Strange Ties--Percy Jackson/Harry Potter

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Valerie

Valerie woke up to a knock on her bedroom door. Blinking away the remnants of sleep, she groaned at the soft light filtering through the window. Another knock. She glanced at the floor beside her bed and saw Percy still sound asleep, his tousled hair sticking out in every direction.

The knock on the door persisted, "Valerie, you're going to be late for your morning classes!" The voice belonged to Padma Patel, the Ravenclaw prefect.

Valerie's eyes shot open "I'll be right there, Padma. Just give me a moment!"

She turned to Percy again, she shook him aggressively. "Percy, wake up! You have to go"

Percy blinked, still half-asleep. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. "What's going on?"

"We overslept," Valerie replied, "You need to get out of here before someone sees you"

He quickly scrambled to his feet and Valerie pushed him towards the window "Out the window, go!" she whispered urgently.

Percy didn't need any further encouragement. He opened it quietly. Casting one last grateful look at Valerie, he slipped out onto the ledge. Valerie followed, ensuring the window closed silently behind them. Once the coast was clear, she got ready as fast as possible and went downstairs to the common room, where a very angry Padma was sitting.
Padma furrowed her brows, "If you keep being late to classes Valerie, we're going to have house points taken off! And then we will never win the house cup!" she stressed.

"It won't happen again Padma, I promise" she replied, leaving the common room and heading to her first class of the day. Suddenly a thought ran across her mind, Audrey. She stopped walking and thought about going to Percy's room and checking up on her, but then she remembered how cranky Audrey got when she had a hangover and decided she wasn't going to deal with it. She didn't deserve it after what she did at Yule ball last night. She walked through the hallways, feeling slightly guilty nevertheless.

Suddenly Elyse catched up with her, her golden hair falling effortlessly past her shoulders. "Valerie! You have no idea what happened!"
Valerie shrugged, "What happened?"
"Hermione Granger broke up with Ron Weasley last night" Elyse smiled widely, looking like she was happy to deliver anyone the news. "Right at the end of the Yule ball! I mean in front of everyone! It was so dramatic she was crying and stuff and Ron was so confused..." she trailed on, but Valerie lost focus quickly.

They continued walking, her mind wandering as Elyse recounted the dramatic breakup. As she strolled towards the history of magic classroom, her thoughts were elsewhere. More specifically, on someone.

Elyse continued, "And then she stormed off and left him there! I mean he tried catching up with her but in that wheelchair it was just hopeless. In my opinion, Hermione could have waited a bit until he healed, because now Ron is beaten up and dumped" She laughed.

Valerie nodded "Oh wow that's... shocking for sure"

Elyse sighed, "You know what, I have something that you might find interesting. Pansy Parkinson is missing" She said as they both walked inside the classroom and sat down.

Valerie turned to her, "What?"

She nodded, "Last time she was seen was around the Slytherin common room hallway, and that was two days ago. She didn't even go to the Yule ball. I guess people assumed she was in her room but Gwen, her roommate, said she hasn't seen her either. And its been officially 48 hours so it makes her a missing person. Her parents are coming down to the office right now"

"That's... unsettling," Valerie murmured, her mind racing with questions. "Do they have any idea where she might be?"

Elyse shook her head, her expression serious. "No one seems to know. The professors and the Ministry have been searching, but there's no sign of her anywhere. It's weird, right? I mean, who goes missing like that without a trace?"