Does the sorting hat sort?

[Berit Jakobsen]

No: HPFGUIDX 84852

Cheekyweewisom wrote:

the Hat itself is a Slytherin -- very cunning. 
> Based on qualities alone, I think Harry would still have been a 
> Gryffindor.

Me:

Just a little comment: Even though the Hat has the Slytherin trait of 
being cunning, it used to be a Gryffindor actually... According to 
the Sorting Hat's song it was originally Godric's hat, which all the 
four founders then put some brain in so it could choose for them when 
they were dead and gone... I imagine there is a little of both 
Helga's, Rowena's, Salazar's and Godric's brain in there... :-)

And on the question of Harry's qualities alone... The Sorting Hat is, 
according to itself, never wrong, so I believe that based on Harry's 
qualities alone he could very well have been put in Slytherin... The 
hat saw something in him and wanted him there... I'm not sayng Harry 
shouldn't have been in Gryffindor; he has qualities to suit him there 
as well. But, he could also have been in Slytherin.. The Hat actually 
repeats itself when Harry asks it again in CoS...He would have done 
well in Slytherin! Very intriguing!

Berit