Professor Horace Slughorn is a legend around the halls of Hogwarts. As one of the longest-serving teachers in Hogwarts, he started to teach Potions in the 1940s until his retirement around 1981-82. His student, Severus Snape, took his place as Potions teacher up until Harry’s sixth year in Hogwarts.
Both Potions Masters have their distinctive teaching styles on their respective tenures. While Snape is a Potion-Making disciplinarian who does not accept mediocrity, Slughorn is a more accommodating figure who sees the potential from his students. And their effectivity can be based on what they have done through their class.
Professor Slughorn: Joined During The Battle Of Hogwarts
During Voldemort’s regime, wherein Snape was touted as Headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor Slughorn stayed behind to continue teaching and aiding the students as Head of Slytherin House. He maintained his allegiance to the school, even if Voldemort assigned him to teach for the sake of accepting only pure and half-bloods.
When the Battle of Hogwarts commenced, Slughorn joined the other Hogwarts staff in casting a shield around the school and rounding reinforcements from Hogsmeade. And after the battle, he wearily aided some wounded casualties, showing his loyalty to the school.
Professor Snape: Aided Harry To Outwit Umbridge
In The Order of the Phoenix, Hogwarts was placed under the strict control of Dolores Umbridge to discipline most students. Not even teachers are exempted to her actions. Thus, Harry and Snape found themselves on the same page, even if the former holds a grudge.
As Umbridge tried to interrogate Harry for Dumbledore’s whereabouts, she instructed Snape to provide the boy with Veritaserum to spill the truth. But he pretended into drinking him the serum and alerted the Order about the situation. It proves that Snape’s position has its benefits.
Professor Slughorn: Promised Awarding The Felix Felicis
On Slughorn’s return to Hogwarts, he challenged his students to hone their potion-making abilities by brewing the best concoction of Draught of Living Death. The reward is a bottle of Felix Felicis, which grants luck to the drinker on everything they do. It is a helpful way to establish a firm trust with his new students.
In the end, Harry was granted the potion after he followed the Half-Blood Prince’s guide of Advanced Potion-Making. Slughorn was so impressed at Harry that he believed the boy inherited his mom’s ability in Potions.
Professor Snape: Perceived Potion-Making As Art
According to Snape, potions is a “subtle science and exact art”. He strongly disallows the use of magic and spells to concoct potions and credits the strong patience and precision to process such material. Even if his teaching methods are strict, his Potions mastery are ardent that it goes beyond just brewing and mixing ingredients.
This is evident in his crafting of the Wolfsbane Potion, a complex potion that relieves werewolf transformation. Since brewing the potion has to be precise, Snape sees this like art, making him a passionate professor.
Professor Slughorn: Organized the Slug Club
As a way to honor his outstanding (and favorite) students, Professor Slughorn founded the Slug Club between the 1930s and 1940s. He would grant them various privileges within Hogwarts, such as free Quidditch tickets, boxes of sweets, access to fancy parties and giving advice to officials from the Ministry of Magic.
Favoritism aside, Professor Slughorn dedicated to cultivate the potential possessed by the students of the club and mentor them at any capacity once they graduated from Hogwarts. Any school with this kind of admiration from their teacher(s) is really rewarding.
Professor Snape: Unmasked Gilderoy Lockhart As An Incompetent Teacher
If there is one thing to reflect upon Gilderoy Lockhart during his time as Hogwarts’ Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher, it is that he does not work as a teacher. One proof of that is the time he and Snape organized a Duelling Class in The Chamber of Secrets.
Snape is immediately irritated by his presence that he blasted him against a wall with the Disarming Charm. Though Lockhart recovered, Snape overwhelmed him to a point that Lockhard gave up. That rid him from his incompetent teaching and vanity.
Professor Slughorn: Cultivated A Friendly Relationship With His Staff
Like his students, Slughorn has close relationships with the Hogwarts staff. The most evident of which is with Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore knew that he could count on Slughorn that he pulled him out of retirement to teach Potions. (Though this is half the reason why Dumbledore hired him.) Nevertheless, Slughorn was loyal to the headmaster.
Professor Slughorn was also close to Charms teacher Filius Flitwick, Herbology instructor Pomona Sprout and Transfiguration Professor Minerva McGonagall. With these healthy connections to staff, Hogwarts students can rely on Slughorn how to handle them.
Professor Snape: Provided An Easy Module For Potion-Making
While this is not a direct action done by Snape himself, his knowledge and instruction are all over. In Half-Blood Prince, Harry obtained a used textbook, Advanced Potion-Making, belonging to the “Half-Blood Prince”. However, the annotations for each lesson proved to be helpful for Harry that he applied it easily to class, making Slughorn proud.
Without knowing who exactly the owner of the book is, he/she proved himself/herself to be an excellent Potions Master like Slughorn. And it is stunning for Harry to learn that Snape is the Half-Blood Prince.
Professor Slughorn: Helped His Students Succeed In Class
Professor Horace Slughorn is a different kind of Potions professor for Harry and company. Unlike the strict but effective Snape, Slughorn is easygoing and effective. His methods proved to be friendly and cooperative, which allows more interaction with students. Though, he used school connections to hoard inaccessible materials for class.
Nevertheless, his determination to have his students succeed is impeccable. That is saying a lot on the fact that Slughorn is a Slytherin. Yet, he possessed most of the House’s loyal fraternity values like hefty camaraderie, social intuition, and approach.
Professor Snape: Maintained A Disciplined Yet Effective Class
But for every friendly potions professor comes a stoic one, who values excellence on his abilities. At first, Professor Severus Snape is notable for being the archetypal strict disciplinarian who does not excuse any mediocre effort by any of his students. As mentioned, Snape sees Potion making and brewing as “subtle science and exact art”.
Thus, his teaching method is recognizably difficult. Yet, it was effective to keep a class at a level of seriousness and silence that his lessons sunk in for students, like Hermoine, Ron and, well, Harry.