Two days later, it was Halloween. Which meant the most anticipated event of the Hexbourne students’ social calendar - the Halloween Ball.

It was a great opportunity to dress up, often incorporating magic in a fun and creative way - and for the older students, it was also a great opportunity to slut it up. Provocative costumes, no curfew, and minimal supervision from mostly-tipsy faculty all combined to create innumerable opportunities for randy couples to sneak away.

The wealthier students spared no expense with their costumes. The more magically-adept would often find ways to transfigure items they already owned. Emerald had neither option, and so her plan was to resort to the same costume she wore every Halloween.

“You’re wearing a bedsheet and going as a ghost? Again?” Freya had spluttered upon hearing about this.

Emerald had shrugged. “Not like I’ve got a better option.”

“You have now! Look, I’ll transfigure something for you...”

“No, no, you don’t have to do that,” she had protested half-heartedly, touched by the offer and not wanting to actually dissuade her girlfriend from going through with it.

Freya had smiled fondly. “It’s no trouble!” Then her eyes had lit up. “Besides, I have a great idea - a couple of great ideas, actually!”

She had been prevented from providing any further details by the bell for their next class, but they had quickly agreed to meet in Emerald’s room at the day’s end. Now, here Freya was, standing in the middle of the room. Emerald had to suppress a quiver of glee - although it was far from the first time the gorgeous blonde witch had been in her bedroom, it still gave her a thrill every time. She was dating Freya Travers! Freya Travers was in her bedroom! Freya Travers had kissed her! Freya Travers had given her a voodoo handjob two nights ago! Emerald had pinched herself more than once in the last month.

Freya Travers was currently concentrating furiously on the lapis lazuli ring on her hand, which was beginning to glow electric blue. “I tend to use glamours,” she explained, “because I’m actually not the best at full transfiguration - not of living matter, anyway. But I can do inanimate objects, like clothes. And I’ve done this before, on my own clothes.”

“I’m envious,” Emerald admitted. “Must save a lot of money...”

“Mm-hmm,” Freya mumbled, still intently focused on the spell. She swept her hand in an arc through the air in front of Emerald, the ring’s glow blurring across her eyeline.

Emerald wriggled as she felt the fabric of her clothing shift and alter on her body, tickling her as it did so. Seconds later, her usual dowdy school uniform - the white shirt, grey cardigan and green tartan skirt - had transformed into a long green dress with a chest encrusted with glimmering gemstones. Her worn, scuffed black shoes had become gleaming high heels. She still wore her black tights, but the holes that had formed in them had all been repaired. Her bra and panties remained unchanged - she’d worn her nicest ones anyway, just in case she got lucky...

Beaming, Freya gestured towards the wall mirror. “What d’you think, precious?”

Blushing once more at the pet name, Emerald tottered over - taking a moment to get comfortable walking in the heels - and admired her reflection. The dress had fixed straps and was perfectly shaped to her body, making her small tits look a little bigger, while the heels had shifted her posture so her butt looked fantastic.

“I look... amazing,” she gasped.

Freya giggled, darting forwards and wrapping her arms around Emerald’s waist. “I know! A pretty emerald dress for my precious Emerald, right?”

Emerald turned in her embrace, nestling her face into Freya’s hair. “Thank you,” she murmured. “I can’t thank you enough...” Then a thought struck her, and she stepped back, wearing a quizzical expression. “But wait - how is this a Halloween costume, exactly?”

Her girlfriend chuckled. “Oh, you’ll see! Just lemme sort out my own outfit...”

As she stepped away, Freya paused. “You will tell me if I’m ever going overboard with the emerald stuff, right? I kinda went with a green theme with this dress because of, well, because of your name, and I don’t know how you feel about it, but if it’s getting wearing...”

“Oh, not at all,” Emerald assured her, smiling bashfully. “I mean, I chose this name. You running with the green theme, and calling me your precious Emerald, just reinforces that it’s my name. I like it. Even if it makes you seem like a bit of a dork,” she teased.

Freya mock-gasped. “How very dare you? I am the coolest of all the cool people, I’ll have you know!” she protested with a heavily ironic smile, making Emerald chuckle.

She then began to focus her attention on her magic ring again. A minute later, her own clothes had been transformed into an old-fashioned black dress, the kind Victorian ladies used to wear.

Emerald giggled quizzically. “Um... what are you supposed to be?”

“A medium, of course,” Freya said matter-of-factly. “Since you’re going as a ghost, you’ll need someone to conduct your spirit...”

Her answer puzzled Emerald even more. “But... I thought I wasn’t going as a ghost? You really want me to wear a sheet over this gorgeous dress?”

Freya barked with laughter. “No, silly! I’ve got a much better idea...”

***

The banquet hall’s usual tables had been cleared away, allowing a wide space for the ball to go ahead. There were decorations ranging from the tacky, like plastic pumpkins and toy witches, to the ornate and beautiful.

