Magic Laws

[Jennifer Piersol]

No: HPFGUIDX 17515

Amanda replied to the following:

Amber wrote:

>> 3) Could anyone make a Potion, or can it only be made by people 
with magic talent in them? After all, Potions is simply adding 
ingrediants in the right order, the right way (or at least it seems 
that way to me).<<

> Well, that's the way cooking seems to me. And I'm passable, and I 
> do the occasional really good thing. But I have no "feel" for 
> cooking, I can't go into a kitchen and "invent" the way my husband 
> can, can't look in the fridge or the spice cabinet and think, 
> that'd go great with X here, and make a wonderful dish. My dad 
> could. One of my friends can. Great chefs don't do anything else, 
> they have to think about writing a recipe down.
> 
> So for Potions, yes, I think you must have a talent for it, and 
> given the nature of the beast, it must be a magical talent. Harry 
> and Ron can "cook." Hermione's a good cook. Snape's a chef.
> 
<snipperooni>

Very well said, Amanda.  I think I'm going to run with your lovely 
explanation and fluff it out a bit.  You mind? ;)

I think that although on the surface Potions seems like cooking,
there has to be more to it.  I see it this way.  When a chef goes to 
school to get his training, he learns about specific ingredients, the 
reactions they cause, what they go well with, etc.  So, one learns 
that thyme goes VERY well with chicken.  One learns that when making 
creme brulee (forgive the lack of accents there), if you make it with 
only egg yolks, you don't have to be so attentive to the temperature 
of your oven or the length of time you leave it in the oven, because 
the fat in the yolks "cushions" the cream, so to speak.  So, when 
someone goes into training to brew potions, they learn about their 
ingredients.  They learn that certain things cause drowsiness, others 
cause boils, others cause emotional reactions.  So you learn that you 
wouldn't make a sleeping potion out of ingredients that are known for 
perking people up (like caffeine).

While I think that squibs and muggles could brew up a potion given 
the ingredients and directions, I think it would probably take a true 
wizard to be able to *make up* a totally new potion, simply because 
they have the background and knowledge about the ingredients.  And 
rounding out the cooking analogy, some people know how to mix 
ingredients better than others... like Amanda said, Snape is a chef.

Jen (who would have gone to cooking school if her aunt hadn't said to 
her one day, "You'd never be a good chef - you don't like green 
peppers or onions.")