Henry paused briefly before continuing.
"I think the world, not only the wizarding world, is facing real change. Muggle technology is developing rapidly, the Statute of Secrecy is under increasing pressure, and the relationship between wizards and Muggles is shifting in ways that haven't fully played out yet. In times like these, clinging to prejudice and isolation is unwise. What's needed is more dialogue and more genuine understanding."
The words were perhaps a little weightier than three first-years might usually encounter over afternoon tea, but the sincerity behind them came through clearly enough.
"So you're hoping for more interaction between the Houses?" Justin asked, carefully.
"Yes," Henry said. "Not necessarily in the way I go about it, everyone has their own comfortable approach to these things. But at the very least, keeping an open mind and being willing to understand people who are different from ourselves seems like a reasonable starting point."
He settled back in his chair, and the atmosphere lightened accordingly. "In any case, today we're simply having tea. Lucy has put out some very good things, and it would be a shame to let them go to waste."
The conversation drifted somewhere more comfortable. Henry asked Justin about his life at his Muggle school, listened to Hannah talk about her family's small trade in magical plants, and discussed with Susan the particular challenge of staying awake through History of Magic.
He shared a few anecdotes from life in the royal family, the kind that were harmless enough to repeat.
"The strangest part," he said, "is that every formal occasion requires a specific uniform, a specific arrangement of medals, and a set of etiquette protocols that would take a week to memorise properly. There are moments when learning new spells seems considerably less complicated than keeping all of that straight."
The three Hufflepuffs laughed. It occurred to them, somewhere in the middle of it, that this prince was actually just an eleven-year-old with the same ordinary worries as everyone else.
The tea party ran for well over an hour. When the refreshments had largely disappeared and the third pot of tea was empty, Henry caught Lucy's eye and gave a small nod.
He rose to see them out. "Thank you for coming today. I enjoyed the conversation very much. If you'd like, we could make this a regular thing, perhaps weekly? Entirely voluntary, of course."
The three Hufflepuffs looked at one another, then nodded in unison.
"We'd like that," Susan said, on behalf of all of them.
"Then we'll fix a time for next week," Henry said with a smile. "Lucy will take you back."
The house-elf led the three of them out of the classroom and down through the castle corridors. On the way back to the Hufflepuff basement, none of them spoke very much, each quietly turning over the afternoon.
It was only when they had settled onto the warm sofas of the common room that Justin let out a long, slow breath.
"Wow."
Hannah's cheeks were still pink, though the flush was excitement now rather than nerves. "He's completely different from what I was expecting."
"He's very intelligent," Susan said thoughtfully. "He knows exactly how to put people at ease and how to steer a conversation. But I don't think it's a performance, at least, what I felt from him seemed genuine."
"Did you notice the way he speaks?" Justin said. "Every word was considered, but it never sounded rehearsed. My mother always says that's what real manners look like."
"He had a point as well," Hannah said quietly, "about the isolation between the Houses. Hufflepuff is overlooked so often, and part of that is because we don't always take the initiative ourselves."
"We could start somewhere small," Susan offered. "Work with students from other Houses in class, share notes in the library."
"Exactly what he said," Justin agreed. "It doesn't have to be afternoon tea or anything formal. Just keeping an open mind."
The three of them sat with that thought for a while.
Back in the empty classroom on the second floor, Henry had not yet left.
He stood at the window, watching the last of the afternoon light lay a long gold veil across the towers of Hogwarts.
Behind him, Lucy had already cleared the teaware and restored the room to its ordinary emptiness, as though the afternoon had not happened at all.
When he stepped out into the corridor, he found Draco, Pansy, and Daphne waiting near the door. They had clearly been there for some time.
"How did it go?" Draco asked at once. "Those Hufflepuffs, they didn't say anything unpleasant?"
Henry fell into step, gesturing for them to walk with him. "Quite the opposite. They were polite and very sincere. It was a genuinely good conversation."
Pansy's expression was harder to read. "I've always heard that Hufflepuffs are rather ordinary. They don't particularly value tradition or lineage the way we do."
"Everyone has their own values, Pansy," Henry said evenly. "Loyalty and diligence are Hufflepuff's, and they're worth respecting on their own terms."
Daphne asked softly, "Does Your Highness genuinely believe the Houses should interact more? Slytherin tradition has always favoured keeping a certain distance."
The four of them moved slowly down the torchlit corridor, their shadows stretching long across the stone floor.
"That's worth thinking about carefully, Daphne," Henry said. "Let's look at it from a different angle. What would you say Slytherin's fundamental goal is?"
Draco answered without hesitation. "To preserve the purity of our traditions, and to maintain our standing and influence."
"Precisely," Henry said. "So, to achieve that, is it better to remain closed off within our own circle, or to understand other people well enough to actually shape how they think?"
A silence followed. All three of them were working through it.
"If we stay inside our own circle," Henry continued, "our understanding of every other House will be built on nothing but rumour and old assumptions. We won't know what they are actually thinking, what concerns them, or what they want. And knowing those things is the prerequisite for any real influence."
They reached a junction in the corridor and Henry stopped.
"This afternoon, I learned that Hufflepuff students frequently feel overlooked and underestimated. They admire qualities they see in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and yes, in Slytherin, while also feeling quietly proud of what their own House stands for. That combination of feelings, if you understand it properly—"
He left the thought open.
Draco's eyes sharpened. "We could be the first House that actually treats them as though their values matter. Acknowledge them when they feel ignored, extend a hand when they need one, and they'll naturally be drawn toward us rather than away."
"Very well reasoned, Draco," Henry said. "But I want to be clear about one thing, it cannot simply be a strategy. Real alliances are founded on genuine understanding and mutual respect. If the interest is fabricated, they will sense it eventually. The interest has to be real." He paused. "And I've found, having actually spoken with them today, that it isn't difficult to be genuinely interested. There's quite a lot to appreciate in Hufflepuff, when you take the time to look."
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