A new point of view
"Can you imagine being in Hufflepuff? I think I would leave wouldn't you?" The blond boy asked.
Harry was confused. Hagrid hadn't explained the terms Hufflepuff or Slytherin to him so he decided to do the most obvious thing and ask. "What are Hufflepuff and Slytherin exactly?"
The blond boy looked at him piercingly "I suppose you're a muggleborn then." He sneered.
"My parents died when I was little and I was raised non-magically." Harry explained correctly guessing that muggleborn meant having non-magical parents.
"Well I guess I can enlighten you then." The boy said superiorly. "Slytherin and Hufflepuff are two of the four houses of Hogwarts the other two are Ravenclaw and" He sneered. "Gryffindor. Each of the houses desires different things. Hufflepuff looks for loyalty and hard work, Ravenclaw seeks intelligence, Gryffindor wants bravery and finally the best house Slytherin accepts only those with cunning and ambition."
Harry looked at him strangely for a second before gasping. "Oh I get it, you're testing me! Don't worry I definitely don't want to be in Slytherin."
"Why not?" The boy asked confused.
"It's obvious. Anyone who wants to go in a house for the cunning has to be really stupid, after all saying that you're cunning is the least cunning thing you could do, nobody would trust you." Harry explained.
"Well which house would you want to go in?" Blondie (Got bored of writing "the boy") demanded.
"Hufflepuff." Harry said after a moments thought. "Ravenclaws have the best chance of figuring you out and bravery can get you killed too quickly for your cunning to help whereas Hufflepuffs would be good allies and it seems that people don't respect them so nobody would suspect your true nature." He explained.
Blondie looked thoughtful. "Interesting reasoning. My names Draco Malfoy by the way, what's yours?" He asked trying to learn more about this wizard who could spend his whole life outside the wizarding world and yet still have such interesting views."
"Harry Potter." Harry said before hoping off the stool having just finished and walking out of the store leaving the heir to the Malfoy line gaping in shock.
In the time between his discussion with Harry and the sorting Draco Malfoy had not stopped thinking about whether going to Slytherin was the right thing to do. He had analysed the problem from every angle but was still uncertain on if he should join a different house.
Looking at it logically going into one of the other three houses was the best thing to do. After all more allies, less suspicion and a possible alliance with Harry Potter was not something to turn your nose up at. Honestly there was only one real reason not to join a different house. His father.
He had always respected his father. After all he was one of the most powerful, respected and influential wizards in England, a man who had the ministers ear and yet could always find time to regale his son with tales on how he went to war to protect the country and the great families from the mudbloods who were polluting the ancient houses like the Potters, Abbots and even the Davis'. If there was one thing that Draco Malfoy feared above all others it was losing his fathers respect.
He was so caught up with his thoughts he barely noticed when his name was called but managed to walk up to the tattered hat and placed it on his head.
A voice reverberated through his head. "I sense much doubt in you young Malfoy."
"I suppose you're the battered piece of cloth that's supposed to sort me then." Draco thought snidely.
The hat chuckled. "Indeed I am, and I must say it is refreshing to meet someone that will display such scorn. Most people are far too cautious upon meeting something that will decide their future."
Draco gulped. "My apologies. I…"
"Have had your entire perception of the world challenged and was worried about what it might mean for you?" The hat interjected.
"Well… Yes…" He thought, worried that the hat might sort him into the wrong place as revenge."
"Understandable." The hat calmed him.
"Umm Mr Hat… Is it true that nobody with cunning joins Slytherin?"
"Hmm… For the most part yes. There are a couple of exceptions but they are only there due to the trouble going anywhere else would cause in their families."
"So I should go to Slytherin then?" Draco asked. "After all my father believes all the other houses are near worthless and might create problems for me if I join one of them."
"I am inside your mind young Malfoy. I know very well that you already have plans on how to deal with your father." The hat reminded him. "Let me tell you how I think your life will turn out in each of the houses.
"In Slytherin you will join with a dark wizard and try to take over the world, you will either fail or be overthrown quickly and be left destitute but you will likely survive."
"In Gryffindor you will either join the aforementioned dark lord or the resistance against him and die in battle.
