that she was thinking what he was thinking.

'What?' said Ron, looking from one to the other.

'Well, the Chamber of Secrets was opened fifty years ago, wasn't it?' he said. 'That's what Malfoy said.'

'Yeah ...' said Ron slowly.

'And this diary is fifty years old,' said Hermione, tapping it excitedly. 'So?'

'Oh, Ron, wake up,' snapped Hermione. 'We know the person who opened the Chamber last time was expelled fifty years ago. We know T. M. Riddle got an award for special services to the school fifty years ago. Well, what if Riddle got his special award forcatching the heir of Slytherin? His diary would probably tell us everything: where the Chamber is, and how to open it, and what sort of creature lives in it. The person who's behind the attacks this time wouldn't want that lying around, would they?'

'That's a brilliant theory, Hermione,' said Ron, 'with just one tiny little flaw. There's nothing written in his diary.'

But Hermione was pulling her wand out of her bag.

'It might be invisible ink!' she whispered.

'Or lemon juice!' said Amelia. Harry and Ron looked at her puzzled she rolled her eyes.

'When lemon juice dries it becomes clear. Heating it up makes it oxidize turning it brown.'

Hermione smiled. "Amazing, where did you learn that?"

'Scobby doo,' Amelia blushed. Hermione laughed.

She tapped the diary three times and said, 'Aparecium!'

Nothing happened. Undaunted, Hermione shoved her handback into her bag and pulled out what appeared to be a bright red eraser.

'It's a Revealer, I got it in Diagon Alley,' she said.

She rubbed hard on 'January the first'. Nothing happened.

'I'm telling you, there's nothing to find in there,' said Ron.

'Riddle just got a diary for Christmas and couldn't be bothered filling it in.'

'Been there done that,' commented Amelia.

*

Harry couldn't explain, even to himself, why he didn't just throw Riddle's diary away. The fact was that even though he knew the diary was blank, he kept absent-mindedly picking it up and turn- ing the pages, as though it was a story he wanted to finish. And while Harry was sure he had never heard the name T. M. Riddle before, it still seemed to mean something to him, almost as though Riddle was a friend he'd had when he was very small, and half-forgotten. But this was absurd. He'd never had friends before Hogwarts, Dudley had made sure of that.

Nevertheless, Harry was determined to find out more about