For whom was the diary intended ? (Was Re: what happened in CoS.)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 108566

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Cathy Drolet" <cldrolet at s...> 
wrote:
 
> Geoff:
> "Sorry, I don't follow your drift here. How do Demenotrs come into 
> this?"
> 
> DuffyPoo again:
> Um...Dobby says HP will be in 'mortal danger' if he goes back to 
Hogwarts.  If Ginny Weasley were the intended recipient of the Diary, 
I just can't see how that would cause HP to be in 'mortal danger'.  
If, however, as I said, HP is the intended recipient (and the plan 
was changed at the last moment) HP is discovered attacking and 
killing Muggle-borns...he's not going to walk away free.  

Geoff:
This is obviously in the area of hypothetical speculation. However, 
let's consider canon for a moment...

'"Haven't you guessed yet, Harry Potter?" said Riddle softly."Ginny 
Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. She strangled the school 
roosters and daubed threatening messages on the walls. She set the 
Serpent of Slytherin on four Mudbloods and the Squib's cat."
"No," Harry whispered.
"Yes," said Riddle calmly. "Of course, she didn't know what she was 
doing at first. It was very amusing......"

(COS "The Heir of Slytherin" p.229 UK edition)

So Riddle used the diary to possess Ginny.

'"If I say it myself, Harry, I've always been able to charm the 
people I needed. So Ginny poured out her soul to me and her soul 
happened to be exactly what I wanted. I grew stronger and stronger on 
a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. I grew powerful, 
far more powerful than little Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to start 
feeding Miss Weasley a few of /my/ secrets, to start pouring a little 
of /my/ soul back into /her/..."'

(COS "The Heir of Slytherin" p.228 UK edition)

Taking your hypothesis that Harry was meant to get the diary, would 
he have reacted in the same way? I doubt it. What does Harry normally 
do when something bothers him? He clams up, frequently keeps it to 
himself until the end of the incident. I can't see him pouring out 
his soul to Tom's diary and Tom being able to insinuate himself into 
Harry's so deeply as to possess him and for him not to know what he 
was doing. Harry's interest in the diary dates from when he found it 
and because he wanted to find out more about the Chamber. If it had 
come to him before anything untoward had happened, would he take an 
interest in an old, apparently empty diary bought from a stationery 
shop in Vauxhall Road in or around 1942? 

When Voldemort did try to take over Harry, the result was very 
different to that with Ginny....

'"We wanted to talk to you, Harry," said Ginny, "but as you've been 
hiding ever since we got back - "
"I didn't want anyone to talk to me," said Harry who was feeling more 
and more nettled.
"Well, that was a bit stupid of you," said Ginny angrily, "seeing as 
you don't know anyone but me who's been possessed by You-Know-Who and 
I can tell you how it feels."
Harry remained quite still as the impact of these words hit him. Then 
he wheeled round.
"I forgot," he said.
"Lucky you," said Ginny, coolly.
"I'm sorry," Harry said and he meant it. "So... so, do you think I'm 
being possessed then?"
"Well, can you remember everything you've been doing?" Ginny 
asked, "Are there big blank periods where you don't know what you've 
been up to?"
HArry racked his brains.
"No," he said.
"The You-Know-Who hasn't ever possessed you," said Ginny simply...'

(OOTP "Christmas on the Closed Ward" pp. 441-42 UK edition)

I suggest that Harry would not have fallen into the same trap as 
Ginny. Again, /no/ Mudbloods were killed even if Harry was accused of 
attacking them so I think the risk of a Dementor's kiss being the 
verdict was a no-no. I think there was a much greater threat posed 
when the final scenario evolved and Harry found himself face to face 
with Riddle in the Chamber - maybe a face off even Dobby didn't 
visualise. But this all past history and belongs in ACT (the Archive 
of the Conspiracy Theorists).


Geoff:
> >>>The nearest point in Wiltshire to the Scottish border, which 
itself 
> is a long way south of the Highland Region, would be of the order 
of 
> 400 miles. Wiltshire is a county to the west of London.<<<
> 
> DuffyPoo again:
> So, are you saying I'm right, that it would be a heck of a long 
tunnel?

Geoff:
Indeed I am, fair lady.
:-)