Philadelphia, 1818 Tusculum Street

Severus jolted out of bed as soon as the water touched his face; it was cold. Not a normal cold but more of a 'Frozen-in-Antarctica' cold.

He jumped out of bed, the comforter falling around his ankles, causing him to trip while he heard a voice above him. "Get up and get ready, we start training today."

Rocky stood over him, holding an empty bucket and grinning. "No better way to wake up, huh?"

Severus scrambled to his feet, shivering. "You could have just knocked."

"I did," Rocky said, still smirking. "Three times. Now hurry up, we've got work to do."

Severus quickly dressed in a pair of joggers and a plain shirt, still grumbling about the rude awakening. By the time he made it to the kitchen, Rocky had a plate of buttered toast before he walked out the door. He grabbed it, stuffing the toast in his mouth, before following Rocky out the door, the early morning air biting at his skin.

"So, where are we going?" Severus asked, watching as Rocky walked over to his car and got in. When Severus tried to open the passenger door, it was locked. He looked up at Rocky, gesturing to the door and mouthing, 'Unlock it,' but Rocky just shook his head and rolled down the window.

"I'm not letting you in," Rocky said, shifting the car into drive. "You're gonna run, and I'm gonna drive." Severus stood there in shock as Rocky drove off, leaving him behind.

"You're kidding me!" Severus shouted after the car, but Rocky just honked the horn and kept driving slowly, just enough to keep Severus on his toes.

With a resigned sigh, Severus started jogging after the car. The early morning sun hit him in the eyes, but he quickly warmed up as he settled into a steady pace. Rocky kept the car just ahead of him, forcing him to keep running.

"Keep up, kid!" Rocky called out, a grin on his face. "This is just the beginning!"

Severus's legs burned, and his breath came in ragged gasps, but he pushed himself to keep going. Every time he slowed down, Rocky would honk the horn or shout something like, A fish can run faster than you!'

Determined not to give up, Severus gritted his teeth and picked up the pace. He could feel the strain in his muscles, the sting of sweat in his eyes, but he kept moving forward. The thought of his father, of proving himself, drove him on.

After what felt like an eternity, Rocky finally stopped the car. Severus stumbled to a halt, bent over with his hands on his knees, gasping for air. Rocky stepped out, looking at him with a mixture of approval and amusement.

"Not bad for your first day," Rocky said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Come on, we still got somewhere to be."

Severus groaned and followed Rocky to the corner where a sign hung 'Mighty Mick's boxing gym' with a man posing with gloves on. He turned to look at Rocky, breathing hard. "Do they have...water in there?"

Rocky chuckled, patting Severus on the back as they approached the gym. "Yeah, they got water. And a lot more. You're gonna need it."

Rocky clapped him on the shoulder before tossing his black ball up. "Go wrap your hands and start hitting the heavy bag, I'll come pick you up later."

Severus nodded, a mix of excitement and nerves churning inside him. He walked inside and wrapped his hands, glancing around to watch the others before walking over to a bag and started throwing punches. To caught up in the bag, he didn't notice a man walk up to Rocky and start talking.

"Hey, Champ," the two shook hands. "Didn't know you were coming by." Rocky chuckled a bit while looking around the gym.

"I didn't either, I was just in the neighborhood. You've nice here." he did a full 180 as he looked around the gym. "Place looks good, new paint and everything." Pete nodded a bit before pointing at the guy in the ring who was shadowboxing.

"You remember my son Leo?" Rocky nodded, watching Leo's footwork. "A Lot bigger since you last saw him." Rocky nodded again, not really paying attention, instead looking for Severus.

"Rocky, he's 17 and 0." Rocky nodded, sounded like the kid was good but Rocky still was looking for Severus while Pete kept talking. "Things are really opening up for us." Rocky watched as Pete called out to his son, telling him to come over before turning back to Rocky.

"Rocky, option's still open if you wanna get involved." it was clear Pete wanted Rocky to train his son, he was laying it all out in front of him. "Little training, little motivation."

Rocky gave him a half-hearted nod. "Let me think about it." just at that moment, Leo walked over and shook Rocky's hand. "It's nice to meet you, Champ." while they were shaking hands, Severus came out the back for getting some water and saw the two.

Severus didn't know Rocky was still here, nor did he know he was talking to another fighter. "Hey Unc!" The group turned to look at Severus who jogged up while Pete looked in between the two.

"Is he talking to you?" Rocky nodded as Severus came to stand at his side. "I thought you weren't commin' in." Rocky shrugged, now in an uncomfortable position.

"Yeah, well, Changed my mind." Pete looked at him like he was the scum of the earth before looking back at Rocky. "You know this kid?" Rocky nodded but Severus beat him to it by answering.

"yeah, we know each other." Pete didn't even nod, just grabbed Leo's arm and raged him back into the ring as Rocky dragged Severus over to the bags. "look, your father was special. And to tell you the truth, I don't really know if you're special. Only you gonna know that when the time is right."

Severus raised a single brow as Rocky continued talking. "And it ain't gonna come overnight, you're gonna get knocked down, you're gonna get up, and you're gonna see if you got the right thing. But you gotta work hard, and I swear if you're not gonna do it, I'm out."

