Potions Master Question

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 93859


 
> Neri:
> My impression is that transfiguration is considered the most 
> distinguished field of magic, sort of like physics in muggle 
science. 
> Transfiguration seems to have a strong theoretical basis. It 
requires 
> a lot of intelligence and learning, but also a lot of power 
(James's 
> wand, which was especially suited transfiguration, was more 
powerful 
> than Lily's wand, which was more suited to Charms).
 
snip<.
> 
> Potions, on the other hand, seems to be less a distinguished field 
> than Charms and DADA, not to mention Transfiguration. It is 
important 
> because of its obvious utility, but it doesn't have a strong 
> theoretical basis, but seems to have its roots in the humble skill 
of 
> cooking. Snape's opening remarks in the first Potions lesson in 
SS/PS 
> (paraphrasing: "no silly wand waving here") sounds like a typical 
> inferiority complex, and Snape himself is only the Potions Master 
> because he didn't get the DADA job.
>snip< 



Potioncat:
I realize you say it your impression, but I'm not sure where you got 
that impression.  It seems to me that the core classes are all 
important.  In fact, if anything, DADA can't be too important 
because DD makes no real effort to put a qualified teacher there.  
While he has a potionmaster with a strong reputation in Potions.  

I would compare potions to chemistry (which is very similar to 
cooking.) But I do not see Transfigurations as superior.  In fact, 
most of the magic we've seen so far is a type of charms.

Do you have canon for James' wand being more powerful than Lily's?  
And if so, was it the transfiguration abiltiy that made it more 
powerful or was James a more more wizard?
Potioncat