Despite the wishes of his father, Scorpius Malfoy did not want to be sorted into Slytherin. It's not that he thought there was anything particularly wrong with Slytherin; it's just that there was another house- a better house- where he felt he belonged.
Scorpius thought that he was probably one of the smartest people ever to live. Of course, this belief partially resulted from the boy's arrogance- a trait he may have inherited from his father. But he wasn't really too far off the mark. Scorpius was, indeed, exceptionally intelligent. Had he been a Muggle, an IQ test would have proved him a genius.
So it was quite clear- to Scorpius, anyways- that Ravenclaw was the house for him. Being cunning and ambitious was all good and well, but he believed that intelligence and learning were far more important. After all, what good was ambition if you weren't smart enough to get anywhere in life that was really important?
And what qualified as "really important," in the mind of Scorpius Malfoy? Well, he saw a lot of injustice in the world- and he meant to change that. Though he was living in a time long after the fall of Voldemort, the wizarding world was still rife with prejudice, especially against non-human species. To Scorpius, it was quite obviously wrong to treat a sentient being as if he or she was lesser than a human. Scorpius believed he was one of the few people who was smart enough to understand the simple logic of this fact.
Also, the way the wizarding world treated criminals- and suspected criminals- was still quite Machiavellian and inhumane. Yes, there were a lot of things that needed to be changed in this world, and it would obviously take someone of great intelligence to accomplish that.
Of course, wanting to change the world in such a way definitely qualified Scorpius as an ambitious person. And everyone in his family for many, many generations back had been sorted into Slytherin. But no...there was simply no way that he could end up in Slytherin. He was just too smart. His intelligence was definitely a stronger and more prominent trait than his ambition, and his cleverness certainly mattered more than his pure-blood lineage. Ravenclaw was the only house that could do justice to his superior mind.
Besides, if he failed to be sorted into Ravenclaw- this was a secret fear, one he had voiced to no one, one he barely even admitted to himself- maybe he wasn't as smart as he thought he was.
So, when the day of the sorting came, his only thought was, "It has to be Ravenclaw. It just has to be."
--- --- ---
Albus Potter really, really did not want to be sorted into Slytherin. His father had told him that there was nothing wrong with being sorted into Slytherin. He knew that his middle name came from a very brave and heroic man who had been in Slytherin. But still...
Who wanted to be in a house that was tied to a history of Death Eaters and bigotry? And why would one want to be in a house where the members would use any means to achieve their ends? If a person would do anything to achieve their goals...then didn't that make the person evil? Didn't it mean that they would be perfectly willing to use murder, torture, dark magic, and worse, in order to get what they wanted?
He supposed that not all Slytherin traits were terrible. Ambition was not, in itself, a bad thing to have. But Al had never been particularly ambitious. Granted, he very much wanted to make the world a better place, and maybe that could be considered an ambition of his- but he was a sweet, reserved boy who tried to do that in his own quiet way, by being kind to others and helping out where he was needed.
As far as he could tell, he did not have any traits that would cause him to fit into Slytherin particularly well. Sure, his mum and dad were both wizards, and maybe that worked with Slytherin's tradition of favoring purebloods...but other than that, none of his personality characteristics resembled anything that was valued in Slytherin, at least as far as he was concerned.
So, if he didn't possess the traits that a Slytherin was supposed to have...why was he so worried about being sorted into that house? He guessed he could blame that on his older brother, James. James had been taunting him relentlessly for weeks, telling him that he might end up in Slytherin.
James was a bit of a bully. And, alright, maybe "a bit" was softening it too much. James was a bully, and he could be quite cruel, often for no good reason at all. Al loved his brother, and he almost hated to admit these things about him, but his natural tendency towards honesty would not allow him to deny it. It seemed that making Al's life miserable was one of James's main hobbies.
And so, James's constant teasing about the possibly of Al being sorted into Slytherin had made Al quite paranoid. He knew that if he was sorted into Slytherin, he would never hear the end of it from James. Not that James wouldn't find something else to harass him about, even if he was sorted into Gryffindor...but still.
Still, he was worried that he would somehow disappoint his family if he was sorted into Slytherin...or any house other than Gryffindor, for that matter. And if it was Slytherin, then what would his cousin Rose think of him? Rose was his best friend, and he couldn't bear it if she were to look down on him.
So, when the day of the sorting came, his only thought- unbeknownst to him, it was exactly the thought that ran through his father's mind on the day of his own sorting- was, "Not Slytherin. Not Slytherin."
--- --- ---
"Rose Weasley"..."RAVENCLAW!"
Rose hopped off the stool, ecstatic. She knew her mother would probably be happier about her house placement than her father would be. Her father had an odd loyalty to Gryffindor that she didn't really understand. Personally, she thought Ravenclaw was the better house. And so, she was quite happy with her sorting.
Unfortunately, this was not the case for her poor cousin, Albus. She had been fairly shocked when she'd heard the hat call out the house that Al was destined to be in for the duration of his time at Hogwarts. And Al's result from the Sorting Hat was not the only one that had shocked her. She could still hear the two results echoing through her mind...
"Scorpius Malfoy"..."HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Albus Potter"..."HUFFLEPUFF!"
AN: So that was obvious, right? All the talk about Scorpius being concerned with justice, and Albus being honest and kind and wanting to make the world a better place...Hufflepuff is clearly where they belong! Now they just have to learn to accept that...and each other. TBC.