From Harry Potter Wiki

The Golden Snitch, or sometimes Snitch, is a ball in Quidditch. It is small and golden-colored with wings. It flies around the Quidditch field at a high speed, sometimes pausing. The Seeker of either team tries to catch the Snitch for a score of 150 points. The game ends when the Snitch is caught.

Snitches have flesh memories, and can remember the touch of the first person who handled them in case of a disputed capture. Even the maker and the referee always touch the Snitch with gloves.

Albus Dumbledore left the first Golden Snitch that Harry Potter ever caught to him after he died. He enchanted the Snitch to hold the Resurrection Stone, and it would only open for him once he accepted the fact that he needed to die to defeat Lord Voldemort. Because Harry caught the Snitch in his mouth, the writing on the Snitch - I open at the close - was only revealed when he put it in his mouth.

[edit] History of the Golden Snitch

The Golden Snitch was originally not a ball, but a little bird called a Golden Snidget. It was introduced in 1269, when the Chief of the Wizards' Council, Barberus Bragge, unleashed a Golden Snidget during a Quidditch match, offering a reward of 150 Galleons (now worth over a million Galleons) to the player who caught the Snidget.

Thereafter, it became customary to set frightened Snidgets loose during games. As a tribute to Bragge, 150 points were given to the team that caught the Snidget. This Snidget-catching craze naturally harmed the bird's population, but the wizarding community was then unwilling to stop this barbaric activity, and ceased to use Snidgets only when the bird was labeled as endangered.

A replacement for the Golden Snidget was sought, and the skilled metal-charmer Bowman Wright invented Golden Snitch to replace it. The Snitch weighed exactly the same as a Snidget, and its rotational wings imitated the bird's, allowing it to change direction and speed like its living counterpart.

One tale concerning the Snitch is that, during a match on Bodmin Moor in 1884, it managed to avoid capture for six months until both teams finally gave up in disgust at the performance of their Seekers. Cornish wizards insist to this day that the Snitch is still living wild in the area.

[edit] Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Quidditch Through the Ages
• Quidditch World Cup

Game of Quidditch
Officials: Quidditch referee
Player positions: Beater • Chaser • Keeper • Seeker
Playing equipment: Beater's bat • Bludger • Broomstick • Golden Snitch • Quaffle