A Matter of Circumstance

Chapter 20 ~ Another Intervention (Short Chapter)

Zeus couldn’t believe all the noise in his throne room as Ares, the Fates and Eros all tried to explain what the problem was and who was at fault. They were all talking and yelling at once. The Leader of the Gods could make out some names that weren’t present. Eris was one of them.

”Eris?” Zeus thundered and everyone fell silent.

”Yes, Eris,” Clothos cackled, “Aphrodite and Hermes too! They all have interfered with the weaving of Fate and we demand justice!”

Zeus’ face was black.

“Eris! Aphrodite! Hermes! Get in here! All three of you right now!” he bellowed, his voice sounding across the ethers.

”Oh shit,” Eris breathed as she heard Zeus’ call, “Looks like the jig is up.”

She quickly appeared in the throne room. You didn’t keep Zeus waiting.

Zeus scowled down at Eris, who gave him a wan smile and a shrug. Aphrodite and Hermes hadn’t appeared yet.

”Aphrodite! Hermes! Don’t make me call you again!” Zeus yelled, letting a thunderbolt hit the floor for punctuation.

Suddenly a very red and disheveled Aphrodite appeared, straightening the garland of flowers on her head and pulling her toga together. Shortly afterwards, Hermes appeared. He was covered in sweat. Both looked at Zeus.

”We’re here, Zeus,” Aphrodite announced unnecessarily.

Hermes was scowling. The god had been interrupted while receiving his reward for a job well done by Aphrodite. Well, she still owed him.

“All right. What in Hades is going on here?” the King of the Gods demanded.

He was sitting on a huge throne, his size increased to be more daunting. His wife Hera sat beside him looking very entertained by all the hubbub.

“Aphrodite has interfered with the loom of Fate. Two mortals were destined to die and she thwarted it,” Atropos claimed.

”And Eris stole our eye!” Lachesis said accusingly.

Zeus turned an eye on Eris, who was acting as if she found something very interesting on the white marble floor.

”Hand it over, Eris,” Zeus thundered.

Eris scowled up at him, then produced the eye and tossed it toward the three goddesses, who heard it hit the floor and immediately started grappling for it. Zeus and everyone else watched as they clawed at each other until Lachesis managed to get it into her eye socket. The other two goddesses screeched in rage.

“Are you three finished?” Zeus asked them, irritation in his voice.

”Yes, for now,” Atropos responded, frowning in the general direction of Lachesis, who was wearing a hideous grin as she blinked at everyone.

“Now, someone tell me what is going on here,” Zeus said.

”This is all Aphrodite’s fault. She targeted a mortal wizard who was perfectly content with his life for love and made a mess of things,” the God of War stated as Aphrodite scowled at him.

“Tattletale,” she hissed, then said to Zeus,” That’s what I do, Zeus. Bring love to the loveless so they can live happy fulfilling lives.”

”There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with that, Aries,” Zeus said to the burly god.

”No, not if the mortal wants to find someone to love. Severus Snape did not. He was perfectly happy paying for pussy…now…now he’s ruined,” Ares said despairingly.

“He didn’t want to be in love? So what did you do, Aphrodite…don’t tell me you sent this idiot…” Zeus said, pointing at Eros, “To soften him up?”

”Of course I did. He is the God of Male Love, Zeus. That’s what he does,” Aphrodite replied.

Eros was an idiot most of the time, but he did his best. Sometimes it worked.

“And Eros tangled up the loom of Life big time!” Lachesis complained, “Four lives got all knotted together that shouldn’t have. He made Snape go for a woman who was already loved by another mortal!”

”She wouldn’t have accepted him if she wasn’t already attracted in the first place!” Eros shot back at the fate, frowning at her, “You old hag!”

“Yes, but then she got pregnant by Snape and was going to pass off his child as another man’s and marry him under false pretenses,” the Fate said, “You idiot!”

“Because Snape doesn’t want to be in love!” Ares interjected.

“I told Eros to stop the wedding, Zeus, and he did,” Aphrodite said.

”Yes, by bringing Eris into it. She made the mortal who was to marry the witch be unfaithful to her, not to mention sent terrible dreams that made them steer from the outcome we devised for them,” Clothos said accusingly, “We told her to back off and she used the name of Love to try and thwart Fate. But she couldn’t because Fate took on the bearing of a Crime of Passion, which is fueled by Love. Aphrodite used Hermes to help them communicate and unfurled the threads which should have been cut! By rights the mortal witch should be dead by the hand of her intended and Snape imprisoned! We demand they die now so the hand of Fate is not stayed!”

Arguing broke out again and Zeus rubbed his temples as the gods and goddesses raged at each other. All this noise over mortals?

“Let me see the situation for myself,” the god said, “Then I will make a decision.”

Everyone fell silent as Zeus conjured a mirror and focused it on the trio. He stopped viewing for a moment.

”It took three arrows to get this Snape mortal to accept the witch’s advances, Eros?” he asked the blonde god.

”Yes. He was a hard case. The most I could get out of him was lust. Aphrodite was to take over after that since she handles Love between man and woman,” Eros explained.

”Damn. Three arrows,” Zeus said to himself.

It was quite arousing to watch Severus in action. Hera was very tight-lipped as she watched the mortal fuck the witch countless times in countless ways. It had to be giving her husband ideas, impotent or not.

”I like this Snape,” Zeus said thoughtfully.

Eris and Aphrodite scowled at this comment. The mortal Snape was an ass. It figured Zeus would favor him since he was an ass too.

Zeus watched as Eros flooded the wedding with a deluge, then got Eris involved. As usual, she did her work quickly and thoroughly, utilizing Eros’ talents. He also saw the two engaged and raised an eyebrow at the god of love.

“I didn’t know you went in for that kind of thing, Eros,” he said to the god, who turned red all over as Eris grinned.

“You had to be there,” he muttered lamely.

Zeus then witnessed the confrontation between Eris and his daughters, the god scowling as the Goddess of Discord took the eye when the three returned to Olympus. Still, he looked at his daughters sternly.

”My daughters…you were being vindictive when you chose that Fate for these mortals. Even I can see that. The wizard does not deserve imprisonment. He’s lived a brave life. If he were a Greek, there would be monuments in his honor. He nor any of the others will suffer at your hands,” the god declared.

The Fates wilted a bit, but didn’t dare say anything to their father. They could be blasted just as easily as anyone else.

“However, Aphrodite…you will cease interfering in these mortals’ lives. It appears the threads have been untangled. Let nature take its course,” the god said.

“But Zeus, he’s so close to falling in love….all he need is a little…” Aphrodite said, looking at Hera a bit. Too bad she was here. If Aphrodite even showed a touch of cleavage the Queen of the Gods would be all over her.

“NO! AND I MEAN NO!” Zeus thundered so loudly that Olympus shook, “None of you will interfere with these mortals again or you will all feel my wrath! You’re lucky I don’t scorch all your asses! Now get out of my throne room and find a hobby! Especially you, Eris. Down to the depths of the earth with you!”

The gods and goddesses all hurriedly exited the throne room, Hermes fluttering on Aphrodite’s heels.

”We have unfinished business,” the god said, buzzing the goddess’ head.

Aphrodite slapped him away like a fly.

”Not now, Hermes. I’ve got a headache,” she griped, heading to her room to sulk.

Eris on the other hand, knew she had gotten off easy. If she had acted on her own she would have been in deep shit. Well, it had been fun while it lasted.

The goddess looked up at Mount Olympus resting so peacefully in the clouds and grinned wickedly.

Thanks to Eros, she had other fun to plan now.

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A/N: Short chappie. Thanks for reading.