Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald finally reaches beyond Gryffindor to explore the seemingly distant bonds between Hufflepuff and Slytherin.

Friendship is one of the most central and enduring themes of Harry Potter and the Wizarding World. Harry’s story would have ended before it started without Ron and Hermione’s fierce fidelity, and it is the deep bonds of friendship between Luna, Neville, and Ginny that propel much of the secondary action in later books.

In Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, friendship plays a defining role as well, as Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy’s friendship becomes a central motivating factor in the long and winding story. (Their relationship becomes so intense, in fact, that many fans have interpreted it romantically, though that development has not yet become official canon.)

But though all of these friendships are valuable, instructive, and powerful, they tend to fall along very specific lines. Through most official Harry Potter material, the most important friendships stay within House boundaries.

Harry is almost exclusively friends with his fellow Gryffindors, Luna Lovegood being the only significant exception. (Apologies to Ernie Macmillan and Cho Chang, but… come on.) Slytherin students are virtually never befriended beyond their House; even Albus and Scorpius’s relationship takes place within the bonds of Slytherin, give or take an alternate timeline or two.

So the realm of deep and important inter-House friendships has been left largely to the fan imagination. And imagine they have, filling the internet with memes and stories about Hufflepuffs befriending Ravenclaws, Ravenclaws chilling with Slytherins, Gryffindors dragging Hufflepuffs on adventures, and so on.

But one particularly unique brand of friendship has gained strength in the fan imagination, one that seems at first glance almost counter-intuitive. That rare and beautiful bond between the helpful, hopeful Hufflepuff, and the cynical, secretive Slytherin.

Allow me to share some memes, for they are adorable:

Aww!

Anyway, it’s taken a very long time, but in The Crimes of Grindelwald, the idea of a Slytherin/Hufflepuff friendship is finally realized. The vehicle is Leta Lestrange’s melancholy memories of her time at Hogwarts. Though the film doesn’t spend too much time exploring Leta’s past, we’re shown enough to recognize a few things.

Leta’s years at Hogwarts, as a member of House Slytherin, seem to have been not far off from miserable. She often found herself the target of cruel torment by some of her yearmates, and (fittingly for a Slytherin) Leta responded with her own cruel and sneaky retributions, causing no shortage of turmoil at Hogwarts School.

But the bright spot in Leta’s education arrives in a form of a Hufflepuff boy. Newt Scamander, who cares for raven chicks, seeks Leta out when she is hurting, and brings her into his private oasis of bowtruckles. It’s exactly the kind of open-hearted Hufflepuffiness that Leta needs — kind, judgement-free, and optimistic of the good in all creatures.

Unfortunately, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald doesn’t give us much by way of reciprocation, or show us how Leta may have used her Slytherinish traits to support Newt. But the two clearly made a powerful impact on each other, and whispers of this bond can be seen in the present-day action of the film.

Leta is deeply protective of Newt, an instinct she is clearly trying to disguise as casual friendly concern. For his part, Newt seems to be trying to keep his distance from Leta, thanks to her new relationship with his brother. This is pure conjecture, of course, but it doesn’t seem too far off the mark to imagine that Newt might still smarting from this perceived betrayal — all the more painful as it comes from the girl who may once have been his protector at Hogwarts.

Whether or not future Fantastic Beasts films will give us more room to enjoy this Hufflepuff/Slytherin friendship seems unlikely (though Zoe Kravitz has intimated that Leta’s death in The Crimes of Grindelwald may not be permanent.) But all in all, Leta and Newt’s friendship is, while brief, a welcome addition to the Wizarding World canon, one that demonstrates clearly how valuable and enriching inter-House friendships can be.

Here’s hoping that this is the first of many in the ever-expanding Potter canon.