Arthur Weasley Meets the Street Magician
It was a rough morning in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department. Arthur misplaced the subject of his rubber duck research and accidentally spilled some Monster Potion on his stack of Muggle books. He escaped his office to avoid meeting whatever creature would be created out of the potion and 50 Shades of Gray. He let out a large sigh and decided to take a walk to clear his head.
Arthur loved to walk the streets of London to watch the Muggles. His favorites were the young ones on their rolling board contraptions. He was on his way to the park to watch them perform tricks when he happened upon a man who looked as though he was performing magic in plain sight!
Startled, Arthur ran to stop the man, wondering how the Ministry had not already arrived to take him into custody. But when Arthur reached the man he saw Muggle playing cards in his hands, not a wand. Curious, Arthur silently watched the man select a Muggle woman from a small group of spectators to choose a card from the deck and replace it. The man then shuffled the cards in his hands, sifted through them, and pulled one from the stack.
“Is this your card?” the man asked his counterpart.
The woman giggled and nodded before she asked, “How do you do that?”
“Legilimency,” Arthur muttered.
The small Muggle crowd and wizard turned to look at him. “Come again?” the man with the cards asked.
“Legilimency,” Arthur said again. “Very bold of you to practice here of all places. Very bold, indeed.”
“All right, sir. I don’t know what you’re talking about. May I go on with my show now?” the man replied, mildly irritated.
“Certainly. I would have a card, if you please,” Arthur replied. He knew just the trick to catch the lawbreaker.
The man looked at Arthur suspiciously but held the cards out in front of him.
Arthur drew the king of spades and showed the Muggle woman his card before gently slipping the card into the deck. He then focused all his energy on imagining the jack of hearts.
The man with the cards removed the king of spades from the deck after a shuffle. “Is this your card, sir?” he asked, annoyed and pompous all at once.
The Muggle woman squealed with delight, but Arthur was aghast. This must be a very skilled Legilimens. He grabbed the card and examined it. “But I wasn’t thinking of this card… no, no this isn’t right…” he mumbled.
“Give me that back,” the entertainer demanded. As Arthur turned the card, the man made to snatch it from his hand.
“What… what is this?” Arthur noticed a blue mark at the top of the card that made a strange fingerprint-like pattern that was easily brushed away with his thumb.
The crowd all turned from the card to the performer, whose face had gone white.
“You dirty, rotten cheat!” The Muggle woman snapped at the “wizard.” The crowd dispersed, mumbling things like “Well, I must admit I’ve never seen it done that way before” and “clever, too bad that man spoiled it” until it was only Arthur and the man remaining.
“But how did you do that without using Legilimency?” Arthur asked, curious instead of incredulous this time.
“What the bloody hell are you talking about?” The man snapped. “I’m a magician. Street performer, you know?”
“A street magician? So you don’t use real magic?” Arthur whispered.
“You’re a crazy old bat. There is no such thing as ‘real’ magic.” The magician snatched the card from Arthur’s hand and stormed away.
Arthur was perplexed the whole way back to his office. He was so focused on the “street magician,” he completely forgot the spilled Monster Potion awaiting him in his office. Strangely, the potion had done nothing but soak the pages of the book and produce a strong, sugary aroma.
“Those Muggles,” he said with a smile on his face. “I have much more to learn about them!”
He picked up the saturated copy of 50 Shades of Gray, used a quick drying spell, and read the book at this desk.
“Oh my…”
