Christmas At St Clare’s Magical School For Girls by VexenFox
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Christmas At St Clare’s Magical School For Girls - Part 1
Author - VexenFox
“I don’t think we should be playing with that.” said Olivia. As a prefect, she always thought it was her duty to be responsible. Unfortunately, this took the form of telling us not to do anything fun. It’s a shame, because she was really quite kind otherwise.
“Shove it, Olivia!” laughed Ava, playfully. She snatched the package from Evelyn’s hands. “I want to see what it does!”
It was Christmas evening at St Clare’s School For Girls, and Evelyn had just received a parcel from her great Aunt. It had arrived quietly in the evening, separate from all the other presents, and had come with a short note, written in a flowing old-lady script.
“My dear Evelyn, this flute has been in my care for nearly a century. I’ve heard of your troubles this past year, so I loan it to you with the hope you use it wisely. Point the end of the flute at a bully and play a note to change their tune. Do not get carried away with it, girl. ~~ Mildrid”
So it was we were now we huddled in the common room, wondering what it actually did.
“We must be very careful.” warned Evelyn, “My great aunt is perhaps the most unusual woman in our family.”
Ava chucked at that. She thought that Evelyn was the most unusual woman in her family.
“We should hand it in to Professor Tumut”, said Olivia. “She’ll be able to tell us if it’s dangerous.”
“And she’d never give it back!” complained Ava, “Let’s just try playing it first, quickly, see what it does.”
“Who should we point it at?” I asked. “I don’t want to risk something bad happening to me.”
“Try it on me then!” said Ava, opening the box and handing the flute to me. “Don’t be a wuss, Sophie!”
I hesitantly took the cold brass instrument. “Um, I don’t know. Maybe Evelyn should be the first one to use it?”
I glanced at her, but she shook her head. She was as worried as I was.
“What about Charlotte?”
I looked at the ditsy girl sitting to my left.
“Me?” said Charlotte “But I don’t know how to play the flute.”
“I don’t think you need to know how.” I said “I think you can just blow across it?”
“Oh, okay.” said Charlotte, unfazed. She was pretty used to us telling her answers. Barely passing her classes, she was quite different to the rest of us. I mean, Ava failed plenty too, but that was just because she didn’t try.
Charlotte took the flute and raised it to her lips.
“Point it at Ava first!” I said nervously. Whatever this thing was going to do, I didn’t want it doing it to me.
“Oh, right, okay.”
She turned a bit, pointing the end at Ava, who grinned.
“Fire away!” laughed Ava and threw her hands in the air.
Charlotte blew and a soft, airy note sounded… then she slumped forward, unconscious.
“Oh no!” shrieked Olivia “What do we do!? She’s hurt!”
Evelyn, however, reached out and gently brushed Charlotte’s lips. “She’s still breathing.” she said. “I wonder what happened? Did you feel anything, Ava?”
We turned to look at Ava, and found her mouth wide with shock. She was looking at her hands like she’d never seen them before, wiggling them in front of her eyes. I tapped her on the shoulder.
“Oh! Hi!” she said, her voice strangely bright. “Um, this is weird!”
“What happened?” Olivia whispered.
“Well, um, when I blew into the pipe, I guess it put me into Ava’s body?” said Ava, scrunching up her face. She reached down and squeezed her breasts. “It feels really weird.”
“Oh, you’re Charlotte?” said Evelyn, as if this was as normal as a stroll down to the kitchens. “Do you know what happened to Ava?”
Charlotte shook Ava’s head. “Noooo, I can’t feel her or anything.” then she giggled and patted herself down “Or can I?”
“Ha ha”, I said, “Can you get back to your own body?”
Charlotte scrunched up Ava’s face again as if straining. “Oh no! Does that mean I’m stuck?” she suddenly looked very worried. “I don’t think I want to be Ava! She’s too short!”
Olivia picked up the flute and pushed it into Charlotte’s new hands. “Try blowing it again. Point it back into your body.”
Charlotte did so, and a moment later her body sat up again, giggling.
“Ooooh, that was fun!”.
Ava, meanwhile, just blinked. “What happened!? Did it knock me out?”
“Charlotte took over your body.” I said, “I think this is a kind of possession flute.”
“Oh my god!” said Ava, grinning. She felt herself up. “What did she do? I can’t remember a thing!”
“She was only in you for a minute.” said Olivia, biting her lip and squeezing her legs together. “And now that we know what this does, we should definitely hand it in to Professor Tumut.”
“Are you kidding?!” shouted Ava “I’ve got to try it! Who’s turn is it to be possessed next?”
She looked at each of us, her ratty face beaming with excitement.
“Come on guys! It’s easy! You just wake up a minute later, no harm done!”
I shivered. What would Ava do inside my body? She didn’t have much of a filter in her own – she’d probably make me run around the common room singing or something.
“I’ll give it a go.” said Evelyn “But I do want a turn after. I think whoever gets possessed should be allowed to choose who they possess next.”
Ava looked around at us, pleading. “What do you say, girls?”
Olivia bit her lip. I could tell she was curious… and since there hadn’t been any harm…
“Very well” said Olivia “As long as Ava uses her turn on Evelyn.”
I shivered slightly, wondering what it would be like inside Olivia’s body. I’d get a turn in either her or Charlotte, right? That could be really fun.
“I’m in too.” I said, swallowing nervously.
“I’ve already had a turn!” chirped Charlotte.
Ava grinned again and wasted no time pointing the flute at Evelyn.
“Please don’t do anything weird!” said Evelyn.
Ava blew an ugly note and her body slumped forward. A second later, her trademark grin grew on Evelyn’s innocent face.
“Wow!” said Evelyn’s voice. Ava’s sharp way of speaking sounded very odd coming from Evelyn’s floaty and soft register. It was like she was a whole other person.
