Honestly, I don't see Derek as a Slytherin at all. I mean, obviously it's down to individual interpretation, but I don't see him as particularly ambitious or cunning, or as particularly
valuing those traits. I do kind of see the "means to an end" thing, but honestly, Scott is much more capable of that than Derek is. I personally prefer Gryffindor!Derek, but I could see him as a Hufflepuff. He does value family & loyalty quite a lot, but he also has a tendency to recklessly throw himself into things and he is incredibly, stubbornly brave. I don't just mean that as him getting himself into situations that are clearly over his head, or throwing himself under a bus to protect someone else. I mean, also, the things he has been through and kept going. He goes through endless hell and yet, every day he gets up and he keeps going, keeps pushing, keeps fighting.
I think the Sorting Hat would be torn between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff for Derek. I think it would sit there, debating with itself where he would fit better, where he would really
grow. And, meanwhile, Derek sits there desperately hoping he ends up in Slytherin,
oh please please, because his family is a proud Slytherin family, every single one of them through every generation has been in Slytherin, and here is little eleven year old Derek sitting here with the Hat telling him no. (Laura would tease him so much over it, and he'd develop such a complex.)
Oooh, i have a thing for this--
The Hales have been Slytherins for generations, for as long as anyone can remember. Until the Sorting Hat droops over Derek’s eyes and whispers, Not for you. No … no, certainly not.
“What?” Derek asks, horrified, and, “No, wait,” and, “Please, I want—”
The Hat hums thoughtfully and says, You could never be great there.
“It doesn’t matter, I don’t need—I don’t want—”
Precisely my point, Mr. Hale, says the Hat. “GRYFFINDOR.”
--Speaking of proud house families: Allison, a Gryffindor from a long line of Gryffindors. I am about that.
The only ones I really see (from the season 1 cast) as Slytherins are Peter, Lydia, and Jackson. And obviously Lydia would be great in Ravenclaw, but I think she places more value in the ways that she can apply her knowledge and the greatness she could achieve than she does in the actual having of it. And, really, I think Lydia really likes having people underestimate her. She likes having that element of surprise, and I think she'd end up resenting having people know how smart she is just by looking at her robes or hearing her Hogwarts house.
Scott, I generally think of as a Gryffindor, but now that I've thought of it, I do see a little Slytherin in him as well. He does have that ruthless streak, that "means to an end" thing I mentioned. Stiles, otoh, I see a lot of people place in Slytherin and I disagree. I mean, I do vaguely understand why, but I think his Hufflepuff traits outstrip his Slytherin ones. He works hard, he loves fiercely, and his loyalty is unwavering. If you're in his circle, there is nothing he wouldn't do for you. And, when it comes down to it, if you're not in his circle, there's nothing he wouldn't do
to you. So, yes, he's ruthless, but the circumstances always come from a place of traits that are, at their heart, Hufflepuff. I think people don't put him in Hufflepuff because they see it as a house of total cooperation, where everyone is friends and there's no hierarchy, no cliques, everything is sweetness and light. I think people forget that you don't need to be particularly
kind to be a Hufflepuff (remember Zacharias Smith?).
And, besides, I have a weirdly large amount of headcanon figured out for a Hogwarts AU I have no intention of writing.
So, ok, Scott (half-blood, but he's always lived with Melissa who's a Muggle) and Stiles (100% Muggleborn) meet on the train and end up sorted into Gryffindor & Hufflepuff respectively. Stiles isn't letting no arbitrary sleeping arrangement lose him a friend though, so he just spends most of his time hanging out in the Gryffindor common room with Scott.
Wait, here--
Stiles meets Scott on the Hogwarts Express and they are instant best friends. He can see the disappointment in Scott’s open face from the Gryffindor table when the Hat sorts him into Hufflepuff, but he’s not taking this separatist bullshit. Stiles doesn’t make friends, especially not this easily, and he is not losing this one because they sleep on different floors of a castle at night. Which. A castle, this is so awesome.
He troops over to the Gryffindor table during the meal, getting side-eyed pretty hard by basically everyone who bothers to notice him, and whacks Scott on the shoulder.
“Dude, we’re meeting for breakfast tomorrow,” Stiles tells him, and Scott’s face, which had been doing a painfully adorable sad-puppy thing, clears like the sun coming out.
He flat-out beams, and Stiles—okay, Stiles has never been a popular kid. He’s always been a bit of a dork and he runs his mouth too much, so he kind of gets it. Sometimes he wishes he could avoid himself too.
But Scott actually likes him, for some inexplicable reason. And, yeah, this guy is gonna be Stiles’ best friend for life; he can feel it.
--Derek's a few years above them and spends all his free time scowling at Stiles across the common room, because he is trying to STUDY ok and Stiles isn't even a GRYFFINDOR, he should be here at all. He's still a werewolf though, a lot of the Hales are (maybe they were all attacked by Werewolves during the war in the 90s idk). But Wolfsbane potion is a thing and they're allowed to attend Hogwarts anyway. And, actually, you know what, Scott is a werewolf too. He got bitten during the summer after first year and totally freaked out that he wouldn't be allowed to go to school after all, but everything ends up fine. And then he's scared that Stiles won't wanna be his friend if he knows, but eventually figures that shit out, hits him a bunch of times for never telling him, makes a bunch of dog jokes, and then carries on as normal.
Oh, hold up I have something for this too--
It all clicks about five months into fourth year: the shiftiness, the avoidance, the monthly disappearances, the sudden improvement at Quidditch and the way Derek seems to be lurking around every corner. It clicks into place, forms a big, neon sign that screams WEREWOLVES, and, okay, if Stiles was a worse person he would punch Scott in the head.
He does kind of punch him a bit and he does call Scott a lot of names, but he also tells Scott he’s the stupidest person alive for thinking this would change their friendship at all and the way Scott’s face lights up reminds Stiles of the day they met. Scott has a smile like fucking sunshine and it’s so unfair that it just melts Stiles’ temper away at times like this. He’d really like to get to stay mad at Scott for the shit he pulls every once in a while.
“And this is why you’re suddenly all cosy with Hale!” Stiles crows, slapping Scott’s arm. “Oh my god, I was right! He’s a werewolf!”
“You thought he was a vampire,” Scott says, confused and a little hangdog, like he thinks he’ll be in trouble for Stiles figuring it out—and, wow, dog jokes just got so much funnier.
“He’s still a creature of the night,” Stiles says, dismissive. And then, “No offence?” because he isn’t sure what counts as an insult, really, to a werewolf.
--And so this is how Stiles actually ends up in the same social circle as
Derek Hale, who he may or may not have been secretly mooning over as badly as Scott has been for Allison. But Derek is in seventh year while they're in fourth, so nothing happens while they're still at school. It isn't until after Scott and Stiles graduate, and suddenly Stiles is seeing Derek around again and he is even more beautiful than ever and has actually started treating Stiles like an adult instead of the brat hanger-on of the dumb new werewolf he's been tasked with mentoring and Stiles doesn't even know what to do with this???
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