Prudent? What could she mean by that? Ernest tried not to let any emotion whatsoever show on his face as he considered the possibilities. She must have been referring to their last interaction, whatever memories she had remaining of it. Had she heard about his injury and had been hesitant to reschedule out of a desire to avoid having to be polite? Or perhaps she hadn't heard, and was afraid to see what the extent of the damage was? She may very well have thought him dead, up until his letter inviting her to reschedule arrived. Then, perhaps this wasn't about his injury, but rather her behavior. Was she embarrassed about anything that had happened? Feeling as though his predicament was in some way her doing? Ernest didn't blame her. While he was, of course, not happy with the way things had ended up, he recognized that without her intervention in the moment he likely would have been far worse off, and perhaps even dead. So, it wasn't as though he could go holding grudges.

It did make him wonder how much of their previous interaction she remembered, but so far she'd given him no indication. He surveyed his notes to see if there was anything related he could bring up to see if he could get her to give a hint one way or the other — though it was not, strictly speaking, much related to the fact of whether or not she was qualified for the position.

Well. He should probably start with the actual interview.

"Alright, Miss Sleptova. I have your NEWT grades here. Which was your most difficult subject?"