Percy Jackson at Hogwarts

In the case of Granger/Potter vs. Jackson/Weasley

Ron PoV

At first, I didn't like the thought of Percy. Voldemort's recently returned and a stranger crashes through Hogwart's ceilings, supposedly not knowing of his heritage. Though Percy was open and talkative with everyone, he kept to himself and carried around secrets no one knows about. Since his arrival, it's been a series of suspicious things. The excellent flying despite never having ridden a broom, the mysterious cousin, the prophecies, excelling at potions, and finally, befriending Draco Malfoy. I didn't trust him and couldn't understand why Harry couldn't see what Hermione and I see.

But the longer I knew him, the harder it is to find a legitimate reason to dislike him as strongly as I do. It was getting harder and harder to resist giving up so I did. I gave up. Why fight when you don't even know why or what you're fighting. He was nice, smart, funny, and a good friend as far as I could tell. But, I kept this to myself because though Harry would approve, Hermione wouldn't. She was still convinced that there was something going on with Percy. And maybe there was, but whatever it is, I didn't think it involved Voldemort. That was until Malfoy.

The day I saw them together was a hard day for me. I had only recently accepted that Percy wasn't bad only to then see him with Draco Malfoy, a sure Death-Eater. There's the prospect that Percy didn't know, but Malfoy didn't make friends and it was hard to fight against the side of me that was doubting Percy. They laughed and shoved and smiled and joked, and Malloy seemed more at ease than I'd ever seen him before. Percy didn't act any different but I was already wary by that time. It was hard to trust someone who had befriend one of your worst enemies, someone who most certainly working with the worst enemy.

Malfoy didn't change until later. He was still rude, snooty, and a pretentious prick with no regard for others. I was appalled and revolted that Percy would befriend such a person. But slowly, he did change. Not by a large amount, that I would never expect of him, but he engaged Harry and I into fights less often, sometimes even ignoring our presence completely. What shocked me the most was when he helped set up for the Christmas party. He seemed so docile and I knew it had to do with Percy, having seen them arguing earlier. I hadn't heard what had been said, but I knew Malfoy didn't help set up because he was struck with the inspiration to. I started seeing a new side to Malfoy. I didn't trust him, Merlin no, that I would never, but I began to think that maybe there's more to him than he let's us see.

The night of the Christmas party was the turning point for me, for both Percy and Malfoy. When Harry was arguing with Malfoy, I had expected him to take the bait, especially when Harry dropped the word 'filthy'. He didn't do it intentionally, but I'm glad he did because if he hadn't, I wouldn't have come to be where I am now. We saw it, in Malfoy's face, in his eyes, heard it in the first two letters of his favorite word for Hermione, but he stopped. Malloy had paused almost mid word, almost shocked. His jaw had slackened and his body stiffened, his eyes guilty. It had happened in the span of one second, but I had seen it, seen it because I had been watching. Hermione, though observing, hadn't seen because she wasn't looking, only feeling the anger that wanted to overflow. What we had all seen though was Malfoy stopping himself from saying 'mudblood'.

It was then my views changed. I knew in that moment and now that the Malfoy everyone saw, wasn't the Malfoy that was really there, wasn't the Malfoy that Percy saw. I knew that it wasn't the real Malfoy, because no matter how inspiring or persuasive Percy was, no one could change just like that unless they'd been that way the entire time. But, Percy had been the one to get Malfoy to show his true side. Percy had befriended him when no one else would and allowed him to take comfort in him and show him a side Malfoy probably showed no one. Not even himself. That one second of vulnerability that only I had seen had erased all doubts I had of Percy and convinced me to give Malfoy another chance. Percy was good, so good, and maybe he could help Malfoy be good too.