—-out. i recently went on a horribly long rant about professor slughorn with a fellow potter fan, a friend of mine from high school, and in the middle of our talk she stopped & stared contemplatively at me for a few minutes, inhaled deeply and sighed, “this. this is why you’re in slytherin, cas.” 

BUT HE REALLY IS ? one of my favorites ? i don’t care to research what the social justice side of the hp fandom has to say about him – i get that he plays favorites, i get that he’s greedy to surround himself with people of great talent & influence, but … ? why is that always painted negatively? i’m in the process of re-reading hbp and i just – he’s not a terrible teacher to students who don’t make slug club or the shelf. and as a teacher, it’s a source of pride to look at students after their graduation and say “they’re all mine” (as in, the collection of pictures on the shelf, not they’re all his in the possessive you’re-an-object way.) 

so he hosts christmas parties. after school dinners. so he rarely remembers all his other students’ names. 

my first year at college (i’m american ok and if i clarify by saying “first year at university” wulfvein‘s gonna be an ass and tally me, so i was 18) my two best friends (both male, while i myself am female) rushed the campus fraternities and had sealed a bet with my drunk self one night that i at least give sorority life a chance. so i did. and i was invited (or got a “bid” from) one of the sororities. i joined. i loved it. 

hogwarts houses, in a way, remind me of greek life. so does slug club. and at the foundation of it all (or at least my sorority in particular) greek fraternities/sororities were created first as tiny groups which met outside of school rules/regulations for the purpose of uniting students with similar interests, and providing a sort of “home away from home.” some started out religious, others were more academic. i get that now we’ve got a bad rep, that people think it’s all about drinking and partying and not giving fucks about anyone outside the group, but – it’s really not. 

but slug club? there’s nothing wrong with looking forward to it. there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be part of a group, even if it comes with certain privileges. personally, i’d like to think that slughorn judges based solely on talent, rather than ethnicity or religion or sexuality or gender or etc.