"Well, they caught me, but not before I'd got out of the crowds and released the Snidget. Chief Bragge was very angry and for a moment I thought I'd end up a horned toad, or worse, but luckily his advisers calmed him down and I was only fined ten Galleons for disrupting the game. Of course I've never had ten Galleons in my life, so that's the old home gone."
-- Modesty Rabnott, writing to her sister about the snidget incident (QA4)
A century earlier, Barberus Bragge had instigated Snidget hunting into the game of Cuaditch, an early form of Quidditch. Now, in the mid-1300s, the small birds are nearing extinction. The head of the Wizards’ Council, Elfrida Clagg, bans Snidget-hunting altogether, as well as its use in Quidditch. She also establishes the Modesty Rabnott Snidget Reservation in Somerset, named after the brave witch, Modesty Rabnott, who stood up to Chief Bragge a hundred years before when he first tossed a Snidget into the middle of a Quidditch match (QA4).
Commentary
Notes
Lexicon timeline of Quidditch
From the Web
Pottermore feature: The witches who shaped Quidditch
Harry Potter Wiki: Modesty Rabnott Snidget Reservation
