opinion!? Okay, I'm sure JKR does, but I thought we all agreed that this woman holds a large number of dangerously wrong opinions. All the more reason to take the other approach, if you ask me.

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Comments

[highlyeccentric]

To be fair to this unknown OP, I would prefer my siblings not be fascist collaborators...

[conuly]

Well, that's gonna be a problem, because our options are fascism lite, fascism slightly less lite, straight up fascism, and post-fascism which, let's be honest, is probably also pretty fascist. The pre-war wizarding government under Fudge - the one that the Weasleys supported and explicitly wanted at least one of their children to work for - is pretty bad. Dumbledore's alternative is... well, it's "better" because He's The Good Guy, but while he may have publicly repudiated his affair with Grindlewald, judging from his actions it's clear that he doesn't quite understand why it's so bad. And of course, Voldy is just Wizard Hitler, Round Two.

While I guess the new postwar government might be better, I actually wonder if JKR can even conceive of a government that isn't on some level actually kinda fascist.

[conuly]

Also, we have precious little information about what Percy did during Harry's endless camping trip. He continued to be employed by the Ministry, but what was he doing at work? Was he straight-up collaborating, or was he engaged in his own resistance which... honestly, may have been more effective than the Order's more showy methods.

[brokenallbroken]

I read a great fic (eons ago, so unfortunately I don't remember the title) where Percy used his Ministry access and credentials to become the architect of an underground railroad for muggleborns and other "undesireables". Basically the ultimate "Slytherin who picked Gryffindor" fic.

I am unclear what the Order ever actually accomplished besides counterpropaganda. We don't hear about that either.

[cactuswatcher]

I'm glad my siblings were neither constant trouble makers nor corporate yes-men. As Weasley kids go neither Fred nor George nor Percy were the pick of the litter.

[conuly]

I blame the parents.

[greenwoodside]

Heh, I remember getting into a very long, fairly polite argument back in the day on the Sugar Quill fansite re Percy. Mais où sont les neiges d'antan! :D

[brokenallbroken]

I would rather live with a fellow rule-follower and lover of peace and quiet than a pair of "mischief-makers" who use my pet as a sportsball, try to get me to make a promise that will kill me if I break it (at an age young enough I'm not quite sure what a promise is, much less have any self-control), and turn my teddy bear into something I'm terrified of. And probably experimented on me long before using my dormmates for product testing.

Still probably would have picked Bill or Charlie as overall best, though. They at least had the moral/political sense to get out from under both Molly and Dumbledore's regimes.

[conuly]

They at least had the moral/political sense to get out from under both Molly and Dumbledore's regimes.

I continue to believe that it's no coincidence that they both took jobs out of the country just as soon as they could.

[adrian_turtle]

Fred and George are bullies. At 14, they bully 11-year-olds pretty consistently. They are literally coded as the good guys, but going strictly by behavior our heroes have more reason to dislike them than they have to dislike Draco. The ongoing feud between Draco and Harry happens because Draco sneers at Harry's apparent poverty. (A sneer. Not a physical or a magical attack.) I wouldn't want anything to do with them, if they were my brothers.

I am very fortunate in my own brother, who puts some effort into making fun of the poop-flinging monkey who used to be president. But he doesn't risk his life doing that, and I would not want him to do so.