Born in 1871, Merriweather has the misfortune to more or less immediately cause his mother's death. Shit. He has very evidently inherited his mother's frailty, and spends much of his childhood battling whatever cold is going around at the time.

One of Merriweather's first memories is of his father's marriage to Rufina Mulciber in 1874. He is rather immediately fond of his step-mother, who is by upper class-standards doting with her children and step-children. It's likely this which has Merriweather fond of his sister, Flora, when she arrives in 1878. Too young to be aware of his step-mother's miscarriages, Merriweather has a primarily uneventful  childhood, and shows signs of magic sometime in 1879 in some dramatic show of temper.

In 1882, Merriweather goes off to school and finds himself sorted into Slytherin. A social first year, he is nevertheless the target of some bullying due to his constant illnesses and small stature. This is probably about when he develops an attitude, and self-deprecation mixed with the deprecation of others helps Merriweather to gather a small cadre of friends.

The summer after his second year (1884) he almost dies of the laughing plague. Surprising himself the most, perhaps, Merriweather doesn't die. Rufina's sister and brother-in-law do, though, and somehow the Mulcibers end up with custody of Rufus. Used to being the only boy-child in the house, Merriweather perhaps becomes jealous of the child - especially as Rufus comes to resemble him more in the coming years.

Merriweather picks up Arithmancy and Divination as his electives, but shows little talent for either. He isn't named Prefect. After taking his OWLs in 1887, Merriweather again surprises himself by accomplishing really decent scores. He continues with DADA, Potions, Herbology, Charms, History of Magic, and Transfiguration, afraid that he will end up unable to do whatever career he wants if he drops too many classes.

Instead what this means is that Merriweather is leaving his sixth year with no direction in terms of a career he [i]does[/i] want. Shit.