PTNS-101 Lessons

Welcome to your final class for your first year of Potions. As with all good things they must, unfortunately, come to an end. To lighten the mood, I decided to brighten up our classroom a bit with some of my favorite decorations. I hope that all of you feel as though you have a solid foundational knowledge of what potions are as well as an inkling of how they work and interact with the body. I will keep today brief so as to allow you time to finish studying for your final.

As we look ahead to Year Two, we will have two labs in the fourth and the eighth weeks of class. We will also go into a little more detail on the specific neurological and physical processes that potions impact. Ingredients and their different characteristics will be another topic of discussion. You should have a good start on this due to your studies in Herbology, and will soon see that these two classes overlap more as the years go on.

In addition, I highly recommend any Potions students take Care of Magical Creatures with Professor Anne, starting in Year Two. As you’ve noticed, many of our ingredients do come from the wide world of plants and instead are body parts of various levels of squishiness ranging from eyeballs, hearts, and whole slugs to talons, teeth, toenails. While Care of Magical creatures doesn’t encourage you to dissect animals -- and the lovely professor would have my head if they heard I was encouraging you to try -- you do gain a wealth of knowledge about their properties, and this course will provide you with much needed additional information. If you so choose, it may also prepare you to humanely raise and harvest bits of these creatures for your own potions use later down the road. However, on the topic of humane practices, I would also like to discuss more about the history and means of obtaining ingredients for potions. This includes ensuring you are fully aware of the best legal practices and stipulations that come with obtaining and using certain plants, animals, or their parts. Lesson content will also begin to get progressively more in-depth as you move through your years here at Hogwarts. Plus, my expectations will be higher when it comes to assignments and essays, so maximum effort is strongly advised. I am always around to answer questions so please do not hesitate to ask before submitting your homework.

Now, as you consider the final exam, I urge you to think about what we discussed this year.  We discussed the fundamental question of what is a potion? We also discussed basic means of brewing a potion, the instruments we typically would use in a home potions closet, and some specific qualities and effects of potions. We also spent a week discussing dragons, one of the most magical creatures in our world. You even had the practical lessons of brewing two successful potions! Think about how your perception of potions has changed over the course of one year. Are your perceptions the same? If not, how have they changed? These questions will be important to consider and reflect upon in your final essay.

One last reminder as you prepare for your final exam. Potions is a cumulative subject. You will need to remember the concepts that you learned this year in the future for various purposes. This extends from overarching concepts like the importance of measurements, attention to safe potioneering practices, and ingredient types, as well as very specific details, like ingredient properties, lists of ingredients for certain potions, and potential allergies. All of the information used this year will, in some way, help you as you progress through the course. This works both ways, though! As you progress, I hope you are applying the methods and concepts from future lessons to improve your overall brewing of your first few potions. Practice makes perfect, and you’ll find that your fiftieth batch of the Cure for Boils will be much more successful than your first. It's only up from here!

Enough of that, though! Your exam awaits you. There is no time limit so I urge you to carefully consider your answers before submitting. My expectation is to see everyone of you back in my class for Year Two. After your exam, please help yourself to some of my favorite sweets from Honeydukes. They can be found on the table near the door on your way out.

Dismissed.

Original lesson written by Professor Lucrezia Batyaeva
Image credits here and here