Horace Slughorn

"Horace likes his comfort. He also likes the company of the famous, the successful and the powerful. He enjoys the feeling that he influences these people. He has never wanted to occupy the throne himself. He prefers the backseat; there is more room to spread out."

- Albus Dumbledore describing his fellow colleague

Professor Horace E. F. Slughorn was the Potions master and Head of Slytherin House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was Potions Professor for over fifty years and Head of Slytherin before retiring in 1981. He was a friend and colleague of Albus Dumbledore, who persuaded him to return to the post in 1996. Dumbledore enlisted the help of Harry Potter to accomplish this, together with the help of Slughorn's own fond memories of Harry's mother. After retrieving a memory from Slughorn, it became apparent to both Harry and Dumbledore that the information Slughorn had provided Voldemort with led to the latter's immortality. During the Battle of Hogwarts, Slughorn sided with the defenders of Hogwarts and engaged his former pupil in a duel.

Early life
"My father always said he was a good wizard in his day."

- Draco Malfoy talking about Professor Slughorn.

It is unknown exactly when Horace Slughorn first walked into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Suffice it to say, he did so when he was eleven years old, as most young wizards in Britain do. When setting foot in the school and placing the Sorting Hat on his head he was sorted into Slytherin House; he soon proved to be an exceptional student, particularly gifted in the art of potion making. So much so after graduating from school, he chose to return to teach his favourite subject. At the time of Slughorn's youth, it was traditional for a young wizard, upon graduating from school, to tour the wizarding world, learning from foreign wizards. If Slughorn followed tradition, he too would likely have observed this custom before returning to Hogwarts to teach. Little else is known about Slughorn's youth, except that he once took Felix Felicis when he was twenty-four years old, and again at age fifty-seven, having two perfect days.

Teaching career at Hogwarts
"He taught Arthur and me. He was at Hogwarts for ages, started around the same time as Dumbledore, I think."

- Molly Weasley

Once back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Horace took on the position of Potions master, and would eventually become Head of Slytherin House, after Severus Snape became Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He joined the faculty around the same time as Albus Dumbledore. Slughorn founded a small club consisting of students he thought were particularly talented, ambitious, clever, or simply well connected. This group would become known as the Slug Club. By showing extreme favouritism to these select pupils, Slughorn was able to benefit from their eventual success or fame, reaping rewards such as free Quidditch tickets, boxes of sweets, or simply the chance to give advice to high ranking officials at the Ministry of Magic. He tended to ignore students he felt weren't "high-fliers," such as Arthur Weasley, and later Arthur's son Ron, however he tended to treat all his students reasonably well. During the school year of 1942, he hosted a supper in his office consisting of a small group of Slytherin boys, most prominently among them was Tom Marvolo Riddle. After dismissing them from his study, Tom remained behind and questioned Slughorn on the matter of Horcruxes. Despite being taken aback by Riddle's interest in such Dark Magic, he reluctantly agreed to give him an overview of Horcruxes, on the condition that everything they discussed remained between them. Using the information, Riddle later went on to create six Horcruxes, making himself immortal. The fact that Slughorn had provided the knowledge that made this possible was a terrible truth he would carry with him for the rest of his life.

Slughorn remained at Hogwarts for many years after Riddle's departure, going on to teach many talented students, including his eventual successor as Potions Master, Severus Snape, and Snape's best friend Lily Evans, whom he particularly liked for her sheer cheek and natural flair for Potions. The extent of his involvement in the First Wizarding War is unknown. If, however, it was the same as the Second War, he likely went into hiding, fearing the Death Eaters would attempt to recruit him.

Retirement and life on the run
"It's quite easy once you know how, one simple Freezing Charm on these absurd burglar alarms they use instead of Sneakoscopes and make sure the neighbours don't spot you bringing in the piano."

- Horace Slughorn

After the school year of 1981, Slughorn decided he had had enough and resigned from both his positions at the school. In 1995, he went into a secluded lifestyle, moving between Muggle houses, using his many and varied contacts to maintain a very comfortable lifestyle. His reasons for doing so because he feared Voldemort would attempt to recruit him into the Death Eaters. He felt so guilty, in fact, that he modified his own memory of the incident both to hide his guilt from others and also to shield himself from the terrible shame he felt.

