Against All Odds

By Allison Stolz

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and any of the characters. If I did, I would be an extremely rich British woman named J.K. Rowling and this story would actually be in a published book. Seeing as I'm not Jo, please don't sue me. The only thing that I take credit for is the plot line, the sarcasm, and the personalities that I've put into some of the characters.

–Allie

It was killing Sally-Anne that she still could not remember the full details of her vivid dreams. She knew now, that they were not dreams and in fact things that had actually happened. Why though, could she not remember what that was?

She was lying in bed late one night listening to the sounds of Susan's muffled snoring when she just could not take it anymore.

"Susan!" She jumped out of bed and was shaking the lifeless form of the girl lying in the bed next to her. "SUSAN!"

Susan gave a loud snore and covered her head with her pillow. Sally-Anne desperately struggled to pull it away from her but with no luck. She grabbed her own wand from her bedside table and shot a jet of water at Susan.

"WHAT THE –"

"Shhhhh!" Sally-Anne silenced her and examined the room. For all the noise that Susan had just made, none of the other girls had given any sign of movement.

"Sally-Anne? Is that you?"

"What do you think?" she snapped bitterly. "I demand an answer right here and right now or I swear to god that our friendship is ultimately over!" Of course she wasn't being serious but Susan took it that she was and became very nervous.

"What did you four do to me?"

Susan bit her lip and started trembling. "Maybe this isn't the right time, perhaps we should wait tomorrow so that we can all talk about this …"

"I don't think so. Right here and right now Susan!"

And with one last nervous look Susan took a great breath and spit it all out. She told her about the DA and when they had asked Sally-Anne to join, they mistook her subtle anger for not including her earlier and instead thought she would actually tattle on them. She explained how they had dragged her upstairs to the boys dorm and placed the memory charm on her.

"…We didn't mean to Sal! We got nervous, and didn't know what to do! I'm so sorry …"

Sally-Anne stared at her blankly, fighting the tears that fought to be released. Susan looked at her sympathetically. It all made sense now. All the memory's came flooding back at her from the moment that she had listened to them explain the DA, threatened to tell on them, till the point the blinding flash filled her vision as Justin said 'Obliviate.'

"I hate you."

"Sal? Sal, don't be angry!" Susan pleaded with her. Sally-Anne backed away from her friend's bed and made towards the door. "Please Sal? Please forgive us!"

"Leave me alone!" Sally-Anne snapped and pointed her wand at Susan. Her eyes flashed dangerously as she bolted from the dorm and down the girl's staircase. She rushed through the common room, glancing quickly at the clock, which read 3:40, and pushed open the portrait.

"I say! It's rather early to be leaving don't you think?" the well-dressed man in the portrait called to her. She ignored him and continued running. She wasn't sure where she was going but her feet were automatically directing her towards the Entrance hall.

She arrived and pushed at the large oak doors revealing the pouring rain outside. She rushed into the cascading water and dashed towards the forbidden forest where she tripped on an eroding root and fell to her knees. She let out a large sob as the tears began to flow down her face.

She pulled herself up from the muddy earth and steadied herself on her shaking legs. Her pyjama pants and black t-shirt clung to her body as the rain continued to pour down. The tears and rain together began to obstruct her vision but she tried to move on despite the minor setbacks.

As she neared the darkened forest while shivering and shaking from head to toe she felt something hard contact her face, knocking her backwards a few feet. She lay on her back a moment before sitting up again to look for the source of her intruder. She felt something whip her from behind in the middle of her back and she let out a piercing shriek.

The Whomping willow's branches attacked her fiercely as she tried to escape its clutches. Her eyes grew wide as yet another thick branch took a blow at her and caught her in her stomach sending her back to her knees and short of breath.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" someone screamed at her, and a figure darted into her sight. She was too sore and breathless to identify the person who was tugging at her arm.

