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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[edit] History
Unknown to Harry and his friends, the young Tom Riddle became Lord Voldemort. Fifty years ago, he reopened the Chamber of Secrets and attacks on Hogwarts students began. Hagrid, a student at the time, was accused and expelled. Because it was unsafe to open the Chamber again while a suspicious Albus Dumbledore kept an eye on him, Riddle created the diary, sealing a part of his sixteen-year-old self into it. Voldemort entrusted the dangerous book to Death Eater Lucius Malfoy shortly before his downfall[HP6]. Years later, Malfoy slipped it to the innocent Ginny Weasley by surreptitiously hiding it within her Transfiguration book, in order to discredit her father, Arthur Weasley, and Dumbledore[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. Ginny, who loses her memory during attacks on students, begins to believe she is responsible and fears for her sanity.
When Ginny becomes suspicious of the diary, she tries disposing of it in Moaning Myrtle's toilet. Harry finds it, and carries it around in his bag, sporadically attempting to work out how to use it. He discovers on Valentine's Day: during an altercation with a dwarf and Draco Malfoy, the diary becomes soaked with ink, but absorbs it. Harry then tries writing in it, and talks to Riddle. Riddle has heard of Harry's dealings with Voldemort, and is anxious to gain Harry's trust. He therefore shows Harry his memory of framing and capturing Hagrid for possession of an acromantula in the castle (which he claims is the Monster of Slytherin). Harry agrees with Riddle's purported attitude: he does not believe that Hagrid intended to hurt anyone, but (recalling that Hagrid was expelled) unequivocally states that "Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago."
Unlike Ron (who distrusts Riddle, comparing him to Percy), Harry both trusts and sympathises with Riddle, noting that he understood Riddle's desire not to return to an orphanage. Left confused and concerned over Hagrid, and wishing that he had never worked out how to use the diary, Harry locks it away in his trunk. However, Ginny had already seen him with it during the Valentine's Day incident with Malfoy. Fearing that Riddle would reveal her secrets to Harry, she steals the diary from his dormitory. Harry and his friends are mystified, as only a Gryffindor could possibly have had access to Harry's dormitory. Apparently, Ginny is unable to resist the diary's insidious powers and continues writing to Riddle.
Eventually, Riddle absorbs enough of Ginny's life-force to emerge from the diary, leaving her in an unconscious state he describes as "only just alive." Ginny's disappearance lures Harry and Ron into the Chamber to find her. Riddle fails to kill Harry, who saves Ginny and destroys Riddle by piercing the diary with a Basilisk fang. After it is rendered powerless, Harry returns the diary to Lucius Malfoy wrapped in his sock. When Malfoy throws away the sock, his house-elf Dobby catches it and is unintentionally freed from servitude.
[edit] 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 not only write to him; they must write over a long period of time, share their secrets with him, and develop an emotional bond between the two. Harry, for example, is never possessed: he only wrote to Riddle once, and poured out no secrets; and whilst he did sympathise with Riddle and trust him, the revelations the Diary had given him distressed him, causing him to lock it away rather than to talk to it further.
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.
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. 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.
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.
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 particularly 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.[1]
