1Title: The Boxer

Chapter 1

Author: Azure K Mello

Verse: The first of two stories in the 90 days 'verse.

Spoilers/Timeline: Set in Year Seven but ignores all of book six. So it could be called AU/Future fic/ Pre-canon , I don't mind what you call it.

Summery/Warnings: Blackmail, shame, hatred, disgust, degradation, and true love.

Pairings: H/D non-con, there's a relationship between two characters later but that will develop.

February 1998

Beta by the awesome D. Gray. Any mistakes remaining are mine alone.

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"Do you understand the assignment?" asked Hermione, some things never change; Hermione would always worry about school even while eating. That was slightly comforting to Harry. She and Neville were discussing possible essay topics.

He realized while eating supper that he felt no more comfortable in the Great Hall at seventeen than he had when he was eleven. At one point he had thought of this place as home but there were so many faces missing and the warm, homey, close feeling had been replaced by silent desperation.

When he'd first arrived he had been so shocked to learn of what he now thought of as his ultra identity, Harry Potter teen-star war-icon. And the shock hadn't gone away, he still couldn't reconcile the image people had of him with the boy he was. But he had been so positive, at eleven, that Voldemort was either going to kill him within a fortnight or leave him for years. He thought that it was either too close to be averted or too far away to be worried about. That idea had been quickly dispelled. Now he just wanted to face the man, as soon as possible, so he was training hard to concentrate, hone, and control his powers.

Looking around he felt himself flush at the sight of all the empty spaces. And he remembered the last battle, if it could be called a battle. It was a slaughter. No one had been prepared for the Death Eaters to attack the Halloween dance during his sixth year. And Voldemort had stood outside the gates, apparently still afraid of stepping on Hogwarts' soil. He had watched with cold eyes and he had laughed. Harry had fought his way into the Entrance Hall but couldn't get out of the crowd to face him. By the time the attackers were through there were forty-eight dead students and seven bound Death Eaters.

Then he had stepped up his training, swallowed pride and asked Snape to help him. The man had asked why Harry had finally come to his senses. Feeling half numb Harry had replied, "People are dead, many people, it's time to step up, right?" he had waited for an answer but when none came he said, "time to grow up." Over a year later he was more prepared and much more tired.

Eyes were boring into his back and he was used to that stare. He wasn't in the mood to look at Malfoy. Shoveling his food into his mouth it was easy to ignore the sensation. He ran on automatic, not tasting the food, and remembered Hermione saying "You're no use half-starved." She had tried to laugh when she added, "I'm sure that he would be angry, he would say that as he can't eat it's your duty as his best friend to eat double portions on his behalf." He had forced a laugh too.

As pudding appeared on the table he reached for a custard tart, he'd never really liked them but he was thinking of Ron. Dumbledore, who'd been absent throughout the meal entered the room in a quick determined stride. The Hall, which was rarely boisterous these days, went silent as he said, "We must act quickly, students, follow Harry Potter to the second floor girl's toilet. Obey his orders completely. He is not responsible for any of you and if you do not follow his instructions you will find yourself in peril."

Standing, Harry went to the man and said with determination, "Is he coming?"

"No," said Dumbledore, "You'll best serve this fight by protecting the others. You have seven minutes. You might be down there for several days."

He nodded and glanced towards the High Table and winced at the sight of Snape's empty seat. A strong hand rested on his back and he smiled tightly at Neville as he and Hermione flanked Harry's sides. Once inside the toilet he glanced at the sink, hissing the order for it to sink and reveal the pipe entrance. Speaking to the students he said, "Just jump down. It won't hurt. Jump and move inwards."

Time was running short and he gave one reluctant third year a push. He heard Neville's surprised laugh and turned to see that his two friends were herding children into the hole and he said, "Go down, I've got this, please, get down there." Looking at their friend's pallor they didn't argue, just dropped down.

Harry heard Hermione's voice float up to him. It was calm and strong as she said, "Move in. Stop gawking, come into the main room. Don't touch anything." Harry smiled at the way she was protecting his stuff as so many of his personal possessions were in the Chamber. He heard her add, "Touching them could kill you, lots of dark magic in those." He nearly laughed at the strangeness of the situation: he was driving students into the Chamber of Secrets and Hermione was guarding his property.