"Come on!" the person screamed to her as the tree began to attack them as well. They were knocked into her and the two of them crumpled to the ground. Sally-Anne felt the person fall on top of her and she looked up into his eyes.

"Malfoy?" she asked questioningly.

"Come on!" He yelled again and rolled off her only to be knocked down again by a very angry willow.

A lightning bolt crashed through the midnight sky and illuminated the Hogwarts grounds. Sally-Anne crawled over to Malfoy on her hands and knees where he was currently nursing a sore cheek.

"What are you doing here?" Sally-Anne yelled fiercely into the wind as a roll of thunder rumbled amidst the howling winds and pouring rain.

"Saving you, what the hell do you think?" He said quickly. "Come on we need to get out of here."

The tree took another thrash at them and managed to strike Sally-Anne on her leg. She let out a moan as she felt the place of contact sting and blood trickle down the side of her leg.

Draco grabbed her arm and they hurried out of the Whomping Willow's line of fire. Draco continued to drag her as they hurried away from the edge of the Forbidden Forest but Sally-Anne's legs gave out on her and she stumbled to the ground once more.

"Come on, get up!" Malfoy hissed to her as he collapsed to his knees beside her.

"I can't!" she wailed as another blinding flash of lightning coursed throughout the sky. She tried to push the matted blond hair out of her face with her cold and muddy hands but it was so tangled that she had to give up.

"What the hell are you doing out here!" Draco asked her enraged. She let out a sob and the tears started to cascade down her face once again. His face looked at her confused as though he didn't know what to do.

Well I don't blame him. You look like a blubbering idiot Sally-Anne!

Her thoughts only made her start to cry harder which turned Dracos look into terror.

"Are you seriously injured? Come on Sally-Anne, stop crying!" He grabbed her arm and shook her slightly. "Are you alright?"

"N-n-no …" she stuttered as she rubbed her eyes harshly. "I'm n-n-not o-okay."

Draco looked at her sympathetically; his platinum blonde hair was also tangled and was falling into his face. "Come on, we need to get you back to the castle."

He stood up and helped Sally-Anne to her feet while gently guiding her back to the school by her hand. She continued to sniffle and every now and then let out a tiny moan of pain.

Once they had reached the giant oak doors he turned to her and motioned for her to be quiet. He pushed open the doors and the two entered into the silent and darkened entrance hall.

Sally-Anne vaguely wondered why nobody had come to investigate why the doors to the school had opened and closed a few times that night but brushed it off as Draco steered her towards an empty classroom down the hall.

Sally-Anne wiped her face with her free hand in order to wipe away evidence from her tear stained face. It made no difference, however, because it was clearly evident she had been crying.

"Are you alright?" Draco asked her as he closed the door to one of the vacant classrooms. Sally-Anne plopped herself on to one of the desks and stared down at her feet.

"What happened?"

Sally-Anne couldn't believe that the most hated person in the school, known for bullying and being so cruel, was actually asking her this question with such sincerity in his voice.

"Come on, you can tell me."

Sally-Anne didn't know why she did it, perhaps it was because she had nobody left to talk to and here was someone wanting to help. She opened her mouth and let it all out; everything that had happened with her friends, how they had betrayed her, lied to her. She eventually couldn't take it anymore and broke down into tears again.

"And what about that necklace? I'm sorry for taking it from you, it must mean a great deal to you."

Sally-Anne hesitated. She wasn't sure she should trust anyone with it's secret, but here Draco was being so nice to her and she just felt like she could trust him with her life.

"When I was just a young child, my father used to beat my family. That is, my mother, my brother, and I. My younger brother, Tyler, was born with a special gift. He has the power to read minds of others. My father became immensely interested in the dark arts and joined forces with Lord … well you-know-who. My mother became quite distressed after he got swallowed by the darkness and worried for our families safety." Sally-Anne took a breath "When I was only seven and Tyler was five, my father discovered Tyler's gift. My mother had tried to hide it from him because she was concerned about Tyler's safety. Blake, my father, told his master about Tyler and he was ordered to recruit Tyler for the purpose of serving the Dark lord. My mother became scared and decided that it was time for us to escape. She packed our things and told Blake that we were leaving. Needless to say, he wasn't too happy."

