If you'd be Harry (on an accurate test), then of course you'd hate that. There's a reason that it's a cliche to say "sucks to be you, Harry."
But you'd love to be Percy? Well, he would instinctively just know how to avoid trouble. And yes, of course he'll automatically choose the course of action that leads to stability. And no, he won't try to change the world (although he might use his bureaucratic skills to improve some small things, on the margins). But he'll never try to challenge or overturn the system, as a whole. He is too skilled at working within it, to do that; we rarely challenge the rules of a game that we can win.
I haven't yet quite decided how driven Percy is by an internal ethical system, to be honest (and the answer to that would dictate how much he uses his powers for good---bureaucrats who are also moral people act differently than those who are motivated only by self-interest). You only see him through Harry, and of course schoolage Harry is going to see him as an overbearing, self-important twit.
*sighs* This does not necessarily amount to finding happiness, however, although it probably leads to finding security and contentment.
Finding happiness usually requires the ability to embrace (or accept) irrational behavior, occasionally. You have to make a leap of faith at some point, or act on an intuitive feeling. Percy won't be good at making a leap of faith, like that. He won't be able to give up control, or accept random chaos.
I've been reading the Percy fics you recommended (and am quite horrified by how much I like them---but that's another story). And the scene in "The Tao of Job" where Harry was doing something to Percy (rimming, I assumed) and he wanted Percy to ask for it, and Percy just could not . . . well, that was vintage Percy. And does that lead to happiness? There's an unyielding quality there that is hard to live with, for other people.
I've also decided, reading these stories, that Percy being gay is canon. He may be the only hp character that I can't envision as being straight, at all. And how he handles this problem (since the wizarding world probably would be a bit retro on this) is such vintage Percy, in these stories. How he handled the necessity to be discreet and ambiguous in Shiny New Thing's "Chance,"----oh, it was so very in-character, so perfectly Percy, that I simply melted and quivered, and had a road-to-Damascus insight that yes, of course, Percy is gay. And yes, of course, he'd handle it that way.
But does that lead to happiness? Your call.
*is struggling with awful desire to write a Percy essay. No. No. I have to finish my last assignment for my administrative training workshop: revising my 20 page memo on "my administrative philosophy, the strategies I use to implement this philosophy, and how I will assess the effectiveness of those strategies, and measure outcomes within my academic unit." (actually, that's a translation into actual English of the assignment topic)*
no subject
But you'd love to be Percy? Well, he would instinctively just know how to avoid trouble. And yes, of course he'll automatically choose the course of action that leads to stability. And no, he won't try to change the world (although he might use his bureaucratic skills to improve some small things, on the margins). But he'll never try to challenge or overturn the system, as a whole. He is too skilled at working within it, to do that; we rarely challenge the rules of a game that we can win.
I haven't yet quite decided how driven Percy is by an internal ethical system, to be honest (and the answer to that would dictate how much he uses his powers for good---bureaucrats who are also moral people act differently than those who are motivated only by self-interest). You only see him through Harry, and of course schoolage Harry is going to see him as an overbearing, self-important twit.
*sighs* This does not necessarily amount to finding happiness, however, although it probably leads to finding security and contentment.
Finding happiness usually requires the ability to embrace (or accept) irrational behavior, occasionally. You have to make a leap of faith at some point, or act on an intuitive feeling. Percy won't be good at making a leap of faith, like that. He won't be able to give up control, or accept random chaos.
I've been reading the Percy fics you recommended (and am quite horrified by how much I like them---but that's another story). And the scene in "The Tao of Job" where Harry was doing something to Percy (rimming, I assumed) and he wanted Percy to ask for it, and Percy just could not . . . well, that was vintage Percy. And does that lead to happiness? There's an unyielding quality there that is hard to live with, for other people.
I've also decided, reading these stories, that Percy being gay is canon. He may be the only hp character that I can't envision as being straight, at all. And how he handles this problem (since the wizarding world probably would be a bit retro on this) is such vintage Percy, in these stories. How he handled the necessity to be discreet and ambiguous in Shiny New Thing's "Chance,"----oh, it was so very in-character, so perfectly Percy, that I simply melted and quivered, and had a road-to-Damascus insight that yes, of course, Percy is gay. And yes, of course, he'd handle it that way.
But does that lead to happiness? Your call.
*is struggling with awful desire to write a Percy essay. No. No. I have to finish my last assignment for my administrative training workshop: revising my 20 page memo on "my administrative philosophy, the strategies I use to implement this philosophy, and how I will assess the effectiveness of those strategies, and measure outcomes within my academic unit." (actually, that's a translation into actual English of the assignment topic)*
/screed. *is deeply sorry for verbose comment*