Slughorn "clearly good"?

[Marianne S.]

No: HPFGUIDX 137764

Sue W. <snip>
Who was he hiding from when DD and Harry visit him? Was it Voldemort and
the Death-eaters - or was it Dumbledore? I rather thought that he was
hiding just as much from Dumbledore as from the Death-eaters. It was
only after Harry told him that he didn't have to join the order that he
consented to return to Hogwarts. In other words, apparently he didn't
want to take sides.

Marianne S. : I think he was mostly hiding from the Death Eaters because he
did not at all seem surprised that Dumbledore was able to find him. Perhaps
he was making a half-hearted attempt to hide from Dumbledore, but I think 
he would have put more effort into hiding if Death Eaters had arrived.

SueW:
Has he actively done anything to help the good side since being at
Hogwarts? On the other hand we saw that he attempted to thwart
Dumbledore by tampering with his memory.

Well, let's see... I don't think he's a major enough character to require that
he does something actively to help the good side, yet I do believe that 
Dumbledore wanted him (and JKR wrote him in) for the good things he could
do passively. 

Some of these things include:
a) Seeing mostly Lily in Harry, rather than mostly (or even entirely like Snape 
does) James 
b) While he clearly recognized some Slug Club members for their connections
(McClaggen, Zabini), he also recognized people like Ginny and Hermione for
their tallents. 
c) By being an "old school" and, more importantly, old text teacher, Slughorn 
gave Harry the chance to actually LEARN from Snape, which Harry probably 
would have done in years 1-5 if Snape hadn't browbeaten Harry so much. 
d) Harry is also forced to learn from Snape in DADA, where he wouldn't have
had Snape at all if he were still teaching Potions. Harry needs Potions to be
an Auror, and he needed to learn the things that Snape couldn't teach him 
due to prejudice. 
e) We see that a Slytherin, who is surely there by his ambition, is not necessarily
evil as he can accept muggle born / half blood / and even so-called "blood-
traitor" students (that have potential in his eyes, at least). Slughorn probably
knew that Snape was a half blood and I am sure he knew of Lily's muggle 
parentage. This leads me to believe that we will see some Good Slytherins. I 
suspect Blaise, for one, though I can't remember why. 
f) We obviously get a way to find out what Tom Riddle was told about Horcruxes
and even, less obviously, a way to help Hagrid grieve the loss of Aragog. I don't
think Hagrid cared that Slughorn was mourning with him for selfish reasons... he
was happy for the companionship and eloquent words, and Slughorn played his
part very well. 


Sue W:
Also does anyone else think that it is significant that Slughorn seemed
to recognise Slytherin's ring in the scene where DD and Harry visit him
at the start of the book? How and why would he know anything about that
ring, since it was supposedly hidden in the ruin of the Gaunt house for
all those years?

Marianne S: 
In the pensieve scene where Tom Riddle is asking Slughorn about 
Horcruxes, doesn't he already have the ring on his hand? I think even
Harry noticed it in the scene. I interpreted that to mean Tom had 
the ring and had performed the murders, but just hadn't made 
it a horcrux yet. I further believe, based on Slughorn's words in the 
UNmodified memory, that a horcrux is an object created with a spell
immediately after a murder. Since Voldemort needed to use a spell
to create a horcrux, I think that is yet another proof that Harry and/or
his Scar cannot be one.

So, I think Slughorn's self serving ambition makes him not "clearly good" 
but "clearly harmless and perhaps even useful", even if he doesn't
directly realize it. After all, the one thing helpful he did do directly,
which was giving that unmodified memory, Harry seems to know that
Slughorn won't remember it afterwards. 

Marianne S