Leaves from the vine,
Falling so slow
Like fragile tiny shells
Drifting in the foam
Little soldier boy
Come marching home
Brave soldier boy
Comes marching home

Zuko: "Why am I so bad at being good?!

The greatest illusion of this world is the illusion of separation. Things you think are separate and different are actually one and the same.

A simple and heart-warming fable, one might think - in which case, one would reveal oneself to be an innocent nincompoop.

My refusal to remove the book from the library was backed by a majority of the Board of Governors. I wrote back to Mr Malfoy, explaining my decision:

So-called pure-blood families maintain their alleged purity by disowning, banishing or lying about Muggles or Muggle-borns on their family trees. They then attempt to foist their hypocrisy upon the rest of us by asking us to ban works dealing with the truths they deny. There is not a witch or wizard in existence whose blood has not mingled with that of Muggles, and I should therefore consider it both illogical and immoral to remove works dealing with the subject from our students' store of knowledge.(4)

This exchange marked the beginning of Mr Malfoy's long campaign to have me removed from my post as Headmaster of Hogwarts, and of mine to have him removed from his position as Lord Voldemort's Favourite Death Eater.

(4)My response prompted several further letters from Mr Malfoy, but as they consisted mainly of opprobrious remarks on my sanity, parentage and hygiene, their relevance to this commentary is remote.

»Ist euch schon mal aufgefallen, dass es keine Dynastie für Mörder, Vergewaltiger oder Diebe gibt? Jeder Verbrecher trifft eine bewusste Entscheidung, etwas Böses zu tun. Kein Name ist von sich aus böse.«
(unbekannt)