Chloe looked down at the cute brown and white rabbit that was sitting in place of James at the end of her incantation with a look of pure excitement.
"Oh he's beautiful!" She enthused as she reached down and picked him up. James was willing to let her, though he didn't really have any choice at his current size and strength. Chloe held James close to her bosom, stroking his brown and white coat and kissing the top of his head. Somehow James felt strangely content at that moment, happy even that his owner was showing him such love. Wait? Did James just think of Chloe as his owner? Why was being a rabbit starting to feel so normal? Had Chloe messed with more than just his body?
"I think I'm going to call you Hoppy!" Chloe told her new pet. The class giggled but Hoppy wasn't sure why. It seemed like a perfectly good name for a rabbit.
"Are you hungry, Hoppy?" Chloe asked "I bet you are aren't you?"
Hoppy was grateful his owner was able to wordlessly understand his needs so easily, and that she was always so doting on him and spoiling him. He really was very lucky to be her pet. And sure enough Hoppy was hungry. He knew he'd had a long day, though strangely he couldn't quite recall what he'd been doing. Probably the usual, running about in Chloe's ample garden, snacking on delicious flower petals when she wasn't looking. But now he was in this room full of strange humans who were all gawping at him. If Chloe weren't there ti protect him he might have been unnerved by all of this.
Chloe placed Hoppy back down on the desk and put a carrot at his feet. James hated the tastes of carrots, but as Hoppy they had just become his new favourite. As the rabbit finished greedily devouring the tasty treat, he heard the old woman at the front of the class speak. It was untranslatable human gobbledegook to him of course, but Chloe would be able to translate. He could always understand his owner somehow.
"Ok, Hoppy. It's been lovely knowing you, but it's time to turn you back into a human called James, ok?"
What?! Why would she do that? And no it wasn't ok! Hoppy didn't want to be a human, he wanted to remain as Chloe's pet rabbit for the rest of his days!
Nonetheless, moments later a very confused looking James was sat on all fours on the desk. Was this right or not? Was he supposed to be James the human or Hoppy the rabbit? He genuinely wasn't sure. And why did Chloe McCoy still feel like his owner? It seemed like the effects of such a powerful mind altering spell may take a while to fully subside.
"Ok, we ate officially halfway through the class. Eleven down, eleven to go" Elspeth updated her witchy cohort "who would like to be next to have a go at transforming Hoppy...I mean James"
The class laughed but Elspeth had just confused James even more with her joke. Was he James or Hoppy? He remained on all fours, twitching his nose intermittently and craving a carrot as the next student approached. It was...