Before Evil Came Along

TOM TROUBLE

This month, Quibbler has the honour of introducing you to our newest series. At first, this first interview was engaged with the same spirit as every other: to bring our reader a shocking yet true story. During it, however, we were so moved by this courageous woman's life, that we realised she was not the only one with an extraordinary, revealing and true story. It was at her request we created these new series, containing only tales of special, incredible and touching events during You-know-who's reign. Few people know his real name, not even Quibbler knew, until this story. Later on, dearest reader, you will understand the applicability of this columns name. Welcome to Tom Trouble..

The one to bear the brunt is Shiphrah Johnstone, a charming, middle-aged woman with a surprising life who once was a Hogwarts friend of He Who Must Not Be Named. It would do her injustice if we made this introduction too long, therefore, let us dive immediately in her story...

THE RIDDLE IN YOU-KNOW-WHO...

We meet in her little cottage just outside London. About a dozen chickens run away from me as I approach the garden which should have been used as a love nest, as a home for a happy family. But fate would decide otherwise.

Shiphrah Johnstone lives alone, with no other company than that of her chickens. If it hadn't been for Tom Riddle, the one every one calls He Who Must Not Be Named, there would now be at least one grand-child spoiled rotten by her. Of course, I agree, this has happened all over the Wizarding World, but what makes this story so special is the fact that the grandfather is none other than Tom himself...

Shiphrah makes a very relaxed and self-conscious impression, it is only when she speaks of her losses -not only the lives of her loved ones, but also the love of her life- we see the fragile and sad figure life has turned her into. The thing that surprised me most is that, even after all the pain he has caused her and all the people close to her that died because of him, she's not even a bit scared to call him by his proper name. She starts her story, just like everyone else, at the beginning.

Shiphrah was born the youngest of six children, in a happy, pure blood and relatively poor family. The first big loss she suffered was at the age of nine, when her oldest sister Ishtar died the dishonourable death of an Unspeakable. The family grew very close afterwards, something that now still is clearly perceptible by the numerous pictures all over the house. The life of Shiphrah has always been about her family, that's what made it so hard for her.

At the age of eleven, she got her Hogwarts letter. Like almost every other child, she was thrilled to be invited to this prestigious school. She practically immediately made friends with a young and very handsome orphan, named Tom Riddle, the one we know as You-know-who. For her, it was love at the very first sight. You can imagine her astonishment when Tom turned out to be what her family always warned her for: a Slytherin.

After a few months of silence between the two, she gathered her courage and her wand and forced him rather comically into friendship by threatening to curse him with a spell she didn't even know. The two didn't part since. They remained best friends, organising secret meetings and trips.

After four years of close friendship, the two became more. The two muffed into a beautiful afternoon in the Divination attic, complete with a beautiful couch, rose petals and a sunset. The love Shiphrah had kept to her finally could be spoken, though still in secrecy. But it seemed fate was on their side. Both became prefects, and thus had a lot of reasons to be sneaking around Hogwarts castle at night.

But not all's well that ends well. Shiphrah had noticed some sides to Tom she rather hadn't: a person with no compassion or feeling and a very arrogant air and sadly enough, the night before graduation, the two parted.

To cope with her grief and pain, Shiphrah decided to go Italy, where she took a course in curse breaking. Finding it much to her liking, she stayed there for a total of six years. She got on with her life and even liked being Tom-free, but due to a whim of fate and an Italian need for an Auror, he oozed back into her life after four of those liberated years. Being rather shocked and hurt Tom had picked up life much better than she had, she again took up her wand and not just threatened to curse him, but cursed him as well.

Only this time, it didn't work as well as she had hoped. The two left each other with a fight. Not much later, though, Shiphrah got a letter explaining Tom's altered and -one must add- scaring vision of life. Although he already had admitted his feelings for his ex-girlfriend had died, he still asked for her help in acquiring what he was looking for.

