Disclaimer: I'm just a fan, writing for fun. I do not own the rights to the Harry Potter books, Hogwarts or characters.

A Conversation With Ernie

"Father, what did you want to talk to me about?" I asked. My father looked up from the Daily Prophet, which he was reading, turning the article around so that I could see it.

I looked at it. It showed a picture of Cedric Diggory. The boy had been two years above me at Hogwarts, and we had been friends with one another. I had been quite upset when he had died, but I believed what Harry had said. Voldemort was back.

However as I read through the article, I realised that the Ministry of Magic didn't have the same ideas as me.

"So what do you think?" my father asked me.

"I believe Harry Potter. I don't care what the Prophet says - Voldemort is back!"

"Good, because that is what I believe too," said my Father. "I know the two of you haven't always got along. In the past you have accused Harry of many things: you believed that he had opened the chamber of secrets and that he had entered his name into the goblet of fire. Sometimes, it is a good idea not to jump to conclusions."

"I won't, Father," I told him. "I won't do it again; I've learnt my lesson."

"Good. I wish I had when I was your age. Once I didn't believe the truth and I spread rumours all around the school. The whole school then hated this one boy, and he nearly died because of it. I wouldn't want that to happen to Harry."

"Who was it, Father?"

"No one you would know. It doesn't matter. People believed him in the end, but not until it was too late."

"What happened, Father?"

"He flinched his arm when I grabbed him once, and back then that was a sure sign that someone could have the dark mark," said my Father. I wanted to say that that wasn't nearly enough evidence to suggest that someone was a death eater, but he continued talking before I could get a word in.

"I asked him if I could see his arm, but he wouldn't let me. I thought nothing of it, until I heard his brother claiming he had joined the Death Eaters. That was enough evidence for me to come to the conclusion that he must be one." I guessed that wasn't any less evidence than when I had assumed that Harry Potter was the heir of Slytherin, just because Harry was a Parselmouth.

"And so you told everyone that he was a Death Eater? I'm guessing he wasn't then," I asked.

"No, he wasn't. But because of me, no one would talk to him. The Gryffindors hated him, and it turned out that the Slytherins had been using Unforgiveables on him all year."

"How come no one noticed?"

"I really don't know, but I'll tell you this. Never judge someone, unless you know everything there is to know about them. Even if you think you know them, they might not be telling the whole truth."

"So what about Harry Potter?" I asked.

"Oh, you can believe him. Don't believe what you read in the Daily Prophet though, because it's all rubbish."