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?