Horace Slughorn

Horace Slughorn is the current Potions Master and Acting Head of Slytherin House at Hogwarts.

Slughorn was Potions Professor for over 50 years and head of Slytherin house before retiring in the 1980s. 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 predecessor Severus Snape had been.

Slughorn has prominent, pale gooseberry coloured 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 manages 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.

Slughorn generally displays traits of Slytherin, such as ambition: he is very well-connected through the wizarding world, and is ever-hungry to be beside famous people. He never wishes to be famous himself: as Dumbledore said, "He prefers the backseat; there is more room to spread out."

Slughorn is keen to make ever-more connections, and in his post as teacher made a habit of having regular meetings with students who were either famous (i.e. Harry Potter), related to famous people (i.e. 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, parties, and the like.

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 is also shown when he sides with the other teachers and the Order of the Pheonix during the final conflict. He even helps Kingsly and Minerva duel Lord Voldemort during the climax of the battle.

Slughorn appears to bolster his finances by brewing potions and trading in their ingredients. At the start of Half-Blood Prince he has several catering size cauldrons of potions prepared, which he asks his class to identify.

Slughorn and Harry
In his first potions class, Slughorn offers a Felix Felicis potion (liquid luck) to the student who brews the best cauldron of Draught of Living Death. He tells the class that he had taken Felix Felicis twice, once at age 24 and once at age 57, both times he had a perfect day. Harry wins the potion by using tips written into an old potions textbook which Slughorn has lent him, unaware of the writings inside. He continues to use the tips throughout the year, with the result that Slughorn repeatedly congratulates him on having inherited the same natural ability which his mother showed at potions.

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

Name
'Horace' was the name of an epicurian 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'.