HORACE E. F. SLUGHORN, POTIONS MASTER & HORCRUXES

Today, The Weasleys and The Grandma have received the visit of one of the most controversial professors of Hogwarts, Horace Eugene Flaccus Slughorn, a British wizard, member of Slytherin and Potions Master who was totally manipulated by Tom Riddle.

Potions, in Latin potio, are magical mixtures commonly brewed in cauldrons and used to create a number of magical effects on the drinker. Potions range in effects, nature, and brewing difficulty.

An example of a beginners potion is the Cure for Boils, which is the first potion learned at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredibly advanced and challenging one is the Polyjuice Potion, that even adult Witches and Wizards have trouble with. A wizard or witch who specialises in potion brewing is known as a potioneer or a potions master. Potion-making is also the wizarding equivalent of Muggle chemistry.

Before talking to Professor Horace Eugene Flaccus Slughorn, The Grandma has offered The Stones a new Cambridge Key English Test A2 Example.

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Professor Horace Eugene Flaccus Slughorn is a British pure-blood or half-blood wizard.

He attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a member of Slytherin before returning as Potions Master. He also served as Head of Slytherin House, before retiring due to a fear that Albus Dumbledore would discover that he had told Tom Riddle about Horcruxes.

Following the return of Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters beginning to seek Slughorn out, the retired professor lived a life on the run, unsure if Lord Voldemort intended to recruit him or kill him to keep his Horcruxes a secret.

Albus Dumbledore convinced Horace Slughorn to return to Hogwarts by tempting him out of retirement with the prospect of collecting Harry Potter as he had so many other students, with his true goal being to learn what Slughorn had told Riddle. Slughorn eventually divulged his true memory.

Slughorn sided with the defenders of Hogwarts, gathering reinforcements from Hogsmeade, and engaged his former pupil in a duel alongside Minerva McGonagall and Kingsley Shacklebolt. He survived the battle and had retired a second time, having a portrait hung in the Slytherin Dungeon.

Horace was born into the wealthy and pure-blooded Slughorn family. Although his parents never believed as strongly in the ideals pure-blood superiority as some others did, they nevertheless encouraged Horace to make friends with the the right sort upon arriving at Hogwarts. However, they were still loving parents and they only quietly encouraged the belief.

He attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from the age of eleven and was immediately Sorted into Slytherin House. Horace excelled at school and became friends with Muggle-borns even though his parents didn't agree with it. 

However, Horace did already have a need to play favourites with anyone he considered talented enough and loved to make out that he knew famous people, such as the Minister for Magic who he would refer to by his first name to try and convince others he was close to him.

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At some point after completing his education, Slughorn was employed as Potions Master to his joy, likely around the same time as Albus Dumbledore started. Although he was well suited to working in politics, he preferred to stay in the background and enjoy the privileges of having famous and successful friends. He was a natural teacher and loved Hogwarts.

Slughorn used Felix Felicis twice prior; once when he was twenty-four years old, and again when he was fifty-seven. This resulted in two perfect days. Lucius Malfoy remarked that Slughorn was a good wizard in his day.

Once back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as Potions Master, he eventually became Head of Slytherin House. He joined the faculty.

Slughorn founded a small club consisting of students he thought were particularly talented, ambitious, clever, or simply well connected. This group would become known informally 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, although he never did it to be cruel and was still considered a kind man. Regardless, he was good at finding talent since nearly every member of the Slug Club went on to have great careers in many different fields.

He also never got along with a fellow student of his own house, Dolores Umbridge, whom he saw as an idiotic woman and never liked her. Still, he tended to treat all his students reasonably well.

Slughorn met Tom Marvolo Riddle, who went on to become a favourite of his. Tom was very intelligent and seemingly promising, but he knew how to manipulate Slughorn by flattering him. Albus Dumbledore tried to warn Slughorn that Tom was using him, but Slughorn believed he had judged Tom right and that Dumbledore was being unfair.

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Having resigned from his positions at Hogwarts, Slughorn chose to enter retirement. He had a care-free retirement, and took up residence at the home of his late parents. He enjoyed reading, visiting his old Slug Club members and inviting them to reunion feasts at his home. The only thing he missed was teaching, and the idea that new students would not know who he was.

However, word reached Slughorn that Voldemort was still alive in a disembodied form. The guilt he had let go of returned when he realised it confirmed his original thoughts that Voldemort may have created Horcruxes.

Slughorn was frightened by the idea and wished he had stayed at Hogwarts in the hope he would be safer. 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.

Horace Slughorn was described as having a bumbling, jovial sort of personality. Despite being a relatively good-natured person, he only had eyes for people who he thought had talent, would go far in life, and thus give him helpful connections and be able to influence or gain benefits from them.

Slughorn was described as being an enormously fat, bald, old man. He was short with an immense belly, so large that the buttons on his waistcoat usually threatened to burst off. His round stomach was usually said to precede him when he entered rooms, and when he stood, the top of his head barely reached Albus Dumbledore's chin.

Horace was the name of an epicurean Roman poet, fond of food and someone who liked to make friends with people of influence.

Eugene is comes from the Greek εὐγενής, noble, εὖ, well and γένος, race, stock, kin. As such, the name means literally well-born.

Flaccus was a cognomen of the ancient Roman plebeian family Fulvius, considered one of the most illustrious gentes of the city. As usual for cognomina, Flaccus was likely originally a nickname, probably of Marcus Fulvius Flaccus, the founder of the family. It has been variously interpreted as meaning big ears, flop ears, floppy, or fatty.

Slughorn -a slug refers to the garden slug, a cousin to the snail but without the shell. Additionally, 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.

More information: Screen Rant

 

 

 What would the Death Eaters 

want with a poor,

broken-down old buffer like me?

Horace Slughorn