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In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, during the sorting ceremony, all the new students were wearing plain black robes with black ties. These were bought in Diagon Alley prior to their arrival at Hogwarts.

However, once classes begin, their robes are of course showing the colours of the houses they have been sorted into, complete with new ties and patches. Is it mentioned how this change occurs? Or are we simply expected to assume that it simply happened via some unspecified magic "off-screen" / "off-page" (in the case of the book)?

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    Is this a movie-only question? The coloured ties etc are from the films. The books have all the kids wearing the same black robes, regardless of house.
    – The Dark Lord
    Sep 4, 2017 at 16:51
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    Because the movies are nonsense? In the books everyone just wears black robes and pointy hats.
    – ibid
    Sep 4, 2017 at 17:00
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    @ibid so tired of this 'movies are nonsense' bull. It's a visual art, you need to show things. Would you like an arrow above the chatacter 'Dean Thomas, a gryffindor' Draco Malfoy, a petty snake' like in the books? Would you like to hear HP monologuing in the middle of the great hall? Or for someone to read the books aloud on camera and call that a movie? Would you then be satisfied?
    – user68762
    Sep 4, 2017 at 18:22
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    @D.O.B.Y2.0 - You have to remember that book snobs would have liked HP to be entirely faithful to the books, despite that meaning that it would have been seventeen hours long and totally unwatchable
    – Valorum
    Sep 4, 2017 at 18:31
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    @Valorum They are seventeen hours long and totally unwatchable. (OK, vicious circle but it had to be said...).
    – The Dark Lord
    Sep 4, 2017 at 20:50

1 Answer 1

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In the movie the first years are shown to Gryffindor tower. In the very next scene we see that their effects (neatly folded on the chairs beside their beds) now contain 1 x Gryffindor jumper, 1 x Gryffindor scarf, 1 x Gryffindor tie and 1 x pair of Gryffindor gloves.

Under the circumstances, and given the extreme similarity in how their new effects are laid out, it seems very likely that these items are simply issued by the school and were waiting for the student when they arrived in their dorm room rather than being purchased by the students from a school shop.

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The badge (pictured below) is then presumably affixed to the robes using a simple sticking charm.

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    Gryffindor definitely seems like the house that would lay them out neatly on a bed. Slytherin on the other hand might have a hazing ritual involved in getting them. But without evidence, we can't really say.
    – corsiKa
    Sep 4, 2017 at 23:43
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    @corsiKa I doubt any of the students or staff would have been involved at all. This seems like the sort of work they'd leave to the House Elves, and they don't seem like the type to have hazing rituals.
    – Anthony Grist
    Sep 6, 2017 at 10:40

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