The New Marauders and the Password Panic

The Snake and the Lion

"GRYFINDOR!"
Logan had squealed with excitement before hopping down to join her new housemates. She had only been there a few hours but Logan was convinced that Hogwarts was amazing. She honestly couldn't find a single thing about wizards and magic that she didn't like... until-
Oof!
"Oh! I'm so-"
"Watch where you're going, will you!" A beady eyed boy shouted.
The first year stumbled away as the student shoved her before fading back into a sea of silver and green. He was gone before anyone could do or say anything but Prefect Rosalie put a hand on her shoulder.
"Best stay away from their lot." She told her. "Especially considering..."
"... Considering?" Logan prompted.
"Well." She sighed. "You're muggleborn."
Logan hadn't even known what the word "muggle" meant the first time she heard it from a witch or wizard. Of course she did now but the fact that it was a reason to stay away from anyone still eluded her.
"... And?"
Rosalie sighed and pulled her in close.
"Look, sometimes there are gonna be folks here that tell you having none magical parents is somethin' to be ashamed of." She whispered. "And I don't want you to believe 'em for a second. But the truth is that there are some folks..." She eyed the Slytherins nearby. "who think you don't belong here. They're wrong of course, but you gotta understand. THEIR folk have a reputation for trying to hurt people like you, simply because of their lineage."
"That's..."
"Wrong? Disgusting? Flawed?"
"Nothing new..."
Logan turned to her, her long beautiful braids swirling around the dark skin of her face and shoulders. There were small traces of tears in the young girl's eyes behind her round glasses.
...
That run in would not be the last time she faced the beady eyed boy. In fact, the next time she did was literally the next day. She had been skateboarding down the halls, trying to get a feel for the school. Then she saw him out of the corner of her eye. He was with two other Slytherins. One taller than the others with slick back hair and impossibly white teeth. The other with dusty brown hair and a sprinkling of freckles. She and the beady eyed one made eye contact for the faintest second before a wall blocked him from view. She tried to shake the experience from her mind but she found that rather impossible... as only moments later she saw him and his buddies round a corner and start CHASING HER. Rightfully, she panicked and began speeding down the halls on her skateboard, trying to outrun them.
"There she is!" She heard a voice yell.
She risked a glance back to see the three boys racing after her. Logan's eyes widened when she turned back, ready to push her speed limits even further, she whipped around a corner and-
Uh oh.
There was a kid in the way.
...
Molli had been casually sauntering down the halls. He didn't really have a goal in mind other than not being in the Slytherin common room when everyone else woke up so he just sort of wandered aimlessly for a while.
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Molli's head jerked up. What was that sound? It... kinda sounded like a trolly moving really really fast? And it was getting louder. Molli barely had the time to turn in the right direction when a girl on a rolling contraption appeared, hurtling towards him. Rightfully, he was terrified. What even WAS that board with wheels she was standing on and why was it moving so fast IN HIS DIRECTION!? The girl's bright amber eyes widened as she quickly descended on him. Molli only had the time to drop to the floor with his hands on his head and pray that one: the impact wouldn't hurt too much, and two: that his squeal of fear was high pitched enough that no one could hear it. He waited to feel the other first year slam into him.
...
This did not happen. Instead, Logan dug down deep inside herself and was seemingly possessed by a skateboarding ghost named Chad as she jumped and performed the highest, sickest, alley she had ever done before. She soared over Molli in slow motion, the two of them managing to make eye contact... right before Chad, The Skateboarding Ghost, decided to leave Logan's body and she crashed to the floor.
...
"OOF!" She grunted loudly as her board clattered to the floor.
Molli removed his hands from his head and stared at the girl in shock. She was a small girl. Dark skin, a pair of yellow glasses perched on her nose, and decked out in red and gold. A Gryffindor.
"Oh my... Merlin! Are you alright!?" Molli asked, sliding to her side on his knees.
The girl groaned but didn't get the chance to answer before a voice interrupted them.
