ESE Slughorn Continued

[lebowjessica]

No: HPFGUIDX 139850

This is Jessie after my reread of HBP and why I think Slughorn is ESE.
continued from my post on Horcruxes.


IMO LV does not have confidence in Malfoy being able to kill DD, so 
he needs someone inside of Hogwarts to keep tabs on both Malfoy and 
Snape, what better person than Slughorn?  I am not sure if Slughorn 
is willing or an unwilling spy for LV, but I am sure that he is 
guiding and bullying Malfoy simultaneously watching that Snape is 
sharing all he knows, and monitoring DD to his physical condition and 
his quest for the Horcruxes. Snape has told the Bellatrix and 
Narcissa  that Dumbledore is wounded and vulnerable; HBP p 31). 
Chapter 15 HBP pages
323-324 Malfoy tells  Snape that "I've got all the assistance
I need, 
thanks, I'm not alone!" and, when Snape asks him, "if you
are placing 
your reliance in assistants like Crabbe and Goyle –", Malfoy 
responds, "They're not the only ones, I've got other
people on my 
side, better people!" Who else besides Greyback could Malfoy
mean, no 
one but Slughorn IMO.  If we have learned anything from JKR's books 
it is the fact that the new guy is never what he seems to be, and 
this is very evident in Slughorn.

1. Horace Slughorn was the head of Slytherin house for many years - 
and an admirer and associate of Lord Voldemort, he also is among the 
few that know that Tom Riddle is LV and the heir of Slytherin.

(2) When DD asks him if his sofa disguise ruse before he and Harry 
arrives was for him or the DE's , Slughorn "demands" him to
explain 
what that crowd would want with him. Dumbledore explains, "I
imagine 
they would want you to turn your considerable talents to coercion, 
torture, and murder" and asks him if he is not being recruited. 
Slughorn says he has been in hiding to avoid them. (chapter 4,HBP p 
68);) IMO Slughorn is not insulted when DD  in jest or seriously 
suggests that the Death Eaters would think of him as a natural ally, 
he never does answer the question if he is hiding from DD, as he 
seems to be. DE visit , was a ploy  to win Dumbledore's
confidence 
that he had not yet been recruited by the bad guys yet. Slughorn 
recognizes the ring on DD's hand on this visit because DD makes a 
point of waving it in his face, Harry notices the ring on DD's good 
hand for the first time as well .Slughorn's eyes lingered for a 
moment on the ring too, and Harry saw a tiny frown momentarily crease 
his wide forehead" (HBP, pp 67-68). Tom Riddle was wearing this
ring 
when he asked  Slughorn about the Horcruxes. DD does not wear the 
ring again in the book so it might be assumed he did so here to 
impress Slughorn with his "collection" or knowledge of
Horcruxes; I 
also forgot Slughorn's failure to conjure the Dark Mark, the fact 
that he knows how to do makes him a very likely a DE.

3). Slughorn is a collector like LV but of people with influential 
contacts, he only values people whose contacts,and skills  that can 
help him advace and gain power.

4). Slughorn gives Harry the HBP's text book Harry is the big prize 
Slughorn wants for his collection, the bait DD uses to bring Slughorn 
out of retirement. Slughorn  sets Harry up for great success in class 
by giving Harry a book that has all the answers to every question and 
potion in advance. The book is like the invites to the Slug Club, he 
wants the Harry the "chosen one" because he thinks that Harry will 
help him some day when he becomes powerful and or he is working for 
LV and is trying assure his own life.

5).When Harry asks him about the Horcruxes, Slughorn shifts from 
jovialness and friendship to "shocked, terrified" and in a
cold sweat 
yelling  at Harry about DD and the Horcrux memory (HBP  p 379-
380). "Slug Club" parties cease, if Slughorn later regains
his 
composure and friendliness with Harry. Does Slughorn realize his 
vulnerability at this time and wonder at how he can get on 
Voldemort's good side? Or is he terrified that DD  is sending him
a 
signal that he knows he is working for LV?

6). He is definately helping Malfoy, who else is brewing all that 
Poly Juice Potion?

7).Slughorn's refusal to give the memory to DD or Harry before he 
seemingly drinking himself into a stupor after Aragog's burial
has to 
count againsWe know that he is terrified by the idea of Harry or 
Dumbledore learning about the Horcrux memory. He is also an 
accomplished  drinker. Does he give Harry the Horcrux memory, then, 
because he suddenly has completely lost his bearings under the 
influence of wine or because the Dark Lord has told him he must and 
this is a golden opportunity? This is a wizard that Dumbledore 
describes as "an extremely able wizard," "accomplished in 
Occlumency," and one who carries antidotes to potions lest he be 
coerced into spilling his memories (chapter 17 HBP p 372.)
His gathering of "greens" and dusk and milking of Arragog also makes 
me suspcious that it is he who makes the green "liquid boggart" that 
DD drinks from the Pensive in the Cave.

8) Slughorn's reaction to being told that DD has been murdered by 
Snape is not one of grief it is more of an embarassment that the 
other professors will associate him poorly with Snape 


If he is not a Death Eater from the get go, Horace Slughorn at least 
spends the better part of the year trying to play both sides of the 
field, I think, and rather aggressively. He makes contact with the  
DE's through Malfoy, Bellatrix  nephew, and secretly helps him in his 
efforts to kill DD  (perhaps by placing the Imperius curse on 
Rosmerta, if he does seem genuinely shocked that Malfoy has doped his 
gift). He tries, at the same time, to recruit or otherwise win favor 
with Harry in case DD is successful in collecting and destroying LV's 
Horcruxes.  Being power hungry and a coward Slughorn contacts LV, and 
not only helps Malfoy with the Vanishing Cabinet Repair job , but 
also IMO sends DD to the cave to drink the poisoned liquid. We know 
that DD learns about the cave on the day the cabinets are repaired 
and Malfoy can call in his DE friends. Coincidence I don't think so.

We know that an accomplished wizard has switched out the Horcruxe in 
the basin and left a faux Horcrux with a note seemingly from Regulus 
Black as well as an impenetrable emerald green potion that 
DD "assumes" he must drink. 
 
If Regulus Black left the faux LV Horcrux necklace in its original 
spot (not the cave I am not sure yet,) and Slughorn or LV found it, 
Slughorn could have created with LV s help the trap in the Cave, to 
include the poisoned potion. Slughorn would only then have to fix the 
Vanishing Cabinet and send DD  to the Cave  (and tell him to be sure 
to bring a crystal goblet) on the night of the DE invasion of 
Hogwarts. The trap would then be sprung.

Sorry for the long post love to hear your comments.
Jessie