The Diary, Harry and Ginny, Sevvie and Lily

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 189117

Catlady wrote:
> I believe that the name T.M.Riddle was not actually familiar to Harry from the soul bit, but that it seemed familiar was part of a spell on the diary, a spell to attract a Parselmouth. Because Riddle had originally created the diary with the the memory in it to help some future person to continue Salazar Slytherin's project of releasing the basilisk to kill Muggle-born students, and the future person would have to be a Parselmouth in order to open the Chamber. 

Carol responds:
That's possible. However, Ginny was no Parselmouth before or after she was possessed, yet it also attracted her, so maybe the original spell just made the reader want to confide in it or write in it or interact with it in some way. Possibly, all he wanted at first was for someone to see the memories that proved he was the Heir of Slytherin. Harry, too, was attracted to the diary in the sense that he wanted to find out what it did; he didn't want to throw it away (unlike Ron, who as far as I know never touched it). I used to think that the diarist could interact with Memory Tom even before the soulbit was placed in the Horcrux, but apparently not. The soulbit was required to make it truly interactive by possessing the diarist and causing him (or more likely, her) to open the Chamber. It's interesting, BTW, that Lucius chose Ginny Weasley to give the diary rather than one of her brothers. Possibly, Voldemort had told him to choose a young girl when the time came--or Lucius figured out himself that a girl would be more likely than a boy to use a diary.

Catlady: 
> I really think this is a leftover parallel with HBP: I believe that the Prince also put a spell on his book, a spell that would repulse most people who looked into it (repelling Hermione by giving her a very low opinion of its ethics and safety and repelling Ron by being illegible to him) but would welcome Lily's eyes - a plot point where it was important that Harry had Lily's eyes.

Carol responds:
Maybe, but we never get any confirmation of that idea. I think it's totally in character for Hermione to distrust the book and consider it cheating to use someone else's helpful hints (especially letting the teacher think that *he* was the Potions genius) and for Ron, who is not at all averse to cheating, to be too lazy to decipher the handwriting. Harry, in contrast, is at first annoyed and then intrigued. (He, too, has trouble reading the minuscule writing at first, IIRC).

Catlady:
> Having just stated my opinion that Riddle put that memory (and its associated attraction spell) into that diary long before he learned how to make a Horcrux, I believe that the reason why he later turned the enchanted diary into his first Horcrux is that it was a deeply meaningful object to him, containing his discovery that he was the Heir of Slytherin and containing his first murder, and who knows what else.
>
Carol:
This part I agree with completely. It also fits with DD's remark that the diary was important to Tom because it proved that he was the Heir of Slytherin--as it must have done *before* he made it a Horcrux. Why buy it in the first place if not to record a set of (to him) very special memories? But whether the idea of having an interactive diary that would help to "carry on Salazar Slytherin's great work" by opening the chamber and killing Muggleborns came before the idea of making the diary a Horcrux or was part and parcel of that idea, I can't say. (The diary's workings were a lot clearer to me, or so I thought, before the Horcrux idea muddled things up.)

Carol, who still hates the Horcruxes--and, for that matter, the Hallows (especially the Elder Wand)