"She went this way!" The voice called.
Molli recognized that voice. What was his brother doing chasing a first year? Was he really that... mean? Molli wasn't sticking around to find out. So when the Gryffindor girl stared down the hall, eyes wide and expecting to see three Slytherin boys whip around the corner at any second, Molli grabbed her hand, pulled her to her feet, and RAN.
"Come on!" He whispered to her as she scrambled to keep a grip on her wheeled contraption. The two of them ran down the halls. Molli then pulled them both into a door and closed it quickly. The room just so happened to be the library and the two of them slammed their backs against it and listened.
... pat pat pat paT PAT PAT PAT PAt pat pat pat pat pat...
The two of them exhaled as the footsteps faded away.
...
"Are you sure they won't find us here?" Logan asked, voice still in a whisper.
"Yeah. Furgus is dyslexic and tends to avoid libraries." Her savoir informed her. "Places with lots of books make him feel dumb."
Logan quirked an eyebrow.
"You KNOW those prats?"
...
Molli seized up. Oh no. Oh shoot, he was already messing this up. Quick! Say something!
"I-I don't really KNOW THEM know them." He stuttered. "I-I-I k-know... OF them? No, I know more than just "of them". I've met them before..." he muttered. "B-but I don't know them very well. I just... have a brother that shares a lot of classes with them."
He neglected to mention that his brother WAS ONE OF THEM but he wasn't about to tell the first person his age to speak to him that he was related to the git that chased her down the halls.
The girl just sort of... blinked at him.
"They've... picked on me too in the past." He told her.
THAT seemed to set her eyes ablaze.
"Those TOSSERS!" She snarled.
Molli flinched a little as she slammed her fist into her palm. She sighed.
"Well, nice to know it wasn't anything personal at least." She joked.
Molli chuckled nervously. It probably did have something to do with the fact that she was a Gryffindor and therefore WAS a bit personal... but she didn't need to know that.
"So..." Molli trailed off. "What IS that thing?" He asked, pointing to the wooden board with wheels.
She followed his gaze and looked at him in confusion.
"...My skateboard?"
"Your what-now?"
She gave him an incredulous smile.
"You're telling me there are no skateboards in the wizarding world?" She asked. "And here I thought wizards were supposed to be the ones with all the cool stuff!"
She cackled with laughter but Molli went pale. Oh crap, she was muggleborn too? Great. Another reason why his brother was chasing her and another reason she'll hate his guts if she ever finds out who his family is. To prevent this from happening sooner rather than later, he laughed along with her as she dropped the "skateboard" to the floor and jumped on.
"You ride it like this." She told him, pushing off with her back foot.
She did a few laps around one of the tables before stopping in front of him again and kicking the board into her hands again.
"You're tellin' me there's not a SINGLE thing like that in the wizarding world?" She asked.
"We... have magical flying brooms?" He offered.
She smirked.
"Everything's gotta be magic with you lot, doesn't it?"
"As far as I've seen... yes."
They laughed again.
"Anyways, thanks for the save." She said, tucking the board under her arm. "Doest my white knight haveth a name?"
"Molli." He spoke without thinking.
The girl tilted her head in confusion and Molli blushed. He forgot that "molly" was a girl's name.
"Short for Mollisith." He tumbled out. "I-it's a family name."
"Ah." She raised her eyebrows. "Cool. I'm Logan."
Logan smiled at him brightly enough that he actually managed to smile back sincerely. It caught him off guard but he honestly didn't mind one bit. Even if she WAS muggleborn he had expected at least ONE quip about how he was "friendly for a Slytherin" or "probably one of the good ones". But nope. Instead she simply asked for his name and that was that.
"Sooo...." Logans's voice rang. "Whatcha doing here so early, Molli?"
"Couldn't sleep."
It occurred to Molli that he said that far too quickly but he hoped she wouldn't notice. He didn't want to explain that he COULD sleep, he just didn't WANT to because he didn't want to be in the Slytherin common room in the first place.
