Merula Snyde

Slytherin

* Her gang
* Sphinx Club
* Frog Choir (Possibly)
* Circle of Khanna
* R

"*You're an embarrassment to everyone in our year! (...) **Disgusting Mudbloods** like you shouldn't even be allowed in Hogwarts. Leave the magic to the **real witches and wizards**.*"
—Merula to Ben Copper, moments before her duel with the main character.
**Merula Snyde** (born c. 1973) was a witch who began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1984 and was sorted into Slytherin, the house for the ambitious and cunning.

Merula serves as an antagonistic character to the main character, reminiscent of the rivalry that Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy shared in the original *Harry Potter* series.

Their rivalry starts when the main character sees Merula picking on Rowan Khanna. Your character stands up to Merula, making Merula sabotage you in Potions Class, as well as luring you into a near-death experience with a devil's snare.

In Year Six: Chapter 45, she is revealed to be the mysterious mole of 'R'.

## Appearance

Merula had short and messy dark brown hair, with one area an orange color; she smoothed down her hair in rare occasions, including the Celestial Ball, and once changed her orange patch to pink for Valentine's Day. She had unknown-colored that she changed to purple eyes and thick furrowed eyebrows.

Merula also smelled like cloves, nail polish, and some other elusive scents.

She wears Slytherin robes with a loosened tie and stockings with a hole around her left kneecap, as well as black combat boots (rather than the shoes one would see other witches wearing).

She occasionally wore a more casual outfit consisting of a green plaid button up shirt and black jeans. In their third year, the Main Character privately described her as "strangely cute".

## Personality

Merula Synder is a strong-willed yet mean-spirited and cruel girl. She was also a talented young witch who exemplified many of Slytherin's traits, such as cunning, determination and ambition, as well as the negative stereotypes of Slytherin, such as prizing pure-blood supremacy and extreme arrogance.

Merula was also highly rebellious, sadistic, and petty, and was prone to bullying those around her, especially wizards from Muggle or half-blood families.

Her greatest trait, however, was her ambition to prove she is the best, which was her primary motivation for seeking out the Cursed Vaults and the major reason for being in constant conflict with the Main Character.

Merula's parents being imprisoned in Azkaban, an experience that very much hardened her feelings, may have contributed to this need for attention. Another curious quirk to her personality was her irreverence towards the Dark Lord, as she often referred to him as Voldemort, much to everyone's chagrin.

Merula's hatred for the Main Character pushed her to go to great lengths to sabotage her rival, by either attempting to get them expelled or badly injured. Indeed, Merula often went out of her way to seek out the Main Character in classes, either to taunt them about Jacob or to generally be a nuisance.

Merula was always eager for a fight with the Main Character and never backed down from a challenge.

However, despite her aggressive nature, Merula did demonstrate a strong work ethic and could often be seen studying alone in the library and was noted to be a competent student by many of her peers, especially in potions class.

She didn't share her friend Ismelda Murk's obsession in the Unforgivable Curses and told her to shut up about it. Merula was also not so cruel as to be willing to completely ruin someone else's life.

As the years passed, Merula was also described by her classmates as "not all bad", hinting at a softer side, which she demonstrated from showing concern at Beatrice Haywood's predicament, while working tirelessly on finding a way to free her.

Over time her relationship with the Main Character also mellowed, her once cruel taunts becoming more like friendly jabs. By her sixth year, she was more or less on good terms with the Main Character and their friends and formed close cooperation with them.

As they became closer, the Main Character came to realize that at least part of Merula's aggressive nature was a front to avoid being seen as vulnerable. Due to her life experiences, she was insecure about herself and feared being vulnerable or alone. And their friendship allowed Merula to let go of those fears to an extent.

## Background

Merula's mother and father were Death Eaters who supported Lord Voldemort. At some point, Merula witnessed them in an "incident" with an Auror which led to the death of the latter or a bystander, which allowed her to see Thestrals.

During her tenth birthday, Merula received a broom as a present from her parents, for which she was thrilled. Since she was still a bit young to ride a broom on her own, her parents took turns taking her on the broom, with Merula clinging to their backs whilst she flew and joyfully laughing.

Merula considered this the happiest memory she had and used it to attempt to cast the Patronus Charm.

