The Snidget

A/n This is my very first story so yay! Reviews and welcome, I want to know what you thought

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling,. I own absolutely nothing (unfortunately)

Barberus Bragge, Chief of the Wizards' Council sat in his office thinking about Quidditch. It was a wonderful sport and he sincerely enjoyed watching the game. In fact, he was to attend a game that weekend and he was rather looking forward to it. But as much as he loved watching the Beaters try and knock everyone off their brooms by hitting the Blooders towards them, and he thoroughly enjoyed watching the Catchers try and get past the Keeper (especially when it was two on one, much more exciting) he felt that a certain something was still missing from the game. He thought about this for quite some time, because it was much more interesting than writing reports. In fact, so caught up was he with these thoughts that he almost forgot that he was to go for a spot of Snidget-hunting with some of his colleagues and friends. Once he remembered he got very excited again, because who did not love Snidget-hunting? The excitement of the hunt, coupled with the patience and intelligence needed to catch the fast little birds made for a very fun time.

Chief Bragge told his secretary that he was leaving, and she wished him luck on the hunt. Half and hour later he was in a forest near his house with nine others Snidget-hunters. Some had come with nets, most had their wands and two of the hunters were going to try and use their bare-hands!

Chief Bragge and the other members of his party went out to look. After nearly two painstaking hours, Chief Bragge was nearing his prey. He got very close and, very stealthily, used a non-verbal Summoning charm. The Snidget zoomed into his hand and he caught it gently, not wanting to crush the little bird. He conjured a cage and put the little bird inside. After another hour and a half, the entire party met up where they had started. Many were jealous, as Bragge was the only one to have been successful, but they said nothing, not wanting to offend the Chief of the Wizards' Council.

When Bragge returned home he placed the cage containing the Snidget in the spacious sitting-room of his manor. His wife was very confused when he would spend hours staring at the little bird, wondering what he was thinking. By Thursday, he had stopped and was walking around with a grin on his face that didn't go away. His wife was still confused, but she wouldn't be for much longer. She, and everyone else who had been curious (and a little concerned) about their Chief's behaviour found out on Saturday what had made their Chief so happy.

Saturday dawned with the Chief looking as happy as he had been for the last two days. His wife just shrugged it off, but her curiosity was peaked again when her husband grabbed the cage with the Snidget to bring with them to the game of Quidditch they were to attend. As much as she wanted to, she knew not to ask why, but to just accept the fact that she would find out eventually.

Because of some delays, they were late and the game had already started. Chief Bragge didn't seem to notice this and instead walked out onto the pitch. Everyone stopped to see what this was about. His voice magically magnified, Chief Bragge told the assembled players that he was going to release the Snidget, and the player who caught it would receive one hundred and fifty Galleons. As one all of the players rose up and tried o catch the Snidget that had been released. Despite the fact that there was fourteen of them and one of it, the players were so far unsuccessful. The Snidget too was unsuccessful in its attempt to escape, owing to the fact that the wizards and witches in the crowd kept it back with jinxes.

This had been going on for barely five minutes when a witch stormed onto the pitch, screaming at Bragge, telling him off for using a defenseless animal in this way. Bragge laughed at the woman and threw the empty cage at her to tell her to back off. The next thing that Bragge knew, however, was that the woman was running away, stuffing the Snidget down her robes. Furious, Bragge and some of his advisors followed her, but by the time they caught her she had released the bird. Bragge was beside himself with rage, but had to be contented with only fining the woman ten Galleons, when his advisors wouldn't let him send her to Azkaban.

Even though it had been a disappointing end to the day, when Chief Bragge got home, he felt satisfied. He knew that now the game was almost complete, and that it was all thanks to him that it was.

A/n2 well, that went better than expected, seeing as it was the first story I've written . This story is from Quidditch Through the Ages, but isn't quite as detailed as the one I wrote. That one is told from the point of view of Modesty Rabnott (the woman who saved the Snidget) and I thought that I would write it from the point of view of the man who introduced the Snidget to the game and changed it forever. Again, I own nothing (sadly) and this wonderful plot/characters/everything belong(s) to J.K. Rowling