"And... you?" He asked, hoping to change the subject quickly.
It worked.
"I wanted to scope out the place. Also, I was lookin' for a way to dye my hair red." She told him. "I wanted to dye my hair my house colors."
"O-oh!" Molli stuttered. "M-maybe I can h-help with that?"
Logan's amber eyes lit up.
"Really!? How!?"
"Um...color change charm? I don't really know any but it should be simple enough..."
"You can do that!?" Logan exclaimed, grabbing his shoulders.
"WE can do that." He corrected. "We're... you know, MAGIC. But... I guess if you want ME to cast the spell?"
"You don't mind, do you?" She asked, reeling her hands back. "I've never cast a spell before..."
"I can if you like. I guess I do have a LITTLE bit more experience than you do."
She cheered. Now they just needed to find the spell. Well... they WERE in a library.
"Found it!" Molli called, popping up with a book labeled "Simple Illusory Spells".
"Illusory?" Logan echoed.
"Of course." Molli answered, jumping down from the floating book he was perched on and leafing through the one in his hands. "After all, color is just how your brain reads light waves. Illusions are all about tricking the brain."
"And here I thought science wasn't a thing here." Logan chuckled.
"Here it is!" Molli pointed at the paper. "Colour change charm! Looks like it's semi permanent too so it'll stay in better than regular hair dye."
"Neat!" Logan jumped up next to him.
Molli shied away from her a little bit. Her energy was a bit unpredictable to him.
"S-so... do you want it all red?" He asked, taking out his wand.
"No." She said. "Just the tips."
"Ah..."
That'll be a little more tricky.
"A-and what kind? Dark red? Light red? Crimson?"
"The same as my robes." She informed him.
He nodded. He waved his wand a few times and muttered the words to himself. All he had to do was picture the color he wanted (or mimick a color he was seeing) and imagine it on his target. He took one last look at her before pointing his wand.
"Colovaria!"
There was a bright fiery red that shot out the tip of his wand. Looks like he got the color right. The magic hit Logan and Molli watched as the color quickly spread... onto ALL of her. Molli's jaw dropped as he realized his mistake.
...
"Oh no!" He gasped
"What?" Logan asked.
Molli looked horrified. The beam hadn't felt like it did anything... except... She could see fuzzy red rings around the edges of her vision. She moved her glasses forward on her nose a bit and confirmed that, yes, her glasses were red now. She went a little cross eyed looking at them and realized that her nose was red too. So was her hand.
"Molli..."
"I'm so sorry!" He fretted. "It was too much! I didn't think clearly enough about what I was colouring and-"
...
He paused as Logan took out an odd square device. It was also red. She looked into it as though it were a mirror... and laughed.
Molli had accidently turned her whole body, glasses and clothes included, RED. And instead of screaming or crying or yelling at him... she LAUGHED.
"Oh my god!" She cried. "I look like my entire existence got sunburnt!"
She cackled loudly.
"I-I guess I went a little overboard..." Molli stuttered. "B-but it's okay! I have the counter spell right here..."
Logan just laughed some more and nodded.
"Finite!" Molli commanded.
There was no flash this time and instead Logan's original colors returned without a hitch. If there was one thing Molli could do, it was counter spells. He tended to mess up a lot with magic but at least he knew how to fix it.
"I'm really sorry..."
"Why are you sorry? That was awesome!" Logan grinned. "Come on! Let's try again!"
Molli's jaw dropped.
"Are... are you sure?"
"Yeah! Come on, hit me!"
Molli looked uncertainly at his wand but complied. He took a deep breath and raised it again.
...
The next time he ended up turning just her head red and at least her glasses survived.
"Finite!"
Next he finally got it to stay in her hair but it still coloured all of it instead of just the tips.
"Pfft! You look like a Weasley!"
"What's a Weasley?"
"Famous wizarding family. You wouldn't know them."