Evelyn’s body suddenly stood up.
“Wow!” she said again. “I’m so tall!”
Ava made Evelyn jump up and down, laughing as Evelyn’s bust wobbled in a way Ava’s never could.
“This is amazing!”
“Take it easy, Ava.” said Olivia, “That’s still Evelyn’s body.”
Ava stepped over to her own sleeping body and dug through the pockets of her robes.
“I can’t feel my old body at all!” she said. She grabbed one of her own small boobs in Evelyn’s hand and laughed. “Haha, look everyone, Evelyn’s feeling me up!”
Olivia’s eyes went wide and she glanced around the common room to see if anyone was watching. Luckily it was pretty deserted because of Christmas.
“Stop it!” hissed Olivia, “That’s…”
“What?” said Ava, Evelyn’s voice sounding smug. “It’s my own body! Who says I can’t touch it!”
A naughty look flashed across Evelyn’s innocent face, then Ava bent down and kissed herself on the lips. I felt a strange sensation grow between my legs.
“Ava!”
“Kidding! Kidding!” she said, “I actually only wanted my mirror.”
She pulled out a small pocket mirror and let her old body flop back onto the couch. Looking at her reflection, Ava tried moving Evelyn’s face into all sorts of expressions. Usually Evelyn was very gentle and quiet, she never made faces, but now…
“Oh man! She looks so funny when she frowns!”
Ava turned and made an exaggerated frowning face at me and Olivia.
“Hey, I didn’t get to do any of that stuff when I was you!” said Charlotte. “I want another turn!”
“After me!” I said.
“I think that’s enough Ava.” declared Olivia “Evelyn shouldn’t miss more than a minute or two.”
Ava pouted and stuck Evelyn’s finger up at Olivia, but went back to her seat. I chuckled – it was really weird seeing Evelyn act like this.
I watched closely this time, wanting to see what happened to Evelyn’s body as she came back to awareness. Ava took the flute and aimed it at her own body, then she stuck her finger up at Olivia again and blew.
It was instant, one moment Evelyn’s face was frowning, then it relaxed and glanced around. Evelyn blushed to find the gesture she was making at Olivia and quickly dropped her hand back into her lap.
“Wow.” she said quietly. “That really was instant.” Then she smiled. satisfied.
“Did you have fun, Ava? I’m glad you got to see what it was like to have my body.”
“She had a lot of fun!” laughed Charlotte.
Ava meanwhile was pushing herself back up, rubbing her shoulder. “I shouldn’t have let myself fall like that.” she said “I think I must have clipped the armrest or something. Owww.”
I laughed at her.
“Serves you right.”
She stuck her tongue out at me.
“So is it my turn now?” Evelyn asked, the dreamy girl surprisingly focused. She was keen.
Olivia sighed and nodded. I wonder who Evelyn would choose – Charlotte may be kind of dumb, but her body was like a exaggerated version of Evelyn – a bit taller, blonder, and bustier. On the other hand, Olivia’s more stern and solid figure might appeal to Evelyn. I smiled at the idea of the responsible and focused girl being controlled by somebody so airy and dream-like.
Evelyn picked up the flute and smiled at me.
“Are you ready, Sophie?”
What?
She raised the flute to her lips and blushed. “It is okay if I have a turn as you?”
I shut my open mouth and steadied myself. That’s okay, I thought, just means I get to definitely pick Olivia.
I nodded at Evelyn and watched her blow a note.
A second later I awoke to find myself cuddling with Ava on the other couch. It was like no time had passed at all – just suddenly my body was in a different position. Evelyn had kicked by slippers off and loosened my tie, I noticed, and my right hand was on Ava’s–
I yelped and jerked my hand back. I stared accusingly at Evelyn – I hadn’t expected anything like that from her.
“I made her do it.” said Ava, grinning. “And you think I got touchy when I was inside her.”
I gasped.
“It was nothing like that.” said Olivia, quickly. “They just played a prank at the end.”
Charlotte giggled. “And she flashed your boobs in the middle.”
“Evelyn!” I said, shocked.
Evelyn shrunk down her seat a bit. “I knew you wouldn’t mind, really. We’ve compared our boobs before. Besides, it was like it was my body.” She smiled shyly at me. Grrr.
I huffed a little and redid my tie. I didn’t really mind, but it still felt a bit… odd? I imagined my body standing up and flashing Olivia without me there. I tried to get it through my head. That had just happened – I had stood up and flashed everybody. But I also had been asleep… I glanced down at my body. Nothing had changed about it, yet for a minute or two it hadn’t been mine at all.
I looked up at the others and raised the flute. Conveniently, it was already in my hand from when Evelyn had blown back into herself.
“Fine then.” I said. “You’re turn, Olivia.”
Olivia went red and shuffled in her seat. She squeezed her legs together again and shut her eyes tight.
“Very well.” she said, biting her lip. “Have fun…”
I pointed the flute at Olivia and blew. A kind of tearing sensation came over me, like my very soul was being ripped out of my body. Then…
Foonk!
I landed in Olivia’s body. It didn’t feel like I’d moved anywhere, but my whole perspective had suddenly shifted.
“Holy hell…” I whispered, hearing Olivia’s innocent voice coming out of my lips. Strangely, I felt a little bit horny. Had she–?
“Soooooooo, what’s it like?” said Ava, grinning mischievously.
“It’s-”
I caught up again. It felt really weird to talk out of somebody else’s mouth.
“It’s nice?”
I patted myself down, feeling Olivia’s body through her thick jumper. I was really surprised to find how much bigger I was in the chest.
“Well, hurry up!” said Ava, “Show us the goods!”
