Chapter 7: The Sorting Hat
In chapter seven of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry gets placed in Gryffindor, we meet some more Professors, and a few characters appear that get short changed in the movies.
(Please be advised that this is a reread and I will be discussing book and movie spoilers.)
Professor McGonagall, the boss witch who can turn into a cat reappears in this chapter as a no nonsense Professor to introduce Harry to Hogwarts. Each student is sorted into a house by a sentient hat that sings and Harry is presented with an important choice; go into Slytherin, the house that his parent’s murderer Lord Voldemort was a part of, but which perhaps would be a great fit for him? Or go anywhere else to avoid the taint of joining the house all dark witches and wizards are reputed to have gone to? Harry picks “not Slytherin” and the hat listens, placing him in Gryffindor with the Weasley’s, Hermione Granger, and Neville. It’s not an exaggeration to say the entire series of books would’ve changed if Harry had chosen Slytherin and there are quite a few fanfiction stories with that plot if you’re so inclined to read this alternate Slytherin! Harry.
A bunch of ghosts appear, and here I must interject my sadness that more of the ghost interaction and story lines are kept out of the movies (particularly two scenes in Order of the Phoenix) and so Harry goes to Gryffindor and the other Gryffindors are super happy to get the famous Harry Potter in their house.
We have our first mention of Professor Snape, who appears to cause a pain in Harry’s lightning scar, and gives us our first taste of the mystery novel: Severus Snape Forgoes Shampoo, For Why? Vol 1.
The new Gryffindor boys discuss magical blood relations. This is an interesting precursor of whats to come. We’ve gotten hints from Malfoy, “shouldn’t let the other kind in,” “some wizard families are better than others,” but the conversation here is jovial, giving no indication of the turmoil over magical blood still going on in the wizarding world. Seamus cheerfully says his dad’s a Muggle, Dean’s parents are both Muggles, and Neville’s grandmother and great aunts and uncles are all wizards and witches. It’s an interesting way to clue us in to the different ways you can be magical before hitting us with blood purity in later books.
Speaking of things that get more complicated later on, Percy is not the most popular Weasley family member (understatement) but I have always had a tenderness for him, even when he made bad decisions and was rude to his family. He’s pompous here already, but he also, as an upperclassman, goes out of his way to talk to the first year students, to make them feel comfortable and welcomed. Yes it’s technically his job as a prefect, but we don’t see any other Gryffindor prefects do it in this book or subsequent books. I’m the cheese stands alone here but #justiceforPercy. Or maybe I like Percy because I met Chris Rankin and he’s delightful.
Dumbledore’s eccentricity comes back into play, his first “speech”, the warning about dying in the third floor corridor, the singing of the Hogwarts song in a hundred different tunes…it makes you wonder if Dumbledore and the sorting hat sit around all summer bouncing first speech and song ideas off of each other, competing on who can be more original and Dumbledore breaks out “Nitwit Blubber Oddment Tweak” and the hat suffers defeat yet again.
The chapter ends with Harry having a dream involving green light, Quirrell’s turban, Malfoy laughing at him and turning into Snape, and an insistence he should’ve gone to Slytherin…
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What is Harry’s dream all about?
What would’ve happened if Harry was sorted into Slytherin? Ravenclaw? Hufflepuff?
What house is yours, and why?
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