Tom Riddle's diary
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Tom Riddle's diary is a fictional magical object that appears in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley find the diary in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and Harry becomes convinced that the diary, with its seemingly blank pages, is not all that it appears. He eventually discovers that to work the diary one writes in it, and Tom Riddle, a student at Hogwarts fifty years ago, writes back.
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History
Image:Riddle's Diary.jpg Unknown to Harry and his friends, Tom Riddle grew up to become the evil Lord Voldemort. 50 years ago, he opened the Chamber of Secrets, and framed Hagrid for the attacks. Since it wasn't safe to open the Chamber again with Albus Dumbledore keeping an eye on him, Riddle created the diary, sealing a part of his sixteen-year-old self into it. Voldemort entrusted the dangerous book in the hands of Death Eater Lucius Malfoy,Template:HP6 who years later passed it to Ginny Weasley, by surreptitiously hiding it within her Transfiguration book, in order to discredit her father, Arthur Weasley, and DumbledoreTemplate:HP2.
Ginny "pours out her soul" to the diary and grows to love Riddle, calling him the only one to understand her. However, Riddle grows strong enough to possess her, and forces her to open the Chamber of Secrets again. Ginny, who loses her memory whenever someone is attacked, begins to believe that she is responsible and fears for her sanity. Note that it is not clear why Dumbledore did not detect this with legilimency, at which he is an expert. Possibly he has ethical concerns regarding using it on a significant number of students, as would be required to find the offender, or simply lacks the strength and/or time to do so.
Ginny eventually becomes suspicious of the diary and tries to dispose of it in Moaning Myrtle's toilet. This is when Harry Potter gets hold of it, and Riddle, who had heard how Harry defeated his future self as a baby, tries to gain Harry's trust by showing him his capture of Hagrid. This doesn't work, and Ginny spots Harry with the diary. Fearing that Riddle might repeat her secrets to Harry, she filches the diary from Harry's dormitory. Harry and his friends, who had suspected that the diary had been thrown away by the Heir of Slytherin, were mystified by this, as only a Gryffindor could possibly have had access to Harry's dormitory. Apparently, Ginny could not resist the diary's insidious powers, as she continues to write to Riddle.
Eventually, Riddle absorbs enough of Ginny's life-force to emerge from the diary, leaving her unconscious in a state he describes as "still alive, but only just". Ginny's disappearance successfully lures Harry into the Chamber, but Riddle fails to kill Harry. Harry saves Ginny and destroys Riddle by destroying the diary by piercing it with the fang of a basilisk. After it was rendered powerless, Harry returned the diary to Lucius Malfoy, with a slimy sock enclosed as a bookmark. As a result, when Lucius threw the sock away, his house-elf Dobby caught it, and was unintentionally given his freedom.
Description and Extent of Powers
In order for Riddle to gain the power to possess Ginny, or whoever might be using the diary, that person must write to him. It appears they must write to him on a regular basis and for a long period of time before they can be possessed. Harry, who writes to Riddle only once, is, thus, not in any danger. It is interesting that Harry chooses not to write back to Riddle for more information, when he is clearly stumped about the validity of Hagrid's guilt. In retrospect, this was a wise decision.
Riddle's diary has an ability, similar to that of a Pensieve, to take someone back in time in a memory, so they can witness an event in a magical virtual reality simulation. Riddle uses this ability of the diary to show Hagrid's capture to Harry. It is unknown whether Ginny was ever taken inside any memories while the diary was in her possession.
It is also speculated that Tom Riddle's diary was actually a Horcrux. Thus, when Harry destroyed it, he destroyed one part of Voldemort's soul.
Notes
- In the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, it is revealed that the diary's unusual powers come from its nature as a Horcrux, meaning Voldemort had stored a piece of his soul within the diary as part of his efforts to cheat death - while part of his soul was separate from the part within his body, he could not truly die.
- When asked what would have happened if Ginny had died and Riddle had managed to escape, author J. K. Rowling declined to give a straight answer, but revealed that "it would have strengthened the present-day Voldemort considerably." [1]
- It was noted by Arthur Weasley that a magical object which appears to think for itself should not be trusted if one cannot see "where it keeps its brain". This standard has been used many times afterwards in the series. Harry is originally sceptical of the Marauder's Map due to this, but he rationalises its use with flawed reasoning. This also explains why an object such as the Sorting Hat is not dangerous. Arthur Weasley gets upset with his daughter for not recognising the tell-tale signs that the diary was dangerous, but it is worth noting that this never crossed Harry, Ron, or Hermione's minds either.
- The diary is similar to many objects in the Harry Potter series, and many works of fantasy, science fiction and countless other genres, in that it is a small unassuming object with extraordinary powers. To Rowling, a diary is a very scary object. She said in an interview that "the temptation, especially for a young girl, [is] to pour out her heart to a diary." Rowling's little sister Diane was prone to this, and her great fear was that someone would read her diary. This gave Rowling the idea to have a diary that is, in itself, against the confider.