Henry listened without any sign of displeasure, his expression calm and attentive.
He set down his teacup and spoke unhurriedly.
"I understand. A classroom accident escalated into an argument, and then the flying lesson was brought into it as well."
He did not immediately assign blame to either side. Instead, he gave a quiet sigh.
"Accidents happen in every House, and they will keep happening. Spells going wrong under pressure is a normal part of learning. The important thing is what you take away from it." He looked at Justin. "Madam Pomfrey has seen to Zacharias, and I imagine that experience has taught you more about concentration in spellwork than any reprimand from an outsider ever could."
Justin paused, then nodded slowly. The small knot of resentment he'd been carrying seemed to loosen slightly. Zacharias was fine, and Justin had not forgotten the lesson.
"As for bringing the flying lesson into the argument," Henry continued, his gaze moving gently across all three of them, "I suspect Ernie's aim wasn't really to praise Slytherin. When people are arguing and feel they're losing ground, they reach for whatever seems useful in the moment, without always stopping to consider what it actually means."
He offered this without rendering a verdict on Ernie, simply a quiet reading of the situation.
"Gryffindors value courage, and that quality can sometimes make them sharp in the way they speak. Hufflepuffs value fairness and loyalty, and defending their companions when they feel they've been wrongly treated is an expression of exactly that. Neither impulse is inherently wrong. When they meet head-on in the heat of an argument, friction is almost inevitable."
He lifted the teapot and refilled each of their cups, the small unhurried gesture settling the atmosphere.
"Headmaster Dumbledore would probably be quietly pleased to see the Houses engaging with one another, even if the engagement is an argument," Henry said, with a slightly wry smile. "But the deeper divisions are usually more stubborn than a single conversation can resolve. People hold different values and different ideas about what matters most. Some friction is unavoidable when you're living and studying in close quarters."
He looked at the three of them with quiet seriousness.
"What matters is how we respond to that friction, whether we let it narrow our thinking. Condemning an entire House because of one unpleasant exchange, or deciding that someone must belong to a different moral category because they once did something kind, both of those are forms of prejudice, even if they feel like common sense in the moment."
He picked up a small pastry, his tone easing.
"In flying class, I saw a classmate in danger and helped him. He happened to be a Gryffindor. Our Houses are our homes here at Hogwarts, they shape us in real ways, but they shouldn't define our character, or become a reason to withhold ordinary goodwill from someone."
He said it without positioning himself above anyone in the room. He had not praised Hufflepuff's response or criticised Gryffindor's temper; he had simply looked at the specific events and the specific people involved, and quietly separated them from the habits of House prejudice that had attached themselves to everything.
Susan nodded thoughtfully. Hannah's expression relaxed into a genuine smile.
Justin scratched the back of his head. "You're right. When I actually think about it, there's nothing to stay angry about."
"Hogwarts is a large place," Henry said, "and it has all kinds of people in it. You have a great deal of time ahead of you. Real friendships take time to form properly, don't let a few heated words between Houses get in the way of that."
He guided the conversation gently to higher ground, away from the specific quarrel and toward something broader.
A few minutes later, Justin, who had clearly been working up to something for a while, finally let it out.
"You really joined the Slytherin Quidditch team? As a reserve player?"
Henry nodded. "Professor Snape felt I could offer something useful in training. I probably won't play in a competitive match this season."
"But you'll still train with the team?" Susan asked.
"Three times a week," Henry said. "Captain Flint is demanding, but he's a good captain. He cares about the team's collective strength rather than his own recognition."
"Were you really that good at flying?" Hannah asked, softly enough that it didn't sound like a challenge. "What you did for Neville must have taken a great deal of skill."
Henry did not take the opportunity to boast. He described the situation plainly.
"It was an emergency, and there wasn't much time to think. I was fortunate to have had equestrian training as a child, the sense of balance and spatial awareness carries over to flying in ways I didn't expect. And," he added, "Neville deserves a good deal of the credit himself. He grabbed my hand when I reached out. That was the crucial moment, and he managed it under real fear. That's not a small thing."
The small addition, a genuine acknowledgement of Neville's part, was not lost on the three Hufflepuffs.
About halfway through the tea, Henry set down his cup and asked, with the ease of someone raising a topic they were genuinely curious about, "What do you actually think of Slytherin? Be honest, I'd rather hear it plainly."
A brief silence followed.
Justin went first. "Most of my classmates say Slytherins are very shrewd. Sometimes too shrewd."
Hannah thought for a moment before she spoke. "My grandmother was a witch, and she told me that Slytherin places great stock in blood and tradition. But she also said you shouldn't judge a person by their House."
Susan's answer was the most considered. "I've read Hogwarts: A History, and it explains that Slytherin and the other three founders were close friends originally, before they disagreed about the criteria for admitting students. So I think every House has genuine value, they just each emphasise different things."
Henry listened to each answer with care, then said quietly, "I appreciate your honesty. The fact that you can speak about it without defensiveness or performance is actually part of why I invited you."
He leaned forward slightly.
"One of the most persistent problems at Hogwarts, as I see it, is the depth of the divisions between the Houses. Gryffindor and Slytherin are openly hostile to one another. Ravenclaw can seem removed. Hufflepuff is regularly underestimated. It's a waste, because every House has something genuine to offer the others."
"Then why host this tea party?" Susan asked directly. "You're a Slytherin. Why invite Hufflepuffs?"
"Several reasons," Henry said, smiling. "To begin with, I don't think friendship should be bounded by House. Beyond that, you were the first people I met at Hogwarts, and the conversation on the train was a good one. And finally—"
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Early chapters: p*treon.com/palevolt100