It was true, Severus had to admit, that any distinction between insufferable adolescents and insufferable adults was somewhat artificial - that wasn't an argument he would waste any time in refuting. Still, a little skepticism was surely called for. "You'll find that accidents are hardly the most serious of your concerns, Mr. Finnigan; after eight or nine, they tend to develop strange ideas about their own abilities." Overconfident teenagers were one of the more dangerous things he'd run across during his career.
"You'll refer most of the disciplinary cases to the appropriate Heads of Houses, of course," he said - he did want to fill the position, after all. "And I shouldn't spend too much time concerning yourself with whether they're enjoying themselves. - Our last Transfiguration professor was a class favorite, but I'm sorry to say it did him very little good."