And I am equally surprised at you, Dolores. Heightening the standards of discipline is all very well but what you are suggesting is actively stacking the odds against certain students merely because you believe they will amount to nothing in their lives. That is well outside the scope of our charge, as you ought to know from your years of liaison with the Education office. Miss Perks may have few prospects but there is no reason to ensure her failure--particularly when the consequences to her or any other halfblood are so grievous.

As for your 'staffing changes.' Let us presume you are not attempting to threaten me. While it would pain me to leave the students in the lurch, particularly when it seems evident that they need more assistance than ever, I assure you, it would pass after a few weeks' relaxation and the monthly pension awaiting me after sixty years of investment. I'm sure Our Lord would not begrudge His old teacher and Head of House a quiet seaside retirement, no matter what power you think you may have to arrange it otherwise.

It is not your right to choose who succeeds and who fails, Dolores. Not so long as the students make the effort in good faith to learn their lessons.

Are you sure the strain of the tasks you have set is not too much? Perhaps it is you who need a rest even more than the pupils.