Chapter Four: Horace Slughorn
In chapter four of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Harry meets Horace Slughorn, who’s kind of gross yet fascinating, and Dumbledore finally advocates for transparency. Is he OK?!
(Please be advised that this is a reread and I will be discussing book and movie spoilers.)
So Dumbledore is taking Harry on a little Apparition jaunt, where we learn that much like floo powder and portkeys, wizard transport is hell bent on making you puke. Dumbles and Harry discuss how he’s no longer getting Voldemort flashes due to Voldz shutting him out, and you know what? With this part and the dialogue later where Dumbledore is all “well I’m glad you’re doing so well after Sirius died Harry,” I’ll bring up one of my problems with this book now. Two of the biggest themes/plot points from the last book was Harry’s guilty anger over Cedric’s death and his quest to shut out Voldemort from his brain.
I know a lot of fans were not fond of angry, angsty Harry but I think he’s realistic. And Harry’s inability to close his mind gets Sirius killed. So when I opened this book for the first time, I expected to read more on a devastated and/or angry Harry, who feels guilt over not shutting Voldemort out of his mind and getting Sirius killed. I was expecting anger at Snape and Dumbledore especially for their roles in not preparing him which, again, led to Sirius being killed. Maybe a lot of people would’ve found this grim and insufferable for a “kids” book, but I was disappointed that instead we got this zen Harry who is obsessed with his chest monster and Malfoy. Harry felt overwhelming guilt for Cedric’s death (a classmate he barely knew) when he barely had any culpability in it. Yet he’s over his godfather’s death, in which he kiiiinda did hold some blame, in like two months???
But let’s move on, because we’re meeting our second non evil Slytherin of the story, Horace Slughorn! And he’s unlike any other character we’ve met so far. He’s all about the power, but as a puppeteer, not a king. He loves his creature comforts and surrounding himself with famous and powerful people, and he’s very fond of Lily Evans, like any sane person should be. We learn a lot about Slughorn’s intriguing nature with this exchange:
“Your mother was Muggle-born of course. Couldn’t believe it when I found out. Thought she must have been pure-blood, she was so good.”
“One of my best friends is Muggle-born,” said Harry, “and she’s the best in our year.”
“Funny how that sometimes happens, isn’t it?” said Slughorn.
“Not really,” said Harry coldly.
Slughorn looked down at him in surprise.
“You mustn’t think I’m prejudiced!” he said. “No, no, no! Haven’t I just said your mother was one of my all time favorite students?”
I believe Slughorn that he doesn’t think he’s prejudiced. I also believe he cared for Lily a great deal. But it’s clear that he’s harboring some standard wizard thoughts on Muggle-borns underneath that.
In any case, Harry’s convinced Slughorn to come back to teach, Dumbledore tells Harry it’s cool to tell Hermione and Ron about the prophecy, and five seconds after this leap forward in transparency he takes a step back by just not telling Harry that Slughorn’s potion master and Snape is the Defense Professor for no good reason. Oh, Dumbles!
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Do you prefer zen Harry or would you prefer that he’s still angsty in this book?
What was your first impression of Slughorn?
Why do you think Dumbles told Harry to tell Ron and Hermione about the prophecy?
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