Charlotte chuckled, and Evelyn blushed. “It’s only fair”, she said.
“Fair would be if I made you flash everybody!”
I straightened up and put on my best Olivia impression, exaggerating her prim way of speaking to a comical level.
“This body must remain prim and proper at all times, otherwise I will tell the teacher that you aaall deserve a detention.”
Ava guffawed. I continued.
“I will serve the detention too, of course, to make sure none of you are having fun.”
I pointed a mockingly stern finger at Ava, who was in stitches laughing on the cough. I made Olivia wiggle it back and forth in an exaggerated way.
“Do you find this funny?!” I chided her. “You just WAIT until the headmaster hears of this!”
“Olivia?” an innocent voice said.
I froze. Ava’s laughter cut off instantly.
I looked up to see one of the other girl’s making her way down from the bedding area. “Is everything okay? I heard you shouting.”
“Everything’s-fine-you-can-go-back-to-bed-now” I let out in a rush, Olivia’s voice strangely high pitched. “I was just playing a game!”
The girl frowned at me, confused. I couldn’t remember her name, but I think she was a friend of Olivia’s.
“Oh… okay then.” she frowned again. “Please don’t make too much noise. I wouldn’t have thought I’d have to ask you that, Olivia.”
“Right, no, thanks, sorry!” I said in a rush. Ahh, this was not a good Olivia impression. Thankfully, the girl shuffled back off to bed.
“It was weird seeing Olivia get flustered like that.” said Everlyn, thoughtfully. “Normally she’s so in control, but you’re-”
“Yeah thanks”, I cut her off. “That was close.”
“That was brilliant!” said Ava, “She had no idea that you’re not Olivia!”
“Well, obviously.” I said, “Nobody knows about the flute.”
“This is amazing. I think we should make this a game.” Ava continued, ignoring me. “I bet you two hobnobs that you could get through all of potions tomorrow without anybody realising.”
“I can’t stay in Olivia all that time!”
“Actually, maybe you should get out of her now, it’s been a few minutes.” said Evelyn.
I fixed Ava with one of Olivia’s piercing glares – only half joking – and then blew myself back into my sleeping body. It felt a little uncomfortable from lying on its face all that time.
Olivia woke up instantly and glanced around, confused. She felt herself up and frowned. “I feel completely normal.” she said, almost sounding… disappointed?
“Ava wanted me to stay in you till tomorrow.” I said accusingly. Olivia fixed Ava with the exact same glare I’d made her give a second ago.
“Noooooooo.” said Ava, “I bet that Sophie could pretend to be you all through potions without anybody noticing. It’s different.”
Olivia didn’t miss a beat. “Well I can’t miss potions, so that’s out.”
Charlotte suddenly chimed up, out of the blue. “I bet I could do the splits in Everlyn’s body.” she said.
We all turned to look at her. Where had that come from?
“See, it’s a game!” said Ava. “Somebody makes a bet. If they win, they get to take over the loser’s body for a bit. If they lose, the loser gets to take over their body.”
“And my body is just used to decide the bet?” said Evelyn.
“Yes! Well, whoever’s body is needed for a particular bet, I mean.”
“I don’t like this.” said Olivia, predictably. Then she blushed. “And I don’t think you could do the splits in Evelyn’s body, Charlotte.”
“Wait, are you taking the bet?” I asked, surprised. “You know that means Charlotte gets to control you for a bit if she wins?”
“I know.” siad Olivia, quietly.
“Okay then!” said Ava, grinning. She threw the flute over to Charlotte. “Go for it, girl!”
Charlotte smiled confidently and pointed the flute at Evelyn, who shrugged. She seemed really unfazed by this whole ‘body possession’ thing.
A moment later and Everlyn’s body was doing practice stretches, while Charlotte’s body lay collapsed onto its side.
“Ugh!” Evelyn’s (usually soft) voice grunted “What the hell, I can barely move my arms!”
I watched as Charlotte tried to contort Evelyn’s body into a pretzel, something that had apparently been easy for her in her own body.
“On to the splits.” said Olivia smugly.
Charlotte stood Evelyn’s little body up, hands high in the air. She actually looked more graceful - and solid - than I’d ever seen Evelyn look.
It wasn’t enough though, Charlotte tried to bend down, forcing Evelyn’s chest forward as she crab walked the legs out sideways, but she barely made it halfway into a split before getting stuck.
“COME ON!” shouted Evelyn’s voice. Charlotte tried to force her legs wider, pulsing dangerously as she thrust towards the ground. “ARRRGH.”
Ava kicked her and Charlotte sprawled back onto the floor, Evelyn’s body flopping unceremoniously.
“Not fair!” she grumbled, punching herself in the thigh.
“Back in your body now!” said Olivia, holding out the flute. Charlotte begrudgingly took it and blew at her own sleeping form. The instant she did, Evelyn’s face crinkled with pain.
“Owww, what did you put my body through?”
Evelyn looked down at herself, gingerly rubbing the spot on her thigh where Charlotte had punched her.
Punched her with that same hand, I thought.
Charlotte just scowled as Olivia reached over and plucked the flute out of Evelyn’s hand and took her over. Olivia’s body collapsed and Charlotte grinned.
“It was my turn anyway.” she said, Olivia’s prim way of speaking echoing weirdly with Charlotte’s voice. I noticed Olivia paused several times in the process of feeling herself up, spending an inordinate amount of time rubbing Charlotte’s legs.
“Hey, I bet I could do the splits now!” said Olivia. She sprung up in Charlotte’s body, energetically. “Wow, she’s so fit!”
Olivia easily slid Charlotte’s legs out on the floor to either side. She grinned as she wiggled her toes. She also seemed to be grating Charlotte’s hips slightly on the floor, though I must have been imagining it.
