Horace Slughorn

Horace Slughorn is a Harry Potter character who first appeared in Half-Blood Prince. He was the Potions teacher for Harry's sixth year, taking over from Severus Snape, who filled the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.
==Canon Background==
At the beginning of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Slughorn is convinced to come out of retirement by Albus Dumbledore after being in hiding from the Death Eaters following Voldemort's return. Slughorn had been the Hogwarts Potions Master decades previously, and had taught Voldemort himself when he was a student. Indeed, one of the reasons that Dumbledore wanted Slughorn to return to Hogwarts was because Slughorn had information about Voldemort's secret means of immortality, his Horcruxes.
Harry was tasked with getting this information from Slughorn, who was unwilling to share it due to fear and shame about his part in things. Slughorn was known for "collecting" students with existing connections or good potential in his "Slug Club", and would use the relationships he built after they leave school to get favours and gifts.
Although reluctant and afraid to get involved in the fight against Voldemort, and with a certain amount of blood prejudice of his own, Slughorn opposed Voldemort and, reluctantly, joined the fight against him—first providing Harry with information to help defeat him, then joining the final battle against Voldemort and the Death Eaters. He is indeed the only Slytherin mentioned in the books as fighting against Voldemort in the final battle, and as such is frequently cited as an example of a "good" Slytherin despite his faults.
===J.K. Rowling on Slughorn===
Although many characters have new bios and additional information written about them by J.K. Rowling on Pottermore, Slughorn's was never posted to the site. Instead, his writings appeared as brand new content in the 2016 e-book Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists.
In the section on Slughorn, Rowling provides additional information on Slughorn's background and motivations, and confirms fandom's interpretation of him as a "good Slytherin". She writes in part:
==Fan Response & Fanon==
Fan response to Slughorn is generally positive, as many appreciate the complexities of the character (and especially of a Slytherin character).
However, Slughorn is sometimes interpreted as a predator, paedophile, or pederast due to his habit of "collecting" students. marauderthesn wrote a July 2006 essay, "Horace Slughorn and Humbert Humbert", examining potentially deliberate parallels between Slughorn and the main character of Lolita. Other fans have picked up on predatory subtext. In fanfiction, Slughorn is sometimes depicted as sexually grooming, coercing, or abusing his students. On the other hand, Harry and Tom Riddle are commonly depicted as deliberately seducing Slughorn for their own means. For example, fans have rewritten canon scenes with that subtext made explicit: for example, a reimagining of the scene where Harry meets Slughorn ( Naive Harry and Horace Slughorn by LivingInTheLight, Jul 2016) or attempts to persuade Slughorn to give him the memory (Attempt No. 32 by biichan, Jul 2005), or an alternate version of Slughorn's shameful memory itself (Horcruxex by Walter the Wizard, Apr 2006).
The most popular Slughorn pairings are with Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, Harry Potter, and Tom Riddle. The latter two pairings, in particular, often feature dubcon and power imbalance. Slughorn also appears in various other rarepairs, often in kinky fanworks. Although the majority of Slughorn fanworks appear to be slash, the SCUSA forum at FictionAlley Park has shipping threads for Slughorn with Minerva McGonagall, Eileen Prince, and Gwenog Jones, although none of the pairings have gained a significant following.See HMS Horny Harpy Horace (Slughorn/Gwenog Jones), HMS Prince & Slug (Eileen Prince/Horace Slughorn), and HMS Needs-a-Name (Horace Slughorn/Minerva McGonagall) at FictionAlley Park's SCUSA forum. (Accessed 04 October 2017.)
==Example Fanworks==
===Fanfiction===
* Horace Slughorn and the Cauldron of Secrets and Horace Slughorn and the Circle of Stones by The Plaid Slytherin. Slughorn/OMC. (Oct 2007, 2008-)
* Cream Cakes and Boys by PurpleFluffyCat. Slughorn/Dudley Dursley, food kink, set during Deathly Hallows. (May 2008)
* The Courtship of Benjamin Jink by Delphi. Slughorn/Severus Snape. Written for Snapely Holidays. Espresso Addict writes: "this novelette is particularly enjoyable for its subtle, sympathetic yet believable characterisation of Slughorn."Espresso Recommendations: Harry Potter (accessed 02 October 2017). (Dec 2008)
* One of a Kind by snarkyscorp. Slughorn/Tom Riddle, implied chan/underage. (Jul 2009)
* A Story of Warnings and the Ignoring Thereof by therealsnape. Slughorn & Dumbledore, Slughorn/Irma Pince, set post-Half-Blood Prince. Written for HP Beholder. (Apr 2012)
* Teacher's Pet by torino10154 and Willing_Whispers. Slughorn/Ginny Weasley, non-con, underage. Ginny agrees to sexual "detentions" in exchange for Slughorn protecting Hogwarts students from the Carrows. (Apr 2014-)
===Fanart===
* The Slug Club- HBP by HILLYMINNE. Scene from Half-Blood Prince. (Oct 2005)
* Professor Slughorn and his best student by didodikali (trickofthedark). Slughorn and Snape gen. (Jul 2007)
* Slytherin House's Champion by madcarrot (vikingcarrot). Slughorn during the Battle of Hogwarts. (Aug 2007)
* The Most Important Memory by thilia. Slughorn/Tom Riddle, NSFW. (Aug 2009)Original post at hump_day_smut now deleted.
* At Long Last by tripperfunster. Created for Kinky Kristmas 2009. Albus Dumbledore/Slughorn, NSFW. (Dec 2009)Also posted as "Ha! I don't remember!" at hump_day_smut in Apr 2010.
===Meta===
* HBP Chapter 4: Horace Slughorn by pauraque (Aug 2005)
* Horace Slughorn's Slippery Name by Silver Ink Pot (rattlesnakeroot) (Oct 2005; Wayback capture)
* by Red Hen (original version written in Oct 2005; updated post-Deathly Hallows)
* by marauderthesn (Jul 2006)
* by univeristy on tumblr (2014)
* by Eli Bosnick (Aug 2017)
* by owlpostagain on tumblr
==Slughorn-centric Fansites & Communities==
* _slugclub_ at LiveJournal. Hosted the fanworks fest Late Summer Slughornucopeia in 2005.
* slugsmut at LiveJournal (defunct, 2009 – ?snarkyscorp on LiveJournal, lmfao. and comments on the post, 30-31 July 2009. Also listed on the Harry Potter Newbie's Guide, last updated 17 September 2009.)
==Other Links & Resources==
* Horace Slughorn tag at Archive of Our Own
* Horace S. character filter at FanFiction.Net
* Special Edition: Horace Slughorn at daily_snitch (Nov 2008)
* The Lead > Professor Horace Slughorn, fic listing at FictionAlley Park
* S.L.U.G. - Slughorn Lovers Uniting Gleefully, discussion topic at FictionAlley Park
* horace-slughorn tag at Tumblr
* Horace Slughorn at Wikipedia
* Horace Slughorn at the Harry Potter Lexicon
* Horace Slughorn at Harry Potter Wiki
* Explore the Story: Horace Slughorn at Pottermore
==References==
Category:Harry Potter Characters