"Hullo, Neville. It's a nice morning, isn't it?" Ernie remarked, looking over at him, watching him sit down. Now that he was here, Ernie suddenly felt a little self-conscious, feeling a bit like an idiot for asking for the meeting.
But it was a little late for that now, so he looked down at his books for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to say what he wanted to say, without actually saying anything incriminating at all. Though he felt better about saying things when he was outside, at any rate. There was at least the illusion that you might not be overheard.
"Did you have a nice holiday?" he asked, after a moment.