“This is so easy! No wonder Charlotte thought she could do it as Evelyn!”
“Yeah, yeah.” said Ava. “Next bet. I bet nobody would be able to tell I’m not Sophie”
Me?
“Hey wait what?” I said.
“You heard me.” said Ava, “Nobody will be able to tell that I’m not you. I’m great at impressions, watch.”Ava screwed up her face and made her voice comically flat.
“Yeah guys I dunno.” she said in a mocking imitation of me. “Yeah that’s pretty good guys. I don’t know.”
“You already said that one.” said Evelyn.
“That’s because she doesn’t say anything else!” Ava said, gesturing at me.
“Rude!” I said, only half pretending to be annoyed. “Anyway you don’t get to possess me because nobody will take the bet and risk getting possessed by you!”
Ava frowned. “Why wouldn’t anybody want to be possessed by me?”
“Because you’ll make them do something crazy!”
“Yeah, but it will be funny!”
I sighed.
“I’ll take the bet.” said Olivia from inside Charlotte’s body, still doing the splits on the ground. “But only if I don’t have to leave Charlotte’s body first.”
“Wait, does that mean- ?” I started, but Ava cut me off.
“Boo-yeah! Give me that flute!” she snatched the flute from Olivia’s body’s limp hands and aimed it at me.
“Hold on!!” I shouted quickly. “Rules! We need rules!”
“I’ll take your body and go chat with Steph and that over there.” said Ava, gesturing across the common room to where the only other group sat playing chess. “If they don’t ask if I’m really Ava, I win.”
“No!” said Olivia sharply. “Of course they won’t ask if you’re Ava. If they so much as say “Are you feeling okay, Sophie?” or suspect something is wrong in any way, then I win this bet. Evelyn makes the final decision.”
“Fine” said Ava. “Ready, Sophie?”
I stared down the barrel of the flute and gulped. Ava blew into it and-
I was standing on my tippy toes.
What the hell? Going from lounging about to standing in an instant was weird. My clothes felt a bit ruffled, and my right arm was a bit sore for some reason, but otherwise I felt completely normal.
“Woah.”
I noticed I suddenly felt really sleepy, as if I’d stayed up waaaay past my bedtime. I was still in the common room, fortunately, but the candles had burned more than halfway down. I frowned. Ava had stayed in me much longer than I’d meant her too.
I glanced around the room, letting the hand holding the flute drop to my side. It was basically empty, and a candle flickering up the stairs to the bedrooms signalled that somebody had just left. Evelyn was dozed off on one of the lounges, and Olivia’s body was still slumped over where I’d last seen it. Was she still inside Charlotte then?
In front of me, Ava stretched and grinned. “Hey, I’m not too sore this time!”
“What happened? How long did you stay inside me?” I cringed “And what did you make me do?”
“Only an hour or two.” said Ava, yawning. “I won the bet, by the way. Nobody could tell I wasn’t you.”
It was hard not to feel a little bit hurt by that. Ava patted me on the shoulder lazily as she headed up to bed.
“You can beat me in an arm wrestle, by the way.”
“What? How could you know that?”
Ava just giggled and wandered upstairs.
Ava had apparently worn me out, as well as kept me up past my bedtime, so it was with a bleary shuffle that I made my way down to breakfast late the next morning
I didn’t look nearly as out of sorts as Charlotte, however. She stumbled in about 10 minutes after me, red eyed and frazzled.
“What the hell happened last night?” she asked, as she took the spot beside me. “I don’t remember a thing after bloody Evelyn couldn’t do the splits.”
“I missed most of it as well.” I told her.
She raised an eyebrow at me.
“Ava” I said, gesturing at myself. Charlotte let out a snort.
“I would have thought Olivia would have been better, but apparently…” she trailed off, obviously too tired to get her thoughts into words. “Where is she this morning anyway?”
Olivia, it turned out, was right behind us. She leaned over Charlotte and me, wearing an uncharacteristic smirk.
“Mornin’” Olivia chirped. “Have fun last night, Charlotte?”
“I can’t believe you possessed me all night, Liv. Not cool.”
Olivia chuckled and threw back her hair. “Just having fun, you know! Gotta let my hair down every now and again!”
“Bitch” Charlotte muttered, turning back to her cereal. Olivia grinned and messed up her hair.
“It’s so tight that who knows how wild it can get when I let it go?”
Olivia winked at me, and it clicked.
“Ava?” I asked.
Olivia grinned wider. “Got it in one. If only you had been there for the bet last night!”
“Were you…”
“No, I only took over Olivia about two minutes ago. That was all her in Charlotte last night! I caught her trying to sneak out of the Great Hall when she spotted you guys and thought, since I had won that bet, I’d better bring her over.”
Charlotte smiled darkly.
“Make her pick her nose.”
Ava obliged.
“And now stand on one leg.”
Ava did, wobbling slightly.
“Now jump on the table and do that again.”
Ava gave her a look.
“This just feels like I’m the one being humiliated! Let me jump out of her afterwards.”
She pulled the flute out from somewhere inside Olivia’s robes.
“But where’s your body?” I asked.
“Last night we discovered you don’t need to go back to your own body.” said Ava. “I can just blow right into the next person and Olivia will wake up like normal.”
“How did you work that out?” I asked, confused.
Ava ignored me. She made Olivia stand up straight as an arrow, head held high in the air like a prince entering a ball. Then she leapt up onto the breakfast table, raised a finger high into the air, and shoved it into her own nose.
People started to turn around and look at the commotion. I heard whispers of disbelief. Olivia had apparently gone mental.
“Hey, wait a minute! You got to possess Olivia because she bet against you! Who are you going to bet with now?”
Ava crinkled Olivia’s face as she wobbled on the table, a finger in her nose.
