Will Percy apologize to his family in Half-Blood Prince? If he does, will they accept his apology? Or will he die before he has the chance to apologize?

1. Upon realizing that his family was correct the whole time, and Voldemort has been back for over a year, Percy will probably feel very ashamed and embarassed that he didn't believe his parents to begin with. He's the type of person who doesn't want to admit that he's wrong, but he will be forced to because, quite obviously, he is wrong. It will become increasingly hard for him to follow his doctrine of "the Ministry is the guiding force behind all of my acts and thoughts" and remain true to his story that Voldemort is not back at the same time. Plainly, it's going to be near impossible to deny Voldemort's return. Whether Percy will go along with the Ministry no matter what remains to be seen. However, once there is a new Minister (who I feel sure will be anti-Voldemort and working to stop the Death Eaters), Percy will be forced to accept Voldemort's return if he wants to remain in the Ministry, which, based on his ambitions, he will. It seems like it will be hard for him to not apologize to his family at this point.

2. So, for the second question, will they accept his apology? I think that some of them will be more forgiving than others. Mrs. Weasley will probably just break down and be very happy that her son is back with the rest of the family. Mr. Weasley will probably take a longer time to forgive Percy, but eventually, he will most likely accept Percy back into the family, if only to appease his wife. To me, Bill and Charlie seem very even-tempered, and will therefore probably accept Percy's apology very easily. Eventually, Fred and George will pull out one of their new products and test it on Percy, but they'll take longer to adjust to his new behaviors. Ron and Ginny will probably take the longest to accept Percy, Ron more than Ginny. Both of them were at school with Harry and had to face directly the results of Percy's actions. Ron received a letter from Percy telling him that Harry was disturbed and dangerous, and that Ron should end his friendship with Harry. Of course, Harry was not at all dangerous, and Ron proceeded to rip the letter to pieces, saying that Percy was the "world's biggest git." As Harry's best friend, and because of the way Percy treated Harry, even if Harry is quick to forgive Percy, Ron will most likely reject Percy for a while, but come around eventually, even though it might take a long time.

3. This question's sort of weird, but if you think like a "raging psychopath," as JKR puts it, it makes sense for Percy to be killed. Thinking like Voldemort might - A lot of the Weasleys are in the Order, and many of the Order members are quite close to the Weasleys. The Weasley family is obviously very upset about their son denying the return of Voldemort. Sometimes, a loss is worse if there are unsolved conflicts between the dead and the living (not that Voldemort would know anything about the loss of a loved one...). What Voldemort wants more than anything is to kill Harry. To do this, he needs to undermine the strength of the Order. A quick way to do this is to harm the Weasley family. No offense to any of the Weasleys, but because of the unsolved conflicts between Percy and the rest of the family, Percy's death would affect them in a way that the death of any of the rest of them would. Now, I'm NOT saying that Fred's death wouldn't be awful for the Weasleys, because it would. I'm just saying that since the Weasleys are at peace with Fred, they aren't fighting with him, so there are no conflicts that will never be solved, while with Percy, if he dies, they will NEVER solve their argument. Killing Percy would hurt the Weasley family, which in turn would hurt the Order and weaken their defenses, which would make it easier for Voldemort to get to Harry.

Your theory on question 3 reall strikes me. Very "idealic" never thought about Voldemort can use others to get to Harry - especially Percy.

Very interesting and obviously well-thought out. Although, it would be difficult to deal with if it were to happen in the books, the third theory has to be my favorite. It would weaken the Order, and thus, create an easy clearing for Voldy to attack Harry.

Callidus Vir, I like your screenname, it reminds me of my RPG where I named one of the houses Callidus. I applaud you.

Sally-Anne, although I think your idea is good and sound, especially 3, I don't think that Percy is going to apologize. I think that he is too proud to apologize. I think he is also afraid of being rejected by his family and to actually be rejected after humbling himself and admitting he was wrong terrifies Percy.
Right now I think Percy is in a very dark and lonely place. He realizes he was dead wrong, but at the same time he feels like he did the right thing by following the ministry given what he knew at the time. His intentions were genuinely good, and admitting he was wrong will be very difficult for him.

Regarding the Weasley family death, despite how intriguing your third theory is I feel that it doesn't really advance the story much from his perspective. Don't get me wrong, for the Weasley's and Ron it would unleash a whole slew of questions and cause drastic changes in relationship dynamics, but Harry would not really be personally affected by Percy's death because his relationship with Percy is minimal. Also I don't think the Order would crumble if Percy were killed.

However, I think Percy will be brought back into the fold under difficult circumstances. I think Arthur Weasley will be killed protecting Harry. I think his death will serve three purposes. 1.) It will show that Arthur really considered Harry family, 2.) It will a remorseful, ashamed Percy back into the family circle and 3.) It will make Harry realize how many people are actually counting on him. So far Harry has been thinking of this war on a very personal level. VOldemort killed his parents and is responsible for the death of Sirius, and Harry is angry. So far he has not realized how many other lives are dependent and hang in the balance in his battle with Voldemort or "faceless people in the vague future," as Dumbledore called them at the end of Order of the Phoenix. Arthur's death will make Harry awaken to the lives of those "faceless people" which is the real burden he was forced to shoulder the day he received his scar.

Regarding Percy, I think Percy's return will be important because of the Weasley familial strife that will now ensue, but more importantly it will be symbolic of all the people who had disparaged, doubted, and ridiculed Harry during Order of the PHoenix, but who now believe him. Percy's return will teach Harry to forgive all of those people whose support he will need now that the War is in full swing.

SiriusLupin,

I find your ideas of having Percy represent the general populace of the people who will know have to admit they were wrong, and now support Harry very interesting (I had not thought of it in this way - thankyou)

As evidenced at the end of the OotP Harry indeed is still thinking of this battle as one that he has to shoulder alone, and while that is true in many respects. He still doesn't really understand that not only his fate is to be decided.

At the end of OotP all the students turn to support him, but he still feels seperate from them and the return of Percy may well lead to him accepting the "return" of all the others who doubted him.

As to Percy's character, I think alot of people didn't like him in the end of OotP and alot of people have said it was very out of character for him to be at such odds.

Thinking along the same lines however I believe Percy at this stage is also representative of the people who doubted Harry including his fellow students. In the book Harry looks at other who don't believe him as being the enemy or being wrong/evil in there thinking. Which is not that case.

Percy's actions were in fact very noble, he truly believed that the ministry had it right, and he was also over-reacting, trying to prove his loyalty to the ministry after the Couch incedent when he was investigated.

Percy had true concern for his brother evidenced by the letter he wrote, however I believe alot of people immediately assumed Ron's stance without considering the contents of the letter themselves. That being what I believe JKR, intended readers to do.

I think Percy's major character flaw is that he over-reacts to situations, especially ones where he is found in the wrong. We can tell from his extreme behaviour (trying to prove himself to the Ministry) after the Couch investigation. I believe now that he has been found wrong again not only will he give his appologies but he will also go to extremes to prove his Loyalty to his family and the Order, possibly landing himself in more hot water

I don't see Percy appoligizing to his family, he's very pridefull, but I feel All the Weasleys would accept the appoligy..they seem like a giving and forgiving family