Harry Potter's second year at Hogwarts was winding down and things had calmed down since he'd rescued Ginny from the Chamber of Secrets and Mrs. Norris, Colin, Justin, Penelope, and Hermione had been unpetrified by Mandrake juice.

One morning, after breakfast, Justin had gotten up from the Hufflepuff table and sought out Harry as he rose from the Gryffindor table.

"Harry?" requested Justin, "May I have a word with you one on one?"

"In classroom eleven," replied Harry.

Next nanosecond, Harry and Justin walked out of the Great Hall together and entered classroom eleven.

When the two of them had entered classroom eleven and Harry had closed the door, they looked each other in the eyes and Justin spoke first.

"Harry," said Justin seriously, "I apologized to you at the feast for suspending you, but there's something else I would like to say to you."

"Okay, Justin, I'm listening," replied Harry.

"I want to thank you for two things. First, I would like to take this moment to thank you for protecting me from that snake at the Dueling Club. It was clearly poised to strike, and your quick thinking and action saved me from it. I was too blinded by my own fears to appreciate it at the time, but now that I've calmed down and know the truth, I can see and appreciate how you protected me there," said Justin sincerely.

"I respect that," said Harry genuinely, "It takes a lot of maturity to admit when you are wrong, and it shows growth when you make a sincere attempt to correct your mistakes."

"The other thing I wanted to thank you for," said Justin in a crystal clear voice, "Is forgiving me and Ernie for having suspected you. Ernie explained to me the first time I saw him after I was unpetrified that he apologized to you in Herbology class for suspecting you after Hermione was attacked and that you graciously accepted his apology just as you graciously accepted my apology at the feast."

"Justin," said Harry slowly, "I completely understand why things would have looked suspicious to you at the time and even more so why they looked even more suspicious to Ernie after you were attacked. Parselmouths have a bad reputation in our work due to the fact that prominent Dark Wizards such as Slytherin and Voldemort have had this ability. Furthermore, the house system at Hogwarts does not allow for members of different houses to know each other very well except for siblings I understand that things looked a bit suspicious from your perspective and even more so from Ernie's after he saw one of his best friends attacked."

"Hannah was the smart one of our trio," sighed Justin, "Hannah was the one who always doubted that you were the Heir of Slytherin even observing that you always seemed so nice and all."

"Justin," said Harry seriously, "The important thing isn't that you had unfounded doubts and suspicions. The important thing is that you came around and apologized when you realized you were in the wrong and the fact that you are making a sincere effort to learn from your mistakes. Look, nobody's perfect. People are going to make mistakes and that includes you. Always remember that your mistakes and your worst moments didn't define you. It's how you respond to them and learn from them that does. Everyone deserves a second chance expect for people like murderers, kidnappers, child abusers, etc. You absolutely deserve my forgiveness, especially given the circumstances and the fact that you've owned up to it."

"I appreciate you saying that" said Justin, "One of the things I've had to learn is the importance of being able to forgive myself but being able to forgive myself without forgetting the mistakes I've made. That allows me to move on from my mistake while also being able to learn from them. "

"Being able to forgive oneself is sometimes just as important as being able to forgive others," agreed Harry, "So, what have you been up to since waking up?"

"Spending most of my free time with Ernie and Hannah," answered Justin simply, "The three of us have been playing a lot of board games in the Hufflepuff Common Room lately. Not games like chess or connect four that require a lot of thought, but games we can have a lot of mindless fun with such as candyland and chutes and ladders. Ernie and Hannah love to swap chocolate frog cards and that's something I'm not into so sometimes when Ernie and Hannah want to swap chocolate frog cards, I'll sit beside them in silence and read. They wanted to swap chocolate frog cards for a couple of hours last night and I read the Magician's Nephew in one sitting. Next time I read for pleasure I'm going to start The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe."

"That's good to hear," said Harry approvingly, "It sounds like you're not dwelling too much on your attach and that's A Very Good Thing."

"Thank you for listening Harry, you may be on your way now," said Justin crisply.

"Bye, Justin, good luck to you," said Harry warmly.

"Bye and good luck to you, " returned Justin.

And with that, Harry and Justin left classroom eleven and walked back to their respective common rooms.

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