Sorting Hat

The Sorting Hat is a sentient Hogwarts artifact which magically determines to which of the four school Houses each new student is to be assigned. These four Houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin.

The Sorting Hat originally belonged to Godric Gryffindor, one of the founders of Hogwarts.

During the opening banquet at the beginning of each school year, the first-year students are lined up and their names read aloud alphabetically. Each then takes a seat on a stool and the hat is placed on their head. After a moment of consideration, the hat announces its choice aloud for all to hear, and the student joins the selected house. The moment of consideration varies in length, from nearly a minute to less than a second. Judging from Harry's own account of his Sorting, and a brief comment made by Hermione, the hat speaks to the student while they're being Sorted.

The Sorting Hat Songs
Before sorting the students each year, the hat recites a new introductory song. These songs vary in length and content. They also occasionally warn of danger to come, as in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - 1991
Oh you may not think me pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

if you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folks use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - 1994
A thousand years or more ago

when I was newly sewn,

there lived four wizards of renown,

whose names are still well known:

bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,

fair Ravenclaw, from glen,

sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,

shrewd Slytherin, from fen.

They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,

they hatched a daring plan

to educate young sorcerers

thus Hogwarts School began.

Now each of these four founders

formed their own house, for each

did value different virtues

in the ones they had to teach.

By Gryffindor, the bravest were

Prized far beyond the rest;

For Ravenclaw, the cleverest

would always be the best;

For Hufflepuff, hard workers were

Most worthy of admission;

And power-hungry Slytherin

loved those of great ambition.

While still alive they did divide

Their favorites from the throng,

Yet how to pick the worthy ones

When they were dead and gone?

'Twas Gryffindor who found the way,

He whipped me off his head

The founders put some brains in me

So I could choose instead!

Now slip me snug about your ears,

I've never yet been wrong,

I'll have a look inside your mind

And tell where you belong!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - 1995
In times of old, when I was new,

And Hogwarts barely started,

The founders of our noble school

Thought never to be parted.

United by a common goal,

They had the selfsame yearning

To make the world's best magic school

And pass along their learning.

"Together we will build and teach"

The four good friends decided.

And never did they dream that they

Might some day be divided.

For were there such friends anywhere

As Slytherin and Gryffindor?

Unless it was the second pair

Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw,

So how could it have gone so wrong?

How could such friendships fail?

Why, I was there, so I can tell

The whole sad, sorry tale.

Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those

Whose ancestry's purest."

Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose

Intelligence is surest"

Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those

With brave deeds to their name."

Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot

And treat them just the same."

These differences caused little strife

When first they came to light.

For each of the four founders had

A house in which they might

Take only those they wanted, so,

For instance, Slytherin

Took only pure-blood wizards

Of great cunning just like him.

And only those of sharpest mind

Were taught by Ravenclaw

While the bravest and the boldest

Went to daring Gryffindor.

Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest

and taught them all she knew,

Thus, the houses and their founders

Maintained friendships firm and true.

So Hogwarts worked in harmony

for several happy years,

but then discord crept among us

feeding on our faults and fears.

The Houses that, like pillars four

had once held up our school

now turned upon each other and

divided, sought to rule.

And for a while it seemed the school

must meet an early end.

what with dueling and with fighting

and the clash of friend on friend.

And at last there came a morning

when old Slytherin departed

and though the fighting then died out

he left us quite downhearted.

And never since the founders four

were whittled down to three

have the Houses been united

as they once were meant to be.

And now the Sorting Hat is here

and you all know the score:

I sort you into Houses

because that is what I'm for.

But this year I'll go further,

listen closely to my song:

though condemned I am to split you

still I worry that it's wrong,

though I must fulfill my duty

and must quarter every year

still I wonder whether sorting

may not bring the end I fear.

Oh, know the perils, read the signs,

the warning history shows,

for our Hogwarts is in danger

from external, deadly foes

and we must unite inside her

or we'll crumble from within

I have told you, I have warned you...

let the Sorting now begin.

The Sorting Hat and Harry Potter
The Sorting Hat appeared to have a difficult time in Sorting Harry Potter. It suggested great fame and glory would be found through joining Slytherin House, but Harry requested specifically and emphatically to be spared that fate. It was this choice that prompted the Hat to instead place him into Gryffindor, wherein both his parents had also been Sorted.

The Sorting Hat also appeared to have had a disagreement in the sorting of Hermione Granger, as her expansive intelligence and future of being the best student in her year saw her as being well suited for Ravenclaw. This is a fact that is brought up in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by several Ravenclaw students during the formation of Dumbledore's Army. However, it can be argued that Hermione saw a greater challenge in herself in becoming bold, loyal and courageous, the three traits of Gryffindor House.

In Harry's second year at Hogwarts, the hat played a critical role in Harry's success against the Basilisk. Fawkes valiantly brought the Sorting Hat to Harry's aid in the Chamber of Secrets, which provided him with Godric Gryffindor's sword. The sword and hat together are the two known relics of that wizard.

In Harry's senior year at Hogwarts, which was not actually spent at the school, Lord Voldemort attempted to destroy the Hat by setting it on fire while it was atop Neville Longbottom's head. Neville was able to draw from it the Sword of Godric Gryffindor, which he then courageously used to behead Nagini.

Almost two decades after the Battle of Hogwarts, Albus Severus Potter expresses worry over his own Sorting, indicating that the Sorting Hat had been repaired.

Behind the scenes

 * In the first two Harry Potter movies, he is voiced by actor Leslie Phillips.
 * Songs are featured in all the books with the exception of book seven.
 * Harry was not physically present for the Sorting Hat's songs in books two, three and six. Harry was, however, present for the song and Sorting ceremony in the third movie.
 * In the American edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry saw that "there were only three people left to be sorted," but then Professor McGonagall read off four more names (Dean Thomas, Lisa Turpin, Ron Weasley and Blaise Zabini). Dean Thomas didn't appear in the British edition.

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