As Malfoy passed him he said, "It sounds like a kafuffle out in the hallway." Harry gave him a very hard push even though Malfoy had been making to step into the entrance. He smirked as he heard the boy's sharp, shocked intake of breath.

The last of the students passed by him, the first years had gone first everyone had followed by age and at the back he saw Terry Boot flash him a smile and mouth the word, "Thanks." Harry sent him a questioning look and Terry shrugged as if he wasn't sure what he was grateful for, just that he was. Harry smiled and as the last person disappeared down the tunnel he stepped into the hole, but he hovered in the air, the way Snape had taught him for if his broomstick was broken during a duel in the air. He turned to the entrance and said, "Close, and don't let anyone in. Call me if someone tries to get in. Even if they speak Parseltongue don't let them in, even if you recognize them as an heir, call me."

The opening closed and Harry reached out to stroke a snake that was carved into the wall. It moved under his touch and hissed, "Oh, young master, we shall do as you ask."

"Well how many times do I have to ask you to call me Harry? Because you won't do that."

The snake hissed a laughed, "As many times as it takes."

Sighing, Harry allowed himself to float down to the floor and there he landed gently on the soft rug that bore the Black family crest. He'd found it rolled up in the basement of Grimmauld Place, and while Sirius had hated his family, Harry thought it was sort of pretty. The torches burned brightly and gave the place a warm atmosphere. After the Halloween fight he had been so desperate to find a place that wasn't soaked in happy memories of Ron Weasley. Hermione had been grieving alone and Harry had needed to get out of the tower when he saw Ginny the day after the dance. He'd entered the Chamber asking, "Who is the heir?"

And the carved snakes had replied, "You, young master."

"What about Voldemort?"

"Master Tom Riddle was the heir, Voldemort is not human enough to be the heir. Were he to come, he could not enter, we do not obey him."

Harry had smiled slightly and set to clear out the place. The ingrained magic of the place had helped clean it. Small mice had appeared and eaten all the snake skin and remains and the cobwebs had disappeared. He'd brought down a box of stuff and saw a fire burning in a hearth that hadn't previously been there. And he asked, "It's like the Room of Requirements?"

A snake near him said, "We thought you would be cold, young master. Master Riddle liked to think of this as his underground lair, you do not view it that way. You view it as a home."

The damp he'd thought of as part of the room's intrinsic makeup had vanished and been replaced by a gentle warmth. A gold and green couch appeared and the room was bathed in light.

Now as he walked into the Main Chamber there was a loud hiss of hellos from all the carved snakes. While Tom Riddle had been here he had viewed the room as a workshop and issued only orders to the snakes. But the snakes understood that this master wanted company and so spoke continually to him. They asked, "What do you need young master?"

Looking confused he said, "I don't know." He looked towards the pond he had created in the large room. It was a copy of an underground pool he'd seen in a film once. He said, "I don't want anyone to drown." He pointed his wand and a magical barrier sprung up, people could only go into it when he or a prefect was watching. He pointed towards the open mouth of the statue and he said, "Do not speak now, Slytherin, relax." The mouth shut and Harry warded it so that it would only open at his command. He also cast a charm that caused a white sheet to spew from the tip of his wand. It hung itself from the ceiling and blocked the view of the statue, he didn't want people gawking at his house. He cast the spell repeatedly, forming eight dorm rooms, sorting it by house and gender. The sheets were red, yellow, blue, and green with strands of pink and blue shot through them for gender distinction.

The training mats he'd been using for dueling practice with Snape folded themselves up and moved against the far wall. He glanced at Hermione and Neville who were smirking at his proficiency. "What am I missing?"

"Toilets, beds, underwear," suggested Hermione.

"Pudding?" asked Neville. At the look he received from Hermione he said, "I didn't finish my cake."

And Harry laughed before saying, "I think you're right." He got a look from Hermione too and said, "the first years are frightened, pudding would calm everyone down." Turning back to the snakes he said, "Would you make beds? We need two hundred and twenty-nine but I'm not sure about distribution between the rooms."

The snakes said, "Do not worry, we shall deal with that."

Nodding his thanks he snapped his wrist towards a spot on the wall and concentrated. Snape had taught him that you don't need spells if you knew what you wanted and when Harry had been shocked Snape amended, "Most of us need spells, you, and Albus, and the Dark Lord do not. All you need is concentration and creativity."

