Item from harry-potter-order-of-the-phoenix by
Godric Gryffindor's enchanted hat that sorts students into houses -- this year it delivers an unprecedented warning: the houses must unite or Hogwarts will fall from within.
The Sorting Hat does something new this year: it sings a warning. Instead of its usual song about the qualities of each house, it delivers a message about the dangers of division -- that Hogwarts was founded by four friends who worked together, and that the houses must unite against the external threat or the school will destroy itself from within. The students are unnerved. The staff exchange significant looks. Umbridge ignores it entirely. The Hat has been conscious for a thousand years. It contains the intelligence of Godric Gryffindor himself and has watched every student, every teacher, every crisis that has threatened the school. When it warns of danger, it speaks from a millennium of experience. No one listens.
A patched, frayed, extremely old wizard's hat with a wide brim and a tear near the brim that opens like a mouth when it speaks. Pointed. Dirty. Sits on a stool in the Great Hall during Sorting ceremonies and on a shelf in the Headmaster's office the rest of the time.
Also known as: the Sorting Hat, Sorting Hat, the Hat