While the Slug Club has encompassed members with aptitudes for various subjects and students with influential acquaintances, at the core of it lies the Potions subject. If anybody thinks otherwise, they would be deemed ignorant and foolish, am I right? Horace Slughorn is himself an eminent potioneer! Several of Slug Club's members already include people with a precocious talent for potions and influence in the potioneer world. For example, there are Lily Evans, Severus Snape, Melinda Bobbin, Damocles Belby, and Horace Slughorn himself! And these are gonna be the people whom we're gonna be talking about today!
First off, we're launching this article with Lily Evans! I mean, who's better than her? She's got it all: a natural talent for Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, and Charms; she's beautiful, smart, and sacrificed herself to protect her son! What else could you possibly need? But, for the sake of this article, we are just gonna be discussing her potioneer abilities. As already said, she had a natural talent for Potions! She could brew potions meticulously and knew many ingredients' properties, the storage conditions, expiration, reactions, possible outcomes, types of cauldrons required, and the direction in which to wave the wand! She was a potions star! If there was anybody better than potions than her, it would be Horace Slughorn and Severus Snape. She knew many things about potions and could've been a successful potioneer, but alas, fate was not with her, and she died fighting the Dark Arts.
Next, we have Severus Snape! I'm sure you're all familiar with his name and history, so there's no point in rambling off. The foundation of the talent of Lily Evans can possibly be attributed to Severus. A childhood friend, it is quite possible that he taught the Muggle-born the things he knew regarding potions. We know that he was a potions and spell prodigy, as he had invented a few complex and advanced spells by his sixth year and had a good grasp of potions. While his teaching style is questionable, he was indubitably the most knowledgeable potions professor. He seemed to have experience with all potions, drawn his own conclusions and made corrections for ease to a world-class potioneer's textbook. Just by the simple knowledge of the name of the potion and its colour and smell, could he accurately deduce what step you had gotten and what had you done wrong, which showcases the ambit of his knowledge of the ingredients' reactions and properties? Rectifying and simplifying Libatius Borage's textbook is no easy job, but Snape did it.
Thirdly, we have Melinda Bobbin! While she was not exactly a potioneer, she does have connections in the potioneering world! Her family, the Bobbins, own a huge and wide chain of apothecaries throughout Britain, Ireland, and the United States! Her family is well-reputed, and the apothecaries are quite handy too! They sell all kinds of ingredients, from expensive to thrifty prices, rares to commons, and all sorts. The apothecaries are highly prized among potioneers, and it would explain why Melinda was able to bring lavish and pretentious gifts to her friends. I do suggest that you visit a Bobbin apothecary; it is quite decorated and has a sweet smell.
At the penultimate position, we have Damocles Belby. His name is spread far and wide, and he is an esteemed potioneer. His groundbreaking potion, Wolfsbane Potion, is the first one to successfully hold off the werewolf transformation to an extent. The person's physical body will still transform into that of a werewolf's, but they shall be able to retain all their memories, which would prevent them from being detrimental to their surrounding people. While werewolves are still stigmatised and ostracised, this was a pioneering event in the wizarding world with greater implications. Damocles Belby has also written a potioneering book named "The Art of Potioneering". Its sentences are horribly written, though you can get a lot of useful information if you are able to comprehend it.
At the last, we have Horace Slughorn himself, the founder of the Slug Club! While we don't know much of his accomplishments aside from serving two tenures as a Potions professor at Hogwarts, we do know that his full name was a monstrosity (Horace Eugene Flaccus Slughorn), likes parties, is rather picky with students, mentored all the aforementioned people, and has had two blessed days when he had taken a tablespoon each of Felix Felicis. He was famed as a potioneer in Britain, though no proper achievements of his are known. But, he was a Potions professor, nonetheless, which, I guess, at least serves as a testament to his talent.
So, there we have it, folks! We have discussed five people today, all of them a mix of boring and interesting! This was really tedious to write, and I'm sure you felt the same, but I couldn't get any other idea for Slug Club. Like what, was I supposed to discuss the horned slugs' (if they even exist) significance in potions? I don't even know them myself! I sure hope to bring you a more interesting article next time; in the meantime, you can content yourself with the other fantastic articles written by SOUP's writers! Hope to meet you the next time ~ Aditya