And so, without a spell, the toilets appeared, one boys and one girls. Figuring that now was as good a time as any he did his homework for Snape, to be creative. He concentrated hard and gave the rooms gold finishes, white tiling, and a snake motif. Inside the doorway of each he created a table covered in toothbrushes, toothpaste, hand towels, and soap. By the time he was done he was sweating slightly. And he called in English, "Dobby?"

The house elf appeared as Harry had long ago told the snakes he was welcome. Today he was wearing a tunic and four pairs of socks. "Harry Potter, Dobby is ever so pleased to see you. The Death Eaters are not here yet but many have come to help Master Albus!"

"Dobby, hi. Does Albus need you?"

"No, Harry Potter. Master Albus said Dobby was to help you in any way possible."

"Oh, good. Would you mind?"

"Dobby always is pleased to help Harry Potter!"

"Wonderful, well we need three days worth of everyone's underwear and night clothes and the Chamber won't let me pull things from outside." It was designed to make the heir's magic invisible to the world outside and while it was useful it was sometimes a hindrance.

Dobby snapped his fingers and Harry felt a slight breeze at the back of his neck. The underwear and pajamas would be at the end of each person's bed. "What else would Harry Potter like Dobby to do?" asked the house-elf excitedly.

"Well, we're going to need meals," he thought for a second and then conjured two large tables next to the dorms and another sheet to cordon it off from where they were standing. "And maybe, if it's not too much trouble?" The elf nodded quickly and exuberantly. "Could we have dessert now?" Dobby snapped his fingers again. Harry looked towards the masses of students and said, "You're safe here and the professors are safe upstairs, Dumbledore has allies who have arrived. No one will be killed, probably not even the Death Eaters. I need everyone to be helpful, I don't know how long we're going to be down here. Don't do anything stupid, don't be loud." He meant the last because he had a headache but taking a leaf from Hermione's book added, "The ceiling could collapse if we all shout. But normal talking is fine. Feel free to swim if you have a prefect or a seventh year with you. Right now I think we should go eat pudding." Some smiled as students swarmed toward the dining room. Harry smiled too.

Hermione said, "Dobby, would you like to sit with us and eat some dessert?"

The house-elf happily agreed and Harry smiled until he saw Malfoy watching him. "Go on ahead, I'll come join you in a bit."

The last of them left and Harry just looked at Malfoy and nodded for the boy to follow him. He walked to the sheet in front of Salazar. He pushed it aside and made eye contact with the statue and the mouth opened. "Please forgive me," he said in Parseltongue, "For I know to see your heir do this inside you must shame you deeply."

He lead Malfoy into the mouth and stopped, he didn't want the bastard to see Salazar's personal laboratory, his ornate bedroom with its bed dressed in a duvet from Sirius's house, the beautiful toilet. He turned to face Malfoy there in the hall and dropped silently to his knees and unbuttoned the blond's robes. He pushed aside the boy's underwear and swallowed him without preamble. Ignoring the words Malfoy was hissing Harry worked quickly to get the other boy off. Eyes shut, not wanting to watch his own actions Harry turned his mind off and hummed to bring Malfoy closer. The bitter come filled his mouth and he swallowed. Standing he left the blond to rearrange himself. "That was day ninety. Stop blackmailing me. You got your end of the deal, now give me mine, and get the hell out."

Malfoy looked at him and said, "I thought you'd crack for sure. You've held up very well. And you're right, you did your part. I'm a man of my word," Harry sneered at the words, "we're through. I'll do what you want."

"What I really want is for you to dig a shallow grave and curse yourself into it. Now leave."

Doing as Harry said the boy smirked and turned to leave. Harry stood and walked to the loo. The torches lit themselves as he brushed his teeth twice and washed his face. The snakes all around him hissed, "It's over, it's all over young master. He's gone." He nodded and thought back to the day it had started.

He'd been late to Potions and he'd not been concentrating as Snape had already taught him the useful brew in "Remedial Potions". They had realized Harry needed extra lessons in the subject because, to keep the cover, he had to get visibly better. He looked up, day dreaming a happy thought and made unthinking eye contact with Malfoy. He hadn't realized he'd dropped his shields until it was too late. He'd seen the flash of recognition in the other boy's face. And Malfoy had cornered him after class and made his demand, he would keep Potter's deep, disgusting secret for three months of his time. He'd agreed, thinking it was better than being found out.