“I bet that you can’t make Sophie… I dunno… take off her shoes.”
“Deal accepted” smirked Ava, and raised the flute towards me.
Dammit.
An instant later I was staring down at my school shoes, which had apparently teleported to where my breakfast had been a moment before. I wiggled my toes and found that, yes indeed, Ava had managed to make me take them off. Very impressive.
Next to me, Charlotte giggled like mad. “Your face!!” she laughed, pointing. “You look so resigned! Ha!”
So Ava had ‘won’ that bet too then.
“Come on.” Ava said standing up. “Let’s go find my body.”
“But I haven’t eaten yet!” I grumbled.
“I ate it for you!” laughed Ava, “Come on, Charlotte’s exhausted and I don’t want to stay in her a moment longer than I have to.”
-
Christmas At St Clare’s Magical School For Girls - Part 2
Author - VexenFox
Ava, still possessing Charlotte, led the way out of the dining hall and up the winding staircase to the second floor where her own body was awkwardly slumped against a wall. We trotted up to it.
“It’s lucky nobody found you here, they’d probably think you’d died or something” I said, nudging Ava’s unconscious body with my foot. Ava laughed.
“Or imagine if we came back and it wasn’t here anymore!”
She pulled the flute out of Charlotte’s robes and blew herself back into her own body. Charlotte’s body wobbled slightly and looked confused, and then frowned.
“Dammit Ava!” said Charlotte as she regained control. She tugged at her skirt.
“Well I had to get us back here somehow, now didn’t I?” grunted Ava from the ground. She rubbed her back tenderly as she climbed to her feet. “Remind me not to to leave my body on the ground like that again though, gees”
We began walking off to evocation class.
“It’s not fair we still need to go to class when everybody else is off on holidays” I grumbled “Remedial my arse.”
“I’m sooooo tired,” complained Charlotte, ignoring me. “What the hell did you and Liv get up to last night?”
Ava smirked. “Can’t speak much for Olivia, actually. She was in and out most of the night.”
“She left the common room in MY body!?”
“Oh yes”, Ava’s smirk grew wider, “She was having a real swell time.”
“But why do I feel so sore?”
“Who knows? She could have been doing anything out there.” Ava said mischievously, tapping a finger to her lips. “Although, she did put that body through its paces when the wrestling began…”
“Wrestling!”
Ava just winked, and I couldn’t tell how much she was just trolling us. I rubbed my own sore muscles. Whatever my body had gotten up to last night, I was sure paying for it today.
Ava pushed open the door to class and found a seat in the back corner while Charlotte huffed a little and went to sit with her other friends. Olivia was sitting in her usual spot, but she blushed and avoided my gaze when we walked in. I hoped she wasn’t too upset by Ava’s antics this morning. Meanwhile, Evelyn was just looking out the window dreamily.
As soon as I found a seat near Ava and pulled out my books, Professor Recktem began distributing stacks of parchments around the room. Exams. I sighed.
I accepted the papers and began to skim over the questions. Half of them were on topics I could barely keep my eyes open for, thanks to Ava and her mischief last night. Ava herself looked unconcerned, leaning back and stretching her legs. I shot her an annoyed look, but she only grinned back at me.
“What are you looking so smug about?” I hissed at her.
Ava wiggled the flute at me and smirked.
“You wouldn’t–”, I started to say, then I glanced back at the exam sitting on my desk. “Give me a turn.”
“After, after”
“Who appointed you goddess of the flute?” I grumbled, but before Ava could respond, Professor Recktem stamped her staff on the ground.
“You have 45 minutes. Answer every question. The worst performing student has the honour of spending a week as a newt. Begin!”
She didn’t have to tell us twice, everybody dipped their quills into ink and began scribbling. Everybody except Ava, who just turned over the pages lazily.
Professor Recktem just sat back down and began doing her own work, pretty much ignoring us. She always assigned exams when she couldn’t be bothered teaching – the only reason anybody took them seriously was because of the punishments, which believe me, were 100% real.
I leaned over my own exam and started scratching at the page. “The third motion of the fourth standard lightning evocation is known as: “. Jesus, I was so screwed. At this rate, I would never graduate!
I glanced back at Ava, she was adjusting herself in her seat, laying her head down, and surreptitiously aiming the flute at Olivia, who had diligently gotten to work as soon as the exams were passed out.
Ava winked at me and blew herself across the room into Olivia. I watched as her face went slack, her hand slumped… and Olivia stopped her frantic writing.
Olivia’s round face turned toward me and winked, Ava’s signature smirk plastered over those usually pious features. Then Ava turned her back around and examined the page in front of her. Her lips moving silently as Ava tried to memorise an answer or two.
Then she sat upright, turned back around, began lifting a hand to her mouth… and then frowned at her sweaty, empty hands.
Oh Ava you idiot.
She looked at me, eyes wide, and the back at her own body, still loosely holding the flute, slumped over her desk.
Then she shrugged, stood up, and-
“Sit your butt back down, young lady!”
Professor Recktem swept over, her tall menacing figure bearing down on Ava in poor Olivia’s form.
“But miss…”
“Don’t miss me! 10% penalty on your paper! You’ll be lucky not to be a newt tomorrow morning.”
Ava quickly sat back down, glancing desperately between me and the flute. I tried to hide my laughter. Oh man, Ava deserved this. And Olivia did too, for that matter.
As the minutes ticked by, Ava, still trapped in Olivia’s body, could do nothing but squirm, her helplessness palpable. I slowly filled in the bits of the exam that I knew.
Soon enough, Professor Recktem shouted, “Time’s up!”, her voice echoing through the silence. A din rose throughout the class as everybody put down their quills and began whispering to each other. But Ava’s actual body, still slumped over her desk, didn’t move.
