Chasing the lion's tail

the life of Denebola Lucretia Black

A response to dancingwithrainbows "100 prompts, 100 drabbles, 100 words or less" challenge.

This story has not been beta read and since english is not my first language I apologize for any mistakes I have made in advance.

1. Beauty

Orion Black is sure that there is no lovelier baby than his little daughter Denebola who inherited all of the Black families positive traits. Startling gray eyes, luscious black hair falling in soft ringlets and an elegance that no one would ever be able to copy. But as she is running down the stairs laughing, her mother screeching somewhere behind her, Orion cannot help but wonder if it is not the light of mischief dancing in her eyes, so unlike her cousins and her brother, that makes her truly beautiful.

2. Love

Denebola loves her parents, her brother, her aunts and uncles and her cousins, of that she is sure, but she hates the way their faces would twist in disgust whenever they talk about muggles and mudbloods. And she cannot help but wonder why whenever she looks out of the window and sees a muggle family walking by, smiling at each other lovingly.

3. Dream

The night before she leaves to Hogwarts Denebola has the most wonderful dream. She dreams of riding a lion and chasing a rat together with a wolf and a stag. It makes no sense to her, but when the lions turns to her and looks deep into her eyes, just before she wakes up, she feels like he challenged her and she knows that she would not back down.

4. Haunted

Denebola's first and final letter home to her mother is crumbled into a ball and thrown across the room while the woman stalks away furiously. It takes Orion Black quite some time to unfold it so he can read it himself. On word stands out between all others. Gryffindor. And for a moment he has to smile, a smile touched with irony. Maybe he should have expected it, he did name her Denebola – the lions tail – after all and names always had a power in themselves.

5. Memory

The moment that Denebola steps onto the Hogwarts express, a plan firmly etched into her young mind, she has no idea that the smiling face of her mother and the fond chuckle of her father will never be more than a memory ever again.

6. Fragile

She only realizes that she is crying, when James takes her arm and he and Remus usher her out of the great hall. Never had she thought that her mother's reaction to her sorting would be this bad. Tears are running down her cheeks and her ears are still ringing from the volume of her mothers' howler. Her cousins do not meet her eyes when she looks to them and Denebola feels like her world is crumbling around her.

7. Celebration

The prospect of going back home to her family frightens her more than anything and it is only due to the steady presence of her friends around her, that she makes it through the leaving feast and into the train. Still, for a moments she hates herself for choosing Gryffindor and destroying her picture perfect world.

8. Secret

She does not know what to think when they figure out that Remus Lupin is a werewolf. Many things here parents believe have proven to be wrong, but she is quite sure that Werewolves are indeed dangerous. She knows Remus though and he is kind and a little shy and not a monster. So when he looks at one of them after another, unsure how they would treat him now that they knew, Denebola smiles.

9. Promise

It is when they visit Remus in the hospital wing on the day after the last full moon that they realize just how terrible his curse really is. He looks smaller than usual and has scratches all over his arms and his face and looks so very tired that they just say a short hello before leaving again. But when they step out of the hospital wing, James looks at her and peter and they nod and promise to find a way to help their friend.

10. Innocence

The friendship between the Marauders, as the call themselves after Professor McGonagall shouts after them after a particularly devastating and wide reaching prank, is a special one. Years later Denebola would look back upon those days and consider them the happiest days of her life.

11. Moonlight

It is valentines day when the line between Denebola and the other girls in her year is clearly drawn. They are sitting in the common room and Hestia is telling Lily how romantic it would be to take a walk under the full moon. Denebola sees Remus pale and she tells them to shut up and don't bother them with their stupid fantasies. It takes a long time for the girls to forgive her, but the relief on Remus face and the smirks from James and peter make her feel justified.

12. Whisper

Their pranks are famous among the students, but while everybody knows that they are the ones playing the pranks they hardly ever get caught. They are the marauders, they are famous, but not a legend, not yet.

13. Echo

Years later Denebola would overhear the twins talking about the marauders as if they were heroes, and she would laugh and raise her glass in a silent toast. It might have started with a whisper but the echo was terrific.

14. Jealousy

The first time Denebola is jealous, truly jealous of her friends is when they start talking about the plans they have made with their families for Christmas. She doesn't say anything and just listens to their laughter, but she clenches her fists so tight that her fingernails dig into her skin and draw blood.

15. Passion

When Denebola first realizes just how much James Potter loves Quidditch she has to laugh. She likes the sport, but he is almost ecstatic and a little mad about it, so she is not sure what to feel when he drags her to the tryouts and they make it on the team. At the end of the year, when she holds the house cup in her hands she thinks that maybe, she can understand his love for the sport, if only a little.

16. Lies

She tells her friends that she does not mind them going home over the holidays, she will find something to pass her time with. But warns them to be prepared for there booby- trapped dormitory when they come back. The tree boys laugh but look slightly worried none the less.

17. Regrets

James had gotten an owl on the morning before they would leave and has been wearing a big smile on his face ever since. Classes are over for today and she sits on Peters bed and watches them trow their stuff into their trunks. She wants to shout at them and tell them to stop immediately and owl their parents, but she won't and she is sure this Christmas will be the worst Christmas ever.

18. Trust

They have just finished packing when James turns around and looks at her questioningly asking her what she is still doing here. She is hurt by his question but flabbergast when he tells her that she has to pack her stuff too, since his parents are expecting her to join them for the holidays. When she asks him why she smiles at her and tells her that he likes his dormitory the way it is, but his eyes tell a different story. James, Denebola decides then, will always be her favorite.

19. Revenge

It is like a game, they prank them and get hexed in return. Once in a while somebody goes a little too far and they would have to go into the hospital wing. So when Snape uses a curse, that is borderline dark and lends James in the hospital wing for more then a week, he himself is to fault for taking James bed for a week himself after James was released.

20. Beach

Denebola had never visited the beach with her family, but she cannot help but wonder what it is like to feel the waves against her legs when walking on the beach. Two days later James and Peter drag her outside, the sun is shining and it is shortly before the start of the holidays. When Denebola steps out of the castle she freezes on the spot and stares at the Black Lake, more importantly the part that looks like a sandy Caribbean beach.