At Harry’s Sorting Ceremony in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” the Sorting Hat describes Slytherin students using the word “cunning,” crooning, “Or perhaps in Slytherin / You’ll make your real friends, / Those cunning folk use any means / To achieve their ends.” The hat returns to this theme in “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” and though it makes sure to highlight dangerous divisions between Houses, it still specifies that each founder preferred particular students: “For instance, Slytherin / Took only pure-blood wizards / Of great cunning, just like him.”
Being cunning might mean being dishonest from time to time, but it could also be interpreted as simply playing one’s cards close to the vest. While Draco always seems to be plotting something, that’s not what makes him a villain for most of the series; his terrible attitude and hatred of anyone he deems inferior are his real bad qualities. Plus, Hogwarts students have to be pretty cunning just to get through their classes, to say nothing of the constant dangers that lurk within the school’s halls. Hogwarts can be a tricky place to be a kid; a little cunning wouldn’t hurt anyone, whether they’re Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, or Slytherin.
