Muggle Studies (a challenge)

This is the closest I have to a Harry Potter icon, which is not hugely surprising because I do not really talk about HP much at all, and have written a grand total of two fics for the fandom, both years ago.

However!

What with the Potterdammerung and a fic idea that burrowed itself into my head and then refused to go away, I've been thinking much more than usual about the nature of Rowling's wizarding universe: more precisely, how it differs from the Muggle universe. Where the boundaries are. The things that needs must be conceptualised completely differently by magic-users, and/or to what extent these concepts are compatible with non-magic ones. How is gender handled in a society that contains Metamorphmagi? What's the hard magical theory behind Potions? How do the Muggleborn reconcile early education with later knowledge? What is magic like in China/Italy/Mexico? Does religion play any part in the magical world?

( Getting down to business )

LOOK MA, I FOUND SOME WORDS

Pursuant to that last post, I opened a new document and decided to just start typing and see what would happen. Call it a warmup. (I think I might edit and extend this - give it something resembling a narrative - and make it an entry for the challenge.)

( Making a good cocktail is in many ways exactly like a Potions class, and in many ways nothing like it whatsoever. )