Harry meanwhile had only gotten five steps from the partially closed doors of the Great Hall, lost in his own thoughts of the many bonds humans seemed to be able to form. Harry suddenly stopped short, emitting a soundless gasp of pain as his sparkling emerald eyes widened and his hands came up to grip his chest right over his heart in a desperate movement to stop the sudden assault of excruciating pain.
Harry's amazingly round eyes closed in determination as he searched his being for the source of the sudden onslaught of pain. His eyes snapped open once again as he slid to the floor in defeat. He let an unconscious gasp of, "Soul Bond?" slip through his lips as silent tears made sorrowful tracts down his cheeks. 'How could she break their soul bond?! How?!?!' Closing his eyes Harry leaned against the cold stonewall trying to gain some semblance of composure so that he could logically look at the newly formed problem. Breaths coming in short, quick, and desperate gasps, Harry surrendered himself to his coming tasks. He knew what he must do in order to save his chosen ones, his little nephew and niece. Serenity and Endymion, the mortal princess and prince of the Moon and Earth, with a soul bond that he himself had helped to form over a millennium ago, and which now was broken. Harry knew that when a soul bond as old as this one had been, was broken, for any reason, there would be a terrible backlash, a backlash that would more than likely instantly kill the parties that were a part of the bond. Harry knew that while Serenity and Endymion had the ability to be very long-lived and amazingly resilient they were not, however, immortal like he, himself, is. Sighing, Harry slumped against the wall, looking into his personal wellspring of magic to find the power needed for what he would have to do.
Initiating the magic was an easy thing; after all he was a blood relation to both Endymion and Serenity. With one great yank on the magical pathways, Harry pulled the entirety of the soul bond backlash into himself. Closing his eyes as a look of intense pain flashed over his features, Harry hissed through tightly clenched teeth, all the while swearing fluidly and creatively, in many languages, ending with, "Damn! Why, Serenity?! What happened?!" With that Harry could not repress the ear-piercing shriek of pure and unadulterated pain that had been trying desperately to break free of the physical barrier of his mouth. Harry, still conscious of where he was, tried to suppress the noise as much as he could, but ended up not being as successful as his pain-muffled brain would have liked. Before the shriek finished its echo down the vast halls of Hogwarts, however, a shower of rose petals and a burst of soothing magic, surrounded him, and before his mind could put together what was happening, he was being cradled in the arms of a beautiful women, garbed in a pink clinging gown, who was herself crying silent tears. The woman wrapped her arms around Harry's violently shivering form and rocked the both of them, oblivious to the cold stone floor, their only thought was to the comfort they found in each other's arms.
At the very first utterance of the disturbing sound Serverus had jumped out of his chair, wand at the ready, and rushed out of the Great Hall and into the hallway before his worried brain could even process that the scream had been Harry's. He was shocked into dropping his wand to his side at the sight that greeted him. Instead of rampaging Death Eaters or rogue Dementors, Serverus watched in wonder as a crying Harry was been cradled and rocked by a weirdly garbed woman who was also shedding tears, though not as heavily as Harry had been.
Gaining his wits again, Serverus searched the hallway for an enemy, but found none, all he saw was an older, white bearded, gentleman running towards them in his dressing robes, a flaming red and gold bird flying a step behind him. Serverus only nodded, not bothering to look, as he felt his mentor and father-figure step up beside him. Albus Dumbledore and Serverus Snape watched in stunned awe as the despairingly sad scene continued unhindered. They were trying to process the fact that their most prized friend was currently in the arms of a strange woman, both crying their eyes and hearts out, and it looked as if Harry was still in quite a large amount of pain. They watched on as they tried to decide on what intervention this type of situation needed of them.
Their decision-making process was interrupted by the sudden arrival of a whirlwind of fiery sparks appearing not to far away from the crumpled forms on the floor. In the blink of an eye those sparks thrust into being a huge man, well-muscled in his arms and torso, and clothed only in a pair of tight-fitting leather pants. The new arrival paid the watching wizards little mind as he knelt beside the pathetic forms of the lady and Harry. Reaching out, he laid a gentle caress across the cheek of the lady, whispering, just loud enough to be heard over the quiet sniffling, "Aphrodite…Aphrodite…its time to stop crying now. As the goddess of love you should know that nothing can be severed irreparably! Come now love! Its time to dry those pretty eyes." He waited, calmly as his wife pulled herself together per his loving coaching. When she had sufficiently recovered she twisted, without loosening her desperate grip on the body in her arms, and laid her head against her husband's chest, closing her eyes she let out a weepy sigh, "Oh, Hephestus! I do not know if THIS can be fixed…." Opening her eyes she reached a shaking hand out to stroke Harry's unruly mess of black hair. Hephestus looked on as his wife gave the boy a gentle caress, "What has happened to Ambrose, little rose?" Aphrodite let a smile grace her beautiful face as the familiar pet name Hephestus had given to her on their wedding day.