Looking at his wet face in the mirror he shook his head. Drying his skin on a towel he left the rooms and went back to the others at the tables. He ate a raspberry tart and said, "I'm going swimming. Anyone want to join me?" He transfigured his robes with a swish of his wand into a pair of red and gold Speedos. He saw the looks he got and said, "It's a school day, I figured this is as close to uniform as I'm going to get."

Someone muttered something about basilisk remains and could snakes breathe underwater. Before Harry could reply he saw Ginny stand and walk to the pond saying, "It's clear to the bottom." She waved her wand and was wearing a one piece cossy that matched Harry's. And after diving in resurfacing she said, "It's nice and cool. How deep is it?"

It was so rare for them to speak these days that Harry felt his mouth go dry before saying, "About sixty feet." And he cast a spell that actually made it impossible for people to drown. He jumped in, making a splash. Ginny laughed and gave him a small smile. Turning he saw Hermione watching them with a nervous expression and said, "Get in quick or your boyfriend will push you."

She spun around and saw Neville standing close and looking up at the ceiling whistling. She hit his arm and transfigured his clothes before giving him a vicious push he laughed as he fell and reached out to drag her with him. Spluttering as she came up, she wasn't laughing, still dressed in robes. Harry shot a spell at her, instantly changing her clothes into a swimsuit, she then dunked Neville and swam quickly out of reach. Even while swimming he carried his wand, armed with a water resistant charm. More and more people jumped into the pool. He smiled and Hermione said, "Harry, it's late. The first years-"

"Will go to bed when they're tired. Even if the fight finishes, we're not having class tomorrow. Enjoy this, Hermione, it's noses to the grindstone once we're out of here."

After about an hour of horsing about in the pond they were all exhausted. People climbed out and dried off with spells. Harry climbed out as Hermione said, "Is the mouth open? We are sleeping together, right?"

She always acted as though the sleeping arrangement were for everyone's benefit. But Harry was pretty sure that she might like her boyfriend to herself for once. Usually she slept in the seventh year girl's dorm while Harry and Neville shared a bed in their own dorm. It was so empty after Halloween, Seamus, Dean, and Ron were gone and nights were frighteningly quiet without the snores and murmurs. Neville had broken the silence three days after the massacre. His voice had come through the dark asking, "Are you as freaked out as me?"

"More," he'd replied.

Suddenly Neville was in his bed saying, "Sorry, it's just. . . I started to think I was alone in here. Is this okay?"

"It's fine. I need this." And they'd stayed up talking about their friends. And the sleeping arrangements had never gone back to the old way.

They walked back through Salazar's re-opened mouth and found their clothes waiting on the big bed. Hermione went behind an elaborate screen to change and smiled at Harry's feeble attempt at a leer, he was tired. Once his girlfriend was out of earshot Neville shimmied into pajama pants and said, "It's over, right?" He knew about the blackmail in the vaguest details and said, "Ninety days, right?"

"It's over," he confirmed.

"Are you okay?" Neville asked.

As Hermione came out she heard and Harry said, "Yeah, I mean, I only stubbed it. It's fine."

Lying down Neville wrapped a leg around Harry's waist the way he always did and Harry caught Hermione's "they're so sweet" smile and stuck his tongue out. She fell into bed and snuggled into the blankets. "Weird day," she murmured, "I hope everyone's alright."

"Without the students they'll all focus well, and from what Dobby said, the whole Order is here. Voldemort isn't expecting us to be expecting his lackeys. They'll be fine." The sconces went out and they drifted off to sleep.

He opened his eyes moments later to see that the torches were lit. He sniffed and untangled himself from Neville. He could hear Hermione in the shower, she was singing. He walked out through the mouth, leaving it open for the others. The dining tables were already covered in food and students. Without an appetite he poured himself some tea and sat silently. He'd had nightmares all night and felt ghost touches.

A smooth voice behind him said, "Buck up, it's day ninety-one." Harry stood, turned, and punched Malfoy's satisfied face in one fluid motion. He saw the boy crumple and saw that everyone was watching him. Neville had just come in and was smiling slightly. Harry's appetite came back with a vengeance.