And Shiphrah, who still wanted to believe Tom loved her, said yes. A choice she now regrets. The couple moved back to England, so Tom could complete his search. A search that controlled his life and also Shiphrah's. 'Everything we did was for Tom.' she says. He became more and more absent. Shiphrah says she now knows he was only plotting to take over the wizarding world, but back then, she refused to give up her image of her perfect man.

Suddenly, out of the blue, the two got married. It was Tom's idea. This might seem a wonderfully romantic thing to do, but in truth it was nothing more than a way to come off as an innocent and a way to procure followers. Shiphrah was a cover, not a loved wife.

By the time she realised she'd best leave him, it was too late, they had already got pregnant, which -I'm sure most of you already figured out- means that He Who Must Not Be Named is not the last descendent of Salazar Slytherin. Not even Hebe Gül Riddle, their daughter, but Shiva Ishtar Fenwick is. Shiphrah's granddaughter.

But Tom wasn't a good father. He wasn't home most of the time because he knew he could not rest until he had got full reign of the world, no matter who suffered. Not even if it were his wife and child.

At the age of fourteen, Hebe and her mother were left behind. They never heard of him again, not even letters addressed to Tom or You-know-who reached him, but were sent back. Shiphrah openly admits hating He Who ust Not Be Named. But it is remarkable though, she refuses to see Tom and You-know-who as one and the same person. She always makes the distinction between the man she loved and the man who she married and murdered so many close to her.

Hebe and Shiphrah managed and learned how to be satisfied without a father or husband. Shiphrah now believes it was for the best he wasn't around. That way she could raise her daughter to be a girl who understood the distinction of good and evil. Who understood love. He Who Must Not Be Named had started his tyrannical reign and they decided to fight him if necessary.

Hebe, or Heebs as her mother called her, was at the verge of marriage and parenthood when her father caused the first relapse in their happiness. The groom to be, a young Muggle-born called Benjy Fenwick, had a must unfortunate 'accident' by order of Tom, but again Hebe and her mother learned to cope. It was only on the 18^th October 1980 that Shiphrah had her finishing stroke. Hebe and Benjy's child was due any moment, that day, and Heebs was led away to the delivery room. That was the last time she ever saw her daughter alive. Hebe died during the delivery. Shiphrah didn't even have the joy of raising her grandchild. The baby girl, named Shiva Ishtar Fenwick, was almost immediately put up for adoption and was led away.

Shiphrah was left behind with nothing but a lot of grief, pain, anger and questions. The answers for the latter she would find at the Wizengamot. After months of intense research, people discovered that the hospital Hebe was admitted to was founded by Death Eaters, who had the mission of killing every child that was not pure. Shiphrah only concluded the most obvious and had to mourn the lives of the ones closest to her.

Tears stream down her cheeks when she tells us about these last losses. It's more than clear she still doesn't understand what went wrong between her and the boy she loved so dearly. She even wants take full responsibility for everything You-know-who has done, but still states that "the thing he is today" is not the man she once loved. The boy she met at Hogwarts is someone she will always love and she's not ashamed to say he's welcome to swipe her anytime, but the pain He Who Must Not Be Named has caused her and her family is unforgivable and unforgettable and she hopes that he one day will get his come-uppance, preferably by her wand.

But for now, she has to carry on and she has to pray she and the relatives she's still got left will survive this second war. We wish Shiphrah all the best of luck and we thank her for her cooperation. To say it in her own words: this was a story that had to be told...

So now, dear reader, we have solved the Riddle of You-know-who. We can see that he once seemed human, and he maybe actually knew how to love. We know that he is no longer the last descendent of Slytherin, but we know he is the only one alive. The Tom some people once claimed to know turned into a monster, who made no big deal out of it to kill his daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter and to destroy his beloved wife's life... Or didn't he know? The only question we leave you with. See you next week for another heartbreaking story in Tom Trouble.