Slughorn "clearly good"?

[M.Clifford]

No: HPFGUIDX 137784


> Finwitch:
> 
> Well, I think he IS a good person. His game of favourites is very 
> different from Snape's. 

Valky:
I think in essentials that Sluggy is Okay, good/ish/. At least not
aligned toward evil as in Dark Magic. I wouldn't call hi *the Good
Slytherin* exactly, but I would definitely goes as far as to say that
he adds a dimension to slytherin that wasn't there in colour before,
and I am glad of it.

> Finwitch:
> For one thing, the fact that his little club has members from all 
> houses. This in itself acts as a unifier of Hogwarts, whereas 
> Snape's Slytherin/Malfoy/DE-favoritism was cracking it. How, if not 
> for this little club, could a Gryffindor befriend - or at least 
> learn to know - a Slytherin? Then you get these persons tell their 
> housemates that - NO, that person in the Slug Club is not bad... 
> what better way to get rid of house-rivalry and prejudice?

Valky:
I agree there in some part, but I am also with harry on this one. In a
sense this is a case of cutting off the nose to spite the face. Sluggy
may be exemplary in the respect that he defies the Blood supremacy
dogma, and the in-house nepotism of Slytherin, but I see, as I think
Harry also sees, that he isn't actually promoting unity. He just
splits the coconut on a different angle. He's an elitist snob, and a
gluttonous philanderer with a distinct penchant for prestige. Sluggy
is kind of *into* disunity, because some are clearly more important
and valuable than others, as far as he's concerned, though we must
give him credit for the fact that he is inclined to act charitably and
his pleasant demeanour overall, so he's generally good in my book.
  

> Finwitch: 
> Slughorn does value his own life, even as Phineas Nigellus told 
> Harry, Slytherin saves his own skin first. And Slughorn makes no 
> secret of that, either. About giving that memory -- blurring it -- 
> well, he's ashamed of ever telling Tom Riddle about the Horcruxes. 
> And he certainly isn't going to repeat the mistake. 

Valky:
To my mind this is absolutely evidence to his having a conscience,
which is another plus to his character. Making him ever more likeable.
Dumbledore I think would most of all respect this about Sluggy, and
was also, I would suppose, probably have been counting on this
goodness in Sluggy to be the motivator for his offering up of the
memory. Which he will have estimated quite correctly, I might add.
Harry was definitely able to, with the help of Felix, bring Sluggy
round to the point where his conscience was taking little nibbles out
of his sense of resolution to keep mum for his own sake and pride.

I agree with Finwitch's overall interpretation, Slughorn is
essentially a good guy, given to some unpleasant tendencies, but on
the most his heart is in the right place, sometimes at least.