Meanwhile, Amy entered the Potions Club Room for her second Potions Club meeting to find Brett, Mason, Ernie, and their leader Alexander already there in their same seats from the first club meeting and Amy likewise found the desk she'd sat in at the first club meeting.

"So," said Alexander in a businesslike voice, "I have decided to kick the can of us actually making potions down the road for one more club meeting. The reason for this lies in a letter I received from Ernie this morning. In said letter, Ernie made a request of me, and I have decided to grant that request."

Brett, Mason, and Amy looked at Ernie curiously.

"The request in question," said Ernie formally, "Was that I asked Alexander if I could bring in some vintage potion making supplies to share with the club at periodic intervals throughout the year. He said yes and said that today could be the first of such times."

"Cool!" cooed Mason.

"The more we learn about potion making, the better, " said Brett seriously.

"This should be interesting," said Amy eagerly.

Next nanosecond, Ernie dived under his chair and came back up holding a very unusual looking cauldron. He set the cauldron down on his desk.

This particular cauldron looked slightly on the big side, though easily usable. What made it stand out was that, from left, it had three sections. The left third was bronze, the middle third was silver, and the right third was gold.

"What you should immediately notice is that this cauldron is made out of THREE different materials, " said Ernie matter of factly.

"I've never seen a cauldron made up of multiple materials" said Brett stiffly.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool, isn't it?" smiled Mason.

"On surface it may a seem cool," said Amy crisply, "But in reality, I have to think that having a cauldron made up of multiple materials is very impractical. Various potions ingredients and potion making processes will interact differently with and react differently to different materials. I've noticed that in potions instructions, the instructions always specify what kind of cauldron the brewing occurs in. I have to imagine that attempting to make potions in a multi materialed cauldron would really in a useless mess."

"WOW!" piped up Ernie admiringly, "Amy gets it. The overwhelming majority of potions are best brewed in pewter cauldrons, which is why pewter is the standard cauldron on most wizarding schools supply lists. Indeed, the use of multi materialled cauldrons will result in a useless mess owing to the uneven actions of the ingredients and processes. However, this was not always known."

"Let me guess," grinned Mason, "This cauldron is from the Middle Ages?"

"It's from the fourteenth century and has been magically verified to have been made in 1371, " revealed Ernie.

"OOH" cooed Mason and Amy while Brett sat stoically taking it in.

"It's always been known that some cauldrons work better than others," explained Ernie patiently, "This includes the fact that it's always been known that some cauldrons are totally worthless for use in potion making. Back in the day, the theories about why this is the case varied from manufacturing quantity vs lack thereof to simple randomness. And guess what? Guess what?" It was a MacMillan who figured it out! My ancestor Ethan MacMillan discovered in 1414, the same year that the venerable Sally Soar published her renowned bestiary Wonderous Winged World, that cauldrons needed to be made of uniform material to be effective in potion making. He did experiment after experiment testing out potion making in all different kinds of cauldrons and eventually realized that material uniformity was the key feature to a good potion making cauldron."

"You come from good stock then," Amy interjected kindly.

"I do," boasted Ernie, "And I'm going to carry on that MacMillian legacy when I become the GOAT Potion Maker!"

"Where did you get that cauldron?" Amy asked Ernie curiously.

"I collect vintage potion supplies," explained Ernie, "I never use them, not even those that would work well. I'm a collector. I bought this from a mail order form in the Daily Prophet not this past summer, but summer before last. I've had this a little over a year now. Now, there's another aspect of this cauldron I want you to notice."

Ernie lifted the cauldron from his desk and showed Alexander, Brett, Mason, and Amy the bottom.

"That bottom is too thin!" said an alarmed looking Amy, "The bottom of a potion making cauldron should NEVER be transparent."

"You are quite right to be alarmed by that observation, Amy," said Ernie approvingly, "Cauldron leaks are the leading cause of potion making injuries. While are there no specific guidelines for cauldron thickness, the way you know if your cauldron is safe from leaks is to look at the bottom. Cauldron bottoms should ALWAYS be opaque. If a cauldron has a transparent bottom, then don't use it for potion making."

"How important are size and heaviness in cauldrons?" mused Mason.

"Your cauldron needs to be big enough to hold the ingredients but small enough to be able to easily extract the potion after the manufacturing process is complete," answered Ernie, "This cauldron passes that test even if it's slightly bigger than normal. Lightness vs heaviness doesn't really matter, but all cauldrons need to be made of strong enough material to avoid breaking. This cauldron passes that test as well."

"Why are we wasting a club meeting looking at a cauldron that isn't even capable of making good potions instead of actually making potions like we are supposed to be doing?" demanded Brett.

"Learning about the history of the subject is a VERY good thing," said Amy bluntly, "Knowing which cauldrons aren't suitable for potion making is very important. Besides, seeing a vintage cauldron, even one that wouldn't have worked well, is pretty cool."

"Pretty cool indeed, " agreed Mason, "That's part of the point. These clubs aren't supposed to be entirely serious you know. Making friends and having fun is part of the deal too you know."

"And, " added Amy clearly, "We should be grateful to Ernie for bringing in objects from his collection and sharing them with us."

"Well said, Amy, " said Alexander, "Next meeting we'll get busy making a potion. But Mason's and Amy's points about what these clubs are supposed to be all about is precisely why I granted Ernie's request."

They spent the rest of the period talking about cauldrons and when the club meeting let out, Amy left not fully knowing how she felt about Ernie. He was pompous and a little full of himself. On the other hand, he'd made a great contribution to the club and had been quite kind to bring in from his vintage collection to share with them.

Either way, Amy didn't mind having to wait another meeting to get started on the potion making. Today had quite interesting and enjoyable enough.

A shout out to the following members who have added Harry Potter and the Yellow Quartet to their favorites and/or follows lists since the last update:

alexbarnes806

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Much love from Arizona for all the support. Love you all-Michael. :)