(Minerva Mcgonagall stands at the front of her Transfiguration classroom, teaching her fourth year students to turn drinking straws into rapiers. She enjoys her post in
Hogwarts staff very much, but recently a thought has been bothering her, one that she can't get rid of...)
"Does it really matter? Teaching them all of this, I mean? How many of these students will use this knowledge to create trouble and havoc in the hallways and classrooms?
And how many of these students will use this for evil? How do I know that these blades that I'm teaching them to conjure out of mundane objects today won't be used to take
the life of fellow wizards, or perhaps muggles, in the future? I know I must not be prejudiced, but those Slytherins... no. I'm just being silly again. Of course this matters! I
am a teacher, after all, and thus it is in my responsibilities to teach! They must learn this, after all, whether they, or I, like it or not! It's just that, so many students have gone
bad. And not just Slytherins. Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs alike. But that is not the fault of us teachers. We give them the knowledge, they choose what to do with
it. Many of these students that sit before me will come to do great things with the abilities we give them. I'm sure some will even use it to stop the evildoers. Yes, that's it. It
doesn't matter how many Dark Wizards we inadvertently create, we will always train more with good in their hearts to defeat them. Sigh. Sad, though, knowing how war-torn
this class will inevitably be in the future. How many of these students will meet their ends at each other's hands. As long as there is evil in the world, that will always be the
terrible truth. Is this our fault, though? I just feel that if we just didn't teach them these skills, they wouldn't learn them. Therefore, they couldn't use them against each
other. But that is just foolish thinking. We can't just keep them ignorant their whole lives! If only there was another way. Maybe we just aren't preparing them correctly. If
we train them from a young age, perhaps we can prevent the evil from snatching them? But it is strong. It will always have control, no matter what we try to do to prevent it.
Perhaps we should warn them? Prepare them, somehow, for the future of violence and pain that awaits them? But that is more foolish thinking. How would we explain that to
them, even if we tried? No, let them have their peace while they can. Oh, the tormented emotions of an old woman. I've seen it all, I've been through it all, and yet I can do
nothing to protect them from the unavoidable. Which makes me wonder even more, is this all worth it? Does it really matter?"