After the Dark Lord's demise in 1981, Merula's parents were captured and sent to Azkaban between 1983 and 1984; Merula witnessed their trial, which greatly upset her. Her mother, being a member of the Frog Choir in her youth, frequently sang to her until her arrest, though she would keep this a secret out of insecurity.

Afterwards, Merula was raised by her aunt, who forbade her from owning any pets, much to her chagrin. Victims of her parents sent threats to their house, resulting in her aunt spending as little time with her as possible and Merula almost entirely staying indoors.

Merula claimed to have attended every Quidditch World Cup since she was born.

### Personal Trivia

* **Favorite Sandwich**: Bacon and Pickled Eel sandwiches

## Trivia

* In her second year, Merula boasts to the Main Character that she's working with someone on finding the Cursed Vaults. That someone is likely Tulip Karasu, as the two were still working together during their second year and only ended their partnership before their third year.
	+ It is also possible she referred to Patricia Rakepick, since Severus Snape believed that Rakepick had been watching the Main Character already before she was invited to Hogwarts by Dumbledore.
* Merula owns a broom she considers to be far superior to the brooms provided by Hogwarts during flying class, claims to that the Snyde family vault in Gringotts contains "jeweled shells", and that her mother owned a unicorn a long time ago. Because of these claims, it can be assumed that the Snyde family was quite wealthy in its prime.

* Interestingly, Merula in some ways is a dark reflection of each member of the Trio:
	+ Like Harry Potter, she lost her parents as a result of the First Wizarding War and has had to live with an aunt with whom she is not close. Both also have a loved one in Azkaban as a result of the First Wizarding War and are something of an outcast at Hogwarts. But where Harry is able to make friends and is mostly benevolent, Merula is largely friendless and is albeit initially, a mean-spirited bully.
	+ Like Hermione Granger, she's had to work hard for everything due to lacking any connections or advantages upon arriving at Hogwarts. Both have a strong work ethic and a desire to become successful witches. But where one is a Muggle-Born whose parents are loving and supportive, the other is a Pure-Blood supremacist whose parents are convicted Death Eaters.
	+ Like Ron Weasley, she suffers from feelings of insecurity and inadequacy born from being in the shadow of another student (In Ron's case, his brothers. And in Merula's case, the Main Character). But where Ron is the best friend of his story's protagonist, Merula is the arch-rival of her's (although, she can eventually become more friendly to the Main Character).
* Merula bears some similarities to Draco Malfoy. Though ironically, Merula could also be said to resemble a young James Potter; like James, Merula was talented but arrogant and something of a bully. But also, like James, was loyal to her few friends and over time became more mature and friendly. Should the Main Character choose to romance her, the comparison is strengthened (as both would be pairing off with a fellow student who they initially did not get along with).
* Merula is one of the four characters (along with Penny Haywood, Andre Egwu, and Barnaby Lee) available as romance options in *Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery* for all four dating side quests: "Celestial Ball", "First Date", "Valentine's Day", and "Festival Fun".
* If the Main Character is sorted into Slytherin, Merula will appear in additional side-quests revolving around plotting revenge against Gryffindor for defeating their house in Quidditch.
	+ During the Year 4 Prefect side-quest, Merula will appear, along with Rowan and Barnaby, as the Main Character's group of friends, where Merula admits to constantly pushing Barnaby into the fountain with the Knockback Jinx.
* Starting in Year 5, Merula can be seen to be noticeably less antagonistic towards the Main Character. During the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, including the Hex-Deflection class, as well as the Hair-Raising potion class, Merula can be observed having casual, and sometimes even friendly, dialogue with the Main Character. Most notably, in the Hair-Raising potion class, Rowan is seen to say: "Is it just me, or is Merula being friendlier lately?"
	+ Merula also became more tactful towards the Main Character in Year 4 when searching through Jacob's old room, when she realized that there is still a chance for Jacob to be alive. She also didn't take offence if/when the Main Character picked her to travel to Forbidden Forest to talk to Centaurs again, due to her fearless and scary attitude. The change in attitude was later, due to Tonks and the Main Character saving her from a Dementor or insisting her to try and cast a Corporeal Patronus Charm, which she failed.