James had transformed Melanie into a mewing kitten this time.
Elspeth was relieved that the kitten seemed to have the mind of Melanie rather then a actual kitten this time.
However as Elspeth watched James transform Melanie into
various creatures something was troubling the old witch,something to do with dragon transformations and
Melanie's apparent transformation into a flame breathing dragon.
However the witch kept her troubled thoughts to herself
and after James had finished with the hocus pocus
Elspeth sent James and Melanie to separate rooms in the
dormitory.
However ,unknownst to Melanie
the worried witch sent a invible spy orb after the girl
so that the witch could keep an eye on Melanies movements.
Then Elspeth went to the dungeons where after a half hour
of digging through cobweb covered cardboard boxes she found
her old lecture notes from centuries ago,when she'd been a
student,not actually a practising witch.
Specifically Elspeth was looking for a lecture given by
the Elizabethan Doctor John Dee,who had once given a leture
on transformations to a eager audience of young witches and
warlocks,including a attentive young Elspeth von Drake.
Then as in now students had a fascination with mythical creatures and the inevitable question about transforming a
human into a dragon had come up.
Lecturer Dee had explained it couldn't be done.
He had explained that humans could be transformed into
dragon-like creatures but not actually into a honest to goodness
flame breathing real dragon.
That made older Elspeth's fingers tremble,as she realized Melanie had most assuredly been transformed into a honest to
goodness flame breathing real dragon.
Yet Dee's lecture notes made it pretty clear James spell
couldn't have accomplished this transformation.
According to the worried witches centuries old lecture notes
dragons were'Not of this Earth or the Laws of Man" and a
wizard or witch could only transform a human into a dragon
like creature that had to obey the Laws of Earth and Man.
In other words dragon like creatures couldn't breath fire,for starters.
As the witch dug deeper into the lecture notes she refreshed her
memory about Dee's explanation for when a human transformed into a real flame breathing dragon.
Dee's explanation was that some non human agent,call it
a magic not know to human wizards and witches,was responsible
for this kind of transformation,as a means to reproduce itself
in its new formerly human host,the dragon.
Which meant,Elspeth realized to her mounting horror,that the
dragon was still alive and well in Melanie,and ready to come out again.
Basically Melanie was 'Dragon Cursed'......