If you're a huge fan of Harry Potter, chances are you know that Felix Felicis is known as liquid luck, the Quaffle is the largest ball used in quidditch, Polyjuice Potion allows people to change their appearance and personality, and the Golden Snitch is a small gold-colored winged creature enchanted to fly around indiscriminately during a game of Quidditch. But did you know that a different magical creature was used before the invention of the golden snitch?
In the early days of Quidditch, a different golden bird known as a Snidget was used. While the Snidget was able to fly and hover, it was difficult for a player to catch. It is the reason why a position known as the Seeker was not introduced until much later.
Eventually, the population of Snidgets began to drop dangerously low and was unable to continue supporting the sport. Seeing this, a witch named Modesty Rabnott decided to rescue the Snidget. She managed to do so by using a summoning charm, and Barberus Bragge fined her ten Galleons for her actions.
After this, it became a tradition to release a Snitch during a match and award the first team to catch it 150 points. It is because of this that the Snitch is considered to be the most important object in the game of Quidditch and is also a symbol for the sport. Interestingly enough, even though the Snitch is a non-living being, it still has other magical properties such as flesh memory and speed control.
