Item from harry-potter-goblet-of-fire by
A sentient, patched, thousand-year-old wizard's hat that sorts new students into houses each September — this year its start-of-term song carries warnings about unity that the school will need sooner than anyone thinks.
The Sorting Hat sits through the year's events on its shelf in Dumbledore's office, presumably contemplating the Triwizard Tournament with the detached wisdom of a hat that has seen a thousand years of Hogwarts drama. It sorted Cedric Diggory into Hufflepuff. It sorted Harry into Gryffindor — barely. It contains the combined intelligence of all four founders, and one suspects it knows more about what's happening in the castle than it says.
An extremely old, patched, and frayed pointed wizard's hat. A rip near the brim serves as a mouth. It sits on a stool in the Great Hall during the Sorting Ceremony, then returns to the Headmaster's office. It composes a new song each year.
Also known as: the Sorting Hat, Sorting Hat