I am Shipper, Hear me Roar
There's no point in bashing a pairing that you don't believe in or find plausible. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, which means that if someone likes a pairing, regardless of how strange it may look to you, they obviously have their own reasons for it. I've personally seen some fanfics that are written so well about an unpopular pairing that reviewers who were once loyal to the "right" pairings have begun to change their minds. Granted, a handful of them that were written were about manipulative sociopaths and an innocent girl, but that just means that you have to have a certain taste and open-mindedness to be able to explore and embrace the darkness associated with pairings like Gin n Tonic.
Yes, he tried to kill her, yes he used her to get to Harry, and YES, she would definitely feel hatred for him for the scars he’s left on her and what he has done to her family (if you’ve read the last book). But at that period of time, he did not see her as anything more than a little girl - a pawn. She was eleven for Pete’s sake, and how many eleven-year-olds get noticed by someone unless it’s by being associated with someone famous (Harry Potter)? And how many young girls get noticed by the public at large unless it’s because they were in a traumatic event? In case you haven’t read CoS thoroughly, Ginny was overlooked by virtually everyone until the very end. Tom Riddle realized that, and while he pretended to notice her, his actions proved that she was invisible - and ultimately expendable.
What do you think would happen if Ginny met Tom when she is older? Like 14 - 16 for example? By that age, she would be an outspoken, feisty Pureblood with self-confidence and a stronger sense of right versus wrong. Tom would have his work cut out for him if he wants to hoodwink her. Plus, even though Rowling specifically said that Voldemort never loved anyone, she neither denied nor validated that he wasn’t just like every other hormone-driven adolescent when he was younger. Heck, Voldemort even offered to spare Lily Evans Potter’s life because he understood lust and powerful obsession, which is what he mistook Snape to feel for her (but Snape genuinely loved her).That was a serious miscalculation on Voldy’s part, but I won’t spoil anymore than necessary.
Before I diverge again, the point is that while Tom Riddle could or could not truly love Ginevra (you’d have to have serious skill to pull that off and make it believable, a feat no shipper has yet accomplished), there is no evidence saying that he couldn’t have lust or obsession for her.
Ginny may be born into a family of ‘blood-traitors’, but she is Pureblood, and she is very remarkable in her own right; she is assertive and headstrong after GoF. She can cast a mean Bat-Bogey-Hex, Reducto spell, and she possesses a certain cunning that most people don’t notice at first glance. That slyness is observed in the movie and books (In HPB, she gets Harry alone with her in the Room of Requirement and kisses him, and in DH part 1, she innocently asks him to zip up her dress for her) Now as fortuitous and innocuous as those actions seem, they DID require timing, planning, and careful execution (childish innocence blended with seduction) plus ambition (she put her mind to it and was able to be herself so that Harry would be attracted to her).
Voldemort would value these qualities, especially if he’s still trying to get to Harry. But just as important, these qualities make her Slytherin-ish. And what House does Voldemort endorse most of all but Slytherin - home of the Cunning and the Ambitious? In his eyes, Ginny would make a powerful key (Voldemort couldn’t love, so the most he could feel would be what he felt for Bellatrix - a valuable Death Eater/possession). Ginny if written right, wouldn’t be as easily susceptible to his charms (assuming by some plot twist that Voldemort changes back to his younger form) thanks to experience, but I can definitely see her as having a dark, unwilling fascination with him. Or still have that, if you want to be CoS compliant instead of using AU.
A lot of fics have Ginny as his Dark Lady. IMHO, I don’t really see her as being that way. It’s OOC for Ginny to torture others (and enjoy it) and be a total “bad chick”. To write her that way is a way to kill her character and the story itself. A righteous Gryffindor Ginny who is shrewd enough to avoid Voldemort’s wrath while simultaneously working to bring him down from the inside (assuming they’re together) or on the battlefield is what I can see Ginny doing. She can still feel that hateful attraction to the charming schoolboy and you can even make her start to sympathize a little for his orphan life, but anymore and then she is OOC. As for Tom’s, he might see Ginevra as a valuable asset/collectible (like those Horcrux-cursed objects). There are plenty of other ways to write them and not all of them have to be like the way I just described, but like I said, it takes a VERY skilled writer to be able to pull off a story with that kind complicated internal-conflict. And yes, if you’re going to write a truly believable Gin n Tonic, there had better be some internal conflict involved. That’s angst, people.
Sadly, inexperienced writers can’t distinguish between their own feelings for a character and the character’s feeling for another character. That’s why I believe so many stories have OOC characters. Hence, that’s why there are stories where bad-to-the-bone murderers suddenly go soft and fall in love with innocent victims. And that is where flamers come in and let you know when someone is being OOC. On the other hand, people who say that a pairing shouldn’t happen or isn’t possible/believable - shows how narrow their minds are.
I’m a cynic at heart, but I want to see the impossible be made possible, and I secretly want to believe it. And I don’t care what anyone else has to say, but Gin n Tonic is the first Harry Potter pairing that I liked, before I even started to ship Fire and Ice and Dramione (bad boy obsession, I guess).
Oddly enough, I don’t ship Tom/Hermione. I can share Draco, but I can’t bring myself to share Tom. I think it’s because Gin n Tonic feels like a security blanket and those objects are too personal to share. Another reason is that Tom and Hermione never had a history together; thus Tom has never had a direct influence on her. Voldemort despises Muggles and Muggle-borns, but that basis is too general for me to pair them with each other. I mean no offense to shippers who like Tomione - because I respect their opinion and their reason for liking what they like - I think we can all agree that Tom is one helluva catch - but I can’t get rid of my passion for Tom and his twisted relationship with Ginny Weasley.
I guess old habits do die hard.
Feel free to leave a comment! (^_^)