Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Slughorn seemed to have a strong obsession with teaching and grooming talented wizards.

“Sirius was a very talented boy. He was a big pal of your father’s at school, always inseparable. They were the two best students in their year,” he said. “The whole Black family had been in my House, but Sirius ended up in Gryffindor! Shame — I got his brother, Regulus, when he came along, but I’d have liked the set.”

Slughorn sounded like an enthusiastic collector who had been outbid at auction. Apparently lost in memories, he gazed at the opposite wall, turning idly on the spot to ensure an even heat on his backside.

“Of course, there were many talented students in that class. As I said before, your mother was one of the brightest I ever taught. She was Muggle-born. Couldn’t believe it when I found out. Thought she must have been pure-blood, she was so outstanding.”

“Evan and Hermione are Muggle-borns,” said Harry, “and they’re the best in our year.”

“Hmm, yes, that does happen sometimes that Muggle-borns outperform pure-bloods,” said Slughorn, with another quick glance at Evan and Hermione. “Funny, isn’t it?”

“Not really,” said Harry coldly.

“Terrible prejudice,” Hermione whispered, with a hint of determination in her voice.

“Professor, you don’t also support such a ridiculous theory of pure-blood supremacy, do you?” Evan asked.

Slughorn had been the former Head of Slytherin House, a house that had produced Voldemort and the majority of the Death Eaters.

Perhaps he, like them, was a pure-blood supremacist; paranoid, conservative, and stubborn, believing that pure-blood wizards should be superior to everyone else.

“What?”

“I believe a student’s ability to master magic has nothing to do with their birth but rather how hard they work,” Evan continued. “Perhaps in ancient times, pure-blood wizards inherited strength through their bloodlines and monopolized magical knowledge, making them more powerful than Muggle-borns. But now, that strength has been exhausted, and knowledge is shared with everyone. Look at the pure-blood families — what’s left besides heavy burdens? The Wizarding world should break the pure-blood monopoly and enter a new era.”

Slughorn was somewhat surprised by the reactions of Evan, Harry, and Hermione.

“Heavens, you mustn’t think I’m prejudiced!” he said. “No, no, no! I’m not a supporter of pure-blood supremacy.”

“Your attitude makes me doubt it,” said Evan, glancing back down the hallway. “Maybe we should leave.”

“Wait, don’t leave yet. This is a misunderstanding. I have no prejudice against Muggle-born wizards. Albus can vouch for me,” said Slughorn. “Harry, haven’t I just said your mother was one of my all-time favorite students? And there was Dirk Cresswell in the year after her too — now Head of the Goblin Liaison Office, of course — another Muggle-born, a very gifted student. We have a good relationship, and he still gives me excellent inside information on the goings-on at Gringotts. Evan, it’s from him that I learned the details of your incident in Egypt.”

Without waiting for Evan and the others to answer, he bounced up and down a little, smiling in a self-satisfied way, and pointed at the many glittering photograph frames on the dresser, each peopled with tiny moving occupants.

“All ex-students, all signed. I carry them with me wherever I go. You’ll notice Barnabas Cuffe, editor of the Daily Prophet, oh, and now editor of Hogwarts Magic, he’s always interested to hear my take on the day’s news. And Ambrosius Flume, of Honeydukes — a hamper every birthday, and all because I was able to give him an introduction to Ciceron Harkiss, who gave him his first job! And at the back — you’ll see her if you just crane your neck — that’s Gwenog Jones, who of course captains the Holyhead Harpies. … People are always astonished to hear I’m on first-name terms with the Harpies, and free tickets whenever I want them! And…”

At this point, he seemed very excited and wanted to introduce everyone in the photos to them.

Looking at these wizards who held important positions or were well-known, and listening to Slughorn describing their relationship with him, one could clearly feel the influence of this old wizard. He was like a spider, weaving an invisible web.

Moreover, Slughorn seemed to enjoy showing off these connections.

“All of these people were your students?” Hermione asked.

“Yes, they were all my best students. Of course, there are many more. I have taught more students than these, but this photo wall is too small, so I had to put their photos away. You should really see that on my birthday last year, the gifts they gave me were enough to fill up this room.”

“That sounds great,” said Evan, though he did not doubt that Slughorn had that influence.

Unlike Dumbledore, who had a different approach, Slughorn deliberately fostered relationships with his students; specifically, the gifted ones, often inviting them to join his exclusive club.

“And all these people know where to find you, to send you stuff?” asked Harry, who could not help wondering why the Death Eaters had not yet tracked down Slughorn if hampers of sweets, Quidditch tickets, and visitors craving his advice and opinions could find him.

Harry’s question caused the smile to slide from Slughorn’s face as quickly as the blood from his walls.

“Of course not,” he said, looking down at Harry, in low spirits, “I have been out of touch with everybody for a year.”

He looked quite unsettled for a moment, then shrugged.

“Still… the prudent wizard keeps his head down in such times. All very well for Dumbledore to talk, but taking up a post at Hogwarts just now would be tantamount to declaring my public allegiance to the Order of the Phoenix! And while I’m sure they’re very admirable and brave and all the rest of it; I don’t personally fancy the mortality rate —”

“You don’t have to join the Order of the Phoenix to teach at Hogwarts,” said Harry, who could not quite keep a note of derision out of his voice. “Most of the teachers in the school aren’t in, and none of them has ever been killed.”

“That’s right, Hogwarts is not the Order of the Phoenix,” Hermione added.

“Unless you count Quirrell, of course, and he got what he deserved seeing as he was working with Voldemort.”

“On the contrary, Hogwarts is now the safest place in the world. If you’ve been reading the newspapers regularly, you’d know that Voldemort’s return has been causing chaos. In the past few months, attacks have occurred frequently all over the world, and people have died every day,” said Evan. “All of this is being orchestrated by Voldemort behind the scenes. Don’t you want to know why?”

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