"Tell me, Athena, did you truly believe we would not know?" Hera asked her, with Aphrodite by her side.
"Oh yes, virgin, Athena falls in love with a mortal and even marries him, how could you think that would pass beyond our notice?" Aphrodite asked.
Athena stood quietly despite their venomous tone. If they who should best of all know her pain and worries were baiting her then they could blame no other for the consequences of their words. She waited as they walked away tittering amongst themselves at their supposed victory. And she waited still for the particular god that would come soon enough.
"Hello, Athena." Apollo said, his voice soft and tone cruel.
"Apollo." She answered.
"I'm sure you're wondering why. Why oh why did he send that awful prophecy?" He barked out a harsh laugh. "You may fancy yourself untouchable here on Olympus, but the same cannot be said for the boy. He shall be hunted, unloved and pained. He shall marry a shrew and worse, he shall be happy. For all his days he will rejoice in being the greatest joke ever witnessed by the gods!" Now his laughter rolled out in peals.
"I see. And this was of your own design then?" Athena asked. Her voice toneless and unaffected.
"Well, Ares and Hephaestus may have added their own touches." Apollo allowed. "Of course I also received Zeus' blessing. I thought the scar in the shape of a lightning bolt was particularly poetic."
"Yes, I suppose you would." Athena agreed. The god's cruel laughter echoed as he left her alone once more.
"Hecate…" Her voice was soft, but enough to summon the loyal member of her household. The woman who was three yet one knelt serenely by her feet.
"I had an idea that I thought you might like…"
Zeus smirked as Athena entered the pantheon. Her fellow gods and goddesses each sat upon golden thrones, and each felt at least some satisfaction at her sorrow. Not that she showed it, the red-haired goddess always was good at controlling her emotions.
"Father." Athena acknowledged the ruler of the gods.
"Athena… Tell me, did you enjoy your little jaunt amongst the mortals?" He asked with a mirthless smile.
"Quite. Indeed it was such an experience that it left me feeling generous… Very generous indeed." Athena stated.
Several of the gods blinked, not sure what to make of the statement. It was certainly an unexpected outcome. Generous? Just how had love changed their virgin goddess? "Oh? Do tell," Poseidon encouraged with an indulgent smile.
Athena nodded, "I had thought to give my gift to a child not my own… But then I thought why not give the gift to all children? Indeed it was such a wonderful idea that I made arrangements immediately. Quite soon every child on Earth will be receiving my gift and I do hope they quite enjoy it."
Utter stillness spread through the pantheon. Despite her pleasant smile and dulcet tone something seemed off. Apollo with his unique connection to the future felt it first and it sent a dark chill directly down his spine. "What did you do?" He asked in a dark voice.
Athena smiled lightly. "Why, it is rather simple isn't it? All that racism floating around in magical Britain was quite sickening so I decided to simplify the problem and possibly solve it altogether. After all, when they are children it's such a small thing. A tiny gift barely requiring a dab of godly power to imbue… At least, that's how magic has always seemed to me."
The gods reeled back as if struck.
"You couldn't…" Hephaestus began.
"Oh yes. Every child born since my son and all that will be… All will have magic." She said. "And soon, even we will be destroyed by the sheer weight of their power." Her laughter echoed through the pantheon, dark, humorless and victorious.
A/N: This isn't really meant to be a story starter or anything like that. More like just me working through my frustration with the Harry Potter universe. I find the series, taken as a whole, very frustrating. We introduce early on the problem of racism in the magical world, but when all is said and done… There's still a huge problem with racism in the magical world.
Dumbledore can be written as everything from a scheming dark wizard to a veritable paragon of goodness who just made a mistake or two and it all still fits the character. Magic doesn't play well with physics, but it doesn't feel… magical. Just twee and that's different. People do things that don't make sense because… well apparently because it's more twee that way.
So, since I also hate the Greek pantheon with an even greater passion, I thought why not throw two problems at each other. Perhaps someone will see something in this that inspires them.