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Early Teaching Career
In spite of his considerable abilities, his admiration of those who enjoyed the
limelight and his parents’ ambitions for him at the Ministry, Horace Slughorn
was never drawn to the cut and thrust of politics. He enjoyed his creature
comforts and revelled in the vicarious delights of having high-achieving
friends, without much wanting to emulate any of them. Perhaps he knew in
his heart of hearts that he was not the stuff of which great Ministers are made,
aware that he preferred a less taxing and more comfortable existence. When
offered the job of Potions master at Hogwarts he was delighted to accept,
having a great flair for teaching and a deep fondness for the old school.
Subsequently promoted to Head of Slytherin house, Slughorn remained a
good-tempered and easy-going man. He had weaknesses – vanity, snobbery
and a certain lack of judgement when it came to the good-looking and
talented – and yet he was devoid of cruelty or malice. The worst of which he
could be accused during his teaching career is that he made far too great a
distinction between those students whom he found amusing and promising,
and those in whom he saw no flicker of future greatness. The institution of the
‘Slug Club’ – an out-of-hours dining and social club for his selected
favourites – did nothing to assuage the feelings of those who were never
invited.
Slughorn undoubtedly had a good eye for latent talent; over a fifty-year
period numerous members of the Slug Club, hand-picked by him,
subsequently had dazzling careers in the wizarding world, in fields as diverse
as Quidditch, politics, business and journalism.