Back in the Slytherin common room, Theodore Nott spotted his chance and slipped a folded note into Alice's hand without anyone noticing.
It explained everything that went down with last night's duel.
Turns out, word about their dorm drama had somehow reached Marcus Flint.
Flint told the Parkinson family that Pansy and Alice had clashed on the first day of school—and that Alice had wiped the floor with her.
The Parkinsons lost it. They saw it as a slap in the face to the family name and basically forced Pansy to challenge Alice to a formal duel to "restore honor."
They even pulled strings with some older Slytherins to give Pansy special training.
That's why she was slinging spells way above first-year level.
But nobody saw Alice coming—she'd secretly learned the Shield Charm and Expelliarmus from Professor Flitwick. Total knockout.
As for the sneak attack last night? Nott figured it was a third-year half-blood named Delishati Bode. The guy had gone full pure-blood extremist the second he got to Hogwarts—even cut ties with his Muggle mom.
Nott thinks Alice's whole vibe offended Bode's delicate sensibilities, so he tried to take her out in the dark.
Tonight, the common room was dead quiet. Every upperclassman avoided Alice's eyes when she walked in.
Not because they were scared—just didn't want any more trouble. Word was, Snape had put his foot down: nobody messes with Alice while she's a first-year, or they answer to him personally.
Alice didn't gloat. She just felt lucky.
If she hadn't been obsessed with getting stronger—if she hadn't gone straight to Flitwick for help—she'd have been toast.
And without that old soul in the Soul Banner teaching her a scientific, step-by-step way to learn, there's no way she'd have mastered those spells.
---
She pushed open the dorm door to a weirdly calm scene. Pansy shot up the second she saw Alice.
"A-Alice."
Alice leaned against the doorframe, curious. What's she gonna say?
Pansy swallowed hard. "Last night… the duel… that wasn't really me. These past few weeks, living with you—I know what kind of person you are."
"But Flint told my family what happened on the first day. They went nuts—said I'd embarrassed the family. They threatened to cut me off, disown me, everything—if I didn't beat you in a duel."
"Even the stuff I said during the fight? Flint made me say it. He threatened me—if I didn't trash-talk you, he'd…"
Her voice cracked. Tears started rolling.
Millicent opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, but thought better of it. She stayed quiet.
Alice watched Pansy cry, face calm.
"I've never had a family breathing down my neck like that," she said, "but I come from money. I've heard how old families operate."
"You want forgiveness? I get why you did it. But I'm not giving it."
"You had a million reasons. I only see one thing: when it came down to it, you didn't trust me. You didn't even ask for help. You just did what they told you."
"Let's keep things how they are. What happens next is up to both of us."
"Now let's all get some sleep. This is done."
Alice grabbed her stuff, headed to the bathroom, and didn't look back.
Pansy sank onto her bed, dazed.
Millicent gave her shoulder a pat. "We're not as sharp as Alice Norton, but she's right about one thing—you put the family first. That's not wrong… but it hurt her."
Millicent went quiet after that, staring at the ceiling. If I were in Pansy's shoes… what would I have done?
---
Deep into the night, Alice was lost in the old soul's knowledge inside the Soul Banner. Dorm drama? Didn't care.
The soul watched her cast the Shield Charm over and over, looking half-dead but still nitpicking.
"No, no—your wrist's too wide. Big swings don't make the spell stronger. They weaken it."
"That motion's better, but you're thinking wrong. This spell doesn't attack. It protects. Pure protection. You get that?"
"Protection. Absolute, total protection."
He drilled her, again and again.
Finally, his soul started fading. Alice knew he'd hit his limit. She sent him deep into the Soul Banner to recover, then replayed every cast in the soul space—keeping the best ones, drilling the motion until it felt like muscle memory.
That's how she'd mastered the Shield Charm in under a month.
Expelliarmus? The old soul wasn't much help there—his specialty was dark magic. Why bother disarming when you can just curse someone into next week?
She jotted down her questions about Expelliarmus, then—once her soul was steady in the Soul Banner—she slipped out of the dorm.
Time to finally do it.
With some real self-defense under her belt, Alice Norton was ready to go night-exploring Hogwarts.