Slughorn was not able to hide forever, though, as he discovered one evening in the summer of 1996 when Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter came to call in the Muggle village Budleigh Babberton. In an attempt to escape Dumbledore, Slughorn faked a struggle, wrecking the house, splashing his last bottle of expensive dragon blood on the walls and disguising himself as an armchair. He hoped Albus would be fooled into thinking the Death Eaters had kidnapped or killed him; in his haste, however, he forgot to cast the Dark Mark over the building. Dumbledore saw through this guise and forced Horace to reveal himself. Dumbledore feigned going to the bathroom, leaving Harry alone with Slughorn. After talking to Harry, Slughorn realised everything he had to gain returning to Hogwarts, like a more comfortable life, and not being on the run anymore, plus the opportunity to recruit the "Chosen One" into his Slug Club. He agreed to return to the school on the condition that he received a pay raise, and was given Professor Merrythought's old office, instead of the "water closet" he had last time.

Out of retirement
In his first potions class upon returning to Hogwarts, Slughorn offered a bottle of Felix Felicis to the student who brewed the best cauldron of Draught of Living Death. Using tips scribbled in a borrowed copy of Advanced Potion Making, Harry impressed Slughorn with his attempt and won the potion. Slughorn remained impressed with Harry in class, believing that the young wizard had inherited Lily's ability in the discipline. Later that year, Dumbledore would task Harry with coercing the full memory of Slughorn's conversation with Tom Riddle from the reluctant potions master. After a disastrous first attempt in which Slughorn shouted at Harry and slammed the classroom door behind him, Slughorn became determined not to give Harry another opportunity to question him, staying out of his way in class and stopping all Slug Club suppers. Despite this, he consented to help Harry treat a love potion-struck Ron, then was spared another attempt at acquisition when Ron was subsequently poisoned by some mead Slughorn "forgot" to give Dumbledore for Christmas. Fortunately, chance and Felix Felicis gave Harry the perfect opportunity.



One night at Hagrid's hut, to help bid farewell to Aragog, Slughorn reluctantly passed the memory about Voldemort to Harry after getting heavily drunk on wine. Harry, in turn, helped Slughorn obtain some valuable Acromantula venom from Aragog. Harry then passed the memory to Dumbledore. At the end of the school year, Dumbledore was murdered by Severus Snape. Slughorn was deeply shaken by this, commenting that he thought he knew Snape. He also expressed his concerns that parents would not allow their children to return to Hogwarts. Nevertheless, he remained at the school and resumed his old post as Head of Slytherin.

Battle of Hogwarts


Slughorn stayed at Hogwarts under the tenure of Severus Snape as Headmaster and, like the rest of the teachers, attempted to protect the students from Snape and the Carrows. When the Dark Lord invaded the castle with his army, it was initially believed that Slughorn had fled in cowardice; but as it transpired, had gone to Hogsmeade to round up reinforcements. He returned to the castle at the head of vast number of residents and shopkeepers from the town, along with friends and family of the students and staff already fighting. Slughorn engaged the Dark Lord head on, with McGonagall and Kingsley, proving himself a masterful duellist, able to hold his own against even the most dangerous dark wizard of all time.

Later life
Professor Slughorn's later life is unknown, though it can be presumed that he remained Head of Slytherin House and Potions master under the new Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall.

Physical appearance


Slughorn has prominent, pale gooseberry coloured eyes, a shiny pate, and an enormous, silver, moustache that looked like a walrus'. (though in the movie, this is omitted due to Jim Broadbent's dislike of wearing moustaches), which in his youth was gingery blond and his hair was thick and straw coloured. He is short and round, and claims to suffer from old age, rheumatism and a weak chest.

However, he is still sufficiently agile to turn himself into an armchair and create a scene of chaos at short notice when he is trying to avoid unwelcome visitors, and managed to live on the run from Voldemort moving house every couple of weeks (including his grand piano). He has a liking for embroided clothing, with gold coloured buttons and plenty of velvet.

Personality and traits
"I'm glad that's over. Strange man, isn't he?"

- Neville Longbottom talking about Horace Slughorn Horace Slughorn was described as having a bumbling, jovial sort of personality. He was rather vain and quite fond of food, especially crystallised pineapple.

Slughorn generally displayed traits of Slytherin, such as ambition. He never wished to be famous himself; instead, he preferred to help others become famous, which, if successful, gained him influence and/or benefits from them, such as being able to recommend the next junior member of the Goblin Liaison Office, free Quidditch tickets or a box of his favourite crystallised pineapple.

