A/N: So here's the part I've waited to write for, like, a thousand years... ^^

25. Fire, blazing and blinding fire.

I remember that day perfectly. That day, I had ceased to be Vala Emerald. I had plainly and painfully become Vala Lupin. Forever and ever.

As soon as I had told Pr Dumbledore I wanted the cure, he had driven me to the Hospital Wing, thinking that I would feel better at school than at St Mungo's.

When he turned the doorknob, I was welcomed by a bunch of people I'd know anywhere.

The Doctor Almish was the first to greet me, with her warm smile and sad eyes. She put her hands on my shoulders and kissed my forehead, whispering something that looked awfully like "I'm proud of you".

Helen's and John's arms were the next to envelope me. They couldn't talk, and more than once I had to wipe a tear on their cheeks. I kissed them both and told them how much I was proud to be their daughter, even if we didn't share the same blood.

Remus was waiting next to the bed I used to sleep in whenever I was visiting the wing. He didn't say a thing, he just took my hand in his when I climbed into the white sheets, and crushed my fingers to dust, glazing into my eyes with his radiant amber orbs.

James and Lily were there as well, of course. Lily just kissed my cheek, when James allowed himself to hug me so tightly I couldn't breathe.

In fact, there was only one person missing.

"James, wher-"

He apologized in a glance. "I'm so sorry, Vals. There was nothing I could say that would have made him come. I'm so sorry."

My heart made a crunching sound as I realised Sirius didn't want to come. I was about to die, one way or the other, and he wasn't there to say goodbye.

Remus wiped my tears away. "Vala, I-"

I shushed him with my hand. "Dr Almish, can we start, please?"

My doctor nodded and walked towards Mme Pomfrey. Pompom gave me a painless potion that she hoped would work, and then I suddenly saw a huge needle resting in her hand.

She kissed my forehead too, and then pushed the needle to my arm. The pain wasn't that bad, when you were prepared.

Before I blacked out, I heard a door open, and the last thing I saw was a pair of grey eyes, running towards me.

o°o°o°o°o

The pain was everywhere. Everywhere. It was so excruciating that it was a miracle that I was still alive. Or so I thought I was alive. As far as I was concerned, I could possibly be as dead as a fried fish.

A fried fish, that's exactly what I felt like. A burning fire, starting in my arm, where the needle had entered my flesh, and spreading in every direction. Not a single inch of me wasn't burning. And I felt as if I wasn't breathing too, as if my whole body was dying slowly and painfully.

There was something more too. A howl, a suffering creature inside of me, screaming in pain, and the horrible feeling of having a part of me ripped away from my soul.

And, as my soul and body were both ripped apart by a different force – razor sharp and fire, I started losing sight of reality, and it was as if Darren had cursed the Legilimency over me again.

My first memories. I was four. I was running around the living-room at Joshua's. My dark red hair, all curled as a puppet's, were bouncing on my shoulders as I heard the high-pitch noise of my laugh. I saw Minny, as she was racing me to prevent me from breaking anything.

Later. I was eight. Joshua was watching me carefully as I was making a book levitate round the library. My hair, that I had cut out of rage, were spiking in every direction. I was wearing a short black dress, and was barefooted, as always. The book levitated to its place on the bookshelf, and I looked at my father with fierce eyes, betting him to do the same. And I rushed out of the room.

My first day of school. I was wearing my school robes for the first time. Minny had washed them thrice the previous day, to be absolutely sure I'd be perfect for my first day. The look on the other girls' faces as we climbed into the boats. My first glimpse of Remus' sandy-brown hair. The feeling that unnerved my body as he looked at me and smiled shyly. My name being shouted my Pr McGonagall. The Sorting Hat, yelling "Gryffindor" in the Great Hall, the joy and pride I felt as I sat down with the other first years. The twinge in my throat when I remembered my father wanted me in Ravenclaw.

The first day of classes, in Sorts. I mastered Wingardium Leviosa in one try. Pr Flitwick's face when I asked him if I could get out early, as I already knew it. The points he gave me. The pride I felt.

My first Christmas out of home. My first presents. The bracelet my grandmother sent me. The new wand-caring kit Dad had offered me.

That day. I was walking in the Cadogan area of the school, when I had heard Remus crying. I had tried to comfort him, but all I could do was making him angrier by the second. The moment when I fell on the ground, lifting my arm above my head so it would protect me from anything Remus would try to do to me. His teeth, showing between his lips. Him tripping and planting his sharp teeth in my arm flesh. The pain, the burning.

The following day, when I woke up in the Hospital Wing. Mme Pomfrey explaining to me. The chock on Joshua's face. The chock I felt too. The pride to be someone special.

My first outburst. My surprise when my nails grew so quick I never saw it happen. My eyes growing dark. And my mind, losing sight. I woke up in the wing again, covered in bandages. I had scratched myself to bleed.

My first discussion with Remus. My sudden need to see him more and more often. My sudden need to take him in my arms.

Our kiss. I had asked him to try it, because I was curious about it. His lips on mine. The feelings of awkwardness and kissing-your-brother type.

My first glimpse of Sirius. The hard crunching of my heart, and my temper that immediately went up.

The days I spent, hiding in the corner of the Commons, eyeing him warily and still eagerly.

The day I decided to loathe him forever.

The day I realised I was in love with him. In front of Dr Almish. The feeling of loss and lost time.

The thoughts tracked away as the burning became even more unbearable. The sharpening on my heart made my body lift itself on the sheets, even though I couldn't feel it under me. I fell back, and the soft pain I felt in my back wasn't anything like the one that was now tracing tongues of fire on my entire skin.

My hair felt on fire, as if every inch of it was smoking. My eyes were red, I couldn't lift my eyelids as the fire was dancing before my hurting irises. I couldn't feel my hands, as if they were already burnt to ashes. My legs and feet were sour, as if they were about to fade into darkness.

Then I realised. The pain was wearing over.

First it came off my feet, then legs, then it lingered on my stomach, and it stopped on my chest. My hands were free already, as were my arms, safe for my scar, that was still blazing hot, and the pain, there too, stopped on my chest. My head, too, was soon emptied of fire, but I still couldn't open my eyes, as my hands suddenly clenched the sheets beside me in an attempt to stop the pain.

My heart starting pacing slower, and I felt I was breathing again. But it was still on fire, and my scar was becoming harder and harder not to rip apart.

And then, the pain just disappeared on my chest. Just like that. As if someone had blown the candle out.

I felt my breath become heavier, as if I was under stress, and I focused to keep it quiet. And then it struck me. Usually, I would have been able to hear anything around me within a ten yards radius. Then, nothing. I just could hear nothing. And then, a soft noise. Someone, moving close to me and crunching the bed frame under his or her grasp. A soft breathing, too.

And then a yell. "Mme Pomfrey! She is breathing!"

Remus' voice. I'd know it anywhere.

I longed to open my eyes, to lock it on his scarred and cute face, to wrap my arms around him and to tell him I'd done it, I wasn't half a monster anymore. I had survived the process.

But then, my arm began hurting even more, and if someone was cutting into my flesh and bone, to remove my limb from me while I was conscious. I tried to yell, but no sound escaped my mouth.

And then, it was it. The half of my soul that contained my inner wolf just snapped out of me, by my arm.

And it was over.

I snapped my eyes open.

…...

So, what do you think? :)

Before you ask, yes, I have read Breaking Dawn, and as much as I genuinely hate Twilight, I quite liked that part of the book. So, basically, Vala's turning to human is inspired by Bella's turning to vampire...

Review please!