The applause that accompanied a declaration of a first year into a house was congradulatory...for three of them. For Slytherin, it was a celebration of the victory of taking someone from the rest of the houses. And so nearly immediately, the snakes wanted to know what they had won.
"Welcome to Slytherin.", the boy told Selene. "Are you taking Muggle Studies? Oof."
The girl considered him. He was trying to be slick, in that way that his family must have told him he should be. And when he asked how they gave him this trick. Instead of asking her about her house, because muggles could often share the names of squibs lost hundreds of years ago were forced into muggle society, he asked about muggle studies. If she said "no", then it was likely she was a pureblood with little interest in muggle things as a proper lady should have except when deigning a polite interest in the company of muggleborns. If she said yes, then which? Was she a progressive from a magical family looking to learn about all the ways muggles muddled through life without access to magic? Or was she ignorant of the world she entered. But it was such an obvious ploy that someone tried to shut him up through a quick application of pain - even if she did not see who.
Screw him.
"Yes, I am.", she answered.
"Which?", he asked.
She smiled. She declared loudly "Both. It's the only way to set the record."
A slightly older girl whipped her head to her. Young Ms. Prince met her eye to eye. She thought she was going to be judged on her expression or some other social skill she had been practicing.
She did not expect the girl to leap into her mindscape.
The young blonde set foot into Selene's mindscape. The body of water that her thoughts were supposed to be sunk in was demonstrably strong. The blonde tested the liquid surface she was standing on and it felt like mud held together by the roots of many, many grasses. But what did not make any sense is that none of the constructs that represented thoughts or memories were under the surface. Shards of mirror floated around her. So her surprise at finding a new first year with this much talent did not deter her. A lot of witches had weird talents. But without any practice it did not matter.
She reached out and drew one of the shards to her, only to find that not only did it not show a thought but that it was not even a reflection of her. An image of the first year child with the two wildly different colors of hair stood in the image with the blonde's expression. She turned to another, only now the first year stood in the reflection with her arms folded and an annoyed look on her face. This confused the blonde. If the girl was a real Occulemens, then these mirrors should be arranged in a shield to bounce her out at the slightest intrusion. It was as if the girl could be accomplished in the craft but was choosing not to be.
"Why would someone with a gift for Occlumency leave shields like this open?", the blonde in the foreign mindscape asked into the echoing space over the liquid world.
She felt something grab her by the hair and expose her throat. What had to be Selene Prince's voice rang out. "You're never gonna know, bitch." And then the blonde felt her throat slit.
At the Slytherin table, the blonde had locked eyes with the new girl and only a moment later her hand flew to her throat. It reminded her that it was just a mind scape she slipped into with Legilemency and was not really injured. Not for lack of wishing it according to the expression on Selene's face.
"And just who might you be?", Selene asked the older student.
The blonde already had a Slytherin smile on: one that screamed house unity and I have whoever I'm talking to's best interests at heart. "Delphini Diggory.
"The Brightest Witch of Our Age."
Selene tried to wait just long enough to make the judgement. If the rest of the table rolled their eyes or turned away or coughed into their hands, the girl was smart but full of herself. If no one did...and no one did.
And now she had to think even faster. Did she tell this girl who could sabotage her in her quest that she was mistaken? This was Slytherin - she could be making an enemy. But that title, that coveted title was handed out by popular opinion. Did she dare let that keep settling on this witch? And when was she planning to slip it off of Delphini? Too risky.
"Hm.", Selene acknowledged. "So you're one of the professors? Why are you sitting at a student's table?"
Delphini raised an eyebrow.
"Because I am the Brightest Witch of Of Our Age. So you must be a lot older than I originally thought."