Slughorn

[hermionegallo]

No: HPFGUIDX 137785

Barb, 137733:
Most wizards need to use a wand or 
> potions to change their appearance." I always assumed that Slughorn 
> transfigured himself, and the spell ended when he got poked by DD-
he 
> was too distracted to keep the spell going. If there is other canon 
> that says that Slughorn is a metamorphmagus, I missed it, but I 
> don't think the armchair incident is any indicator of whether or 
not 
> he is one.

a_svirn:
We don't know whether he *was* transformed. It could have been a
very elaborate optical illusion, of a kind that only a wizard of
Dumbledore calibre would have seen through.


hg:
I went and looked it up last night -- DUH!  We see him with his wand 
twice, once in my favorite bit: "Back to back, they waved their wands 
in one identical sweeping motion."  I think the other one is the 
Hagrid scene.  Thanks for pointing out that he isn't necessarily a 
metamorphmagus.

And I like the idea of an optical illusion, because Slughorn seems to 
be based on a magician from the turn of the 20th century, Horace 
Goldin, who among other things learned from a wizard named Albini, 
had a pet tiger named Lily, and who developed a style of performing  
his magic very fast with no speech.  JK didn't introduce Muggle magic 
into this book for nothing (remember the twins?), and I'm wondering 
if Slughorn is connected to that.

Sue W, 137754:
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?

hg:
I thought it was significant in that he would recognize the ring as 
being Tom's; he was wearing it in the discussion with Slughorn 
scene.  Dumbledore here seems to be telling Slughorn that he knows 
about Horcruxes, he's destroyed one Horcrux but Voldemort is still 
alive -- and Harry is sitting on Dumbledore's left there (otherwise 
he wouldn't have a clear shot of the ring), so I also think 
Dumbledore is showing Slughorn how important it is to find out about 
the Horcruxes, for Harry's sake.  

hg.