Title: How the Sorting Hat Earned His Voice
Author: Tinyrose65
Summary: Before he sat upon the head of Godric Gryffindor, the Sorting Hat sat upon the head of another powerful wizard, and it was there that he first became wise to the ways of men.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings.
Note: So this came about because of a conversation I had with a friend about Gandalf's really awesome hat. My friend (who will remain nameless) was kind enough to review this for me and make sure all of my Lord of the Rings information was correct. If anything is wrong, blame him (but let me know, so I can fix it).
Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
There were hats... and then there were hats. He considered himself a hat, but not because he could speak. All the Founders had given him was a voice, after all. But what was a voice without stories to tell and wisdom behind it?
Oh, and he had stories: stories of goblins and wizards and elves, stories of battle and peace, stories of death and glory.
But for the longest time, he hadn't had a voice. By pure chance, when he was newly sewn, he had been placed on the head of the most powerful wizard of the time: Gandalf the Grey, who soon grew to be Gandalf the White.
He had seen all of Middle Earth and the depths of the Mines of Moria, once home of the Dwarf-clan of the Longbeards. He had been to Rivendell and the Woodland Realms. He had been to Rohan and been imprisoned at Orthanc. He had ridden on Shadowfax, Lord of the Horses, and seen Middle-Earth engaged in one of the most dangerous battles of its time.
He should have known, though, that Gandalf would soon outgrow him. And when Gandalf the Grey became Gandalf the White, he was abandoned. He heard stories, though. Of course he did. Nobody paid any mind to a tired, old hat, after all.
The years passed and passed and passed. The Age of Men dawned, and the hat was passed from man to man, from head to head, but he never forgot his first master.
While still alive they did divide
Their favourites from the throng,
Yet how to pick the worthy ones
When they were dead and gone?
'Twas Gryffindor who found the way,
He whipped me off his head
The founders put some brains in me
So I could choose instead!
Then, one day, sitting in a grimy second-hand shop-
"Salazaar! Look at this!" He was taken off the shelf and placed roughly on a head of bright red hair. "How does it look?"
"It makes you look ridiculous, Godric" drawled the other man.
The first man examined his reflection in the mirror. "I think it makes me look fetching."
And so the hat earned his new master.
Several years later, the hat earned his new voice. As it was, he had once again found himself on the head of a wizard, but he learnt quickly that this wizard was not nearly as wise as Gandalf had been (although few were).
But like Gandalf, this wizard, and his friends, had a vision: a vision for a place for young wizards to grow and be trained and learn the intricacies of magic. So Hogwarts grew from the ground, made of magic, and although it was not as majestic as Minas Tirith or as beautiful as Rohan, the hat began to love her as home.
But as it filled with students, the hat witnessed Founders' folly. The wizards Godric, Salazaar, Rowena, and Helga were all so different, and as their differences grew, the hat watched, until one day Godric gave him a voice.
Oh, know the perils, read the signs,
The warning history shows,
For our Hogwarts is in danger
From external, deadly foes
And we must unite inside her
Or we'll crumble from within
I have told you, I have warned you...
All they wanted was a way to divide the students, so Godric charmed him and gave him the ability to see into the minds of the children he loved so dearly and to tell them where they would best grow.
The Founders thought that would make them stronger, but the hat knew better, but he had no choice but to do his job, and he did it well. Still, he tried to warn them in the only way he could.
He had lived through the age of the songs and he remembered their power, and so every year he would sing.
The hat sang remembering the Fellowship, when elf and dwarf and man and hobbit had joined together, and he sang hoping that one day Slytherins and Gryffindors and Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs would join together, too. He sang hoping that one day they would overcome their differences to protect and defend their home.
Let the sorting now begin.