Description
A plain, black, pocket-sized diary bearing the name “T. M. Riddle” in smudged ink on the first page. Outwardly it appears to be nothing more than a fifty-year-old blank journal, its pages yellowed with age. However, within this unassuming book resides a fragment of Tom Riddle’s soul — his first Horcrux, and the one he created with the most deliberate care.
History
Tom Riddle created this Horcrux in June 1942, using the murder of Myrtle Warren — a Muggle-born student who was killed by the Basilisk that Riddle unleashed from the Chamber of Secrets. A piece of his sixteen-year-old soul was placed into his personal diary, preserving a memory of himself at the height of his youthful cunning and charm.
Unlike the other Horcruxes, the diary was designed to serve a dual purpose. Riddle intended it not merely as a soul vessel, but as a weapon. The diary had the ability to communicate with anyone who wrote in its pages, gradually possessing and draining the life force of the writer. Through this process, the fragment of soul within could grow strong enough to emerge from the diary as a corporeal being and reopen the Chamber of Secrets.
Riddle entrusted the diary to Lucius Malfoy, one of his followers, for safekeeping. Voldemort’s plan was for Malfoy to slip the diary to a student at Hogwarts, thereby reopening the Chamber without Voldemort directly targeting the school while Albus Dumbledore remained headmaster.
The diary was eventually destroyed by Harry Potter, who pierced it with a basilisk fang — one of the few substances capable of destroying a Horcrux beyond magical repair.
Properties
- Soul vessel: Contains a fragment of Tom Riddle’s soul, functioning as a Horcrux.
- Possession: Anyone who writes in the diary opens a channel of communication with the soul fragment within. Over time, the diary drains the writer’s life force and exerts increasing control over them.
- Memory projection: The diary can project the memories of its creator, drawing others into vivid recreations of past events.