Peroration: A long speech characterized by lofty and often pompous language.
February 2, 1999
He had never been charming like Bill, never witty like the twins. Charlie was pure force in everything he did, Ginny was something else entirely, and even little Ronnie made a name for himself on pure heart. Percy was not like them. All he had ever done was talk.
He talked above the noise of all his siblings to get his mother's attention. He talked on and on at school about whatever he could think of because if he didn't he would fade into the background and be swallowed up by oblivion. He babbled around Penelope in the hopes that if he said everything, eventually he would hit upon something she liked because there was no other way he had to catch a girl's eye. He wasn't smooth or athletic or funny or even particularly handsome (whatever his mother said), and he knew it. He talked his way through his interview at the Ministry and wormed his way up the ladder by never shutting up.
Because the thing is, when you haven't got anything else worth noticing, talking ceaselessly is the only way to make sure you aren't forgotten. And the more he heard the things he kept on saying, the more he became invested in them, in their importance, and then his importance.
His life stretched before him, and suddenly it seemed to Percy that it had been one very long, self-important speech, repeated over and over again. I'm the best because… you should listen to me because… I'm successful because… I'm right because….
And suddenly the podium seemed too cluttered with papers and words that were nothing but the same tune he had always sung, and a voice, a raucous, grinning, mischievous voice was telling him to shut up, was pretending to snore through his words, was cutting him off with a bored 'get to the point, Perce'. The wind that had filled him since he could talk seemed to peter out, leaving behind a bunch of deflated phrases. And between all their sagging shells, real things that had been hidden by the stilted things finally came into the light.
Percy Weasley, master of the long lofty speech, swept all the papers from the podium and fixed the assembled audience with a new, level gaze. It took less than five minutes for him to say everything that needed to be said, but it was the most meaningful oration he had ever given.
Life was too short, to wild, too unpredictable to waste time saying things no one was listening to. Saying things you didn't mean. Saying things you would regret. All he had was talking, and if he flooded that with puffed-up sound, he would have nothing at all.
A/N: Okay, so this one might be slightly boring, but how could peroration be anything but Percy? Thanks for reading anyway and please please please share your thoughts with me. A huge thanks to all two of my reviewers so far! You guys rock! :)