[HPforGrownups] Re: Was it Slughorn? (was: The potion maker)

[P J]

No: HPFGUIDX 141584





Betsy Hp:
  > 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. <snip>

PJ:
I want to thank you for bringing something to the forefront of my mind 
that's been just out of reach since my first reading of HBP.   I've been 
uncomfortable with Slughorn's character but never could figure out why he 
bothered me so much.  After reading your comment, it finally dawned on me 
what the problem was.  *HARRY* *IS* *USUALLY* *WRONG* about who the good 
guys are!  (and DDM!Snape people think he's wrong even more often than the 
rest of us do)  :-)

The fact that Harry feels Slughorn is an "ok guy" makes me wonder if we 
aren't all having another heaping helping of JKR's sleight of hand... I 
wouldn't put it past her to keep using this gambit simply because we keep 
falling for it!  :-)


SSSusan:
>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 -- <snip>

PJ:
I wouldn't push that theory too far away just yet... After all, IF Harry is 
wrong (again) then Sluggy certainly did know what Riddle had planned with 
his soul - right down to how many times he planned to do it.  Who better to 
help make the obstacles/poisons for the horcruxes than the potions teacher, 
HoH, and "horcrux advisor" Riddle knew so well?


SSSusan:
>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.

PJ again:

This could be the way JKR is headed but I'm not going to bet the ranch on 
it.  It just gels too nicely for me to skip happily down the "Sluggy is 
good" road.

PJ