Horace Slughorn

"He prefers the backseat; there is more room to spread out."

- Albus Dumbledore

Horace E. F. Slughorn is the current Potions Master and Head of Slytherin House at Hogwarts, he is also the known creator of the Slug Club.

Slughorn was Potions Professor for over 50 years and head of Slytherin house 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. He soon proved to be much kinder to Harry than his colleague Severus Snape had been.

Slughorn has prominent, pale gooseberry colored eyes, a shiny pate, and an enormous, silver, walrus mustache. 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 embroidered clothing, with gold buttons and plenty of velvet.

Biography
Slughorn generally displayed traits of Slytherin, such as ambition. He never wished to be famous himself.

Slughorn is 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). Known as "the Slug Club", this group of students were constantly being invited to Slughorn's office for dinner and parties.

Slughorn's personality contradicts the typical "evil Slytherin" stereotype held by many Gryffindors. Despite his ambition, he is not a bad person and has little prejudice against Muggle-born witches and wizards. However, he is horribly guilt-ridden about the information he gave to Tom Riddle about Horcruxes that helped his rise to power. This was overcome when he sided with the other teachers and the Order of the Phoenix during the Battle of Hogwarts. He appeared to have left with the Slytherins but returned with Charlie Weasley and reinforcements that turned the tide of the battle. He even helped Kingsley Shacklebolt and Minerva McGonagall duel Lord Voldemort during the climax of the battle.

Slughorn appeared to bolster his finances by brewing potions and trading in their ingredients. In 1996, he had several catering size cauldrons of potions prepared, which he asked his class to identify.

Slughorn and Harry
In his first potions class, Slughorn offered a Felix Felicis that is a luck potion to the student who brews the best cauldron of Draught of Living Death. He told the class that he had taken Felix Felicis twice, once at age 24 and once at age 57, both times he had had a perfect day. Harry won the potion by using tips written into an old potions textbook that belonged to the Half-Blood Prince which Slughorn has lent him, unaware of the writings inside. He continued to use the tips throughout the year, which resulted that Slughorn repeatedly congratulating him on having inherited the same natural ability which his mother showed at potions.

Dumbledore asked Harry to discover what information Slughorn once gave to Voldemort about horcruxes. Harry accomplished this after taking a dose of the felix felicis which Slughorn had given to him. By luck, he managed to help Slughorn obtain some valuable Acromantula venom, and then got him drunk while again reminiscing about Harry's mother. Slughorn felt considerable remorse that the information he gave Voldemort may have contributed to her death, so eventually agreed to tell Harry exactly what happened, and Harry gave Professor Dumbledore the information..

He seems to be the only Slytherin to have a friendly nature towards Harry and the Gryffindors.

Behind the scenes
On September 17, 2007, it was announced that Jim Broadbent would play Slughorn in the film version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It is unknown if Broadbent will return for the seventh film.

Name
'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.