STARS CROSSED, hermione granger

prologue

stars crossed
❪ prologue ❫

Every time Leo came home from Hogwarts for a holiday or summer break, the dread started to kick in and the gut wrenching fear in his stomach would turn on like a flip of a switch.

On December 7th 1987 Leo's mother passed away due to a series of illnesses. She was on her way to recovery until a tumor was found inside her brain.

She was the heart of the home. The woman with all the answers and all the possibilities to making someone smile. She was the real reason the Jeong family could live a peaceful life for the few years that they could. But when she passed, it was like a dark cloud rolled over their family home and has never gone away since.

The Jeong family was pure blood. Bringing nothing but honor to house Slytherin — how fitting — and becoming one of the most well known families next to the Malfoys.

The pure blood line were proud to claim Slytherin as their house for centuries. Just until that line had been crossed and the Jeong's family oldest son was sorted into Gryffindor.

Truthfully, the Jeong family couldn't be bothered with any of the houses. They had no care for them and no desire to be acknowledged with them. Slytherin was the only house that mattered, the only house that showed true strength and power. It was the one house that would carry the family bloodline, until now.

Leo and Lina sat at the family dinner table across from one another as their father sat at the very end, always staring longingly to the other side of the table where his wife once sat. His food was either completely gone or barely touched, depending what type of mood he was in.

And every time his plate would become untouched, it was a sign that this night would be just like the others; messy and unbalanced.

"So Pansy was trying to get me to go with her to the Quidditch tournament, but she bailed on me last minute." Lina stabbed her food with her fork with frustration, visibly tired of the way she constantly got tossed to the side by her friend.

Leo peered at his sister from over his glass of water as he took a small sip. "Pansy Parkinson is a git, i don't understand why you hang out with her."

"Not normally," she shrugged with a response. "Lately she's been hugging all over Draco endlessly. It's disgusting."

The older boy rolled his eyes at the name drop of the one person he hated — besides the obvious. "Maybe you should get better friends."

"Easy for you to say," Lina muttered, only to regret her words shortly after when their father dropped his silverware onto his plate.

Leo slowly placed the glass down. His eyes focusing on something sitting on his plate rather than glancing at his father. No, he learned his lesson last time for that.

"So tell me," their father, for the first time during dinner, had spoken up with his back leaning into the chair. "What are your friends like in Gryffindor?"

Lina's eyes gazed up at her brothers rather quickly, cursing on the inside and sending him apologetic looks. But he only gave her a sign of reassurance by a slight shake of his head.

He inhaled heavily and folded his arms cross the dark wood table, his gaze still focused on the half eaten food on his plate. "They're fine. There's bad eggs in every house—, is all I was saying." He lifted a finger and angled towards his sister. "Speaking of which, remember that book mom read to us when we were kids—"

The chair creaked underneath their father and the table grew silent. "Lina, you may be excused."

Leo dropped the finger to the tip of his glass of water, poking it like it had been alive and pretending that it was seemingly more interesting then what he was about to suffer through.

Lina moved her chair back and without a word, left the table to go to her room. She better than to interfere, no matter how badly she wanted to.

It was just father and son now.

The disappointment and man of the house were now sitting in silence. Leo mentally prepared for what was to come. He knew the mention of their mother would set him off, it always did.

"Look at me."

The boy rolled his neck and gazed at his father, lips formed into a thin line. His father's fingers tapped along the wooden table, their stares locking but the fire brewing behind his fathers were much more intense. Maybe tonight wasn't the best night to pick a fight.

Joonkyu got up from his chair, the wood scratching the floor along that way as his fingers stretched out to reach for his empty drinking glass.

Leo sat back in his chair now. His eyes falling on the plate of food again as his father now hovered over him like a dark cloud, taking the last sip of his drink to get whatever drop of water that was left.

There was a silence brewing between them but Leo knew that his father could hear his heart rapidly beating. It was like a sixth sense, and no matter how well he tried to play it off; he was aware that his father knew that he terrified him.

A single heartbeat passed.

Then suddenly the glass that was clutched in his fathers hand was smacked across Leo's face. A small shard cutting his cheek and releasing crimson blood to be seen.

Fewer pieces of glass dropped to the floor as his father tossed the remaining of the glass onto the table. His shoes crushed the glass on the floor as he walked by, simply brushing his hand on his dress pants as he passed.

"Gets the elves and clean this mess up."

When he disappeared, that's when Leo relaxed his shoulders and let out a solid breath of air.

Back in his bedroom where Lina waited, she tossed him a bag of ice just as he dropped down onto his bed. She always waited for him, no matter what.

"Thanks."

"Why do you have to do that?" She sighed.

He placed the bag of ice over his cheek — which was cleaned of blood before coming to his room — and winced slightly at the already bruising skin. "Antagonize him? Because it's funny."

"Be serious Leo." Her eyebrows furrowed in frustration.  She sat in his study chair across from his bed, her hands now gripping the wooden edges.

Her brother sighed heavily. "If I want to talk about our mother I should be allowed to do so."

"You're a bloody idiot."

"Oh so you suppose I do it on purpose?"

She arched an eyebrow at him.

He sighed in defeat, pulling the ice pack away briefly to make sure no more blood was coming from his fresh cut. "Alright, I admit, sometimes I enjoy getting under his skin. But I miss her, and it just slipped out."

Lina's face softened and her feet touched the ground as she got up to sit beside her brother on the bed. "I miss her too. But you know mentioning her around dad gets him worked up."

Leo hated it. No, he loathed it. Loathed the way it felt like nobody else was able to miss her except for him.

"You only have two weeks before the game. Can you at least behave until then?"

Leo watched his sister get up from his bed and start making her way towards the door. "Hey," he called out to her. "I'll be on my best behavior for you."

Lina rolled her eyes, her hand holding onto the door handle. "There's only one person you're on your best behavior for, and it's definitely not me." She slipped over the door frame and exited the room.