Ok, I did a search and while there's a few threads on Percy and a few threads on the sorting hat, there doesn't seem to be anything that this would fit into without taking it off topic. So sorry if I missed it.

In one of the sorting hat threads, the comment was made that people seem to end up in the house that they want to be. This combined with rereading the books and not paying attention in class has had me thinking.

Should Percy have been in Gryffindor or another house, in particular Slytherin?

If people do have a say in which they belong in, this would explain why Hermione's brains were given leyway to her bravery, but that's another issue.

Percy is highly ambitious. Even Ron in GOF makes the comment that Percy would trade in his family for a bit of power. He walks away from his family in OOTP because he thinks they are going to make him look bad. He doesn't show any particularly brave qualities.

If not Slytherin, due to his highly ambitious nature, maybe he would have been in Ravenclaw- he was smart enough and worked hard to get 12 OWLS and top NEWTs. It just doesn't seem like he belonged in Slytherin.

The other option is that he became ambitious over time, but that makes me wonder what happened in his life to change him from a brave Weasley, to an ambitious prat.

This could easily become an extremely long topic as the basis for it depends mainly of the readers interpretation of what information the sorting hat uses to sort students.

I feel there are three main situations the sorting hat could have based its decision on - Past, Present, and Future

If the hat went by current situation, Percy could easily had the ambition for bravery, and even the intention for it, hence how he became a gryffindor. At such a young age of eleven, there wouldn't have been a lust for power, and so the sorting hat would not have recognised this. Percey's ambition for bravery may, at the time, have exceeded his want to use what "brain power" he had, and therefore was placed into Gryffindor.

On the other hand, if the sorting hat was basing its decision on past events, we do not have a large amount of information to base this arguement on. As we know very little about percy's life before Hogwarts, and using the theory the sorting hat goes on past experiences, we can only assume that percy has, in the past, acted in an extremly brave and couragous way, and that any lust for power and authority never existed pre-Hogwarts.

And finally, and most likely, we have a basis of future potential, which based on other decisions, this is the most likey events. But if this is so - why Gryffindor? The sorting hat has the ability to "know" and "see" potentials that others can't. Therefore, if percy was sorted based on future potential, surely the sorting hat would have seen the lust for power, and ambition for respect. But have we yet to see a side of Percy that we thought didn't exist?

The arguement may be that one child in a house, all in. But we already know thats not the case, as the pavrati twins are in different houses, ergo they have different aspect that would place them in that house. This almost proves that Percy must have some ounce of bravery that would out weigh his lust and ambition, but the question is... will he survive to show it?

Oh, that's also a question that's been around my mind since Percy, well, betrayed his family and friends. He doesn't deserve to be a Gryffindor, that's what I say. But then, I think, being in Gryffindor is a choice and is still according to his braveness.

Like Harry and Hermione, it was by their choice and undoubtfully, they are really brave. And Percy? Well, it could be a choice since every Weasley is a Gryffindor. And think about this, isn't he brave enough to fight with th Ministry of Magic on what he believe is wrong? You can't really tell that his bad and like that (though I really believe he is... ) but it's his belief. Percy thinks that Dumbledore and his family are the enemies and he fights them even though they are really close to his heart. He's still brave with his own principles.

When I read a subtitle to this thread, I thought: "My thoughts! Percy would suit better to Slytherin (ambitious, he doesn't care if he hurt somebody to fulfill his dreams). He's clever because he knows he has to make up to well- connected people to make a career. Percy...brrr...

Don't you think that maybe he wanted to be in Griffindor as all his family was here? And what do you think if the Sorting was related only to who the students are in the moment of the Sorting? Later their features of character may change...

That's a good point Bubo, thanks for that:)

IF a person were feeling particularly brave at the time of sorting- maybe because they had however many wizarding siblings who told them all about it, then would they be more likely to go into Gryffindore than elsewhere?

I'm assuming that Molly and Arthur were in Gryffindore- I can't remember if it actually SAYS it? But either way that was a long time ago. at the time that Percy had come to Hogwarts, Bill would have been finished and Charlie in the upper years, so it was only two brothers who had been in Gryffindore. It should have been more pressure for Ron and Ginny to be there than the older ones.

Picking up on Nick's Past-present-future thing I also think is a good point. People do change. Percy at age 11 was probably a very different percy at 15 when we first meet him. However by that time, he's already 'perfect percy', so if there were any changes, I'd be interested to know why they happened.

In temrs of the 'future' side of things, in SS/PS, the sorting hat tells Harry that Slytherin could help him to be great, which makes me think that there must be some future aspect of things--- which then goes back to whether or not the hat could tell that Percy was going to become so ambitious and unscrupulous.

I think that it was said somewhere that Molly and Arthur were both Griffindors but I don't remember where. Poor memory, but there are so many details... Yeah, Percy Perfect in the age of 15 had tendencies to be who he became. He had a girlfriend from Ravenclaw, also a prefect and forgot about her quickly when he left Hogwarts.

Oh, Percy is the type of guy I hate .

as much as idont like percy i dont think he should be in slytherin....nor do i think he should be in gryffindor. i would have put him in Ravenclaw. He is very smart and always adheres to the rules. Yes he is ambitous, but i really dont think he would hurt anyone to get what he wants. I just think that he has to stick by the facts. he doesn't let emotions into the equation. That and i think he is very nieve. To him it in sonly black and white. If it's in the news its true, if not its rubbish..

Just my opinion,
Mae

I think the same reason that DD gives Harry for why he is in gryfindore can easily be applied to person. "It is our choices that define who we are, not our..." cant think of the end of it, but the main point is that Percy wanting to be a gryfindore is all the reason the sorting hat needs to put him in there. That is, assuming percy wanted to be one.

I thought about that Solorund- maybe Percy chose to be in Gryffindore because that's where his brothers and parents had been. However if that was the case, does that mean that ANYONE could think really hard "I want to be in Hufflepuff/Slytherin/Gryffindore/Ravenclaw"?

Doesn't that almost defeat the perpose of having a sorting hat? And wouldn't it cause most people to want to be in the hat where their friends/family are or the one that has the best reputation?

I mean, if all that you heard was the Hufflepuffs are 'duffas', would YOU really want to be one?

Wow- got off topic in my own thread

But I guess on topic, we haven't seen the last of Percy or what potential he has. But given that he's out of school- it doesn't really matter if he's like his house traits or not. I was just wondering what he was like 5 years earlier than when we are introduced to him that makes him so different to what he's like now. Because I certainly wouldn't put his personality type into Gryffindore now.

hmm interesting.