You Must Hear This Bittersweet Harry Potter Story

We Muggles don't often get to enjoy the trappings of the Wizarding World, but every now and then, they decide to leave us a little something. Like, for instance a mysterious Quidditch plaque that appeared outside a British hospital. Recently, though, the mystery was finally solved, and sadly it does not involve any actual witches or wizards — at least that we know of.

The plaque in question appeared outside a children's hospital in Bristol beside an interactive sculpture called the Lillipop-de-Bop, which was probably meant to look like lollipops but also bears a striking resemblance to the goal hoops used in Quidditch. The plaque reads:

Dedicated to the Children of Bristol

The 1998 Quidditch World Cup Posts

Enchanted by Adou Sosseh

Have a Magical Day

Adou Sosseh, in case you're not up on your magical sports trivia, was the captain of the 1998 Senegal Quidditch team, who lost the cup that year to Malawi. But before leaving Bristol, it seems he left behind the goal posts (enchanted, of course) for us Muggles to enjoy — at least if the plaque is to be believed.

The plaque was actually put up by a man named Cormac Seachoy who crowdfunded in order to have it made, and then attached it to the hospital with industrial glue in 2014. It looked so official that the hospital didn't even notice it for a year and a half. Even though Seachoy put the evidence right on Twitter.

In a twist that's downright tragic, though, 27-year-old Seachoy was diagnosed with terminal cancer less than a year after putting the plaque up. He passed away in December of 2015.

Seachoy's friend James Carberry, who helped him affix the plaque, told BBC Newsbeat, "He always used to say how the sculpture looked like the Quidditch posts. He wanted the children at the hospital to think they were a gift from wizards."

The hospital, who has now noticed that there's a strange plaque sitting next to their sculpture, has said that they're planning to keep it up. They do ask, though, that any future gifts from any other "magical beings" get permission before going up, so that the "Muggles" in charge of the hospital can know what's going on and make sure they're maintaining those gifts properly.

Carberry thinks that Seachoy would probably be pleased with the outcome. "It would really put a smile on his face to think that people are now talking about the plaque and that the hospital's decided to keep it," he said. "He didn't really want much attention from the plaque. He just wanted to do something that would make people smile on their way in and out of the hospital."

It's a story so sweet and heartbreaking even J.K. Rowling tweeted about it. Which Seachoy (who had to be a diehard Potter hard fan if he knew who captained the losing 1998 World Cup team) probably would have loved.

Image: Warner Bros.