The Sorting Hat/Hogwarts cafe

Yep... Slughorn was probably flattered that Tom assumed he knew about Horcruxes at all.

but he can't fool Dumbledore though. and why did the Dark Lord want him dead?

want who dead? Slughorn? probably cause he knew too much or something

true...but the Dark Lord is smarter than that, he would have found him if he really wanted him dead.

then maybe he isn't that adamant about killing Slughorn

probably...but really how would Slughorn know if the Dark Lord was after him.

it's not hard to tell

only when he is using the Dark Mark, but usually he would have Death Eaters with him.

yeah, but if the Dark Lord wants you dead, it isn't hard to figure out

but you wouldn't really know if he wants you dead. if you knew, then you would be on the run...hiding.

but Slughorn was on the run

yes. I agree that Slugborn made a terrible mistake, but he must be seen from his perspective, he likes successful-to-be wizards and witches. But, he might be a weird person, yes. But he had the ability to admit his mistakes and he tried to correct his mistakes, although it took Harry a special potion for that. But still he told him where Tom Riddle's secrets are

not willingly he didn't

If there wasn't a part of him that wanted to admit what he knew then Harry would never have gotten it out of him... it's on a subconscious level.

Harry probably couldn've done it eventually

I don't think so Maika, Slugborn most likely has had a guilty counsciuse all the time, and he just needed a bit of encouragement to do that. Voldermort on the other hand, would have found a way how to do it, with or without Slugborn telling him.

no, Slughorn's just really full of himself. but maybe a little guilty too. but Harry wouldn't have gotten it out of him very easy if he hadn't gotten Slughorn drunk out of his mind

We're not denying that, when you're drunk all inhibitions go out of the window, so whatever was stopping Slughorn from telling the truth was immediately lost when he was drunk... we're just saying that all it took was a relaxed atmosphere and some careful coaxing (plus alcohol) to make Slughorn's subconscious take over and allow him to spill it.

his subconcious didn't have anything to do with it. just the booze

i think he felt really bad about telling him that so he tried to hide it but the guilt was on his concience and he wanted to make it better but he didn't know how. so harry got it from him cuz he said that would be the only way to make it better wich was wat he subconcously wanted to do and y he took the job in the first place.