Now that nothing else was changing for the moment, John and Chris were no longer in agony. They still didn't feel normal. Animal ears were twitching on their heads. Sensitive noses and even whiskers were sampling the air of the witch's fateful house, and even the scents of each others changing forms just an arms length away. Newly grown fur was tickling everything below their necks, and newly changed limbs were looking for some kind purchase on the hard uncaring floor. Collars hugged their throats. Name tags rattled under their chins. And still they could feel the half-dormant tingle of some intrusive energy inside them, building up to some final show of force that still loomed in the coming minutes for them.
John was the first to speak. "Fuck, lady, what did you do to us?" But she just stood taking deep breaths on the outskirts of the room.
"John! Help! I can't feel my thumbs!"
"Yeah, Chris, well I can feel my fingernails inside me, so fuck off."
Finally the witch caught her own bearings and laughed. "Shut up, bitch," John yelled at her, but he wasn't in any position to do anything right now. She grinned deviously at both of them with a proud glint in her eye, but the two seemed more interested in looking at themselves than over at her.
John and Chris finally felt that they could move gain and rose to all fours. Not onto hands and knees or hands at feet. Rather, onto their new paws. It felt almost like they standing on their fingers and toes, but with the thick pads underneath them, it almost felt more like hovering on fleshy force fields. The only limbs that weren't tasked with holding them up were the tails they had grown; Chris's had relaxed and was hanging behind him, whereas John's had stood up and towered over him, wiggling weirdly at the very top.
"Shit, I really do look like a cat back there," mused John to no one in particular.
"John! I can't stand up!"
John's triangle ears turned to face Chris's voice in time to hear his dog claws click against the floor as both front paws landed. Chris raised to his hind legs again and wobbled once or twice before coming back down.
"Ugh, Chris, you smell like wet dog. You know, except dry."
"Hey, I smell fine. I smell strong and young and healthy. It's not my fault you smell---hey John? Why are you so small? Everything else looks bigger."
It was true. Looking around the room, John couldn't deny that everything looked the wrong size. He used to be about the same size as Chris, but he wasn't now. They'd both been a little taller than the witch, but she looked large now, even taking into account that she was standing upright unlike them. The witch finally spoke: "Ah, you two are the perfect size to be my pets. Cute little average size cat. Mildly larger but still average sized dog. Neither too big for my nice little home. But I could stand to stop hearing your bickering."
As if on cue, the changes ramped up again, this time focused on their faces. Their mouths stretched forward to meet their altered noses. Fur sprouted from their face skin and even replaced their human hairdos. Chris's mouth and nose spread even farther forward, bones creaking, rattling his skull a bit. Their teeth ached, becoming longer and sharper in their mouths. Chris's longer muzzle opened and revealed a huge tongue that spilled outward, sloppily unfurling into a wide oval shape. He managed to flop it up into his field of view and staggered back slightly at the size of it. He tried to say something but only managed a very dog-like groan. Even more surprised by this development, Chris opened his mouth wider and vocalized louder but this only let out a---"BAAARK!!! ... BARK! BARK! BARK! ... whiiiiine..."
John shuddered at the sound of all that. Chris couldn't talk any more. Desperately, frantically, he tried out his own voice. "MRRROOOOW!" No, not that. Anything but that. How would he ever reverse all this if he couldn't even tell anyone who he was?
The room descended into a din of meowing and barking, as the two now-complete animals tried to say anything, anything at all. Then the chaos got interrupted by the sound of a loud, shrill whistle screeching out. Both Chris and John looked quickly in that direction to find out who had done that. They saw the witch holding a tiny silver flute-like object. They didn't realize she hadn't even heard the sound she'd made with it.
"All right, listen up, you too. This is my home, and there will be order. As you might have noticed, no one can see or hear that you have ever been a human. You belong to me, now. If want to risk someone much worse owning you, then try my patience and risk getting sent to regular non-magical animal shelter. But if you want a nice roof over your head and regular meals, then you'll be well-behaved pets for me. If you're good boys tonight, then you might even get to see your friend Damon get his comeuppance for abandoning you. But for now I need a nice rest. You're welcome to enjoy my bedroom with me if your quiet. I'm sure no one wants to make me lock them in a cage or chain them up outside."
The witch softly made her way down a hall way. Her cat and her dog looked at each other before trotting along after her.