“Riddikulus with Elise & Sydney” is a column about the Harry Potter series. A new column is posted every other Wednesday. Columns may contain spoilers.
While muggle students are expected to excel in subjects such as English, math and history, wizarding children have an entirely different list of academic priorities.
Rather than having to recite the presidents in chronological order, young witches and wizards learn about the historical figures of their own world as well as practical skills such as Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions and Care of Magical Creatures.
This is the second installment of a three-part series intended to give muggles a better idea of what a wizarding education entails. For the second part, we will be featuring Potions class.
Background on the subject
Possibly the most dreaded class of the series, next to Divination, Potions gives Harry and his friends countless hours of stress throughout their education.
The main reason for the difficulty of Potions is its sheer complexity. Unlike casting a spell, brewing a potion requires the witch/wizard to correctly complete a long list of tasks.
Some potions are very specific in the preparation of their ingredients. Others take weeks, or even months, to brew correctly. But, when done carefully, magical folk can create just about anything with the art of potions.
“I don’t expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses …. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory and even put a stopper in death,” Professor Severus Snape tells the students.
As if the class were not bad enough, Professor Snape is the course’s instructor. Not only is he an exceptionally difficult teacher, but he also harbors a strong dislike for Gryffindors, especially for Harry. This combination makes for a very stressful class.
If a potion is brewed incorrectly, it can malfunction by poisoning the drinker, melting the cauldron, blowing up or resulting in other disasters.
Some potions known to be especially challenging include Wolf’s Bane and Polyjuice. Despite its difficulty, Hermione successfully brews a Polyjuice potion during her second year in order to turn Harry and Ron into Crabb and Goyle.
Upon consuming Polyjuice potion, the drinker takes on the compete likeness of any person they choose. They must simply drop a piece of that individual’s hair into the mixture before drinking.
Parallel with the real world
Because wizards do not utilize modern medicine, they depend on potions in order to cure their ailments. From replenishing blood to regrowing bones, wizards can concoct a potion for nearly any condition. Because of this, most magical folk live significantly longer than muggles. Albus Dumbledore, for example, lives to be 115 years old.
Like Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions class is also what we would refer to as a “core class” for wizards. When thought of in this way, one can think of Potions as being analogous to a high school chemistry class, for it is the science of combining different elements to form specific reactions.
Though the overall attitude toward Potions class is one of negativity (much like some students’ opinion of chemistry class), it teaches practical wizarding skills as well as the art of utilizing magical elements.
For the previous installment, read the Feb. 9 column, Riddikulus with Elise & Sydney: Defense Against the Dark Arts.
