Book of Potions

• Type: Textbook
• Owners: First-year Hogwarts students, including Harry Potter
• Maker: Arsenius Jigger

The Book of Potions is the common name for the required Potions textbook for first-year students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The book's official title, as listed on the Hogwarts equipment list, is Magical Draughts and Potions. The novel provides no physical description of the book's cover or size, only that it is authored by Arsenius Jigger. It is one of several books Harry Potter purchases from Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley before his first year. It contains foundational recipes and instructions for brewing simple potions deemed suitable for a beginner's curriculum.

As a standard educational textbook, the Book of Potions serves as the primary instructional guide for first-year Potions class. Its pages contain the ingredient lists, brewing steps, and theoretical principles for a variety of basic potions. One of the first potions assigned to first-year students, the Cure for Boils, is presumably detailed within its pages. However, the authority of the textbook in the classroom was often superseded by the Potions Master, Professor Severus Snape. Snape frequently disregarded the book's instructions, preferring to write his own modified or alternate instructions on the dungeon blackboard for students to follow instead. This suggests that the methods in the book, while standard, were not considered the most efficient or effective by an expert potioneer like Snape.

Written by the potioneer Arsenius Jigger, Magical Draughts and Potions was the established and required textbook for first-year Potions at Hogwarts during the 1991-1992 school year. Its selection as part of the core curriculum implies it has been a standard educational text for a considerable amount of time, though its exact publication date and history are unknown.

The Book of Potions is introduced in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone when Harry Potter receives his Hogwarts acceptance letter and accompanying list of required equipment. Its primary role is to facilitate Harry's introduction to the subject of Potions and his difficult relationship with Professor Snape. During their first lesson, Snape's immediate dismissal of Harry's knowledge (or lack thereof) from the book establishes the tension that defines their interactions for years to come. The book also serves as a thematic counterpoint to the copy of Advanced Potion-Making that Harry inherits in his sixth year. While the Book of Potions represents the rigid, official curriculum, the Half-Blood Prince's book is filled with creative, superior, and sometimes dangerous annotations. This contrast highlights the difference between standard instruction and the intuitive genius of a master potioneer like the Half-Blood Prince.

• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the book is titled Magical Drafts and Potions. A prop of the book with a distinct cover design, featuring a cauldron and bubbling potion, is briefly visible when Harry shops for his school supplies in Diagon Alley. (film)