The Slytherins are being worse than ever. Most of the Gryffindors were sulkily and gloomy for Rose had proved herself much more than just a charmer. She had managed to put together a strong Quidditch team with what she had to work with.

The Slytherins trampled the Gryffindors even with Potter as the captain and Seeker, last week. It was a cold and windy day, when Rose managed to beat Potter's record to catch the Snitch in the shortest amount of time. It was a highly embarrassing event at the cost of the Gryffindors.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were trying to make their way to lunch. A group of Slytherins was chattering excitedly. It was the regular gossiping group, which included Malfoy and Rose. In the mess of it all, Malfoy ended up tripping over someone, as a conclusion a pile of books flew into the air and landed on them.

Ron pointed what happened out to his friends and they stopped to watch laughing silently. Rose gave a disapproving look down at Malfoy who was picking up the books. The group suddenly realized that time was short and they quickly left.

Harry, and Ron were still commenting on the scene until Hermione pointed out that Malfoy forgot to point out something. She quickly went over and picked it up. It was the familiar black book that Rose was seen to be carrying and writing in time to time.

"Well, look what I found," Hermione said a bit annoyed.

"What is it?" asked Ron.

"It's the black book that Rose always writes in," Harry said grabbing the leather book from Hermione. He quickly flipped through the pages.

"Well?" asked Hermione. "Is there anything written in it?"

"No, there isn't," answered Harry who seemed disappointed.

"What do you mean there isn't anything in here? She's been seen writing in it practically everyday!" Hermione grabbed the book back and she quickly thumbed through the yellowed pages.

The cover of the book was of fine black leather. The size of it was rather small. The pages it contained were old and a bit yellowed.

"You're right," she said quietly, while she kept thumbing through. "Wait, there's something on the last page."

They quickly gathered around her to see what was on the last page. There sure enough, drawn on the last page, was a small image of the layout of Hogwarts. What was particularly special about it was the small dots that moved about, each with a name underneath it.

"Why on earth would she have a copy of this?" Ron quietly said.

"I don’t know," said Harry who was still looking at the map.

"I think I have an explanation," said Hermione quite pleased with herself.

"Are you going to tell us?" Ron snapped.

She ignored his comment and started explaining, "Well, Sirius, Lupin, Peter and James wrote the Marauder's Map right?" She didn't stop to allow them to answer. "So maybe Sirius made a copy of it and left it in this book. She probably gotten a hold of it somehow."

"Yes, but that doesn't explain why the pages are blank," said Harry.

"Well maybe it's invisible ink or something of the sort," Hermione said. After a few attempts to reveal something, they were rewarded with absolutely nothing.

"Maybe, it's like Riddle's diary, you know the one in our second year," Hermione quickly said after her large pink eraser didn't work. She quickly searched her bag and brought out quill and ink.

She carefully dipped the quill in ink and made a small spot of ink on the page. The wet ink glistened a bit before sinking into the page leaving nothing.

"That's the same as the Riddle diary," Harry said quietly.

Harry and Ron watched anxiously as Hermione dipped her quill into the ink and write:

Hello

The wet word glistened before disappearing. In it's place was written in a small, neat, slanted, and familiar handwriting:

She looked back at them who were staring at the small word. The word stayed for a while before disappearing again. In its place was written:

The short sentence stayed there for moments longer before disappearing again.

"What should we do?" asked Hermione.

"I think we should reply back to it," Harry said slowly.

"If Rose writes in this thing." She stopped. "Then I don't know what will happen if it realizes we're not Rose."

"Well, say you're Rose then," said Ron quickly.

Hermione quickly and nervously wrote down:

Why, this is Rose Black, of course.

Harry held his breath, what would happen if the diary knew that they weren't really Rose. They watched as the words sunk into the paper.

The page stayed blank for quite a while as if it was deciding if this was the real Rose or impostors. The trio waited, but nothing came up.

"Well, it's one smart book," Hermione said finally after her fifth attempt to make the book work.

"Here, let me keep it," Harry said.

There wasn't any more talk about the mysterious book over lunch or the rest of the day in fact. However, Harry noticed that Rose was being colder than usual to Malfoy. When the classes were done for the day, and the homework done, Harry decided to take a crack at the leather book again.

After pulling the curtains around him and getting out a quill and ink, he flopped down on his bed. Harry carefully opened the book up, flipping through the pages. He sighed, after finding nothing unusual or different. He thumbed back to the first page, and carefully dipped his quill into the dark ink.

He wrote down on the slightly yellowed paper:

Hello?

As before, the word glistened and shined before sinking into the paper itself. Harry held his breath waiting.

At last, a word appeared:

Harry wondered what to say, after remembering their first attempt. Instead, a sentence appeared beneath the already present word.

He wondered. Should he lie or be truthful. The words sank back into the paper again before he could make up his mind. Harry drew in a breath before writing down:

This is Harry Potter

Harry waited again anxiously. The words soon disappeared. He stared at the page. After a few long moments, it responded:

He felt a nervous shiver run down his spine. A thought flashed through his mind of what had happened in his second year. Harry wondering whether to answer or not when the words disappeared and new ones replaced it:

He waited for some more, but nothing came and like before, the words faded away. Not being able to contain it any longer he scribbled down:

Who are you? What are you? And what do you want?

To his amazement, he got an answer:

The writing paused, before continuing:

Harry bit his lip, wondering how to reply to this. Finally, he wrote down:

I found it in a corridor on my way to lunch and I was curious as well.

The diary seemed to sense that he was lying because of its reply:

Harry sat thinking what to reply. He thought back to what had happened in his second year. He knew how dangerous such things as self-thinking diaries could be. Harry saw that the words were fading away, so he quickly scribbled down:

Yes

He thought for a moment or two before adding down:

By the way, who exactly are you?

Harry held his breath waiting for an answer, that answer didn't come by the way he had expected it. The words quickly disappeared. The book itself seemed to be vibrating and shaking.

There was a strange vibe coming from this particular black book. A strange sense, which made Harry feel that he could trust it. There was something familiar, something strange about the diary, that he could not place a finger on it. An eerie feeling swept over him, not knowing what to do he quickly shut the diary.

He threw the black book towards the other end of the bed. Harry watched closely as the book vibrated for a few more moments, before falling back into stillness. Harry waited, a while longer for any more sign of the particular movement, none came. He decided, and quickly placed the book back into a secure pocket before leaving to find his friends.