#it does however also give merula the perspective to be able to call carewyn out for her shit

[carewyncromwell]

[HPHM] Merula Snyde Playlist

suggested by @nikyiscreepy // featuring Camren Bicondova as Merula

   “Rotten to the Core” ~ Descendants

“Something For Nothing” ~ Rush

“What is This Feeling?” ~ Wicked the musical

“There Are Worst Things I Could Do” ~ Grease

“Someone Like You” ~ Jekyll and Hyde the musical

“Crossing the Line” ~ Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventures

“Please Don’t Leave Me” ~ P!nk

“(What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You) Stronger” ~ Kelly Clarkson

“I’m the Best (explicit)” ~ Nicki Minaj

Merula Snyde -- the self-proclaimed “most Powerful Witch at Hogwarts” in her day -- was Carewyn Cromwell’s main rival at school. From the moment they first collided, it was clear that the mean-spirited bully and the overly sensitive outcast were going to butt heads, regardless of them both being Sorted into Slytherin. Carewyn hated how cruel Merula could be and how she felt the need to put others down just to make herself feel strong. Merula hated Carewyn for how saintly she acted, and as they got older and Carewyn became more popular and put on more of a stoic, paragon affect, she only resented “Little Miss Perfect” all the more. To add insult to injury, Carewyn even ended up befriending Merula’s old friends, Tulip Karasu and Barnaby Lee, and they both looked happier in Carewyn’s company than they’d ever been in Merula’s previously. When Patricia Rakepick entered the picture, however, Merula thought she’d finally found someone she could look up to and who actually believed in her. Rakepick saw her potential and encouraged it, and for the first time in Merula’s life, she felt her bitterness and anger about how much life had always screwed her over starting to dissipate. She saw things more rationally and saw how letting her old rivalry with Carewyn was potentially preventing her from using her old rival’s knowledge to her advantage -- and so before going to the Portrait Vault, Merula approached Carewyn about what to expect. The two ended up finding some common ground half-way through -- wanting to break the Portrait Curse -- and even ended up coming to a truce. After Rakepick’s betrayal in the Portrait Vault, however, Merula was very badly hurt, and as was typical for the “Most Powerful Witch at Hogwarts,” when she was in pain, she shut down and lashed out. She didn’t need help and she didn’t need friendship -- all Merula wanted was to make Rakepick suffer for having actually made her think that someone might understand her and that they cared. But when Rakepick returned and ended up murdering Rowan Khanna, Merula once again was shaken to her core -- for at the deepest part of herself, however much she claimed she didn’t care about or need anyone else, she truly didn’t want anyone to die. She did care about them: even if what Rakepick said about her being “no one’s favorite” was true, it didn’t change the fact that Merula herself did have favorites...people she was terrified of losing. And one of those people -- amazingly -- was her old rival, Carewyn Cromwell, who after Rowan’s death had come very close to committing suicide by denying herself food and drink and eventually shutting herself up in a closet with no intention of ever leaving it again. Merula was one of those, alongside Ben Copper, Bill and Charlie Weasley, and Carewyn, who was most instrumental in the formation of the Circle of Khanna. Despite Merula and Carewyn’s baggage making it difficult for them to ever call each other their friend, the two Slytherin witches nonetheless learned how to work together toward a common goal, and they understand each other in some ways better than any friend could, as neither of them feels much of an urge to pull any punches around each other. Whenever Carewyn needs someone who can challenge or “check” her, Merula is the best person to do it, and of course Carewyn’s high standards and ideals push Merula in a similar way. They truly have become better people around each other, simply by having to interact at all. As adults, the two ex-rivals will even get together for a cup of coffee now and again, when Merula’s passing through London between Cursebreaking expeditions.