[India] - A Scammer's Magic

Delhi, the extremely dense capital area of India which boasts a population of around 30 million. Muggles roam the streets continuing their day to day lives with smiles on their faces unaware of the threat blanketing their capital alongside their entire country. Occasionally if you looked hard enough you could see families with tense faces, wizards and witches who were aware of the threat that loomed over them.

A man sat on the floor stared up and down the market street he was on as he set up his own little area on it with a wide smile on his face.

"Looks like its time to begin again today!".

Slapping his face he very quickly pulled out of his bag many different objects and items. If someone was attentive enough to watch him during this time they would have noticed that the amount of items he was taking out of this bag didn't correlate at all with how big the bag was.

"Okay... jar number 1, set. jar number 2... also set. Jar number 3.... ehh its a little cracked".

Hunching over the man grabbed the third jar and brought it into his coat for a moment. In his right hand a stick appeared and at the tip of the stick a light shimmered.

"Reparo".

As the man uttered the word 'Reparo' under his breath, the originally broke third jar fixed itself. The crack that was once present had now vanished. Giving a slight nod, he pulled the third jar out of his coat again and placed it on the floor in front of him.

"Okay... all set!".

With his preparations complete, the man stood up with a smile on his face and started calling out to those who were walking up and down the market.

"Snake Charmer Birsha is here to show you all some tricks again! Why not place a bet against me too? If I lose to you I will pay you your bet back tenfold!".

After several minutes of advertising himself, Birsha started to gain a crowd around him. Many different people arrived. Some families with their children and some other young adults who were simply interested in what was going on.

"Hello to you all. My name is Birsha and im a snake charmer... observe!".

Playing up the situation Birsha snapped his fingers whilst uttering an incantation under his breath. As he did so a snake was summoned in his sleeve and poked its head out looking at the bewildered muggle audience. As the audience saw Birsha summon a snake in his sleeve, the crowd started to get rowdier.

"Mum did you see that!? He summoned a snake in his sleeve!".

"There has to be some trick to it... how did he do that!?".

"Mister Mister! Teach me your magic!".

Birsha looked at the elated crowd with a friendly smile on his face. However underneath that smile was his disguised emotions.

'Easy... its so easy to fool these non-jaadoos'.

"Settle down, settle down everyone! Theres more where that came from! Let me explain to you all what I want to do with you all today...".

Birsha whispered into his sleeve for a moment and the snake that was summoned within it slithered out and entered into the third jar on Birsha's right.

"This game is pretty simple you see! Whoever wants to challenge me shall come up and watch me move these jars around. After I've mixed them around a bit all you need to do is guess which jar is the one with the snake in it!".

As Birsha explained the game a few people started to leave in the crowd as they were aware that this sort of setup was basically a scam or that there would be some trick to it. However a decent crowd still stuck around due to Birsha's magical ways and wanted to see what more he could do. Stepping forward first was a young indian woman he chucked some money into the pot next to Birsha on the floor.

"I would like to place a bet against you!".

"Aaah! First challenger! come forward and sit opposite me".

The woman walked towards Birsha and sat down on the floor opposite him looking at the three jars on the floor in front of her. Birsha seeing that the woman had sat down lifted the lid off of all three jars. Sure enough on the young woman's left, Birsha's right, was the Jar that had the snake in it that was in Birsha's sleeve.

"Take a good look for a second challenger! Let me know when you are ready for me to start!".

The woman took a moment longer to inspect the jars however she noted that all three of them had an identical design. Seeing as though this idea wouldn't work she instead locked her eyes on the jar that had the snake in it.

"Okay... Im ready!".

"Good, lets begin".

Hearing the go ahead, Birsha started to move the jars around at a fast pace. The speed was just barely slow enough to be able to keep up with. The woman felt sweat drop off her brow as she locked her eyes on the third jar that she knew the snake was in from the beginning. After a minute of shuffling Birsha finally stopped.

"Okay young lady, which jar do you think the snake is in?".

The young woman take a moment to think before pointing at the jar in the middle.

"Im pretty sure its this one!".

Birsha revealed a slight smile as he put his hand onto the lid of the middle jar. As he did so a slight wave of magic, undetectable to the muggles surrounding him, was emitted sneakily. As he lifted the jars lid up he showed the contents to the woman in front of him.

"Thats too bad young lady... would you like to guess again? double or nothing?".

The woman seemed to think for a while before nodding at Birsha's proposal. Chucking the same amount of money she had already chucked into the pot next to Birsha again she looked at the two jars remaining and pointed to the one on her right.

"Its gotta be in this one!".

Birsha this time gestured towards the jar and allowed the woman to open it. As the audiences eyes were trained on the woman opening the jar, Birsha slowly revealed his wand in his right hand and casted a spell at the final jar that the woman hadn't picked. Nobody noticed his movements as he was incredibly fast at enacting this sleight of hand.

Opening the jar the woman looked into it with a depressed look as she noted the snake wasn't in there either. The crowd all clamoured and collectively showed awe at the 'magic' shown towards them. Birsha silently opened the lid on the only jar the woman didn't pick and as he did so a snake poked its head out and hissed at the people surrounding it.

"Better luck next time young lady!".

The young lady looked disheartened as she got up and left. In the meanwhile others from the crowd started to challenge Birsha thinking that they had 'figured out the trick' behind what he was doing. During these constant challenges Birsha would sometimes allow those who bet an extremely small amount to win so as to lure in the bigger spenders more often. Eventually a few hours passed and the pot next to Birsha had filled up rather quickly.

"I'm taking a break everyone! Come back in an hour to participate again!".

The crowd all clicked their tongues and began to depart the area as they heard Birsha's words. The children who were having fun watching the 'magic' refused to leave also. Just as the crowd was about to disperse a voice called out.

"This certainly looks like an interesting game... Can I have a go before you head off to your break?".

The crowd split open to reveal the person who had just spoke. To the crowds surprise it was a foreigner who spoke their language perfectly. Next to this foreigner was a girl who seemed to hold a 'western beauty' to her and by her body language she seemed servile to the boy who had just spoke.

Taking a deeper look at the boy who spoke some of the female crowd members found themselves glued to his deep purple eyes, an eye colour that was extremely rare. Not only that, he also had a single streak of purple in his hair and his face could easily be described as 'handsome' despite his age being on the young side. His physique also seemed to be quite lean yet it gave off the feeling of 'density' when looked at. The muscles on his forearm were chiselled perfectly showing that this boy had trained himself physically for a long period of time.

Birsha stared at the purple eyed boy for a moment trying to analyse him. After sometime he instead shrugged and sneered internally.

'Might as well grab a bit more cash before I head off... the ministry officials will probably be here in an hour to try and catch me again'.

"Aaaah... I'm feeling generous today so yeah why not! Come over young man come over!".

The purple eyed boy walked through the crowd with the young girl who seemed to be attached at the hip to him. Her emerald green eyes scanned the surroundings and her white glossy hair seemed to captivate the male portion of the crowd alongside some of the females as well as she walked on through.

The purple haired boy sat down opposite Birsha who started to arrange the jars in order again. Birsha locked eyes with the boy who seemed to be staring intently at the jars... or more specifically at something inside the jars.

"What is your name young man!".

Looking up at Birsha the purple eyed boy spoke.

"It's Oz... Oz Ambrosius".

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A/N - Finally into the India arc. This one will include A LOT of world building on my end. A lot of new characters who I hope you will like and even brand new areas to explore. This arc was designed to challenge my weaknesses which lay in world building and character development so I hope I can improve drastically as the arc is written!