Severus gave a quiet scoff and shook his head. "Rock, every punch I ever thrown has been on my own. Nobody showed me how to do this, I'm ready."

Rocky chuckled and slaped Severus on the arm while leading him out of the gym. "Come on, let's do this."

Over the Next Month

For the past month, Rocky had been working Severus like crazy.

First, it was trying to catch a chicken, which Severus failed at so many times. Then it was the jump rope, where Severus found out he could jump rope for shit, and Rocky lost a bit more hope in training him.

And then, Rocky was making him run up and down a freaking bridge, while he got to shout at him with a microphone (Severus tried to hide it multiple times but Rocky always found it). And to add more to Severus's load, Rocky introduced him to the Speed bag, which Severus pridefully named 'The Devil's Plaything'.

But through it all, Severus pushed through. He got better at jump rope, he caught a chicken (which he refused to let Rocky cook), and he finally beat the speed bag.

One morning, after finishing his run on the bridge, Severus collapsed on the steps of the gym, panting heavily. Rocky walked over, a rare smile on his face.

"Not bad, kid," Rocky said, tossing him a towel. "You're improving. Now, get inside and punch the heavy bag. "

Severus wiped the sweat off his face, looking up at Rocky with pleading eyes. "Why are you torturing me?"

Rocky gestured to the gym. "inside." Severus groaned as he pushed himself up and followed Rocky over to the heavy bag where they spent the next 30 minutes until Pete piped up from the ring.

"Hey, UK," Severus glanced up at Pete, curious where the nickname came from. "What you weigh right now?" Severus shrugged, not really paying Pete all that much attention. "I don't know, probably like 180."

Rocky glanced in between the two before piping up. "Why?" Pete glanced at his son before walking away from the ring and over to them, his eyes trained on Severus. "Get down to a buck 75 and we'll make something happen, if you're interested."

Severus didn't even take time to think it over before the words came tumbling out of his mouth. "Hell yeah, I'm interested." Rocky stood up from his stool and quickly stepped in.

"No, I do the talking, you do the fighting." He turned back to Pete, pointing at his son. "175? That's your boy's weight." Petes glanced at his son before turning back to Rocky.

"He could use a fight to keep warm." Rocky raised a brow at the term 'warm'. "I'm not gonna lie to you. People would come out to see you in the corner again, Champ."

Rocky shook his head. "Look, I'm still getting new to this kid, and, you know, he's getting better every day but he's still got work to do." Pete nodded and patted Rocky on the chest. "Think about it." and with that, he walked away.

Severus quickly walked up to Rocky. "I could lose five pounds. I could lose five pounds like that, it's nothing, it's easy." Rocky shook his head and pointed at the bag.

"Hit the bag."

After the Gym

Severus was not letting up when it came to convincing Rocky to let him fight but Rocky still kept turning him down. "This kids like a tough Philadelphia fighter. I ain't never even seen you battle before."

Severus shook his head, seeing him fight didn't matter. "Yeah but, I've been watching him, and I'm pretty sure he'd catch me fade." Rocky passed before turning to him. "What's a fade?"

Severus shook his head, trying to remember he was surrounded by old people and not muggle teens. "I could take him out." Rocky nodded as Severus tossed his arm around the older man's neck and put on an Italian accent.

"Let me make you an offer you can't refuse." Rocky chuckled but Severus was serious, dropping the accent and trying again. "I'm Serious, Man. Look, we take the match. I got two months to get in shape, Two months, I'll do whatever it takes." Rocky glanced at him as he went on.

"At the end of those two months, you don't think it's right, call it off." Rocky kept on walking, tossing his black ball as he went when Severus reached out and caught the ball mid-air.

"This is what I'm here for, all right?" Severus said, his eyes blazing with determination. "I'll go 24-7 with this shit."

Rocky chuckled at his determination, shaking his head. "In two months, you'll be back in school with no time to train. The answer is no."

Severus almost wanted to scream at the old man that he didn't go to muggle school, but Rocky suddenly stopped and turned to him, a glint of something knowing in his eyes.

"Unless you take after your mother instead."

Severus froze, whisper-shouting as he looked around wildly. "How the hell do you know my mum was a witch?"

Rocky smirked, leaning against the wall. "Tobias could never handle his alcohol. Get a couple of drinks in that man, and he would give you his credit card number without a second thought."

Severus stared at Rocky, a mix of disbelief and curiosity, before his eyes lit up. "So, you're saying I could still do the fight?"

Rocky paused, glancing at Severus with a serious expression. "You'll have to train hard as hell while you're up at that little school of yours. No slacking or overeating. You'll also be giving up whatever free time you have. You sure about this, kid?"

Severus nodded, determination gleaming in his eyes. "I'm great at multitasking. I can read and study while training. I've got this."

Rocky studied him for a moment before nodding. "Alright then. But remember, no shortcuts. You train hard here, and you train hard up at that school. I'll expect progress reports, you hear?"

Severus grinned. "Yes, sir. I won't let you down."

Rocky patted him on the back. "Good. Now, let's get back home. My show is coming on."