Sorting Hat

Type

Magic system

First appears

Book 1 · Ch. 6

Books

4

The Sorting Hat is a patched, frayed, and ragged wizard's hat that once belonged to Godric Gryffindor and now sorts each year's first-years into the four Hogwarts houses. It reads the wearer's mind and announces a house. In Harry's first year it weighs placing him in Slytherin but honors his plea to be sent elsewhere, choosing Gryffindor. Later it sits quietly on a shelf in Dumbledore's office, where it watches over the school's history, and its songs grow increasingly urgent with warnings of unity as dark times return.