Slughorn was keen to make evermore connections, and in his post as teacher, made a habit of having regular meetings with students who were either famous (Harry Potter), related to famous people (Cormac McLaggen), or gifted or talented in one way or another (i.e. Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley). Known as "the Slug Club," this group of students were constantly being invited to Slughorn's office for dinner and parties. Students that he does not consider to be "high-fliers," such as Arthur Weasley, and later his son Ron, were simply ignored. Also, those with negative connections, such as Draco Malfoy due to his father being a Death Eater, were not invited to the club meetings.

Slughorn's personality, in many ways, contradicts the typical "evil Slytherin" stereotype thought of by many Gryffindors. He is not a bad person, and has little prejudice against Muggle-born witches and wizards. He does, however, seem to hold a bias towards the more talented students, along with students related to the talented or the famous. He is horribly guilt-ridden about the information he gave to Tom Riddle about Horcruxes that helped his rise to power, and crudely edited his memory of the event to prevent anyone finding out what he had done and also to relieve himself of his own guilty feelings.

Despite his ambition, Slughorn knew where to draw his personal boundaries. His love of powerful, talented, and important people never blinded him to his moral values, and thus, he was never tempted to join forces with Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Unlike Peter Pettigrew and other characters who were keen to surround themselves with big people, he was not one to side with whoever was winning. Slughorn knew where his loyalties were, as he fought against Lord Voldemort himself during the final battle.

Magical abilities and skills
Horace Slughorn was an uncommonly powerful wizard, with a wide variety of skills.


 * Occlumency: Horace was an extremely able Occlumens, being able to shield his mind against even a wizard of Albus Dumbledore's calibre.
 * Memory Modification: He was able to modify his own memory to make it seem something less horrible, as seen in the case of Tom Riddle asking about Horcruxes. However, this was crudely done, as parts of the memory were clouds, rather than actual visual.
 * Transfiguration Mastery: Despite his wide frame, he was extremely agile, being able to create the impression of a struggle within his house in a matter of seconds and transforming himself into an armchair; human transfiguration is something only a master of that art could accomplish.


 * Master Duellist: Slughorn was a capable duellist, being able to survive the battle of Hogwarts and hold his own against even Lord Voldemort himself. However it should be noted that he fought alongside Minerva McGonagall and Kingsley Shacklebolt. Also, though Voldemort was weilding the Elder Wand at the time, the Dark Lord had not unlocked the Wands full power.
 * Master Potioneer: Perhaps chiefly among Slughorn's many talents is his ability as a potioneer. Slughorn was able to create extremely complicated Potions such as Felix Felicis, Polyjuice Potion, and Amortentia. He is an expert on Potions, as he teaches the subject up to N.E.W.T. level, and is seen to be at least an equal to Severus Snape in the subject as he understands and agrees with Snape's edits in a copy of Advanced Potion-Making.
 * Knowledge on Dark Arts: Considering he was the one who taught the young Tom Riddle what horcruxes were, it is logical to assume that professor Slughorn had a high level of knowledge on the Dark Arts. Although Tom Riddle was a brilliant student, he was not capable of discovering the true nature of horcruxes, without help from Slughorn.

Wand
Slughorn likely purchased his wand from Ollivander's Wand Shop at the age of eleven before starting his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, like many other wizards in wizarding Great Britain. It is comprised of unknown wood and core materials.

Hourglass
Slughorn's hourglass is a clock made of two glass vessels connected with a narrow passage, with a green fluid flowing through inside and serpent design outside (representing him as a Slytherin and Head of House). He owned it since before Tom Riddle began studying at Hogwarts. The sand runs accordingly to the quality of the conversation: if stimulating, the sand runs slowly, and vice versa.

Lily Evans
"The student who gave me Francis...A spring afternoon I discovered a bowl on my desk, just a few inches of clear water in it. Floating on the surface was a flower petal...as I watched, it sank...just before it reached the bottom, it was transformed, into a fish. It was beautiful magic, wonderous to behold. The flower petal had come from a lily, your mother. The day I came downstairs, the day the bowl was empty, was the day your mother....I know why you're here...but I can't help you. It would ruin me."

- Slughorn in his later years on Lily Evans to her son Harry Potter.

During her time at Hogwarts, Lily Evans was a brilliant student at Potions, becoming one of Slughorn's best students, and a member of his Slug Club. Slughorn considered her one of his favourite students, though was surprised by her Muggle lineage. Slughorn believed Lily was a very kind girl, witty and a very talented student; he also stated that no one would meet her and not like her. Lily also gave Slughorn a bowl with some water and a petal from a lily, that transformed into a fish. He named the fish Francis. When Lily died, Francis had disappeared, and Slughorn realized that Lily Evans had died. He was very upset when he heard about Lily, even many years after her death. Harry Potter used Slughorn's sympathy for Lily to his advantage while under the effects of Felix Felicis to persuade Slughorn to give him the true memory of Tom Riddle's inquiry about Horcruxes by claiming it would undo whatever wrong Slughorn had originally done.