Sally-Anne breathed out heavily and closed her eyes as though to remember something. Draco pulled out a chair and sat down beside the desk she was sitting on. He looked quite curious and understanding. When Sally-Anne opened her eyes to look at him he urged her to continue.

"We escaped though. We stayed at a tiny little hotel on the outskirts of London for a few nights before he came after us. My mother had taken certain precautions so that Tyler would always be safe … I'm Tyler's secret keeper."

Draco's eyes widened as Sally-Anne pulled the locket from under her damp shirt and held the silver locket close to her.

"My mother took Tyler someplace and concealed the location into this locket. I'm not sure how exactly, I never did ask questions, but my mother told me to always keep this necklace safe with me and that only I could reveal where Tyler was. To this day, I am the only one that knows, and I guess Blake has been trying to figure it out. He still wants my brothers powers but the only way he can get them is through me. That's why this necklace is so important to me."

Draco opened his mouth to say something but a noise from somewhere in the corner made both their heads turn in that direction.

"What was that?" Sally-Anne said quickly.

"Listen, Sally-Anne." Draco said in a whisper "your brother may be in danger, you need to tell me where he is!"

"Draco?" Sally-Anne looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You need to tell me where he is." He said a little louder. His eyes didn't look so caring anymore and his voice was starting to scare the shivering girl. Her eyes widened as he pulled out his wand and aimed it at her.

"What are you doing?" her voice wavered slightly.

"That's a good boy." A voice spoke from the same corner as the noise had. Sally-Anne whipped her head towards the voice and all colour drained from her features. "Your services were quite worth it Draco, I shall pay you the full price."

Draco nodded and put his wand back into his robes. Sally-Anne glanced back and forth between Draco and Andrew Blake, confusion and horror starting to dawn on her face.

"You may be excused now Mr. Malfoy, I'll take it from here."

Draco nodded again and swept over to the door.

"Malfoy!" Sally-Anne screamed at him "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Draco turned to look at her and for one fleeting moment he looked sorry. But it may have just been Sally-Anne's imagination because what he said was far from sorry. "Like I'd ever want to be friends with a stupid Hufflepuff. How stupid are you Perks? I'm a Malfoy, I still have my pride!" And with that he walked out the door and it shut with a click.

Sally-Anne stared with terror at the door. Her heart literally stopped beating the moment she realized, she was alone, with Andrew Blake.

SLAP.

His hand came into contact with her face and she was thrown off the desk and onto the hard cement floor. Her previous injuries from the Whomping Willow started to ache and her whole body trembled with defeat.

"You silly girl." Blake towered over her. "You thought you and your blasted whore of a mother could defy me? I'll have you know that I will personally have the lot of you killed by the time this is over."

Sally-Anne refused to look at him in the eyes. He kicked her in the stomach and she rolled over in pain.

Someone, anyone, HELP!

Her insides were screaming with pain but outside she refused to let him beat her. She would prove to him that she was strong.

"Now that you've revealed to me what I needed to know, tell me what I want to know. Where is your brother?"

Sally-Anne held her tongue and remained silent. Blake became enraged again and kicked her once more. This time she let out a stifled groan.

"Tell me where he is!"

"I can't!" Sally-Anne wailed at him.

"Don't lie to me girl! Let me teach you the meaning of pain for your poor decisions!" he yelled enraged. "Crucio!"

And for the second time in Sally-Anne's fifteen years of life, she felt the horrible pain wash over her. Breaking her whole body into shattered pieces as it consumed her from head to toe. And Sally-Anne couldn't stay strong any longer.

She screamed.