“I had no intention of justifying my life, Hermione—neither to you nor to anybody else. But your question made me think of the reasons for my actions, whether they are justified or not. Let me advise you not to justify your life after it is lived; at that stage it will speak for itself. And don’t judge the past actions of other people—it’s too late to change them. You seem to me a little censorious as you pronounce upon my career. I object not because it’s mycareer, but because any final verdicts on others seem presumptuous for a human being to make. I discuss your life so much because it is still in the future; what you have once done, however, I shall say nothing about.”

“I meant no discourtesy,” said Hermione, “and I do see why you are different from other people. You are so beautiful that ordinary rules seem not to apply.”