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Okay so I haven't updated this fic in a while and I thought I'd be real with my remaining readers.
I know I'm not a strong writer. I can admit it. Like in terms of plot I sit and stare at the wall hoping that something sparks. It's clear to me that I have left too many loose threads/plot holes in this fic, so although I was writing it for fun, it has upset a lot of users for continuity issues which is fair enough. I am not so bad at plotting however that I would stoop so low as to steal someone else's story.
You may see in recent comments that I have been accused of plagiarising a certain fic called "Blood Magic" with zingers such as "I let out a breath I didn't realise I was holding" and "Thanks for the bite, by the way. You're lucky I don't have AIDS". I had a quick skim of the first few chapters and noticed that it follows a similar premise (the pov is still Barry Crouch Senior's daughter) and of course I raised an eyebrow at her name being CASSIOPEIA who, in this other fic, is in Ravenclaw and not Slytherin.
Regardless, other than the premise, it seems to take a different turn and this author seems to have created a unique cast of Ravenclaw characters for Cassiopeia. I just wish that if a friend of the author's had noticed my work and thought it was a rip-off, they just talked to me about it nicely first, or better yet, let me talk to the author so that we could both see what was really going on.
Basically, I can stand here and insist that I've never even heard of this fic before being told about it, that it is a coincidence our main characters have similar names, that I had no idea that Quotev existed and that I don't even read fanfiction let alone books simply because my eyes get too tired so I prefer audio books -- I actually based my version of Harry being half blind after the fact that I am -- but the fact is, whatever I say is not going to convince people. I will just be seen as lying as the internet has no way of evidencing integrity, so for now, I will just say sorry for any hurt that I unintentionally caused as I'm sure Cassiopeia means a lot to their author. The similarities are genuinely coincidental and I hadn't even heard about this fic until I checked my emails today.
Anyway, I'm not posting this to complain that "people are mean to me", I don't want pity, I just don't have the energy to argue with people who won't even hear me out, so I might as well give them what they want and stop writing for a while.
Overall, from writing this fic, I was more interested in exploring the stories of the Slytherins you barely hear about in the original. I wanted to play with themes of what makes a villain, of entitlement, of reputation. Additionally, Cassandra waking up on the train without her memories, did actually tie into an important plot point in several other places had I the skill to write them well enough. I also picked the very on-the-nose name "Cassandra" as an allusion to the popular myth of the Greek oracle Cassandra, cursed by Apollo so that her prophecies are never taken seriously, which inevitably leads to the downfall of Troy ie in parallel, Cassandra Crouch, who knows what the future holds, is going to have a hard time in this fic, but will get there in the end.
I can't promise I will stay away from this fic forever. All these false accusations kind of make me want to write more just to spite them. But who knows? Maybe divine inspiration will hit and I'll reframe the plot so that it's cleaner!
As always, thanks for reading, I just wanted to clear up some misconceptions