"Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" out tomorrow!

[Guynemer]

I like him too. Too bad we're only gonna be able to enjoy him for two books.

[Imran Siddiqui]

But he'll live on forever in fanfic .

[DinoDoc]

I demand that they let the Coffee Shop live this long.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Take it to the Community forum!

[Drake Tungsten]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
But he'll live on forever in fanfic .

Great. I guess we can count on innumerable sexual liasions between Harry and Slughorn...

[Kuciwalker]

ewww

[lord of the mark]

slughorn is rather different from Percy - Percy is a climber who takes advantage of networks. Slughorn is a very different type - he doesnt use contacts to get ahead so much as the creation and maintenance of his networks is his role. This is a definite type - if youve ever been in a job search where youve tried to a lot of networking, coming upon someone like this is invaluable. OTOH Slughorn is a specific type of network maintainer - the keeper of the old boy network. This is apparently even more of a social type in the UK than it is the US, and is tied very much to prep schools - thus we speak of "old school ties" and all that - and we forget thats what Hogwarts is modeled after at some level - what we in the US call a prep school, and brits call a public school.

Slughorn is thus in line with JKRs satire of certain british upper class social types - the imperial braggart - Lockhart - the rigid bureaucrat - Umbridge, etc.

[Kuciwalker]

One of the things I noticed about Felix - I bet you always drink just the right amount for whatever you want to do, that's part of its power. When Harry took it to get the memory, it lasted almost exactly as long as he needed, and not much more.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
One of the things I noticed about Felix - I bet you always drink just the right amount for whatever you want to do, that's part of its power. When Harry took it to get the memory, it lasted almost exactly as long as he needed, and not much more.

The only problem is that wouldn't you get lucky when the potion hit your stomach and not before? Or are you saying he sipped the potion and then know exactly the right amount?

[Kuciwalker]

Well, the luck isn't exclusively once you drink it - for instance, when it was boiling in Slughorn's cauldron, not a drop was going over the edge.

[Imran Siddiqui]

True, but Harry didn't feel lucky & confident until he actually put it to his lips and took a swig, and then slowly, but surely, the feeling came over him.

[Immortal Wombat]

Actually, that potions scene is interesting for another reason. The potions in the cauldrons are all vaguely important to the plots.

Book four: Polyjuice potion keeping Crouch Moody-shaped.
The book is more or less about identity. Finding it, stealing it, killing your parents to hide it.

Book five: Veritaserum in the "where is Dumbledore" scene, etc.
The book about truth, deception, and the correct times to employ each, and recognise each.

Book six: Felix felicis
On the nature of luck versus planning? Slytherins- Voldemort, Slughorn and Malfoy are very careful about doing things carefully and properly to come out on top, each in their own way to their own ends, of course. Harry does just seem to get through life with a bucket of luck and a soul of love.

Book seven must then be Amortentia. But we already knew that book seven was all about love, and Harry finding and realising it. The interesting question is who will be taking Amortentia, and why.

[Immortal Wombat]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
True, but Harry didn't feel lucky & confident until he actually put it to his lips and took a swig, and then slowly, but surely, the feeling came over him.

Before it is drunk, the potion only affects its own fate. Presumably it has some sort of self-preservation or self-utility instinct which it influences events for its own luck. Thus it does not spill, nor does it allow itself to be wasted when drunk.

[Imran Siddiqui]

However, the self preservation instinct works well when it is just by itself, but how can it influence another person? Unless, what you are saying is that allots the perfect amount of time to do certain tasks after drunk?

[Immortal Wombat]

Perhaps having exactly the right amount of itself drunk by the person is the endeavour which the potion wishes to succeed. And luckily, it does.