"In Ravenclaw it will be discovered that you are cunning and manipulative almost immediately meaning you will be ostracized from your house and due to the lack of interaction between houses you will not gain any allies in them either. This will mean when you join the wider world you will have few allies other than the ones your father already acquired. All in all you will have little political pull other than what your money buys you, you will be all but cut off from any investment opportunities as the Ravenclaws who discover or invent them will be reluctant to come to you and the name Malfoy will fall into obscurity."
"Hufflepuff however will gain you a great deal of experience in manipulating people and many allies including in the Diggory family, the Bones family and the Smith family which when combined with your fathers alliances will gain you a reputation as being highly connected and the person to go to when a favour or introduction is needed which you can then use to your advantage."
A good deal of the hats prediction went over Draco's head but he understood more than enough of it to see that Hufflepuff was by far the best choice however he was slightly suspicious. "And I suppose all your divining comes true then?"
The hat laughed. "These aren't some sort of magical power young Malfoy. I have had a thousand years of looking in peoples heads and watching what they became so over time I picked up patterns. I am just applying the same patterns to your life."
Draco was a little uncomfortable about entrusting his future to what basically amounted to guesswork but 1000 years of practice was hard to refute. "On the other hand" Draco thought. "I still don't know what a hat gets out of me going to one house over another."
"I have a rather vested interest in this schools survival and I believe you are the one most suited to ensure that, if you're in Hufflepuff that is." The hat told him.
"Could you stop reading my thoughts?" Draco asked exasperated
"I'm the sorting hat kid. Reading thoughts is in my job description."
"Why me anyway? Surely Harry Potter would be a better choice." Draco offered
"I fear that young Harry will have too many problems to do much for me. After all he has been made a hero and the thing about heroes is that they are only heroes when they bring good news." The hat sighed. "I fear that there will be little good news ahead. Well hopefully young Albus can shield him from the worst of it."
"Young Albus?" Draco enquired eager to divert away from such morbid topics.
"Albus Dumbledore." The hat elaborated. "He was made headmaster recently, it was just after he defeated that Grindelwald bloke."
"Dumbledore?" Draco thought incredulously . "You're calling Dumbledore young? He's over a hundred!"
"I'm one thousand and fifty-two, everyone's young to me." The hat told him.
"Right… Why are you telling me all this anyway? Surely it's not smart to tell me your plan."
"Actually a plan where you can tell the person involved what the plan is and still have that as the best option for them to take is the second best type of plan there is."
"What's the first?"
"One where no matter what the person does it still works out in your favour. And that's about all we have time for I think. I'll just go ahead and sort you as I already know what you're going to say… HUFFLEPUFF!" The last part of this was bellowed and caused applause to come from the table clad in yellow.
"Damn hat." Draco muttered as he got off the stool.
Dear father.
As you are aware today was the day for me to be sorted into a house at Hogwarts. While I know you were expecting for me to be sorted into the noble house of the greatest founder Slytherin I regret to inform you that I requested the hat to sort me into Hufflepuff and it obliged. While I assure you that my disgust at being sorted into the house of leftovers rivals your own I request that you listen to my reasoning before making any conclusions or decisions.
The first reason is that in an attempt to open an alliance with Harry Potter the boy who lived who as you know would put considerable weight behind any argument he decided to support we struck up a conversation. During this conversation he mentioned that he believed that Hufflepuff would be the best house for him. His statement appears to have been correct as shortly after I was sorted he joined the same table and has already begun to seek information on the wizarding world from me. As you no doubt understand this bodes well for an alliance with the boy who is already being called the most influential person of my generation which should well outweigh the smear on the Malfoy name my sorting into Hufflepuff could cause.
The second reason is that while the dark lords goal was admirable his failure has left Slytherin with a darkened reputation that leaves a certain section of pureblood society reluctant to associate with the noble veterans of the campaign. While Slytherin suffers from this unfortunate symptom of the disease that is the mudbloods victory Hufflepuff does not and as such if I claim to be trying to separate myself from your influence I will be able to gain access to these blood traitors and potentially remove an obstacle that has stood in the family's way for centuries.
Rest assured I have applied the usual spells to hide the true contents of this letter. For your reply you should keep in mind that the letter anyone else will see consists of me informing you of the results of the sorting and celebrating something that distances me from you.
Love Draco.