And the fourth and final time he managed the spell perfectly. Her long black braids transitioned from the dark rich black to the bright fiery red perfectly. Once again, Logan took out her small black rectangle (which was revealed, after the counter spell, to be rainbow striped on the back) and smiled brightly at her new coloured braids.
"Brilliant! I love it!" She cheered.
Molli sighed in relief before perking up in confusion at the odd flash and clicking sound that came from the device. It was like a camera. Logan shoved it into his hands.
"Here! Take a picture from the back." She told him.
She then turned around with her back to him. Molli had no idea how to do what she asked and looked down at the phone to find the normally black reflective surface now glowing and showing a real time picture of Molli, like a mirror. Molli looked at it in awe and confusion. What was this magic and why had he never heard of it before? Logan popped up next to him again, sensing his confusion.
"Press this button to flip the camera." She told him, tapping an image of a circle with arrows pointing clockwise.
The camera changed to show the room before him instead of his own face now. Logan appeared on the little screen as she resumed her position. Molli centered it so her hair fit perfectly in the frame like he would with a regular camera.
"Then press the big circle button at the bottom to take the picture."
The button wasn't hard to find. Molli did as he was told and the image froze. It then shrunk and tucked itself into a little square at the bottom left hand corner. Curiously, he clicked on it and was greeted with dozens upon dozens of photos all tucked into the small screen. He tapped again and one of the photos blew up to cover the whole screen. This one starred Logan (as many of them did) but with two adults as well. They were wearing colorful cones on their heads and Logan was holding out her Hogwarts acceptance letter.
"Molli!"
The boy in question jumped as she called his name.
"H-huh?"
"I was asking if you took the picture." Logan stated.
"O-oh! Uh..." he held the rectangle out to her.
She dragged her thumb against it and then smiled.
"Brilliant." She then clicked a button on its side. "Thanks!"
She slipped it into her robe pocket and that was that. Molli was still in awe at the device but one sentence managed to shake him of this.
"Want me to do yours?"
Molli sputtered.
"I-I uh... what?"
"Your hair! I can make it green for you if you want?" She clarified, waving her wand around with a grin.
Molli laughed loud and nervously.
"Uh... I WANNA say yes... b-but my mum would have my head."
She shrugged and pocketed her wand.
"Fair enough. Thanks again for helping me with this." She said, playing with one of her braids.
"Thank YOU f-for letting me practice on you." He answered. "I was getting a little rusty with my charms."
"No problem!" She sighed. "But blimey, I should probably start practicing. I know exactly nothing about magic."
"U-um, you can borrow this." Molli offered, handing her "Simple Illusory Spells". "Illusion magic is pretty easy. It's a nice place to start."
...
Logan's eyes glittered as she took the book in her hands.
"Thank you!" She said, holding the book as if it held the secrets of the universe within its pages.
She looked up into Moli's green eyes. It was funny how her worst and best experiences at Hogwarts so far were both from Slytherins. But, to be honest, she hadn't even really noticed that until she'd taken a good look at his tie to decipher what house he was in.
"Hey..." She called to get his attention again. "Do you wanna sit with me for breakfast?"
Molli's smile immediately dropped. His face twisted in conflict.
"I totally would but, uh... I don't know if you haven't noticed but, we're in different houses."
"And?"
Molli blinked in surprise.
"AND you're supposed to sit with your housemates."
"Says who?"
"EVERYONE."
It was her turn to blink.
"Really?"
Molli bit his lip. Technically there was no rule against sitting at a table other than your own. No ACTUAL rule that is. It was more of an unspoken thing. And sure, occasionally one or two students would go to sit with a friend from another house at a mealtime, but for a first year Slytherin to sit at Gryffindor table next to a first year muggleborn on his first day? He didn't necessarily care what other people would say but... what would his brother say?... What would his MOTHER say?
"Y-you know what?" He said. "I'm not hungry." That normally would have been a filthy lie but it was true. The thought of his family's disapproval completely destroyed his appetite. "H-how about I show you around Hogwarts instead?"
Logan grinned widely.
"Perfect."