Three Wandering Warlocks
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Overview
In 1963, three newly-graduated students of Hogsworth pulled off an innocent prank on Unmagicals. When their prank was met with applause and awe, the three young boys decided to keep it going to see just how far they could take their charade. What started as a one-time thing soon spiralled into a three-week con that spread throughout much of southern England until the Ministry was finally able to catch the boys and put a stop to their antics.
Crime
Only a fortnight after graduating from Hogsworth, Evan Kinley, Thomas Naren, and Ravi Nambiyar were roaming the streets of Newquay to have a casual night out. The trio came across a group of Unmagicals who were inebriated after a long night out, one of whom was attempting a “magical card trick” in front of his friends. After four failed attempts, Evan stepped forward and boasted that he could show them a far more impressive trick. Evan gave a sly wink to Thomas, signalling him to pull out his wand and cast a levitation spell. The Unmagicals watched with mouths agape as Evan seemingly lifted an empty pint off the table and into his hand.
The Unmagical men cheered loudly and a modest crowd began to form. Thomas stepped forward this time and proclaimed that he could pull a rabbit out of his hat, “just like all the other magicians.” Muttering the Lapiforma spell under his breath, he produced a small rabbit from out of his beanie. The Unmagicals were so enthused by his display that they didn't notice when the rabbit disappeared mere moments later. Although, most of them were rather delirious from the night's festivities.
Ravi, wanting to be sensible but still have fun, loudly declared that they had to leave. The crowd groaned and begged them to stay, but Ravi grabbed his friends by their arms and quickly ducked behind a large hedge. Just before the Unmagicals could round the corner, the three boys used Appareo to move themselves across the street and safely out of sight. For the rest of the night, the boys rode their adrenaline high and laughed about what they had done.
Three nights later, Evan suggested they go to a different pub and “perform” for the Unmagicals again. Just as they had done before, the three boys drew small crowds as they showed off their “talents” to the Unmagicals. The only difference between this night and the first was that an older woman had given them money, which led to many more bystanders throwing coins their way. Not only were they successfully fooling Unmagicals, but they were even making a fair amount of money from it.
For the next fortnight, the boys travelled from town to town along the west coast of England, delighting the crowds and raking in more money than they had expected. They had even coined themselves ‘The Three Wandering Warlocks’, which brought mischievous grins to their faces knowing that it was the truth, even if the Unmagicals did not believe it. But the longer they kept up their ruse, the bigger the crowds got. Their biggest mistake was choosing a crowd of Unmagicals who were very much sober and aware. From there, word began to spread slowly around neighbouring towns before it reached the Ministry.
Getting Caught
Only two days after the Ministry first received word of their travelling show, Auralocks managed to apprehend the three criminals. It didn’t take long for the Ministry to trace all the towns they had appeared in and make an educated guess on where they would appear next. Chief Auralock at the time, Robert Ballinger, was the one to track them down and ultimately make the arrest.
Minutes before the boys had planned another “performance,” Robert Ballinger and four other Auralocks appeared before them and they were quickly surrounded. They disappeared just as quickly as they left, this time with the boys in custody. According to reports from the case, Thomas and Evan had attempted to flee but did not get far due to Ravi pleading with them to give up their charade. With Ravi’s admission of guilt, the other two boys surrendered and allowed their not-so-elaborate ruse to come to an end.
The Cover-Up
By the time they were apprehended, at least a few thousand people had either witnessed or heard of the Three Wandering Warlocks, and word still continued to spread. Each show the boys put on increased with grandeur and became increasingly difficult to rationalise. Ballinger and a few of his finest Auralocks began to spin another tale of their own to counteract what the boys had done.
In less than a week, they published a book titled A Magicians Guide to Magic and Splendour into the Unmagical world. The book included detailed instructions on how to perform “tricks” for crowds and friends, all without including a single bit of actual magic. On the first page of the book, the “author” included a dedication to the Three Wandering Warlocks, who he claimed had “helped him grab the public’s attention and turn their minds toward magical thoughts.” The imaginary author admitted that he used them as his own form of marketing for his book, which ended up selling many thousands of copies.
The Unmagical world, as uncultured and oblivious as they were, took the imaginary author at his word and spoke praises of the ‘ingenious’ strategy he had used to promote his book. Talk of the Three Wandering Warlocks and A Magicians Guide to Magic and Splendour died down before the year was up, only aiding the cover-up and successfully putting it in the past.
Due to their adolescence, the Ministry was lenient with their punishments. All three boys were harshly reprimanded—most thoroughly by their own mothers—and had their wands taken away for a year following their crime spree. When their wands were returned to them, they were only allowed to use basic spells and were required to be supervised when doing so. Any breach of these conditions would result in their wands being taken away permanently and, depending on the severity of the breach, serve a sentence in a Ministry prison. Luckily for the boys, they were wise enough to heed the warnings and kept themselves on the good side of the Auralocks.
Trivia
- You can learn about the Three Wandering Warlocks and other crimes in Magical Crime Studies classes taught by the Academics team.
