Oh, brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! Your Slughorn voice is simply amazing. He's so damned Slytherin, and does so enjoy his comforts, and has this almost flippant, dismissive way of talking about serious events -- yet there's a keen mind, a staunch commitment to what's important, and a lot of feeling beneath the surface.
Oh, all right, I’ll make the dreadful pun: sacrifice the old Queen.
“By that time,” I interrupted him, “I’ll do what I always do for Lent: I give up my New Year’s resolutions.”
That's our Sluggy -- telling it like it is! LOL
This whole series of events -- what went in behind the scenes with the staff during that final year -- is so inventive, smart, and plausible. This is totally a part of my personal canon now. Maybe it's just because I like to think Snape wasn't entirely alone during that time, but honestly, I think it makes a hell of a lot more sense than people like McGonagall and Flitwick just rolling over and accepting things instead of finding ways to fight back.
Oh, ouch, the ending! The distinction between "dear boy" and "my boy." Yes, subtle, but perfectly understood between two Slytherins.