“Miss Everly?” Recktem called out.
Shit.
Ava clenched Olivia’s hands into fists. If Recktem found out about the flute… dammit, would we really only get one day playing with this thing? Not to mention the world of creative punishments that would surely come our way for being reckless, and stupid, and I don’t know, impersonating each other?
I don’t know if that last one is actually against the rules, but it probably should be.
Thinking fast, I scuttled over to Ava’s desk.
“I think she’s okay!”
I made a show of checking on Ava’s body as I grabbed the flute from her limp hand. I glanced across at Ava in Olivia’s body, which was just sitting there giving me a worried look. Dammit Ava, do I have to do everything?
“She’s just deep asleep.”
I leaned in close, trying to position myself right, my whole body basically leaning over Ava’s desk, and head hidden from Reckem’s view.
Then I blew myself into Ava.
Suddenly I was sitting down. I felt smaller, lighter, weirder… and decidedly uncomfortable. A heavy weight collapsed against me as my former body went limp over the desk.
“Oft” I squeaked in Ava’s voice.
I wrapped one of my new little hands around my body where it had slumped and tried to keep it steady.
“Yep, I was just deep asleep!” I chirped.
God I’m a bad liar.
Recktem frowned at me. I blushed.
Ava, in Olivia’s body, finally got her wits together. She scuttled over and grabbed the flute from where it had fallen to the ground. Glanced between myself and my body, sprawled on the table, then shrugged – and aimed at my sleeping body.
A second later, my own body got up off my lap.
“My work here is done!” it laughed and winked at me. Oh god, that was weird.
Olivia wobbled nearby, her mouth agape, and stared at me and Ava. She looked down at herself, blushed a deep scarlet, and scampered back to her seat.
“Are you okay, Miss Eclair?” asked Professor Recktem.
“Yes!” came Olivia’s voice, high pitched and breathless. She stifled a gasp as she looked at the terrible job Ava had done on her paper.
Recktem continued around the room, snatching up the papers, while I tucked the flute inside my robes – Ava’s robes. She probably knew something odd was going on with the three of us, but honestly, at a magical school there was always something weird going on.
I watched as my own body gave Recktem a smug little smile as it handed in its exam. Weird alright.
A few minutes later Ava and I were standing in the corridor outside class, still inside each other’s bodies.
“Okay, now this is really not right”, I said, looking up at myself.
Ava smirked down at me. “Cool, isn’t it! I have no idea what you’re going to make me do!”
She stuck out my tongue. I cringed. She was going to make me look so stupid.
“And I can make you say whatever I want!” Ava said, tapping at her lips with one of my hands. “I’m a boring goth chick who hides behind a veil of coolness because I don’t have anything interesting to say!”
Ugh.
“Yeah, well I’m an idiot.” I said.
“I agree!” said my voice. “You are an idiot!” Ava giggled.
“Oh screw you!”
Speaking with Ava’s voice felt weird. It came out high pitched – higher pitched than my own voice OR Ava’s usual voice, for some reason. Did she deliberately lower it?
Ava chuckled and punched me in the arm. With my own fist.
“Yeah yeah, hey, let’s spend the morning like this. I’ve got a few things I’d love to try!”
“Yeah, yeah, how about no.” I said, rubbing my arm. “I don’t want you in my body a moment longer than you have to be.”
“Tooooo bad!” Ava said. She skipped around me, using my own legs to propel her about. She giggled. “Keep up if you can!”
And with that, she ran off, using my muscles to sprint away. That bitch!
I tried to run after her, but it was no use. My legs felt short and awkward, and the ground barely seemed to pass by as I jogged. You’d hardly have believed Ava was one of the tallest in our group when we were tweensies, nearly a decade ago. Had this girl just never hit a second growth spurt!?
Pretty soon she had disappeared into the crowd, and in Ava’s short body I couldn’t see over the gaggle of girls emerging from class.
Goddamn it being short sucks.
I slumped against the wall, panting, and let my bag fall to the floor. It felt twice as heavy as usual – another drawback of being in Ava’s body, I supposed. I really didn’t like the idea of letting her run around all day as me. She had a good heart – I mean, I think she did – but she was careless, daring, rude, and I don’t know, improper? Who knows how crazy she would act when it wasn’t even her body getting in trouble.
I let out a big sigh.
“Hey Ava?” a voice came from behind. I turned around and came face to chest with Olivia. “I, um, can we talk privately?”
She grabbed my hand and pulled me into an empty classroom.
“Olivia, I’m…”, I began, but she cut me off.
“I should hate what you did to me today.” Olivia began, “But I don’t! I don’t! I-”
She paused, trying to find the words.
“I like it, Ava. After last night, after what we did… I really really like this flute. I like being possessed by you. And I like possessing you! I want-”
I tried to speak again, but she shushed me.
“No, wait. Look. It wasn’t right to possess me in class. But if you wanted to do it somewhere else. Like, in the common room, or, or, in my dorm… look, no, I want… I want a turn! I want a turn possessing you. And you don’t get to say what I’m allowed to do, or not do, and you don’t get to ask later… I mean, not that I would do anything you wouldn’t do… but what you would do is kind of, I mean, everybody does, just in their own body, but if I did it in your body… well it still wouldn’t be something you wouldn’t do!”
She was gushing, the words streaming out as she clenched her robes in her fists.
“I want you to let me possess you. I want to do it here, in this classroom. And I want to have free reign here for thirty minutes. Given last night and this morning, I think that’s fair to ask.”
Olivia stood up straight, breathing deeply, with her hands on her hips. She looked stern, but also like she was trying to hold a mask together. The word ‘flushed’ came to mind.
For the tenth time, I wondered what the hell Ava and Olivia had gotten up to last night with my body. I rolled my eyes.
