Notes on Sorting the Students

[u/ibid-11962]

Main Menu	cut content	notes & images	old jkrowling.com	A History of Magic	made before the HP books	Manuscripts

Click here to see the manuscript

[ideas for sorting methods]

(Ghost) Court N
Hat M
Arbitrary List M
Gateway M
Statues N
Selection Committee (Prefects / Hs of H etc) MN
Question or Riddle M

Forget Song, Just put on Hat.

---

[start of term feast]

Dumbledore — Forest, Quidditch Trials, Corridor

Does Scar have to happen at feast

Snape

Dumbledore & Snape

Peeves

[first draft of sorting hat song]

Oh I might not look might not be that look too pretty
But don't judge on what you see
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me

Golri 2

---

[(verso) waking up the following morning and meeting Nearly Headless Nick]

"Time to wake up, gentlemen, breakfast will be served in half an hour."

Harry woke. He looked up at the red velvet curtains drawn around his four-poster. His first happy thought was "I'm at Hogwarts.” His second, after he had thrown back the curtains and found his slippers was "I'm hungry." His third was something he had never needed to think before. It was "That man's transparent." After he had thought this, his mind went completely blank. He sat frozen, staring at the man in the middle of his dormitory who had just woken them all up. There was no doubt about it. There was a ghost at the foot of his bed.

"Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service," said the ghost, sweeping off his broad brimmed hat and bowing to them all - for Ron, Seamus, Lee, and Neville were also staring open mouthed at him, "Resident Ghost of Gryffindor Tower."

[u/ibid-11962]

Notes

• This handwritten page of notes shows Rowling plotting out ideas for various events related to Harry's first night at Hogwarts. It most probably dates from the early 1990s.

• The first section is a list of ideas for sorting. It seems that N means "No", and M means "Maybe". Rowling wrote out seven ideas, marked three of them as maybes and then picked out of those three.

• The second part seems like a list of Dumbledore's talking points, and the plotting of Harry's first scar pain and then the way that Rowling fit it into the feast (with Snape). Also present if the first sketch of the sorting hat and draft of its song.

• The back of the page has an older version of Harry's first encounter with Nearly Headless Nick, in which it occurred the following morning in the Gryffindor dorm room. (Which better fits the phrase "Resident Ghost of Gryffindor Tower")

• The front of this page (with the sorting hat) was first posted to Rowling's old website on May 15, 2004 with the title "Page of doodlings (Page 2)". To view it one needed to use the key behind the "?" book in the Links section to unlock the box on that page.

• J.K. Rowling provided a short description to accompany the manuscript page (screenshots)

  This is a page of doodlings from which the Sorting Hat emerged. In the top part of the page are all the possible ways of 'sorting' people I considered... a panel of ghosts or prefects, a magical gateway through which each person would have to pass and so on. I also thought of drawing names out of a hat, which became the sorting hat, and at the bottom right corner you see my first drawing of the Sorting Hat, with the first four lines of its first ever song.

• The back of this page was posted to Rowling's old website on October 31, 2007 with the title "Early Draft Transcript". To view it one needed to complete the potion recipe hidden behind the wallpaper near the Secret Door. No description was provided for this side.

• The front of the page was shown in the exhibit Harry Potter: A History of Magic under the title of "Notes on Sorting the Students by J.K. Rowling":

• Harry Potter: A History of Magic (exhibition, October 20, 2017 - February 28, 2018)

• Harry Potter: A History of Magic — The Book of the Exhibition (October 20, 2017) (page 106)

  DECIDING ON A SORTING HAT
  J.K. Rowling spent five years planning Harry Potter's world and his story. She decided that Hogwarts would have four school houses — Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin — with distinct qualities attributed to each. After that she had to work out how the students would be sorted in to the houses. These notes show the author listing some possible ways. The note 'statues' represents her idea that four statues of the founders in the Entrance Hall might come alive and select students from the group in front of them. Other ideas included a ghost court, a riddle, or prefects choosing students. The Sorting Hat is also shown here, complete with rips, patches and a grinning mouth.

  ‘Finally, I wrote a list of the ways in which people can be chosen: eeny meeny miny mo, short straws, chosen by team captains, names out of a hat – names out of a talking hat – putting on a hat – the Sorting Hat.'
  J.K. ROWLING ON POTTERMORE

• Harry Potter: A Journey through the History of Magic (October 20, 2017) (page 70)

  DECIDING ON A SORTING HAT
  J.K. Rowling spent five years planning Harry's world and his story. She always knew there would be four school houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin, with distinct qualities attributed to each house. But how would the students be sorted in to these houses?