True to form, students had dressed in a variety of costumes, some of which were remarkably elaborate and clearly magically-altered in some way. There were ghouls, goblins, zombies and werewolves, a few necromancers, and even some who had animated tentacles protruding from their clothes or directly from their flesh. A few had dressed in traditional Gaelic robes and cloaks for the Feast of Samhain, which fell on October 31 and was effectively the ‘ancestor’ of Halloween. Though most wizards still observed Samhain, the feast had not been celebrated at Hexbourne for some years, since a student vote had found the Halloween Ball more popular by far.

Aside from their own, Emerald and Freya’s favourite costumes by far were those of Hannah and her SO, Juniper. Although ‘costume’ may not be the appropriate word - each of them wore minimal clothing, and had instead transfigured themselves. Fittingly considering her name, Juniper had become a tree nymph - their pale skin had turned into smooth, flexible, light-brown bark, while their strawberry-blonde hair had become needle-like leaves. Nestled among the leaves, seemingly growing from their scalp, were thick purple-grey juniper berries, one of which they had plucked off their own head and was eating, making appreciative noises.

Hannah, meanwhile, had undergone one of her most dramatic transformations ever - her face was covered in a thick down of short red feathers, while similar blue feathers covered the rest of her body, protruding from every inch of bare flesh. Her mouth and jaw had distended and elongated into a long, hard yellow beak. Even her vocal chords had been changed - whenever she opened that beak, the only sound that emerged was a croaking squawk. Either that, or she was so committed to the ‘costume’ that she refused to speak like a person. When Freya politely asked what kind of bird she’d become, she raised a feathery eyebrow and turned to Juniper. “She’s a woodpecker,” they said with a smirk, just as their girlfriend demonstrated by leaning towards them and delivering a vicious-looking peck to their neck. They squeaked delightedly, prompting Hannah to continue the barrage.

Among the refreshments at the ball were brightly-coloured potions, each of which had a different effect. As Emerald watched, one of her less-antagonistic classmates, Jay, downed a bright blue drink, and froze in place moments later, their flesh hardened like marble. From what she’d seen, the effect would last a couple of minutes, during which time the living statue would be fully aware of their surroundings and feel extremely sensitive. Already one of their friends had snuck over, giggling as she stroked their forearm. Other potions could cause different physical changes, and one - Emerald hadn’t seen which one - caused the drinker’s skin to turn green. She slightly regretted not being able to drink that one, in keeping with her green theme.

But she didn’t mind the restrictions of her own costume - she was having too much fun with it. Lifting her arm and waving it in front of her eyes, she giggled at its translucency. The novelty was not even close to wearing off.

While she was distracted, Jay unfroze and staggered sideways, stumbling into Emerald - and right through her. Unprepared, she couldn’t stop herself letting out a moan as a wave of pleasure permeated every inch of her. Her concentration lost, she drifted a couple of inches off the floor as she pawed at her chest. Regaining her composure, she chuckled quietly in embarrassment and returned to solid ground - not that she could feel it.

Like most spells, Emerald knew all about astral projection but had never actually managed to do it. However, Freya had used her powers to draw Emerald’s consciousness out of her body, still wearing the green dress, and then used a manifestation spell to make her astral form visible and audible to others apart from the two of them. (Although they had debated for a moment about whether to leave it so that only Freya could see and hear her, both of them taking enjoyment from the idea of Freya actually acting as her medium.)

Though she’d had some tiny reservations about Freya’s idea, mostly because she’d never astral-projected before, Emerald was enjoying it immensely. She had to admit, it was a lot better than her usual ghost costume! Added to which, any time anything solid passed through her astral form, she felt a thrill go through her. They’d had fun trying to walk to the ball arm-in-arm - Freya’s arm kept passing through Emerald’s (deliberately, she suspected), making her whimper with delight.

Barely paying attention to the rest of the party any more, Emerald wandered over to a refreshment table and passed her hand through it, sending tingles up her arm that grew in strength as they reached her shoulder, then her chest. She felt sensitive all over, as if she was getting goosebumps - which was absurd, because right now she had neither skin nor a blood supply. Her phantom nipples hardened, and she bit her ghostly lip with her ghostly teeth. Unable to resist the temptation, she walked straight through the table, which passed through her waist. Pleasure radiated outwards in each direction, and she stifled a moan as her intangible cock grew erect.

“Having fun over there?” came Freya’s gleeful voice. Emerald turned to see her smirking from nearby.

She blushed - or at least, she felt like she did. She was probably imagining it, since, again, no blood supply. “I love this,” she said quietly, voice breathy with excitement.

“I thought you might,” Freya chuckled. “I remember my first time astral projecting. I walked through like five walls in a row, and then after class I rushed back to my dorm and finger-blasted myself into a stupor.”

