As soon as Dumbledore started clapping, Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout hesitated for half a second before joining in.
Snape glanced back at Dumbledore, then at Alice's face, and only then (very reluctantly) brought his hands together in the world's most unenthusiastic applause.
The Slytherin students just froze, staring at their professors like they'd never seen clapping before. They honestly weren't sure if they were supposed to clap too.
Luckily the applause didn't last long. Dumbledore cut it short pretty quick.
He strolled into the middle of the Slytherin common room, taking in all the little snakes with their wildly different expressions, and gave them one of his trademark mysterious smiles.
He beckoned Pansy Parkinson over, gently brushed the sweaty strands of hair off her forehead, and asked in that soft, kind voice, "My dear, you're Alice's dormmate, aren't you? Why did you feel the need to duel her?"
Pansy looked up into Dumbledore's warm, grandfatherly eyes, bit her lip like she was about to cry, then flicked her gaze over to Alice and just… went silent.
Dumbledore's been around the block a few thousand times. He could tell this wasn't the reaction of someone who genuinely hated Alice's guts.
But now clearly wasn't the moment to dig into all that drama. Right now the kids needed to calm down and get some sleep.
It was super late, after all.
So he let Pansy off the hook and waved Alice over instead.
Alice stepped forward. Dumbledore took her hand (his was surprisingly warm, totally out of place in the cold, dungeon-y vibe of the Slytherin common room) and smiled down at her.
"I've always believed that love is the greatest source of power," he said, "but your take on conviction and belief? That really opened my eyes."
"In fact, child, even the power of love can twist into something harmful when it's done 'in the name of love.' So… may this old man offer you a little advice?"
Alice blinked and answered politely, "Headmaster, I'll definitely consider any advice you give me (critically, of course)."
Dumbledore let out a delighted chuckle. "Critically consider—now that's a great phrase!"
He leaned in a little closer and lowered his voice. "Here's my advice: conviction can carry a person to incredible heights. I once tried asking the Sorting Hat what your biggest goal in life is. Every single time the blasted thing just pretends it didn't hear me and starts singing instead. And you know how off-key it is."
Alice pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. "Maybe it figures that's the only way to shut down your insatiable curiosity?"
Dumbledore gave an exaggerated sigh, like he was genuinely wounded. "Even you think I'm too nosy? Fine, fine."
He got serious again. "What I hope for you, Alice, no matter how nasty the world gets or how brutal the challenges are, is that your conviction stays upward, positive, hopeful."
Alice hadn't expected her very first real conversation with Dumbledore to go like this.
She blinked a couple times, merchant-family instincts kicking in. If she didn't seize an opportunity when the most powerful wizard alive was basically offering her a golden ticket, she'd be an idiot.
"Headmaster, I think everything you just said is spot-on. But like you saw tonight, it's kinda hard to stay positive in a place like this."
Dumbledore looked into those sharp green eyes set in her still-kid-sweet face (eyes that were way too clever and lively for the grim common room around them), reached out, and patted the top of her head.
"Some things are hard even for me to change, child. Some ideas need a leader, someone to walk out front so the rest of the flock will follow. Sadly, there are certain paths I'm too old and too… complicated to lead anymore."
"But isn't fate funny? When one person can't do it, someone else always steps up. And all this old bag of bones can do is cheer from the sidelines and offer whatever support I can to the new leaders on the right path."
"What I can give you is as calm an environment as I can manage, plus whatever scraps of wisdom and experience these hundred-plus years have left me. Any time you have a question, my door is open. I'd be delighted to help."
Alice felt a little rush of genuine happiness.
Sure, Dumbledore hadn't outright said, "Nobody's allowed to mess with Alice anymore, or else," or publicly declared her his protégé or anything dramatic like that.
But Alice wasn't short-sighted. The advice and backing of probably the greatest wizard alive? That was worth way more than a couple of public announcements.
After docking Slytherin fifty points, Dumbledore rounded up the other three Heads of House and headed out.
As they left:
Professor McGonagall shot Alice a stern look and said, "Since you're clearly brilliant at Expelliarmus and Protego, looks like I'll have to pile on extra work in Transfiguration too."
Professor Flitwick practically bounced. "Come by my office sometime; I want a demonstration of those spells and a full rundown of exactly how you learned them!"
Professor Sprout grumbled good-naturedly, "Quit pulling that sad face; I'm not assigning you extra Herbology homework. You're not exactly passionate about plants, I get it. Just keep your grades decent, or people will think I'm a terrible teacher!"
Snape, meanwhile, watched his House lose fifty points, watched his star students flirting with the other Heads, and watched the rest of his snakes sulk like they'd been personally insulted. His headache was instant.
"Pansy Parkinson and Alice Norton: detention. Actually… never mind. We'll wait until some other first-years get caught breaking curfew, then you can all serve it together."
He tore into the common room with a full-on rant, saved the worst of it for Pansy and her little posse, then swept out like an angry bat, black robes billowing. On his way past Alice he gave her the coldest huff imaginable.
Once all the professors were gone, the common room stayed dead quiet.
The older students kept shooting Alice weird looks (half amused, half thoughtful). Some of what she'd said during the duel had actually made them stop and think.
Among the first-years, a few were already staring at her with something that looked suspiciously like awe and they hadn't even noticed it themselves.
Pansy trudged back to the dorms with her head down. Alice started to follow, but Gemma Farley grabbed her arm.
Gemma turned to the whole common room and announced, "I take my prefect duties seriously. I gave Alice my word, so for the rest of this school year I expect every single one of you to respect that promise and leave her alone."
"If I hear even a whisper that someone's still giving her trouble, I will personally duel them, report them to the Head of House and the Headmaster, and, if necessary, pay a visit to their parents. I'm not joking."
Her glare landed squarely on Marcus Flint.
The huge fifth-year threw up his hands. "Hey, I'm not the only one who had a problem with her!"
"No, but you're definitely the loudest and the most obnoxious about it. Look at what you've turned our common room into since September!"
Alice watched the whole exchange with cool eyes. She wasn't naive enough to think Gemma was doing this purely out of the goodness of her heart. If she'd really cared, she would've stepped in weeks ago when the bullying first started.
But Alice had never been the kind of person who saw everything as black-and-white. Whatever Gemma's real motives were, as long as it bought Alice some breathing room, she was happy to enjoy the shade under this particular tree for a while.
On her way to the dorms, Alice passed Theodore Nott. He leaned in and murmured, "After flying lessons tomorrow, I'll tell you everything I found out."