T. M. Riddle's Diary

"Funny, the damage a silly little book can do, especially in the hands of a silly little girl..."

- Tom Riddle to Harry Potter

Tom Riddle's Diary was a blank journal which Tom Marvolo Riddle transformed into a Horcrux. This event took place in 1943, during Riddle's sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. After Voldemort's first defeat in 1981, the diary was passed to Death Eater Lucius Malfoy, who kept the diary in secret before slipping it into Ginny Weasley's school supplies at Flourish and Blotts in 1992. The diary used its magical influence to posssess and force Ginny to re-open the Chamber of Secrets, but it was destroyed by Harry Potter in 1993 with a Basilisk's fang.

Creation of the Diary as a Horcrux
When Tom Marvolo Riddle was in his fifth year at Hogwarts, he used his ability to speak Parseltongue to open Salazar Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets. He further used this language ability to order the Chamber's Basilisk to terrorize the school and hunt down its Muggle-born students. At least one, a Ravenclaw named Myrtle, was killed. Riddle used this murder to infuse the journal with a piece of his soul, transforming it into a Horcrux.

When Riddle started his sixth year, Professor Dumbledore, then professor of Transfiguration, began suspecting Riddle. Knowing it was no longer safe to open the Chamber and that the school might be shut down if another student was harmed, Riddle framed Rubeus Hagrid and his pet Aragog for the crimes. He embued the diary with other powers so that the Chamber could be opened again in the future.

Riddle also questioned Potions professor Horace Slughorn about the properties of a Horcrux and how one might create multiple ones. Influenced by Riddle's charisma and believing his own wisdom was being admired, Slughorn told Riddle what little he knew on the subject.

Powers
"While the magical container is still intact, the bit of soul inside it can flit in and out of someone if they get too close to the object. I don’t mean holding it for too long…I mean close emotionally. Ginny poured her heart out into that diary, she made herself incredibly vulnerable. You’re in trouble if you get too fond of or dependent on the Horcrux."

- Hermione Granger on a Horcrux's ability to influence a person

As a Horcrux, the diary allowed a writer to communicate with the memory of the sixteen-year-old Tom Riddle merely through writing on the journal's blank pages. The diary could transport the reader into a realm of memories, much like the Pensieve. The diary was also able siphon the life force from a reader and transfer it to Riddle's stored memory. This act was an effort to create a physical body for the sixteen-year-old soul of Tom Riddle. The closer a writer became to the memory of Tom Riddle emotionally, the more power the diary would have over him or her.

It is unclear whether other Horcruxes include any these same abilities; however, Salazar Slytherin's Locket had a negative effect on the physical and emotional bodies of those who wore it.

Re-opening of the Chamber of Secrets
"...I was patient. I wrote back. I was sympathetic, I was kind. Ginny simply loved me... No one's ever understood me like you, Tom... I'm so glad I've got this diary to confide in... It's like a friend I can carry around in my pocket... If I say it myself, Harry, I’ve always been able to charm the people I needed."

- Tom Riddle to Harry Potter on his manipulation of Ginny Weasley through the diary

In 1992, Ginny Weasley came into the possession of the diary through the scheming of Lucius Malfoy, who wanted to sabotage Ginny's father. She soon learned how to use the diary to communicate with Tom Marvolo Riddle, though she was unaware that he was Lord Voldermort, or if he was even real. Ginny wrote all of her deepest feelings and secrets in the diary, including her feelings of infatuation towards Harry Potter.

Her emotional vulnerability allowed the fragment of Voldemort's soul within the diary to gain partial control of her mind, and forced her to re-open the Chamber of Secrets. Ginny was forced not only to vandalize the school corridors with terrifying threats in red paint, but also to release the Basilisk within the Chamber. It attacked several members of the Hogwarts community, including Mrs. Norris, Colin Creevey, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Nearly-Headless Nick, Hermione Granger, and Penelope Clearwater. These individuals were not murdered by the Basilisk, but petrified - a result of not seeing the basilisk directly.

When the attacks began, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger began to investigate the matter. They initially suspected Draco Malfoy, who was openly prejudiced toward Muggle-borns, but after using Polyjuice Potion to spy on him, they discovered that he knew little about the attacks. Hermione eventually deduced that the monster had to be a Basilisk, but she was petrified before she could inform Harry or Ron, though she managed to leave them a clue.

Harry heard strange voices in the walls of Hogwarts, which implied the urge to kill. Harry followed the voices through the Hogwarts corridors until he came upon the second floor girls' lavatory. It was here that he discovered the waterlogged diary, which Ginny had discarded in an emotional fury. Soon enough, Harry was communicating with Tom Riddle, who showed him a memory within the diary in which Riddle confronted Rubeus Hagrid about the keeping of a dangerous pet. This implied to Harry that Hagrid had opened the Chamber of Secrets, but Riddle was merely using Hagrid's pet Acromantula, Aragog, as a scapegoat so Hogwarts would not be closed down.

Later, Ginny stole the diary from among Harry's belongings, and shortly thereafter went missing. She was forced to paint a threat on her life on the walls of a hallway and sealed herself inside the Chamber. Hogwarts was again under threat of being closed.

Destruction
"Haven't I taught you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain!"

- Arthur Weasley to his daughter after her rescue

Harry returned to the girls' lavatory and successfully discovered and opened the Chamber of Secrets. Harry, Ron, and Professor Gilderoy Lockhart made their way into the Chamber. Lockhart, who had no plans to actually fight the Basilisk, attacked the students with Ron's own broken wand, which backfired on Lockhart, wiping his memory. Harry continued into the Chamber, where he discovered an unconscious Ginny next to Tom Riddle, who was gaining strength and form.

Riddle revealed the truth of his identity and plans to Harry, and unleashed the Basilisk. Harry defeated the Basilisk with the assistance of the phoenix Fawkes and Godric Gryffindor's Sword. Harry then took one of the Basilisk's fangs and stabbed the diary with it. This successfully destroyed the Horcrux, as Basilisk venom is one of the few substances with the ability.

Lord Voldemort was unaware that this Horcrux had been destroyed until he forced the truth out of Lucius Malfoy (who did not know the Diary was a Horcrux) shortly after his return to power in June of 1995. He was furious to learn of its destruction.

Behind the scenes

 * The diary was originally purchased from a Muggle shop on Vauxhall Road in London.
 * In an interview with J. K. Rowling, she states that "My sister used to commit her innermost thoughts to her diary. Her great fear was that someone would read it. That's how the idea came to me of a diary that is itself against you. You would be confiding everything to pages that aren't inanimate."
 * J.K. Rowling has also stated, "Now, the diary to me is a very scary object, a really, really frightening object. This manipulative little book, the temptation particulary for a young girl to pour out her heart to a diary, which is never something I was prone to, but my sister was. The power of something that answers you back, and at the time that I wrote that I'd never been in an Internet chat room. But I've since thought "Well it's very similar." Just typing your deepest thoughts into the ether and getting answers back, and you don't know who is answering you. And so that was always a very scary image to me, in the book, and I thought it worked very well in the film. You could understand when he started writing to see these things coming back to him, and the power of that, that secret friend in your pocket."
 * In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the same font, with a handwritten look, is used for Tom Riddle's handwriting in his diary and Hermione's note on the library page about the Basilisk, indicating "pipes."

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

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