020510

I've always thought that, were I a witch (in a Harry Potter universe, of course) that I would enjoy studying Potions. (Preferably with a different teacher than Snape.) I think I'd be decently good at it. I like the idea of following a "recipe" exactly to make something perfect. I think that's why math appeals to me. If you follow the rules exactly, then the intended result will happen every time. If it doesn't, you did something wrong. Try again. And the idea of measuring and finding the perfect ingredient to make the perfect potion appeals to me. Perhaps it's because I like to cook.

But then, when I think of it that way, it's rather intimidating. I like to cook, but I don't know how to deviate from a recipe or really how to make one up. I don't know how to use spices. I don't know the magical properties of various ingredients. Remember? Math-minded. I have to follow someone else's recipes. I don't know how to be creative.

Oh, but it'd be different in a magical world, I tell myself. I would be in Potions classes that would teach me just that. I'd learn what the properties of various ingredients are. And then I'd be able to deviate with confidence, kind of like Harry in The Half-blood Prince. I'd be awesome.

And then it hit me. I can do that with cooking. If I really wanted to be awesome at cooking like the fictional witch in me thinks I would be, I could. At Hogwarts I'd have to learn those in a class. I'd end up doing research and writing papers on various Potion ingredients… but I'd learn them. It may take 7 years at school, but I'd do it. I'd have the desire. So why not do that in real life? Why not transfer that same study to my Muggle self? I could study up on various ingredients and their properties in cooking/baking/etc. and then I'd be able to use them properly. I would be able to use trial and error.

Of this, I must ponder.