Sorting Hat

From UnknowableWiki

The Sorting Hat is a old, patched and dirty wizard's hat that once belonged to Godric Gryffindor (GF12). Its brim opens wide, resembling a mouth, when it sings its yearly songs or announces the name of the Hogwarts house to which each student is Sorted.

Every year, on September 1, the Hat Sorts first-year Hogwarts students into one of the four houses. This ceremony is known as the Sorting Feast (PS7).

The Hat is over a thousand years old (GF12). It stays in the Headmaster's office during the school year (CS12).

Fawkes the phoenix brings the Hat to Harry Potter when he asks for help in the Chamber of Secrets (CS17). Harry pulls Gryffindor's sword out of the Hat, to which Albus Dumbledore later replies that "only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that out of the hat."

During the Battle of Hogwarts, when Lord Voldemort believes that Harry Potter has died and that the battle is over, he announces that there will be no more Sorting at Hogwarts; all students will belong to Slytherin. In order to prove the futility of resisting this new regime, the Dark Lord Summons the Sorting Hat from the Headmaster's office and sets it on fire over Neville Longbottom's head. However, the Hat provides Neville with Gryffindor's sword, which he uses to behead Nagini (DH36), as per Harry's instructions (DH34). The destruction of the last Horcrux enables Harry to defeat Lord Voldemort in a duel shortly afterwards (DH36).

The Sorting Hat's songs

Full article: The Sorting Hat's Songs

Every year, before the Sorting, the Hat sings a song mentioning the traits favoured in each of the four Houses, and sometimes parts of the history of Hogwarts—notably information about the four Founders (PS7, GF12, OP11).

Whenever the Hat feels that the school is somehow endangered, however, its songs take on a tone of warning, such as the song it sang on September 1, 1995:

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.

According to Nearly Headless Nick, this has happened many times, and the Hat's advice is always the same, stressing the importance of unity. The ghost supposes that the Hat learns of such dangers in the Headmaster's office (OP11).