The Sorting Hat's Song

I am the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

I've served time out of mind

And I was crafted for one job:

To put you with your kind.

I'll trawl your mind and character

To find your secrets deep

But you've no need to fear me, for

Your secrets I will keep.

This way, you choose yourself the House

You'll dwell in seven years

Your own creeds and ambitions

Will place you with your peers.

You have the choice of: SLYTHERIN

For flouters of convention

Able to stand upon their own

Strong without intervention.

If GRYFFINDOR appeals to you

You may be known for valour

Your gallantry and love of Right

Make gold-edged red your colour.

Yet HUFFLEPUFF may be your place

If you make good your sweat

Are constant and unwavering

And keep your values set.

Last but not least, House RAVENCLAW

Welcomes into its throng

Those who call knowledge, power

And with the wise belong.

You may have made your own choice

From what I have just said

But let me, now, advise you not

To be assumption-led.

The Founders of the Houses

Were all people, all complex;

Difficult to understand,

More so to second-guess.

Their values cannot be expressed

By adjectives so few,

Nor can such simple words be used

To categorize you.

You hold a part of every House:

'Though strong may be your voice,

And sure be your self-knowledge,

I make the final choice.