Happy FFWF! So, I’d like to know how Merula and David’s relationship develops over time. What moments in their life together change their dynamic, what drives them forward as a couple, and what challenges have they faced?
I know that’s a lot, feel free to ramble as you see fit! 🧡
Moments that changed the relationship
The first would be how their relationship began on a sour note with Merula threatening Rowan, the Devil’s Snare incident and David responding to Merula’s taunts about Jacob joining up with Voldemort with, “At least that’s just a rumour, can’t say the same thing about your parents.”
For first and second year they very much have a back and forth, usually involving duels and playing pranks on each other in retaliation for some sort of slight. Though he still freed her from the ice at the end of first year.
Third year is where things start to change and David starts ignoring her essentially telling her to grow up. After recruiting Barnaby and Tulip, then conquering the Vault of Fear. Merula confronts David, which he isn’t in the mood for since he’s just found out Rita Skeeter will be visiting the school to write an article.
Eventually the confrontation culminates in David ranting at her in a way that forces her to start really thinking about and confronting her own insecurities. David going so far as to compare himself to her, even concluding he doesn’t really hate her and to come to potions next lesson to see what it’s like when he truly hates someone.
True to his word, David calls Rita out for how she’s essentially trying to pit everyone against each other for her own personal gain and Merula later even sticks up for him when Rita tries to write an article about him that’ll make him look bad. Thus ending third year on more neutral terms and David starts to realise against all the odds that he might be developing a crush on her.
Fourth year is when they go out to the Celestial Ball and on a first date together, both even turning up to support each other during the other team’s Quidditch matches. All the while, Merula’s mother Vivienne has managed to escape Azkaban with assistance from R. Contacting Merula and somewhat unwittingly, Merula becomes a mole for her.
This involves Merula telling Vivienne about David, who will not stand for her daugter hanging around with a filthy mudblood. So, she has Merula introduce him to her under the guise of wanting to recruit the two of them. Instead, Vivienne ambushes David but is halted by Merula, choosing him over her.
Fifth year with Merula still reeling from feeling like she betrayed her mum, they gradually work through things, going out together on Valentine’s day and officially coming out about their relationship. She decides she’s better off being with David.
Sixth year is complicated but the biggest event is when they split up after Jacob is murdered by R. David, knowing that his presence still puts his friends in danger, leaves in the middle of the night, only a note and a snapped wand left behind.
Seventh year begins with a lot of raw emotion between the two of them. Both still caring for the other but Merula being rightfully angry that he left and David still processing everything after returning being annoyed she isn’t more understanding.
In the final battle with R, Merula faces off against her mother. Vivienne attempts to guilt trip her about “Choosing some mudblood street rat over your own flesh.”
Merula’s response: “That mudblood street rat is the man I’m in love with, I won’t let you speak ill of him.” David hears this and after the final fight, they get together again somewhat tentatively with a heart to heart and spending a lot of time repairing their relationship.
Their nearly year long absence from each other post graduation gets them both thinking and they realise they do indeed want to be together. It’s New Year’s Eve of 1992 when David promises he’s going to marry her, officially proposing in 1993.
What drives them forward? Biggest challenge?
The main thing at first with Willowsnyde was a need to outdo each other, pushing the other to their limits in terms of their abilities. While it took some time, a sort of respect grew from their rivalry.
After third year, David realising his crush and Merula tries to genuinely change. The main thing here is Merula isn’t changing her attitude for David, she’s changing it because he helped her realise that the path she was on was ultimately self-destructive. Even if they had never gotten together, he still would have been a trusted a friend.
In spite of everything that happens in fifth and sixth year, David and Merula still look to each other as a source of strength. It’s Jacob’s death that prompts their biggest challenge, this when they first properly deal with broken trust in a romantic relationship. It’s hard on both of them but even if they’re angry, they still care for one another. They’ve mostly smoothed things over by the final battle but aren’t officially back together until Merula admits she’s fallen in love with him, the first time the L-word is actually used in their relationship.
Basically, if they can put up with all of Hogwarts’s shit and still come out a couple, I think it’s a safe bet they can weather any challenge together.
