During the final battle it was initially thought that Slughorn fled in cowardice with the other Slytherins, but he had actually only left to round up reinforcements and returned to the battle. This, along with the fact that he fearlessly stood up to Voldemort himself, showed that he was a courageous man. He was also strong willed and was able to master Occlumency, a rare ability that required a strong mind.

Dumbledore wanted to tread carefully with Slughorn and not force him to divulge the memory because it would ruin their friendship. Dumbledore feared that if Slughorn felt betrayed, he may even leave the school and join the Dark Lord.

Slughorn's exact age is never specified, although it is known that he was old enough to teach Tom Riddle (who started Hogwarts in 1938) and younger than Albus Dumbledore (who was born in 1881). If we assume a Potions Master must have finished school at Hogwarts before becoming a teacher, this means Slughorn was born no later than 1920 -- and, in all likelihood, earlier than that, since 17-year-old teachers do not seem to come by very often -- and no earlier than 1881. This means that, at the moment he first met Harry Potter in Budleigh Babberton (mid-July 1996), Slughorn was between 76 and 115 years old, and that at the moment of his permanent retirement he was between 96 and 135 years old. This potentially makes him the second oldest known Hogwarts teacher, only Professor Binns being, supposedly, older than him.

It's quite easy once you know how, one simple Freezing Charm on these absurd burglar alarms they use instead of Sneakoscopes and make sure the neighbours don't spot you bringing in the piano." — Horace Slughorn [src] Defense Against the Dark Arts: Since Slughorn knew quite a lot about the theory of Dark Magic and was able to duel the most powerful Dark Wizard ever it can be assumed that he knew a good deal of advanced defensive magic. He also helped cast an extremely powerful shield around Hogwarts that temporarily kept Voldemort and his minions at bay. Slughorn's personality, in many ways, contradicted the "evil Slytherin" stereotype held by many students of the other Houses, Gryffindors in particular. He was not a bad person, and didn't seem to hold any real prejudice against Muggle-born witches and wizards. While he thought pure-bloods generally had more wizarding talent, he was always happy to meet and teach Muggle-borns and half-bloods who displayed great potential. He was, however, self-serving enough to favour students of status or talent, largely for the purpose of benefiting from his connection to them in the future. He was horribly guilt-ridden about the information he gave to Tom Riddle about Horcruxes, and crudely edited his memory of the event to prevent anyone finding out what he had done, as much as to relieve his own guilty feelings. Though Albus Dumbledore would undoubtedly have tried in earnest to convey the importance of the contents of the original memory, Slughorn stubbornly refused to give it up till 1997. He was also horrified at his accidental poisoning of Ron Weasley and later came to visit him in the hospital. [7] One day, Riddle asked Slughorn about Horcruxes, and Slughorn, — after convincing himself Tom's intentions were "purely academic" —, reluctantly told him what it basically took to create one, though he refused to give Tom any details. Most significantly, when Tom asked if it were possible to create more than one Horcrux, Slughorn seemed appalled by the idea of it, but did not deny that it could be done in theory. Riddle did keep his promise to Slughorn about never disclosing the contents of their discussion that night, thus never implicating Slughorn's contribution to what would become Lord Voldemort. Though this was undoubtedly because Voldemort would never admit to needing help to achieve immortality and to keep his ultimate secret just that. Horace also owned a rather expensive briefcase made of prized Dragon-skin which he uses to hold his personal things, mainly documents related to the subject he teaches at school.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Act Four, Scene Fourteen - Scorpius says "Oh, you will, undoubtedly, probably that new smoky-eyed Potions professor - she's old enough for you, right?"

This fan-made model was brought to life by 3Demon. We are a group of modeling and 3D printing enthusiasts based in Prague, Czech Republic. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 4 ( Horace Slughorn) - "Where a split second before there had been an armchair, there now crouched an enormously fat, bald, old man who was massaging his lower belly and squinting up at Dumbledore with an aggrieved and watery eye." My father always said he was a good wizard in his day." — Draco Malfoy talking about Professor Slughorn [src] Rancorous Carpe | Dobby | Argus Filch | Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank | Rubeus Hagrid | Rolanda Hooch | Hankerton Humble | Kreacher | Ogg | Irma Pince | Poppy Pomfrey | Apollyon Pringle | Lucinda Thomsonicle-Pocus | Winky And, more importantly, he was finally honest about a dark secret that had cast a horrendous, guilty shadow over him across the years: a memory of telling Tom Riddle about Horcruxes. Yes, the very Horcruxes that would turn him into the most powerful Dark wizard of all time. Talk about a faux pas. After editing his own memory from Dumbledore’s Pensieve out of shame, the night at Hagrid’s hut finally marked the moment he told Harry the truth.

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In 1996, Dumbledore convinced Slughorn to return to Hogwarts by tempting him out of retirement with the prospect of "collecting" Harry Potter as he had so many other students, with his true goal being to learn what Slughorn had told Riddle. Slughorn eventually divulged his true memory. He continued to teach during the 1997–1998 school year under Voldemort's regime, and was surprised to learn that Voldemort meant to recruit him only to teach the young wizards that Voldemort would deem suitable to attend Hogwarts. [12]