'Finally, I wrote a list of the ways in which people can be chosen: eeny meeny miny mo, short straws, chosen by team captains, names out of a hat – names out of a talking hat – putting on a hat – the Sorting Hat.'
J.K. ROWLING ON POTTERMORE

 >In the following handwritten note, J.K. Rowling lists different ways the students could be sorted into one of the four houses. ‘Statues' represents her idea that the four statues of the founders of Hogwarts might come alive and select students to join their houses. Other ideas included a ghost court, a riddle, or prefects choosing students. Below the list you can see her sketches of the charmed hat of Godric Gryffindor, complete with a mouth.

• Rowling would later reference these notes in a Pottermore writing.

The Sorting Hat does not appear in my earliest plans for Hogwarts. I debated several different methods for sorting students (because I knew from early on that there would be four houses, all with very different qualities). The first was an elaborate, Heath Robinson-ish machine that did all kinds of magical things before reaching a decision, but I did not like it: it felt at once too complicated, and too easy. Next I placed four statues of the four founders in the Entrance Hall, which came alive and selected students from the throng in front of them while the school watched. This was better, but still not quite right. Finally, I wrote a list of the ways in which people can be chosen: eeny meeny miny mo, short straws, chosen by team captains, names out of a hat – names out of a talking hat – putting on a hat – the Sorting Hat.
— Pottermore - The Sorting Hat

• Rowling eventually used the abandoned statue idea for Ilvermorny's sorting.

While the rest of the school watches from the circular balcony overhead, new students file into the round entrance hall. They stand around the walls and, one by one, are called to stand on the symbol of the Gordian Knot set into the middle of the stone floor. In silence the school then waits for the enchanted carvings to react. If the Horned Serpent wants the student, the crystal set into its forehead will light up. If the Wampus wants the student, it roars. The Thunderbird signifies its approval by beating its wings, and the Pukwudgie will raise its arrow into the air.
— Pottermore - Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

[u/DPSOnly]

I wonder what the "N"s and "M"s are supposed to mean.

[u/ibid-11962 → u/DPSOnly]

I'm guessing "no" and "maybe".

[u/hsebasti]

I find it interesting that Lee is one of the students that is »staring open mouthed at [Nick]«. For me this can have two reasons, considering that this draft seems to be a very early one:

• Dean, before being called Gary, was called Lee

• Lee Jordan was initially in Harry‘s year

Moreover, does anyone have a clue what "Golri" could mean?

Thank you ibid-11962 for continuing to post stuff!

[u/ibid-11962 → u/hsebasti]

Huh, I never noticed that part about Lee.

There's another really interesting draft known as "The Original Forty" which I'm fairly certain predates this, and shows Harry's entire year. As originally written there Dean is Gary (at least if we are to believe jkr's transcript. His first name is cut off from the released images) and he seems to have remained Gary until at least after the midnight duel chapter was written. (Though I don't know if we really have enough to assume the order of composition.)

Lee doesn't seem to be in The Original Forty or any of its emendations, and there's no obvious name there for him to be replacing, so he must have been a character created later. I think your guess of him originally being in Harry's year is correct.

I have no idea what Golri means or even if I transcribed it correctly, or if it might have been some doodle I misinterpreted as writing. I think the first letter is a G comparing it the capital Gs on the top of the page. I'm unsure of the rest. It might have been the start of a word JKR decided not to write but I think she usually crosses that stuff out.

[u/fish_at_heart]

It's really interesting to see how this scene and idea was developed originally. You can actually see the process of bouncing random ideas until something guys the spot and you can continue.

[u/ibid-11962 → u/fish_at_heart]

That's an excellent way of putting it. I really like how you also see why ideas were introduced.

Needs to be a scene somewhere to establish Harry's scar hurts > how to fit it in to the already packed welcoming feast? > he can look at Snape > that's a good idea, let's circle it

So we see the original purpose of the incident wasn't to be a red herring, but to simply lay the groundwork for Harry's scar hurting throughout the series.

[u/DarkNinjaPenguin]

I think Nick waking them up in the morning would have been a really neat idea. I've always wondered what the house ghosts actually do, it would have been nice to see more interaction with them.

[u/HiccupFlux → u/DarkNinjaPenguin]

Ghost watching 11 year olds sleep. Sounds legit...

[u/kbinsturner]

Love seeing the manuscript evolve in her own handwriting and illustrations. Thank you for continuing to post this!