I was curious as to whether all the Voldemort-mentors-Harry stories were limited to the usual 'Harry is neglected by his family and is taken under Voldemort's wing' or 'Voldemort dodged the rebounded AK and decided to spare him' premise.

Namely, has anyone thought of having the sixteen year-old Tom Riddle mentor Harry instead of the original? AU CoS hasn't been explored quite thoroughy, but I can see Tom continue draining Ginny Weasley's life force, enough to become solid, and utilizing the Horcrux bond between him and the 'other' Voldemort, could find knowledge to turn Harry against Dumbledore.

So, what if Harry and Tom prolonged their conversation from canon, during which Tom discretely drains Ginny Weasley of her life and becomes more than a memory projected by the diary. When Harry catches on, Ginny is near death, and with Tom close to full strength and a Basilisk at his back, Harry attempts to limit the scope of his victory, and uses Dumbledore's greater good philosophy to justify his next action.

To put it bluntly, Harry kills Ginny (slits her throat with a Severing Charm) with the objective of making whatever life force she has unavailable, completely surprising Tom. Tom is somewhat peeved, but explains how Harry is screwed without his help, and turns him against Dumbledore.

I took up this story myself and have posted the first chapter of the story following this plot, "The Emergent Darkness", though I'm not certain if I did the plot bunny justice. (Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3672254/1/The_Emergent_Darkness)

In the second chapter, Harry and Tom will have disposed of Ginny's corpse, and decide to keep the Basilisk alive, moving it into the network of sewer pipes so that it can't be found, and claim that Harry killed it in the maze of pipelines.

To prevent Tom being a superpowered character, he has only the memories of his life up until being sixteen, and with the Gaunt family all but ruined, he mostly has to rely on his cunning and dueling skill, as well as Harry.

Another idea I had was Tom, if and when the story progressed to fifth year, intentionally AK'ing Harry to forge another, strategic mental bond once he learns that his alternate part has a connection also.

Any thoughts? I'd be grateful for any suggestions to improve the first chapter.