Harry Potter


Horace Slughorn first met Harry Potter in 1996, when Harry and Albus Dumbledore went to his house, to persuade him to return and teach at Hogwarts. Slughorn became Harry's potions' master, and invited him to join the Slug Club, a club for Slughorn's students who were famous, had famous relatives, or were very intelligent or great wizards. With the help of the Half-Blood Prince's textbook, Harry proved to be a great potioneer, which earned Slughorn's likings. Also, when Aragog died, Slughorn was able to benefit from Harry to gather the valuable Acromantula venom.

Dumbledore showed Harry a memory of Slughorn in the Pensieve. There was Tom Riddle, asking Slughorn about Horcruxes. Slughorn tells him that he knows nothing about Horcruxes, and that, if he knew, he wouldn't tell him. Dumbledore told Harry that was a fake memory, and ordered him to take the real one from Slughorn.

After many attempts, Harry eventually took the memory, with the help of Felix Felicis, and learned that Voldemort had split his soul into seven Horcruxes. A year later, Harry and his friends destroyed all the Horcruxes, resulting in Voldemort's death.

Tom Riddle
"You've no idea how he was like... Even then..."

- Horace Slughorn talking about Tom Riddle.

Professor Slughorn was the Potions master during Tom Riddle's years at Hogwarts. Slughorn was also Riddle's mentor, and the one Tom liked most. Tom was also a member of the Slug Club, a club led by Slughorn, where only special students could become members. One day, he asked Slughorn about Horcruxes. Slughorn told him what Horcruxes are and how someone could create one, without knowing that Riddle would create some. With the information he got from Slughorn, Riddle managed to create seven Horcruxes and achieve immortality. Horace was ashamed when he remembered what had happened, and he modified his memory.

However, Harry Potter managed to take his memory with the help of Felix Felicis in 1997, and learn about Voldemort's Horcruxes, and that he had to destroy them. Slughorn also fought Lord Voldemort, with the help of Minerva McGonagall and Kingsley Shacklebolt, during the Battle of Hogwarts.

Albus Dumbledore
Albus Dumbledore and Horace Slughorn seem to have known one another for a very long time. Slughorn worked for many years for Albus Dumbledore, at least from 1920 until 1981 when Slughorn retired from Potions Master and Severus Snape took his place. Dumbledore asked Slughorn to come back for his old job in 1996, and Slughorn accepted. After 15 years, Snape took the job as Defence Against the Dark Arts. Dumbledore tried to get a memory from Horace about his discussion of Horcruxes with Tom Riddle. Slughorn already suspected that Dumbledore would try to get his memory and as such gave Dumbledore a modified memory. After Harry saved Ron Weasley, Slughorn gave Harry his true memory. Slughorn was shocked at Dumbledore's death and attended the funeral.

Slug Club


"A toast, to Hogwarts' brightest and best!"

- Slughorn on the Slug Club.

Horace Slughorn was the founder of the Slug Club, a club whose members were only the special students of Slughorn; those who were very good wizards, those who were very intelligent and those who had connections to famous and powerful people. Slughorn believed that all of them had the potential of becoming very important people after their studies at Hogwarts. Some of those students, such as Ambrosius Flume, Dirk Cresswell, Barnabas Cuffe, Eldred Worple, Gwenog Jones, and Wendy Slinkhard, became either very famous or rich during their later life.

However, there were others, such as Lucius Malfoy, Avery, Lestrange, Nott and Regulus Black who might have been talented but became Death Eaters. Slughorn didn't want to associate with them.

Some members of the Slug Club during Slughorn's second tenure as Potions master at Hogwarts were Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Blaise Zabini, Cormac McLaggen, Flora and Hestia Carrow. All of them possibly had connections with someone famous, except for Hermione and Ginny, who were chosen because of their magical abilities. Slughorn especially appeared to like Hermione, who was a very talented student and witch.

Furthermore, there were students who were invited for an interview, but didn't make the cut, such as Neville Longbottom, whose parents were great aurors, but he lacked their talent; and Marcus Belby, whose uncle was a famous potioner, but he didn't have such a good relationship with Marcus's father.