Emerald let out a surprised shriek of laughter at her girlfriend’s lewd words. Her lack of composure was not helped by Freya reaching out to boop her phantom nose, her finger going straight through and into her face. Absurdly, even that was hot.

“’Scuse me,” said a familiar voice from behind them. They turned to see Livi, dressed as a gladiator and trying not to make eye contact. Emerald swallowed hard at the sight of her, wondering what they were in for.

“What?” Freya asked, unabashed by the sight of the bully.

Still not looking either of them in the face, Livi gestured past them. “Just trying to get a drink,” she said quietly.

Freya blinked. “Oh, right.” And she and Emerald moved out of the way of the table.

Without another word, Livi got herself a drink - of the non-magical variety - and then walked back into the throng of partying students. Emerald stared after her. The warrior witch had been no less physically imposing than ever, but her meek demeanour made her seem smaller. The boldness, the self-assuredness - the arrogance, to define it less kindly - seemed to have disappeared from her. Like she’d had the stuffing knocked out of her.

Did we do that? Emerald wondered, feeling guilty. Of course, she knew they almost certainly had. Livi hadn’t been the same since she’d got a taste of her own magical wrath late last month - she’d become something of a pariah among their year group. She was still doing just as well in classes, and was the undisputed top of the year, but no-one seemed to care any more. All her friends and groupies had deserted her, apart from the ever-loyal Jemma and Georgie, though perhaps only because they’d been humiliated in the same way and had no other friends themselves. Emerald wasn’t sure if it was the degrading orders they’d carried out for her, or the fact that Livi had subsequently incriminated herself for casting the hex. (She wondered again why Livi apparently hadn’t been punished for the attempted non-consensual enthralment. Perhaps the teachers felt she’d suffered enough after her public ordeal.)

As Emerald stared worriedly after Livi, Freya tried to pat her on the shoulder reassuringly, only serving to send more pleasurable thrills through her. “She brought it on herself,” the sorceress reminded her girlfriend.

“I know,” the ghost girl sighed. “But I don’t feel great about treating her like that.”

“Which makes you a much better person than her, because she loved treating you like that,” Freya remarked.

Emerald smiled gratefully at her. “I guess so...”

She gasped and squirmed at the sudden feeling of something being thrown through her chest - an empty plastic cup, which clattered onto the floor nearby. As she clutched at her tingling tit, Freya spun around to glare at the sniggering fifth-years, who quickly made a run for it.

“Jokes on you, you little turds, she’s into that!” she hollered, marching after them.

Giggling, Emerald followed her girlfriend with her eyes for a moment, before her attention was caught by a small crowd of three or four students surrounding a small table in the corner. They stood motionless, all of their heads facing towards the middle of the table. Curious, she wandered over to see what they were finding so interesting. As she approached, she saw they weren’t completely immobile - they were swaying slowly from side to side, so subtly that it was hard to notice from a distance, especially in the low light of the banquet hall.

Reaching them, she found a gap between two of them and looked down at the table, to see a sparkling luminescent gemstone. No, wait - was it a gemstone? It was shaped more like a spiralling mollusc shell, but it looked crystalline in structure. And that glow...

The longer she stared at it, trying to figure out exactly what it was, the more the multicoloured light appealed to her...

The more her gaze was held by the spiral shape, her eyes helplessly following it around and around and around...

The more her mind started to slow down, lost in the glow and the sparkle and the spiral, so empty and sleepy...

Freya found her staring down at the table just as raptly and vacantly as the others. Her own gaze was caught by the enchanting crystal for a few long seconds, but unlike her girlfriend, she was able to muster the willpower to tear her eyes away again. She waved a hand in front of Emerald’s face, and when that didn’t work, she held her hand inches from Emerald’s eyes, blocking the gemstone from her sight, and snapped her fingers loudly.

Emerald blinked her incorporeal eyelids and shook her head dazedly. “Whuh...” she said confusedly, and then her eyes widened and she caught her ‘breath’ as she realised what just happened. “Oh, fuck,” she mumbled, even more turned on than she had been when Jay had fallen through her.

Freya grinned. “Enjoying yourself there, precious?”

Whimpering, Emerald met her gaze, biting her lip lasciviously. “Um so this party’s kinda dead or boring I guess d’you wanna get out of here maybe,” she gabbled, and then became so embarrassed she couldn’t look Freya in the eye a second longer.

Spluttering with laughter, Freya nodded. “Yes. Yes, I really, really do.”

***

On their way back to Emerald’s dormitory, they caught sight of more than a few trysts in shadowy corners of the school. A werewolf, teeth gnashing with desire, let herself be dragged into a bush by a tentacled girl, with whom she quickly became entwined. Juniper the tree nymph stood stock-still in the courtyard as the feathered Hannah pecked, fondled and humped them from every angle. The sights amused and aroused Emerald and Freya in equal measure.

