Journals are a tool that people in the wizarding community use to communicate with each other. They are enchanted so that whatever is written in ones own journal may be read by anyone else in their own journal.
Using the Journals[]
The journals are designed so that they can be used without magic or the use of a wand. A normal entry in a journal will be able to be read by anyone else who also has a journal.
Privacy Filters[]
It is possible to filter an entry, or part of an entry to only be read by oneself or a specific person. To do this, one need only write 'Private' or 'Private to' as a prefix to that entry or section. This feature comes standard with the journal, and might be broken by an experienced hex-breaker.
Hexes[]
If you have a wand, you are able to charm or hex your journal to have stronger privacy than the standard filter.
Dangers[]
Although the journal is a tool primarily used for ease of gaming, what characters write can have consequences. People must be aware that what they write might be read by their superiors, or people with the power to punish too much independant thinking.
Examples of in-character journal plots[]
- Neville Longbottom used his journal to get in contact with his parents. Afraid of what information Evan Rosier might glean from it, he gave it to Ginny Weasley before being locked up by Rosier. It was later returned to him by Pansy Parkinson, having been wiped clean and strengthened with extra privacy hexes.
- After the Ashwinder Egg Explosion, investigations into Anthony Goldstein's journal entries on the day of the explosion led to suspicion falling on Ginny Weasley and Pansy Parkinson.
- Zacharias Smith has been known to hack into journal entries that were not meant for his eyes.
- James Potter very rarely used his journal until the Weasley twins showed him how to make his entries disappear after being read, for fear of giving away his position to the Death Eaters.
- Percy Weasley, after realising the problems caused by the journals, provided his brothers Fred and George with a new set of journals later dubbed the 'Babbity Rabbity Journals' after a story their mother used to tell them when they were children. Babbity Rabbity journals are now being used by Percy, Fred, George, Ginny, Romilda Vane and Zacharias Smith.
- Romilda Vane was once punished by Dolores Umbridge after criticising the Headmistress' methods in her journal.