"What the fuck? What just happened?" James panicked as he tried to come to terms with his new body.
"Isn't it obvious? I turned you into a dog" Meredith cackled as she knelt down and looked James in the eye "Though I must admit I really surpassed myself this time. A talking mutt! Who would have thought such a thing was possible?"
"You can't do this" James replied angrily. Meresdith seemed to hesitate a moment.
"I can't.." the old witch replied in a monotone style before suddenly seeming to regain control of herself "I...I can. Of course I can. I can do what I want. I'll make your friend a talking dog too."
She gestured towards Nicola who was still on all fours, with a chew toy in her mouth.
"Imagine how much money a pair of talking dogs would be worth"
"But you can't" James insisted.
"I can't" Meredith surprisingly agreed in something of a haze. Suddenly realising what was happening, James siezed the moment.
"You can't because you have no powers, you've forgotten them all" James told Meredith as he fixed her with a glare.
"No powers" Meredith confirmed.
"In fact, you have forgotten everything. You are just a three month old baby"
Meredith immediately seemed to lose the power to both stand upright and talk, collapsing into a wailing mess on the floor"
"And you will stay like that forever" James decided to add in anger as an afterthought. He then ran over to Nicola and gazed into her eyes.
"Nicola. You are not a dog, you never were. You are a human woman"
After a brief, confused pause Nicola spat the chew toy out of her mouth and rose urgently to her feet. She examined her dirty hands and dishevelled clothing with a look of disgust "Yuck! What just happened to me? James? Is that you?"
"Yes it's me" the dog replied to Nicola's astonishment "I"ve dealt with the old crone, now you have to restore me"
"But how?" Nicola looked around the room. Meredith, still blubbing on the floor, had dropped her wand by her side, but Nicola had no idea how it worked. There was the costume rack of course, which had given James powes already, or a book of spells in plain English she had noticed earlier. She had to try something, but what?