They returned to Emerald’s room to find her physical body exactly where they left it, lying motionless on the bed, hands folded on her lap, eyes closed. She looked just like she was sleeping. “Goddesses, you look so pretty,” Freya whispered, gazing down at her.

Emerald giggled shyly. “So do you.”

Freya turned from the solid but insensate Emerald to the conscious but immaterial one, reaching out and caressing her chin with the side of her index finger. She’d done that before, and Emerald had revelled in the sweet yet erotic gesture - but as lovely as it felt to be stroked under the chin, it felt even better to be stroked through the chin. She quivered with bliss.

“You look like Sleeping Beauty,” Freya quipped, glancing back down at the mindless body. Before Emerald could respond to the comparison, the blonde witch hopped onto the bed, leaned down and began to passionately make out with unresponsive lips.

Chuckling as she understood what was expected of her in this little re-enactment, Emerald lay herself down on the bed next to... herself, and then slid sideways. The pleasure of foreign objects passing through her was as nothing compared to the ecstasy of being reunited with her physical form - every nerve in her body squealed with delight as they were reunited with their similarly-excited phantom counterparts. The echoing moan from her incorporeal mouth was abruptly stifled as she fully re-entered her body, her real mouth still smothered by Freya’s. Without hesitation, she seized Freya by the waist and returned the kiss with colossal enthusiasm.

The makeout session lasted a good few minutes, during which Freya toppled sideways and lay next to Emerald on top of the duvet, putting them back in the same position they’d been in two nights earlier - although now they wore much more glamorous clothes. Eventually, Emerald broke off the kiss.

“I want it,” she whispered breathlessly. “I want to do it with you...” Her hips thrust compulsively, rubbing her erection against her girlfriend’s leg through two layers of clothing. “Fuck, Freya, I want it to be you... I want you to enthral me.”

Freya’s eyes widened. “Really? Are you sure?” she whispered back.

“Yes,” Emerald mewled. “I want you to take me over, control me... do anything you want with me...” She humped Freya with closed eyes, hands wandering over her tits and her butt and her thighs, feeling Freya grope her just as eagerly... Their lips met again, tongues coiling around each other like the tentacles of that girl from the courtyard...

“OK, OK, hang on just a moment,” Freya said at last, pulling back and sitting up partially, propping herself up with her elbow. “You know what you’re asking here, right? I know how hot you find it - I can’t lie, I find it hot too...” She got a faraway look for a moment, her mind’s eye clearly wandering. “The thought of you under my control, completely subservient to me, willing to do anything and everything I want...”

Emerald whimpered, unashamedly touching herself through her dress. “So... so what’s the problem?”

“We... we haven’t discussed limits,” Freya panted, seeming almost as distracted by arousal as Emerald was.

“I don’t have any,” Emerald said dismissively.

“Maybe not that you can think of right now, but what if I do something that would cross a line for you?” Freya looked worried. “You wouldn’t be able to tell me. With the hex, you won’t have the willpower, or the awareness... You won’t know to tell me if I’m doing something you don’t like.”

“Well, I won’t care, because I’ll be enthralled...”

“But you’ll remember it afterwards! I might do something that traumatises you, and then -”

At this point Emerald sat up, put her hands on Freya’s shoulders, and stared into her eyes intently. “Freya, I want this,” she insisted. “I’m not worried about losing my will, my agency, not being able to renegotiate or safeword or whatever... And I’m definitely not worried about you crossing any lines. I trust you.”

Freya still looked dubious, but she seemed to be listening intently - as if she wanted to be talked into it.

“And if you somehow do do something I don’t like, I’ll just tell you after,” Emerald continued. “In the meantime, I’m giving my full, and enthusiastic, consent for non-consent. I am giving you full permission to enthral me and then do whatever you like with me - whatever desires cross your mind, no matter how twisted or degrading...”

Freya’s frown softened, her eyes gazing lustily at Emerald, who could sense she’d almost made the sale.

“I want you to take control of me, Freya,” she murmured, leaning in close. She kissed Freya softly on the lips, then on her neck. “I want you to take away my mind... my free will... my virginity... my dignity... my personhood...” She was leaving a horizontal trail of kisses along Freya’s neck, working her way around the side, towards her back, punctuating each soft peck with a seductively submissive statement. “Make me yours. Not a person, not tonight... Just your mindless, entranced plaything. Your slave. Your slut.” She ended that word with an unusually hard ‘t’ sound, for emphasis. “Your doll. Your possession. Your property.” She delivered one last kiss to the back of Freya’s shoulder. “Your precious Emerald.”

Freya let out a moan of desire. “Fuck, Em,” she sighed, turning her head to gaze at her. She wore a hungry grin. “When you put it like that... how can I refuse?”