I don’t see how self-awareness makes any sort of difference?
You said:
a neutral interpretation of the facts would’ve placed at least an equally high probability on someone meddling with his sorting, as on the Hat played its first prank in over 600 years.
But you did not consider that since the Sorting Hat was sentient for the first time in its existence, it would be very likely to do other things for the first time in its existence.
The only relevant special knowledge he has is that the Sorting Hat had some extra ability to appreciate humor at the time of his sorting
Seriously? Harry knows the entirety of his conversation with the Hat, which no one else knows. In that conversation the Hat used all of Harry’s knowledge and vocabulary to try to convince him to go to Hufflepuff, Harry obstinately refused, the Hat got pissed at Harry’s obstinacy, and then, with Harry demanding to go to Ravenclaw, and the Hat admitting that only Harry’s choices can determine where he belongs, the Hat says “You deserve the scary thing I’m about to do to you” and calls out “Slytherin!” and lets Harry stew on that for eight full seconds before calling out “Ravenclaw!”
That is hardly a mere “extra ability to appreciate humor”.
the most intelligent and rational character in the fic considers this the simplest/most probable answer
Yes, he does, but he does not have all the information necessary to come to an informed conclusion. Harry does, and so do we. Harry and we are the only ones privy to his conversation with the sentient Sorting Hat.
And when thinking about the above passage on a more “meta” level, if Eliezer had intended us to have any lingering doubts about the Sorting, he would not have have flatly had our protagonist say “Professor Quirrell was wrong,” and he certainly would not have gone on to point out, in the very passage you quoted, that Quirrell did not have all the evidence available to him, so as to corroborate his statement.
I know you want this to be a mystery, but there are plenty of other mysteries in this story to wonder about that are far more deserving of your attention than this matter, which was settled many chapters ago.
You said:
But you did not consider that since the Sorting Hat was sentient for the first time in its existence, it would be very likely to do other things for the first time in its existence.
Seriously? Harry knows the entirety of his conversation with the Hat, which no one else knows. In that conversation the Hat used all of Harry’s knowledge and vocabulary to try to convince him to go to Hufflepuff, Harry obstinately refused, the Hat got pissed at Harry’s obstinacy, and then, with Harry demanding to go to Ravenclaw, and the Hat admitting that only Harry’s choices can determine where he belongs, the Hat says “You deserve the scary thing I’m about to do to you” and calls out “Slytherin!” and lets Harry stew on that for eight full seconds before calling out “Ravenclaw!”
That is hardly a mere “extra ability to appreciate humor”.
Yes, he does, but he does not have all the information necessary to come to an informed conclusion. Harry does, and so do we. Harry and we are the only ones privy to his conversation with the sentient Sorting Hat.
And when thinking about the above passage on a more “meta” level, if Eliezer had intended us to have any lingering doubts about the Sorting, he would not have have flatly had our protagonist say “Professor Quirrell was wrong,” and he certainly would not have gone on to point out, in the very passage you quoted, that Quirrell did not have all the evidence available to him, so as to corroborate his statement.
I know you want this to be a mystery, but there are plenty of other mysteries in this story to wonder about that are far more deserving of your attention than this matter, which was settled many chapters ago.