“Well, whatever, because I’m not Ava!”
“Wh- what?”
“It’s me. It’s Sophie, I mean. Ava and I ended up swapping in the classroom when we were trying to get her out of your body.”
“Oh!”, said Olivia, then she blushed deeply. “Oh”
I looked downwards. I was in Ava’s body alright. Short legs, narrow hips, small bust. I could actually see more of her body from this angle than I usually could of my own!
I wiggled my toes inside Ava’s flats and tried to straighten up more. I felt so tiny in here, I was about a head shorter than my own body, and I only came up to Olivia’s shoulders. Some part of me didn’t even really feel like I was standing up. I kept trying to straighten my legs more.
Olivia gathered herself. “Okay then. Sophie. I would like to possess you, in Ava’s body.”
“What, and I just sleep for half an hour? I didn’t sleep enough last night?”
Olivia winched a little. “It’s not even your body, Sophie.”
“Yeah, yeah… look, fine, I don’t care. But you owe me a favour. A big one. And you need to help me stop Ava from, you know, being Ava.”
Olivia smiled self-consciously. “Deal”
I pulled the flute out of Ava’s robes and handed it to her. Then I took stock of Olivia’s flushed expression. “And I don’t think I want to even know what you’re going to do here.”
Olivia blushed again and took the flute from me. She was really… I don’t know, embarrassed? Nervous? Guilty?
Either way, I braced myself and stared up at her. She raised the flute to her lips, and soon I felt the familiar pressure of a magic tugging me backwards and downwards from my usual place in my mind.
For a moment I felt like a passenger, one step back from the controls, and then… blackness.
I wobbled. I was standing on the other side of the room, and a kind of warm glow was fading away in my body. My legs felt weak, and my right hand ached. So did my…
I blushed and turned around. Olivia was climbing to her feet.
“Wow. Okay.” I said, then I coughed. My mouth was a little tingly as well.
“Um” said Olivia, picking at something around her waist. “Thanks.”
“Ahhhh… no problem.” I said, and coughed again. I looked down and took stock of my body. Fading glow, sore hand, a sensitive and puffy feeling between my legs, and a whole flushed and sticky vibe.
Yeah. It was pretty clear what Olivia had done in here. I don’t know what the mouth thing was about though.
Olivia kept fiddling with something under her robes, as if trying to get comfortable.
“I didn’t really think about-” she started, and then cut herself off, blushing.
“You might as well say it, Olivia. We basically just had sex.”
“No!” she blushed harder. “No! I mean, I- you know I- okay. You said it was fine. But it’s not sex! It’s just what everybody does alone!”
“Usually they only do it with their own body.”
“I did do it with my own body!” Olivia retorted. Then she seemed to realise what she had just said. “I mean- Not really! Not- not sex!”
I just stared at her, bemused. What in the world was this prissy girl hiding behind those immaculate grades and ponytail?
“Anyway!” she said “I was going to say I didn’t really think about how I wouldn’t be- um- how I’d still be– excited– once I returned to my own body.”
She looked down at herself and fidgeted some more.
“It was that body that, um, had its needs met. This one was only teased.”
“Teased.” I repeated flatly.
“Yes.” Olivia sighed and gathered up her bags. “But there’s nothing to be done about it now. It’s lunch time.”
“You whore, that was more than half an hour!”
“I wasn’t done yet! Now, please Ava- I mean, Sophie- let’s… just just go to lunch. And I’ll… I’ll help you out with Ava, okay?”
I sighed. “Where’s the flute gone?”
“It’s right here,” said Olivia. “Come on.”
She hurried away, leaving me to follow on wobbly legs.
I took my usual seat at the senior’s table in the dining hall, despite being in Ava’s body. I scanned around for her - for my body, that is - but I couldn’t see it anywhere. Olivia had knocked me out for a whole period, which meant Ava had had free reign of my body in the school for over an hour now.
One hour, causing as much mayhem as she liked, and leaving me to pick up the pieces.
And now she had apparently not even bothered to come to lunch. Thanks for taking care of my body, Ava! God, that girl. I could kill her!
“Hullo Sophie” came a dreamy voice from behind me. Evelyn took her usual seat next to me. “Are you enjoying your time as Ava?”
“No!” I spat. Ava’s high pitched voice didn’t quite convey the anger I felt. I hadn’t figured out how to pitch it down the way she usually did.
“But, hey, how did you know it was me?”
“It’s the way you carry yourself.” said Evelyn. “You’re all… Sophie looking.”
“What the hell does that mean!”
“It’s also the fact that you’re sitting in your normal spot.” said Olivia, from my other side.
“Yeah yeah.” I grumbled. “Nobody can tell Ava is possessing me last night when it mattered, and now apparently everybody knows exactly how I look no matter what body I’m in!”
“Hey Ava!” said Charlotte, trudging up. She seemed in a happier mood than earlier, but she still scowled at Olivia. “Hello Olivia. Have a nice time last night?”
Olivia blushed again – she was good at that today. “Oh, hello Charlotte.” she said in a small voice. “I’m really sorry…”
Charlotte sat down and began eating. “I don’t know what I want from you yet. But when I think of something, you’ll owe it to me.”
“Oh, um, okay.”
“That’s Sophie, by the way,” said Evelyn. “You can tell by the shoulders.”
“You CAN NOT tell by the shoulders!” I spat.
“And the voice.”
“Gah!”
“Oh! I see it!” said Charlotte. “Ava never says ‘Gah’ like that.”
“Screw you all.”
“We’re looking for Ava,” said Olivia. “She’s in Sophie’s body. Has anybody seen her since evocations class?”
