Notes

Potion : a magical mixture or compound often combining both magical and mundane ingredients. Brewed in a cauldron.

Potions can be dangerous for Muggles (different effects than for Wizards, often deadly)

“Snake Oil Salesman” : Muggle who intentionally sells goods with false information about their effectiveness (ex : cure-all potion)

Before the Statue of Secrecy, Muggles were slighty more tolerant to potions. Now they've been separated for too long from true Potions and lost their capacity to process them.

Essay

Prompt :
Please introduce yourself to my PAs and myself. Write at least 300 words (remember, there is no maximum) including the following:

• Your Name (optional)
• Your House (optional)
• Your experience with Potions: did you grow up with Potions being used in the home? Which Potions? If you grew up in a Muggle household, was there any reference to Potions, even in a mythological or literary sense?
• What do you hope to learn this year in Potions?

Hello ! My name is Alyss Delaney. My father is a Muggle and my mother is a wizard. I have two older brothers who passed their N.E.W.Ts a couple of years ago. 

Since my father was not very comfortable with "wizards stuff", my mother tried to use the least magic as possible at home. However, she often brewed medicinal potions when one of us got sick - I think my father was a bit jalous that he couldn't get the same medicine than us ! She also sprayed some potions on our plants, to keep insects and such away.

As soon as my brothers turned seventeen, they started to train at home, and they crafted some potions in our kitchen. I used to sneak in and ask them questions about what they were doing, which was very annoying for them, since they were working hard on their N.E.W.Ts. One day, one of them asked me to try out one of their potions, swearing it would make my hair blue (which was my dream at the time). I've no idea what it really was, but my tongue got so swollen I wasn't able to talk. They got punished, obviously, but they also got what they wanted : I never came back to bore them with questions again !

This year in Potions, I hope that we will not have to taste our own potions, because I'm still scared after the "swollen tongue incident". More seriously, I hope that we will discover a lot of brewing techniques and ingredients. I like that Potions is an exact science, even if it makes it hard to master.

One of the potions I would like to study is the Coughing Potion my mother used to brew for us during winter. I love its honey taste so much I could drink it everyday ! It makes me think that it may not be such a great idea to learn how to brew it...

In conclusion, I look forward to this year in Potions class. I hope my essay contains everything expected !

Alyss Delaney, Ravenclaw, First Year