Was it Slughorn? (was: The potion maker)

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 141442

Jen Reese wrote:
> I'm increasingly curious to know who concocted the cave potion.
> Voldemort's skill and focus don't appear to be in potions. 
<snip> 
> So most likely Voldemort contracted out for the potion, using one 
> of four possible experts: Lily, Pettigrew, Snape or Slughorn.

<<<snip reasons to discard Lily [duh], Pettigrew [new member/other 
tasks] & Snape [timing]>>>

> Which leaves us with Slughorn, in the cave, with a potion kit ;).
<snip> 
> I just have a nagging feeling there's another reason Slughorn went 
> on the run when Voldemort returned to his body. Dumbledore 
> mentioned Sluggy's 'considerable talents' and we find out he's an 
> accomplished Occlumens as well as saavy enough to carry antidotes 
> on his person. He's definitely not an old buffer! But he does have 
> a great weakness, a huge appetite for creature comforts, flattery 
> and attachment to powerful people, a person Voldemort could easily 
> manipulate in other words.  Slughorn may have uneasily or 
> unwittingly helped Voldemort in exchange for creature comforts and 
> connections with powerful people....
> 
> Once Voldemort turned to vapor at GH, the situation changed for 
> Slughorn. He and Dumbledore were the only people who suspected why 
> Voldemort didn't die that night.... When Voldemort returned to his 
> body in GOF, Slughorn went into hiding, knowing Voldemort could not 
> be killed.


SSSusan, cracking knuckles & ready to be back at the keyboard after a 
weekend at The Witching Hour:

You know, I *like* this possibility.  

I attended a presentation at TWH on Slughorn and, fascinatingly, the 
general consensus seemed to be that ol' Sluggy is pretty much a nice 
guy.  Ambitious, of course, in the Slytherin way (the perhaps more 
truly Slytherin way than Tom's ambition); desirous of being well-
connected and able to name-drop; using others for how they could pad 
*his* life, but also *helping* those others attain what he believed 
they could.  (Okay, that may have been *so that* they could turn 
around and be in his network, owing him favors or at least treats for 
his assistance. ;-))

Anyway, what intrigued me was the resounding support for Slughorn as 
a pretty decent chap -- perhaps even the "good Slytherin" so many 
have longed to meet.  I sat in the session, looking around at all 
those who felt this way, feeling vaguely uncomfortable with the 
conclusion but unable to articulate quite why, beyond a notion that 
his level of self-interest was awfully high.  

One interesting part of the discussion came when Slughorn was 
compared to Snape [yes, yes, *ALL* discussions got 'round to Snape at 
some point, just like with us here at HPfGU] in terms of their 
performances as Slytherin Heads of House.  And this is where I felt a 
little more that my discomfiture over "good Sluggy" was beginning to 
be addressed a bit.  

How *did* Slughorn perform as HoH?  

Is it possible that, while, yes, pretty much a nice enough & fairly 
innocuous guy, he was more concerned with and about, more focused on, 
his own Slug Club than on the members of his own house?  If the 
current incarnation of the Slug Club is any indication, he had 
members from houses other than Slytherin in his club.  Is it possible 
that, while these students were attended to (because of what he might 
eventually get from them), the general members of his house were 
neglected?  Benignly neglected, perhaps, but still not attended to 
adequately?  

It certainly *appears,* anyway, that a whole lotta DE recruiting was 
going on in his house under his nose when Tom was there!  I get the 
sense that Snape is FULLY aware of what's happening with his 
Slytherins, knows which kids are most likely to go down the DE path.  
With Sluggy, OTOH, I could just see a whole lot going on to which he 
just wasn't attuned because those kids weren't "the" kids for him.  
So, not only did Lord Voldemort emerge from Slytherin while Sluggy 
was HoH, but so did beaucoup de Death Eaters.  Erm... that could be 
rather embarrassing stuff for the HoH to have been unaware of.

Anyway, all that is a VERY roundabout way of bringing up the notion 
that I think it's quite possible that Sluggy could have been the cave 
potion brewer.  Tom was in his inner fold, we know he discussed 
horcruxes with him, likely Slughorn expected great things from Tom 
and might have been willing to do a bit more in order to help him 
achieve whatever high position he expected he would eventually 
attain.  And I think Slughorn has a tendency to focus on himself and 
what he wants to such an extent that things can happen around him 
that he might not even intend.  

So I'm in agreement with Jen's comment, above, that Slughorn might 
have "uneasily or unwittingly" assisted Tom with that cave potion.  
Perhaps he got in over his head, or didn't quite realize (or open his 
eyes to) what he was doing.  Rather similarly to how he spoke 
*uneasily* about the horcruxes to Tom yet *did* provide him with the 
answers.


Jen: 
> The next question is: Why does the story need Slughorn to make the 
> potion? It's easier to have Voldemort concoct his own potion and be 
> done with it. 

SSSusan:
Oh, it definitely doesn't need to be Slughorn.  In fact, I could 
quite easily see JKR offhandedly remarking, "Oh, Tom concocted his 
own potion for the cave."  OTOH, to me it'd be much more fun and 
interesting if it were Sluggy. :-)

Siriusly Snapey Susan