Hope you have checked out our Write Your Love Contest. If not, do so now. Here is the entry from Shweta Ganesh Kumar.
The letter is addressed to The Sorting Hat, a sapient artefact used at Hogwarts (Harry Potter).
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The Letter
Dear Sorting Hat,
Where have you been all my life?
The first time I saw you sit on those first-years heads as they nervously entered the Hogwarts dining hall, I knew that it was you that I had been looking for all my life.
The way your face lights up when you guide first years to their destiny by understanding the houses that they will do the best in.
The way you accepted Harry’s wishes to be in Gryffindor and not in Slytherin. The way you can read a person’s mind and understand what makes them tick.
I’ll never forget the way you helped Harry with the sword of Godric Gryffindor as he faced Tom Riddle in the chamber of secrets.
And the way you sung to the students urging them to stay united in times of mortal peril will always echo in my mind’s ear.
Dearest Sorting Hat, this Valentine’s day, almost 14 years since I first read of you, I want to declare to the world that I love you.
I shall always wait for the day that you retire from Hogwarts, for what I wouldn’t give to have you in my life, telling me of what my deepest desires are even before I truly understand them myself, guiding me on the right path and telling me to stand up for what’s right.
With much love always,
Shweta
End of the Letter
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About the Character: The Sorting Hat is a sapient artefact used at Hogwarts, which magically determines to which of the four schoolhouses — Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin — each new student is to be assigned. During the opening banquet at the beginning of the school year, the hat is placed on every First-Year student’s head. The hat will announce its choice aloud, and the student joins the selected house. Judging from Harry’s own account of his Sorting, and a brief comment made by Hermione in the 5th book (where she says that the hat almost sent her to Ravenclaw), the hat speaks to the student while they’re being sorted and is willing to take the student’s preferences into account when it makes its decision. However, sometimes, he does not have the need to do so: for instance, the hat barely touched Draco Malfoy’s head before sending him to Slytherin. The Sorting Hat had a difficult time placing Harry, almost placing him into Slytherin house before he requested specifically and emphatically not to be. The Hat instead placed him into Gryffindor, the house of his father.
The Sorting Hat originally belonged to Godric Gryffindor, one of the four founders of Hogwarts. The four founders used to hand-pick the students that would go in their houses, but then realized that someone else would have to do it after they died, so Gryffindor took off his hat and let it choose, and it worked. Since then, the sorting hat was always used to choose which house the students are put in. Due to its age, it appears “patched and frayed and extremely dirty.” Before sorting the students each year, the hat recites a new introductory song. These songs occasionally warn of danger to come, as in Order of the Phoenix. The Sorting Hat’s songs vary in length and content, but always include a brief description of each house.
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How did you like Shweta’s rather unusual love for The Sorting Hat. 🙂
Oh if THIS is the competition I think I’ve got the lead. 🙂