Was it Slughorn? (was: The potion maker)

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 141537

Betsy Hp:
> I've been a proponent of "Slytherin does not equal evil" for quite 
> a while.  So I was thrilled that Slughorn was introduced.  At the 
> same time, I do agree with both of you that Slughorn is not a 
> perfect man.  By a long shot. <snip>  

> BUT, Slughorn does not support Voldemort.  And Harry realizes 
> this.  This is huge, IMO.  Because, until HBP, Harry seemed quite 
> sure (and by extension many readers seemed to think) that Slytherin 
> house was the first stop to becoming a Death Eater.  The fact that 
> Harry was able to recognize Slughorn's weaknesses but still not 
> classify him as evil is the first step in Harry realizing the worth 
> in Slytherin.
> 
> For this reason, I doubt Slughorn will be shown to have even *more* 
> weaknesses. In other words, I doubt he had anything to do with the 
> potion in the cave....


SSSusan:
I can't decide if I'm just a wishy-washy fence-sitter or if it's to 
be expected that I'd change my mind rapidly on this topic, given that 
I've just begun to contemplate it. ;-)  

Regardless of the answer to that, Betsy, you've made what I consider 
to be an excellent point here about why it might *not* make much 
sense for Sluggy to have brewed the cave potion.  I mean, I still 
LIKE the possibility, and I could definitely see it having happened 
for the reasons presented upthread --

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/141283
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/141442

-- but I think you're right that the time has passed for it to have 
been presented.  IOW, it would have fit well into HBP as another 
revelation about Sluggy and how he, while not a bad sort really, is 
self-absorbed and self-interested and a networker who might do some 
pretty shady things unwittingly (or hesitantly) along the way to 
supporting others to positions of power & influence.

However, as you point out, Harry has actually *learned* from Sluggy 
the lesson that a person's being weak or having made mistakes DOESN'T 
make the person evil or a DE.  And if JKR were to introduce Sluggy as 
cave-potion-brewer in Book 7, it really might work against that, 
might water down that message which actually sank in to Harry.  For 
that reason alone, I suspect you're right that it wasn't Slughorn who 
made the potion.

So that leaves me pondering a couple of questions:

1)  Who DID brew the potion?  Was it Voldy? Voldy alone? Voldy with 
someone's help? If with someone's help, then WHOSE?  

2)  What WILL Slughorn's role be in the remainder of the saga?  
Anybody want to make some predictions on this??

Siriusly Snapey Susan, who really enjoyed Sister Magpie's analysis of 
Slughorn in 141450.