Overture: Cassiopeia Lancaster and The Colliding Worlds

three

a/n: Took a sudden break from wattpad and (social media in general). I know that I should probably make my chapters shorter, but it's a little bit hard. Hope this chapter was enjoyable to read!

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Cassie stared at the woman. Most campers were doing the same thing. She had black hair and black eyes. Her voice was stern and her face was void of emotion. She stared at Cassie as if she was waiting for her to say something. Cassie had never seen the woman before, but she had a good guess. "Lady Hecate." Cassie greeted. The woman nodded.

"Come," Hecate said. "I shall show you their world."

Cassie wondered whether she still holds the hatred she had towards the witches and wizards. She nodded and stood up, and then suddenly they weren't in Camp Half-Blood anymore. A gasp escaped Cassie's mouth, she had been with Hecate for two seconds and she'd startled the heck out of her twice. She wasn't sure she'd be able to survive the rest of the day.

They were standing on a hill, Cassie could see a huge castle from afar.

She turned to Hecate. "I'm sorry but... where are we, exactly?"

"This is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Hecate said. "Your school."

"Oh," Cassie responded. "That's... cool." She added meekly.

Hecate looked right into her eyes. "You are aware of what happened." Cassie nodded. "To be honest, I do not want anything to do with them. However, some things have changed. Your mother asked me to tell you about their world, as I am most familiar with them, compared to any other gods."

The goddess turned to look at Hogwarts. Cassie did the same thing. The school-the castle, looked pretty from afar. Cassie couldn't believe that her school is in a castle. She genuinely thought that it was cool.

"A prophecy was made years ago," Hecate continued suddenly. "Tom Riddle heard part of it, and acted to counter it." Cassie huffed and thought that it wasn't a wise move, and Hecate nodded as if she could read her mind. "And he was defeated, at least for now. You are aware of the fact that Riddle cheated Death?" Cassie nodded slowly. It was what had doomed her, after all. "What I am going to tell you must be kept as a secret, at least for the time being. Do you understand, Cassiopeia?"

"Yes," Cassie said, shifting uncomfortably. The use of her full name had always made her uncomfortable because it reminded her of all the time Chiron had yelled at her whenever she and Annabeth (read: mostly Annabeth) were causing trouble.

"Riddle created Horcruxes," Hecate said with a grim voice. Cassie stayed silent, waiting for her to elaborate because she had no idea what 'Horcruxes' were. "To put it simply, he split his soul and hide them in inanimate objects in order to attain immortality."

Cassie started to understand why everyone thought what Riddle did was unforgivable. She wondered how anyone could split their soul.

"In order to split his soul, one has to do the supreme act of evil; he had to deliberately commit murders," Hecate explained. Cassie was now positively horrified. "Such act damages mortal souls. After his soul is damaged, he used magic to attach and hide the fragments of his soul in objects."

This was it. This was Tom Riddle's gravest mistake, one that cost every single mortal who bore Hecate's blessing their soul. It was legitimately unfair; however, Cassie wasn't surprised that Hades and Thanatos were pissed off. "You said Horcruxes... How many?"

"He meant to create six," Hecate said sadly. "However, he accidentally created seven."

Cassie couldn't imagine how one could accidentally create something that required a supreme act of evil. Tom Riddle must've been a very, very horrible person.