“I saw Sophie’s body flirting with Jess earlier.” said Charlotte. “I did think it was funny, since the real Sophie isn’t usually that forthcoming.”
“What!?” I yelped.
“Yeah, usually you just kind of hang back from stuff like that.”
“That’s not what I was saying ‘what’ to!” I hissed. “She was flirting!? With JESS?!”
“Oh yes,” said Charlotte. “Well, I assume they were flirting. I only saw them holding hands and kissing, but-”
“WHAT!?”
“Yeah, didn’t you know that Jess had a big crush on you?” asked Charlotte.
“That’s not- that’s not- wait- she does?”
“I assume so, otherwise she wouldn’t have been so keen to stick her tongue down your throat.”
I buried my head in my hands. Well, I buried Ava’s head in Ava’s hands. I’d had a crush on Jess since sixth year. I never really expected anything to come from it though, especially when I wasn’t even there!!
“Where did you see them, Charlotte?” said Olivia
“In the courtyard grounds, just a few minutes ago, actually.”
I stood up. “C’mon!”
Olivia got up to follow me, but Charlotte just shrugged and kept eating. Evelyn didn’t seem to have even heard me. She was busy looking up at a pattern on the ceiling. Whatever.
Olivia and I ran out of the dining hall, and across to the courtyard as fast as we could. I was the slower one, scampering on Ava’s short legs as fast as they could take me.
Olivia pushed open the huge doors out to the courtyard and I darted through. We didn’t have to look for long – right there, laying back on the grass, and giggling in a carefree embrace was MY body with Jess. I watched in horror as Ava ran one of my fingers along Jess’s cheek, a cheeky smile on her face.
“You bitch!” I shouted without thinking.
Ava and Jess jumped at the noise and pushed off each other. I stormed up to them and jabbed one of my stubby little fingers into Ava’s - my - chest.
“How dare you do that to me! I said not to embarrass me!”
Ava laughed and pushed my hand away. “I didn’t embarrass you! I did well! This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” she smirked. “I figured you’d be happy – there’s no other way for me to put such charming words into your mouth.”
Jess looked between us, confused. “Were you two an item?” she asked. “I didn’t mean to get in between anything! I’ll chat to you later, Sophie!”
I turned towards her, trying to smile, but she wasn’t looking at me. She scurried up to Ava and gave her a kiss on the cheek, then blushed and ran away without looking back at me. Jealousy flared.
“That should have been my kiss!”
“And it will, tomorrow.” smirked Ava. “Assuming it’s not just me that she likes.”
My stomach dropped a little at the thought. What if it was? What if Jess didn’t actually like me, or even my body, but the apparent confident charm that Ava, in her half-cocked, hair-brained, unthinking stupidity somehow managed to pull off?
No. It couldn’t be.
“We’re changing back right now.” I huffed. I grabbed one of my old bodies hands and pulled it inside, past where Olivia was standing, open mouthed. “We’ll need you as a spare body!” I snapped at her. “Come on!”
I led Ava back to the common room, tugging her the whole way. I don’t know what state she’d left my body in, but I didn’t care, I wanted it back right away – and the sooner we could get somewhere private to do the switch the better.
The common room was empty this time of day, so as soon as we arrived I pushed my body into one of the plush couches.
“I want to know everything that went on between you and Jess” I said to Ava. “Every detail!”
“Oh, sure, sure.” Ava smiled up at me sweetly. “You can thank me later!”
“Olivia, do you have the flute?”
But Olivia had already taken it out. She was holding it in her hands, and looking between me and Ava with wide eyes.
“It’s very strange to see the two of you switched like this.” she said, sounding slightly breathless. “Your body does have a certain… vibe to it.”
I turned to her. “A vibe that Ava’s apparently been taking advantage of!”
“Yes…” said Olivia. “No matter who is inside, it just seems so… cool. Inside Ava’s small body, you seem a lot more expressive.”
I frowned.
“Hey yeah! You do!!” said Ava. “Look at what you’re doing to my face! Hahaha!”
I scowled even deeper.
“Give me the flute.” I said, holding out my hand.
“Oh, um-” Olivia began. “Oh, I was wondering if- maybe- as another favour-”
Olivia fidgeted, not handing over the flute. Instead, she raised it up to her own lips.
“You were so good about this morning.” she said to me. “I’d really appreciate another… opportunity…”
“You can possess Ava again AFTER we swap back.” I said
“Again?” said Ava, excitedly. “Wait, what? Omg what did you guys do?”
“It’s not exactly Ava’s body I want to possess…” said Olivia.
And without further ado, she raised the flute, pointed it at my old body, and blew.
Olivia’s body instantly went limp and collapsed down to the floor. Meanwhile, my original body let out a gasp and looked down at itself.
“What the hell Olivia. You’re supposed to be the responsible one!”
But Olivia didn’t respond. She seemed mesmerised by my body. She lifted my hands up in front of her face and wiggled my fingers. Then she reached down and cupped my breasts–
“Hey!” I said “Those aren’t yours to play with!”
“Maybe… they are now?” said Olivia, looking down at her new body.
She didn’t stop groping herself. I watched as my former hands continued their exploration of my own skin, squeezing and heaving bits of me which, until yesterday, nobody had touched but me.
Goddamn it.
Olivia stood up. “I’ll see you later. I owe you one, Sophie!”
“Wait, where are you going?!”
But instead of running back out of the common room, Olivia turned and scampered up to the dormitories, making a beeline for the privacy of my four-poster.
“Hey!” I shouted after her. “Hey! Don’t– don’t make a mess! And for god sake be quiet about it!”
“I will! I will!” Olivia said as she ran off, leaving me standing in the common room, with the flute, Ava’s body, and now Olivia’s own comatose body, passed out on the floor in front of me.
Was I the only sane person left in this friend group?