Interlude - Bellatrix Black
“Go for the left side! I said left!”
Bellatrix went for the left side of her opponent with all the power in her arm that she could muster.
“Your left! Keep your guard up Black!”
Bellatrix made sure to keep her guard up as she went at it again, this time using her left. She used just the right amount of power that left her opponent wincing at the side of his body, right where the ribs ended.
“Keep at it Black! Push your offensive! Drive through that wedge in his defense!”
Bellatrix did just that and she could clearly see the hole that had formed in Julius’ defense. His posture slouched towards his injured side and that left an opening for Bellatrix to use. She pressed her attack with all the might that she could muster.
She aimed for body shots and received the satisfying sound of glove hitting flesh more than once.
“Keep the momentum up Black! Don’t let him have any room to breathe!”
Even as the muscles all over her body were screaming at her to stop, Bellatrix kept going. Julius was on the ropes, figuratively and literally. It was only a matter of time before she broke through his defenses completely.
“Come on Julius! You gonna lose to a girl!”
The words didn’t motivate Julius enough, Bellatrix could see that. She continued to go at him. Right hook to the to the ribs. Left hook to his arm. Right hook again to the ribs. She made sure to always keep moving less Julius get a hit on her.
It was a final blow to the face that knocked Julius out of the fight. He slumped against the ropes and Bellatrix rose a fist in preparation for the next swing before the bell was rung.
Bellatrix made sure to breathe through her nose and out of her mouth as she savored her victory. She’d have to thank Corvus for recommending this sport to her. Way more exciting than quidditch.
“Nice shit Black! Julius won’t live this one down for a long time.”
Her trainer, Jerry, came into the ring and slapped her on the shoulder. Bellatrix suppressed a wince as her muscles screamed at her.
“Now if you’d just go professional, there ar-”
“You already know my answer, Jerry. I’m not doing it. This is just a pastime for me.”
“I know that, but there are so many opportunities out there. It might not be a big market now, but I can just see where its going. Professional women’s boxing is on the up.”
It was Jerry’s go to incentive to get Bellatrix to go professional. Not that it wasn’t interesting, beating muggles up without magic was fun. But Bellatrix was sure that she would be breaking too many pureblood rules in doing that. She was already breaking several unspoken ones right now.
“I know Jerry. But my answer is the same one as the last time you asked. Thanks, but no thanks.”
“Eh, a man can try, can’t he? Let’s get you out of these gloves.”
As Jerry went about untying the laces to her gloves, Bellatrix spared a glance towards her opponent. Julius wasn’t the worst boxer in the club. He was big for his age and would likely get bigger in the coming years. But size didn’t translate into skill, and that clearly showed in Julius’ performance.
Even without Jerry’s help, Bellatrix had seen holes in Julius’ defense. He didn’t move as much as he could in the ring. His swings were fast, but easy to read. He hadn’t got the jab down yet and preferred to use large swings instead. It was all too easy to step to the side and attack the opening he created.
Though, for a sixteen-year-old, he was better than most. The fact that he was a head taller than her and had a longer reach spoke good for his prospects.
“Alright, the rest of the lads aren’t due for a couple hours. That means the gym is basically empty. I want you to focus on legs today. I want to see some actual meat on them.”
“Hey! I have meat on them. I just happen to despise leg day.” Bellatrix huffed as she looked down at her legs. Alright, they were a little thin.
“Don’t we all. Now get to it.”
Bellatrix hid a smirk behind her water bottle as she made her way towards the gym equipment. Most of it had seen better days and there was probably scuff marks on each one of them. But they worked, and that was all that really mattered.
At first, she really didn’t understand why Corvus subjected himself to this. Going to this muggle place to pick metal weights up and down repeatedly? It sounded preposterous. A waste of time if she ever heard of one. The fact that he bullied Uncle Arcturus into getting gym equipment into the Black Manor was a feat that she had to respect though.
Bellatrix also had to begrudgingly admit that it did offer results. Corvus was obsessive when he wanted to be and working out happened to be one of those things that he focused his obsessive tendencies on. He would wake up everyday and run. Even as a kid he was running around the Black Manor or 12 Grimmauld Place. Obviously, Bellatrix wouldn’t allow herself to be upstaged by anyone and promptly joined him.
Looking back at it though, maybe Corvus was manipulating her into spending more time with him?
Well, whatever the case. It worked.
They both started to run together, and that routine carried over into Hogwarts. When Corvus stared going to muggle gyms, Bellatrix was more than a little curious. She quickly saw the merits in his actions, even if she didn’t say it openly.
Corvus quickly developed a muscular figure. He always seemed to have energy and quickly outpaced everyone else in his year in terms of magical ability. Bellatrix also heard over the year how the other girls would fawn and sigh over his body.
She had learned early on to tune out the other girls and their chatter. She didn’t want to look at her cousin in that sort of light. He was like a brother to her! She didn’t want to hear how nice his abs looked!
Corvus himself didn’t help with the matter. He would invite her to come work out with him at least once a week during the holidays. By his third year he had finally broken through her resolve and Bellatrix conceded to humoring him, if only to get him to stop nagging her about it.
What had followed was one of the most grueling work out sessions of her life. She had never been yelled at like Corvus had during that workout. Her cousin wasn’t smiling while doing it either. He was dead serious about it and pushed Bellatrix to her limit.
At the end of it, everything hurt. She was sweating all over and even laying down was a pain. Corvus had simply stood over her and frowned, before throwing a water bottle at her.
She didn’t speak to him for a week after that.
Corvus didn’t seem to care and went on with the rest of the holiday as if nothing had happened. She tried to complain to Narcissa about it, but her sister just snickered at her.
“That’s what happens after you agree to go on runs with Corvus.” Her sister had said.
How was Bellatrix the one at fault here? Corvus was the one who subjected her to those muggle torture devices!
Her sister had just laughed at that and said that it was all for the timeline.
Bellatrix had vowed then and there to never join Corvus in another workout session again.
She kept that vow up until the day that Corvus had beaten her in the dueling ring.
Bellatrix still remembered that moment as if it was only yesterday. Her cousin had dodged every spell she sent his way with such speed! Then he had broken through her shield charm like it was nothing!
She immediately cornered him after the duel and asked how he did it. She was supposed to be the best duelist in the family.
“Routine exercise.”
So, she ate her words, swallowed her pride, and went with him to the next workout session. He didn’t yell at her as much as before, though he still did yell. As much as she hated it, she had to admit that she did feel stronger physically and magically over time.
It still wasn’t fun though, sitting at these machines and going through the same motion over and over.
That was when Corvus introduced her to the world of boxing.
“You get to beat muggles up with your hands.”
After that sentence, she was sold. Legally beat muggles up. Was she dreaming?
She didn’t believe him at first, so they went to see some muggle named Muhammad Ali fight another muggle named Oscar Bonavena.
They had got to sit right next to the ring and Bellatrix was entranced.
“This is what muggles do for fun?” She must have been grinning like a madman by the way Corvus laughed.
“Yes, interesting, isn’t it?”
That was when Bellatrix decided that muggles weren’t all that bad. They knew how to keep themselves entertained with blood sports after all. What else did they know?
They had gone back to Britain after that and spent the day looking at various muggle gyms around London. Corvus chose Jerry’s gym, a small little place, and the rest was history. Bellatrix enjoyed herself a lot within these walls and couldn’t believe she hadn’t tried this before.
Even working out her legs was fun in a certain way.
Then she actually started working them and remembered why she hated leg day.