The
Sorting Hat, in the
Harry Potter series of novels by
J. K. Rowling, is a fictional artifact which magically determines which of the four
Hogwarts school houses -
Gryffindor,
Hufflepuff,
Ravenclaw or
Slytherin - a new student should live in. As the students' names are read out loud alphabetically at the year's opening banquet the hat is placed on each of their heads in turn, and after a few moments' deliberation it announces its choice. It assigned
Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, and
Ron Weasley, to
Gryffindor in their first year.
Before sorting the students each year the hat recites a new introductory rhyme. These rhymes occasionally warn of danger to come, as in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
In the movie versions of the first two novels the hat's voice is played by Leslie Phillips.