"Malfoy, Draco."
He smiled, fixing his gaze on the Sorting Hat as he swaggered forward to be sorted into his house, into Slytherin.
"Well now, my young friend, I can see where to put you..."
A quiet voice came to his head, the Sorting Hat itself. Without even a pause, he replied, "I will be the greatest Slytherin to ever walk these halls."
"Slytherin? Oh dear me, is that what you think?"
A pause. "Of course, why wouldn't it be?"
"Determination, yes, and ambition, but that's not what drives you, Draco Malfoy."
"But my whole family have been in Slytherin!" He didn't mention the others, the outcasts, who failed to join the greatest of the Hogwarts houses. He tried not to think of them, or of being sent to join them.
"Yes, your family is important to you. Their house, their goals, their loyalties. Loyalty runs strong in you."
"Yes! Loyalty to them, and their house. Please, I have to be in Slytherin!"
"You might be, you might be, but your loyalty to family loyalties will cause you much strife, I think, and much hard work, harder than you realise."
"I can bear it. I must bear it."
"Those aren't the marks of Slytherin, you know, loyalty and hard work. You would do well in Hufflepuff, Malfoy."
"Please..." His voice trailed off, to barely a whisper, "If I'm not in Slytherin, my father would... would…"
"Ahh, loyalty above ambition, but self-preservation above all. As you wish."
"SLYTHERIN!"
Inspired in part by "Sorting Slytherin" by LBibliophile.
I realise that the hat is described as having barely touched his head in the books (and in the movies, didn't even get that far), but the concept needed exploring. Draco's character arc is essentially a war between loyalty and self-preservation.