Order Only - Private message to Bill Weasley

[alt_draco]

I'm not a prophet, or anything like that. I don't know if you remember, but I said he "was doomed" - that wasn't me breathing some death wish into being, it was just a statement of fact based on what I know about the mechinations and intrigues of council politics.

Your brother cast himself as an individual looking for the validation of any council member who would have him, which sends off a whiff of desperation. And even though Mulciber has plotted against my father, the fact that Percy snipped his allegiance to Lucius Malfoy so readily no doubt made him seem like a fickle opportunist. Which is exactly what he was.

The council is strange. Membership does require ambition and a certain amount of opportunism, but it also requires adherence to the pecking order and abiding by a whole host of unspoken rules. If you grow up in a council family, or if you're fostered by a council member the way that Finnigan was, you learn the rules through observation and lived experience. The other way to learn the rules is to be mentored by a council member, the way my father mentored Crispin, and the way Lana Sandoval has mentored Padma. My father would have never taken Percy under his wing for council mentoring. And the moment Percy turned on my father in favour of Mulciber, he revealed the very qualities that make him unsuitable for the council.

That's what I meant when I said he was doomed.

I'm sure that your family will be grieving not just Percy's death, but also what might have been. Know that I take no personal pleasure or satisfaction in hearing the details of his fate, and that I regret your loss.

Comments

[alt_bill]

I do remember you saying that. In fact, the first thing I told Rachel yesterday when I told her the news was 'Draco was right.'

But even as I said that, I entirely understood the distinction you make, and I agree with it. I know you didn't wish this on him or want it to happen. But Percy was always proud, and when he was in the grip of certain ideas, often involving his own cleverness, he wouldn't listen to anyone who tried to warn him, even the ones who loved him the best and wanted nothing but good for him.

We really do feel that we lost him a long time ago, and I think that has muted the shock and the grief. (Well, maybe not so much for Mum or Ginny.) But I'm grateful for your condolences, just the same.

Thank you, Draco. I know it's been an immense personal sacrifice for you, but I'm really glad you are in the Order. And I know your knowledge will protect us, keeping us from making the sorts of missteps that Percy took.

[alt_draco]

Most people in the Order don't have to worry about being in Percy's position. I hope this sheds light on what kind of situations Harry and Hydra are up against every day, though. They have more protections that Percy, yes, but those very same protections also put them at risk. Being Bellatrix's brother-in-law didn't save Raz's life. If Hydra had gone to Snowdonia, it's possible that Mulciber would have taken the opportunity to strike at his council enemies through her. I'm sure it's not lost on him that they now have two very gifted legilimens in their ranks.

[alt_bill]

It sheds a great deal of light on the dangers of Harry and Hydra's positions, yes.

If you can think of anything else that any of us can do to help protect them, I'm sure you will pass it on, and we will do our utmost to implement it.