Quidditch Balls

The Quaffle 
        The Quaffle As we know from Gertie Keddle's diary, the Quaffle was from earliest times made of leather.  Alone of the
four Quidditch balls, the Quaffle was not originally enchanted, but merely a patched leather ball, often with a strap (see Fig.
E), as it had to be caught and thrown one handed. Some old Quaffles have forger holes.  With the discovery of Gripping
Charms in 1875, however, straps and finger holes have become unnecessary, as the Chaser is able to keep a one handed hold
on the charmed leather without such aids.
        The modern Quaffle is twelve inches in diameter and seamless.  It was first coloured scarlet in the winter of 1711, after a
game when heavy rain had made it indistinguishable from the muddy ground whenever it was dropped.  Chasers were also.
becoming. increasingly irritated by the necessity of diving continually towards the grouse to retrieve the Quaffle whenever they
missed a beater and so, shortly after the Quaflle's change of colour, the witch Daisy Pennifold had the idea of bewitching the
Quaffle so that if dropped, it would fall slowly earthwards as though sinking through water, meaning that Chasers could grab it
in mid air. The "Pennifold Quaffle" is still used today. Fig. E

The Bludgers 
        The first Bludgers (or "Blooders") were, as we have seen, rocks, and in Mumps's time they had merely progressed to
rocks carved into the shape of balls.  These had one important disadvantage; however: They could be cracked by the
magically reinforced Beaters' bats of the fifteenth century, in which case all players . would be pursued by flying gravel for the
remainder of the game.
        It was probably for this reason that some Quidditch teams began, experimenting with metal Bludgers in the early sixteenth
century. Agatha Chubb, expert in ancient wizarding artifacts, has; identified no fewer than twelve lead ,Bludgers dating from-
this period, Irish peat bogs and English marshes: "They are undoubtedly Bludgers rather than cannon balls," she writes.

The faint indentations of magically reinforced Beaters' bats are visible and one can see the distinctive hallmarks ufacture by a
wizard fns opposed to a Muggle) -the oothness of line, the perfect symmetry.  A final clue was the fact that each and every one
of them whizzed around my study and attempted to knock me to the floor when released from its case.
 
        Lead was eventually discovered to be too soft for the purpose of Bludger manufacture (any indentation -left, an a Bludger
will affect its, ability to fly straight). Nowadays all Bludgers are made of iron. They are ten inches in diameter.
        Bludgers are bewitched to chase players indiscriminately. If left to their own devices, they will attack the player closest to
them, hence the Beaters' task is to knock the Bludgers as far away from their own team as possible.

The Golden Snitch
The Golden Snitch is walnut-sized, as was the Golden Snidget. It is bewitched to evade capture as long as possible. There is a
tale that a Golden Snitch evaded capture for six months on Bodmin Moor in 1884, both teams finally giving up in disgust at
their Seekers' poor performances. Cornish wizards familiar with the area insist to this day that the Snitch is still living wild on
the moor, though I have not been able to confirm this story.
 

This Information Came From 
Quidditch Through The Ages
by Kenniworthy Whisp