Ron Weasley was not invited to join the club, but wanted to. Slughorn didn't think he was very talented or famous, and often forgot his name, calling him "Ralf" or "Rupert". However, Slughorn appeared to quite like him as a person and wished him "happy birthday" during his birthday. He also visited him at the hospital wing after Ron was poisoned.

Hogwarts staff
Horace Slughorn had a good relationship with most members of the Hogwarts staff. Except that he was an old friend of Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, Slughorn knew the other members of the Hogwarts staff as well, and was rather friendly with them.

He was quite familiar with Severus Snape, the former Potions professor, and one of his former students. Slughorn possibly considered Snape to be a very intelligent and talented student, and invited him to join his Slug Club. They appeared to have a good relationship even during their later years as professors. Slughorn. However, opposed Snape during the 1997-1998 school year and wanted to kick him out of Hogwarts, something that eventually happened. However, he later learned that Snape in fact was a loyal member of the Order of the Phoenix.

He was also a friend of Minerva McGonagall, the Transfiguration professor. Although they two were Heads of Slytherin and Gryffindor house, respectively, and that those houses were rival to each other, Slughorn and Minerva had a good relationship. After Albus Dumbledore's death, Minerva and Slughorn, among others, sat and discussed about what happened during the Battle of the Astronomy Tower. However, in 1998, during the Battle of Hogwarts, Minerva told Slughorn that, if he and his students wanted to join Lord Voldemort, she would fight against them. Slughorn was shocked, possibly because he didn't expect McGonagall to believe that he would ever join the Dark Lord. Later in the battle, Minerva and Slughorn fought together against Voldemort and survived the battle. They possibly retired some years after the battle.

Slughorn also had a good relationship with Filius Flitwick and Pomona Sprout. They appeared to be familiar, as they discussed together about the Battle of the Astronomy Tower and seemed to trust each other. Slughorn, Flitwick and Sprout also witnessed Severus Snape leaving Hogwarts before the Battle of Hogwarts and they joined the battle, all of them surviving.

Slughorn also appeared to be quite familiar with Rubeus Hagrid. Hagrid might have been one of Slughorn's students during his years at Hogwarts. In 1997, Slughorn was invited to a funeral Hagrid made for Aragog, his pet Acromantula. They drank together and discussed about some things, while they were drunk. This was also an opportunity for Harry Potter to take Slughorn's memory. Furthermore, they fought together at the final battle of the Second Wizarding War and survived.

Slughorn also knew Argus Filch, the caretaker, although the relationship between them is unknown.

Behind the scenes
"Who am I? He's called Horace Slughorn. He's a retired teacher of magic who's drawn back out of retirement because he's got some secrets they need in the battle against the Death Eaters and he's quite star struck as a teacher and he's drawn back into the fold because he likes to notch up celebrity students, and he's drawn back by Harry."

- Jim Broadbent


 * Slughorn is portrayed by British actor Jim Broadbent in the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (as a flashback of the adventures that professor Slughorn had with Albus Dumbledore ) and Part 2.
 * After the first pictures of Broadbent as Slughorn were released, many fans were quick to pick up on the drastic physical changes made to the character. The movie Slughorn is not short, is just a little chubby (but not walrus-sized), is depicted in tweed outfits rather than the described velvet, is not bald, and does not sport a moustache. The omission of the moustache may possibly be due to a dislike of wearing moustaches by Mr. Broadbent, or merely due to the fact that the film does not depict him as "walrus-like".
 * In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, in chapter 22 "After the Burial" Rubeus Hagrid mentions to Harry that he "never had a lot to do" with Slughorn. Earlier in the book, however, Molly Weasley mentions that Dumbledore started around the same time that Slughorn did. Since it is certain that Dumbledore was teaching Transfiguration while Hagrid was at school, and Tom Riddle went to school with Hagrid, if follows to the conclusion that Slughorn taught Hagrid. As there are teachers and students that never really relate in all walks of life, Hagrid might well have simply been saying that he was never particularly close to Slughorn during his time at school.
 * Slughorn's exact age is never specified, although it is known that he is older than Tom Riddle, and younger than Albus Dumbledore.

Etymology
'Horace' was the name of an epicurean Roman poet, fond of food and someone who liked to make friends with people of influence. 'Slughorn' is a historical heraldic term meaning 'war-cry', derived from an old Scottish word and later becoming the modern 'slogan', but may also be derived from his large, sluggish physique.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Notes and references
Horace Slughorn Horacy Slughorn Гораций Слизнорт Horatius Kuhnusarvio