"So he kills you but is taken in? Sorry James that's not good enough for me. It just isn't."
And his mind was already made up. Trainees of all years would be kept from going after Voldemort, it would be an easy enough decision to motivate. It would not target James, but protect him all the same. He was certain he'd get the minister on his side, as well as the older Aurors who generally preferred not to have young trainees with them as they were responsible for them in a way they weren't for other colleagues.
"You're right that we should never have been allowed to do half of the things we did and it was a miracle that we survived when so many others did not. I will not make the same decision that Dumbledore did. I will not send teenagers and young adults to die in the place of trained men. You are still in training, there are still things for you to learn. There is a reason training is three years and not two, there are cases you should not work, and this is definitely one."
"I will not give in this time, James. I'm not targeting you or keeping you from doing your job. You have your assignment, it's with the werewolf unit. You have no business on this one, nor does any other trainee, and in an hour or two that will be a formal decision. Trainees of third year will work on Hogwarts with the returnees or on the werewolf unit and that's it, trainees younger than that will keep to their normal training. That's my final decision and I expect you to follow orders."