Harry's eyes remained closed, in fact his whole body was amazingly still, only moving to take in or release a labored breath. The tremors were slowly receding and the times between their arrival and the duration of their stay were getting longer and shorter, respectively. He was conscious of the fact that he was being held, and of the people holding him and he let a small smile grace his lips, regardless of the pain still shuddering through his system, as he snuggled deeper into the warming presences holding him.
Serverus and Albus watched all this with a look of awe on their faces, how could their dear friend know gods? It was an impossible thought, yet, by the way they were holding Harry, they could see that it was indeed true. They unashamedly listened in as Hephestus and Aphrodite continued their conversation.
Aphrodite looked into her husband's warm chocolate-brown eyes, searching for the fire in them that she found so comforting. Finding it as expected, Aphrodite let out a small sigh and spoke, "Serenity broke her soul bond with Endymion this night…." She watched as this statement sunk in, causing her husband's eyes to widen in surprise and his arms to tighten in sympathy. "But why!" Aphrodite shook her head slowly to indicate that she hadn't a clue. Hephestus' eyes landed on the form in his wife's arms, "And why has this occurrence affected him as well?" Aphrodite looked down at the weight in her lap and smiled as she continued to stroke his hair. "You know as well as I do, Hephestus, that Ambrose had as much of a hand in the forming of that particular soul bond as I did! It makes sense that he would not allow the backlash to harm his favorites! The little darling took ALL of the pain onto himself!" Hephestus pursed his lips in consternation and sympathy, "All of it you say?!" "Yes. ALL of it Hephestus, he let nothing through! He knew that for as long as that bond has been in existence, for as long as it had been nurtured, the backlash would have killed anyone but an immortal, and you know that Serenity and Endymion's bloodlines are diluted just enough to make it so that they are not immortal!" Hephestus nodded his head as he looked down at the boy in his wife's arms with new respect. Even after millennia of life, Ambrose still had the power to surprise him. Hephestus leaned down to kiss the top of his wife's head, but was surprised as he released her by a pair of startling emerald green eyes, flecked with the darker hues caused by intense pain and even greater worry, that was staring up at them in happiness. A hoarse croak, in the form of unintelligible words, brought everyone's attention back to Aphrodite's treasured burden. Aphrodite's sing-song voice was the one who asked, "What was that, Darlin'" "I said I'm NOT a little darling!" Aphrodite looked up into her husband's eyes and both let their mingled laughter replace the sounds of pain in the gloomy hallway, instantly brightening it up to its former wizarding splendor. Serverus and Albus looked on confused, as the still chuckling god and goddess moved to help Harry to his feet. Harry winced once as his feet took his full weight once again, but the look of pain faded to the background as his joy at seeing his Olympian "siblings" came to the fore.
Their silent reunion was eventually interrupted by their combined realization that they had an audience. Albus and Severus had decided to keep their peace as they watched the tableau play itself out. Nudging Harry to gain his attention, Hephestus nodded towards the wizards who were staring with curious eyes. With a sigh, he broke out of the comforting embrace of his "sister," giving her a gentle peck on the cheek. Moving on to Hephestus, Harry reached up to give his "brother" a hearty embrace. Then stepping away with an apologetic look on his face, he gave a whispered "Thank-you" as the god and goddess's telltale rose petals and sparks engulfed and removed them from Hogwarts and the presence of their beloved "brother." A whispered plea echoed down the silent hallway in Aphrodite's voice, "Please Harry, I cannot stand it, and I for once do not know how to fix this. God's speed!"
Harry turned his gaze to the floor as he hugged himself, "All I can say 'Dite is that I will try, I will try my hardest!"
A hacking cough was the only forewarning the two older wizards got before they saw their friend's knees give out. A blink of an eye, however, did not find Harry's form collapsed on the floor, instead, to the surprise of everyone in the hallway, Serverus had once again moved without thinking, catching Harry before he had even fallen an inch.
Finding himself engulfed in voluminous black robes that smelled of odd, exotic, and unknown things, Harry closed his eyes, sighed in contentment and clung tighter.
Aphrodite met Hephestus' eyes and smiled, their brother was safe and loved, here in these halls where magic was tangibly felt in the very air itself. With a relieved sigh they were gone, leaving the wizards to comfort their young friend.