My Perfect Lover

It had taken months of research and more than a few trips to the 'specialist' section of the library, but Meredith had finally found it. The book itself was old, older than anything else she'd ever read and had spells and potions in its pages she'd never even heard of. Most importantly though it had the exact potion she was looking for: Perfectus Amantis. It was a potion that when consumed prompted you to temporarily transform into the perfect lover of whomever you were nearest to at that moment in time.

It was partially a surprise to the young witch that it had taken her so long to not only find out how to make it, but to find any mention of it at all. She knew that transfiguration potions were controversial, even those that were consumed voluntarily, but given the impact this one could have on the industry of 'personal enjoyment', she was also surprised it wasn't being sold on shop shelves right now.

The book had some annotations already written in it that were slightly faded but still legible. They appeared to be research notes of some kind that marked exactly what the person taking the potion had turned into. It noted people had gotten larger, smaller, fatter, thinner even changed genders at one point! That must have been a big surprise and an awkward conversation when they spoke to the person they had transformed for.

'Wait, why have you transformed into a man?'

'Why indeed, Lukas?!'

The thought had made her giggle the first time she read it. She had no doubt in her mind that that wouldn't be happening to her though. Her boyfriend, Aurelius, had always been very open with her about what he did and didn't like and cock definitely wasn't on that list. She'd even playfully suggested they try pegging at one point and whilst he hadn't been cruel about it, he'd made it clear that was never going to happen. She didn't mind as she hadn't been serious anyway, and in any case she actually quite liked it when he was firm with her. She just wished that translated over to the bedroom.

Aurelius was a careful and caring lover, which 80% of the time was great for Meredith, but more often than not she was finding herself really wishing he'd just let loose and take control, maybe smack her ass or pull her hair a little, nothing too extreme. She loved nothing more than when he took her to bed in his strong, muscular arms (a rarity for most wizards as they had no real need of physical prowess) but the promise that came with usually only ever led to 'nice' sex. She was convinced that all he needed was a little push and if she transformed herself into the woman of his deepest desires, maybe he would finally give her what she'd been craving for so long.

Collecting the ingredients had been a chore as whilst they weren't so rare as to be expensive, they were difficult to come by in the modern age. She'd had to specially order most of them online, a practice most traditionalist spellcasters disapproved of but as she wasn't aware of her heritage until she was a teenager, she had grown used to the world she was expected to leave behind by those people and wasn't about to give up it's practical luxuries. Besides, people didn't seem to be putting much stock in the traditional ways these days anyway, and for the better in her opinion. The stuff that was practical and made sense she could deal with, but anything that made no sense to her, such as shunning non-magic technology, she had no time for.

As such she had typed up her own notes on the recipe and now had them displayed on her tablet sat prominently on her sideboard next to the stove her largest, non-stick pan was heating up on. She'd used cauldrons at the school she started attending after she discovered her abilities, and they were always a nightmare to clean up after. It seemed that even in all of the years that magic had been around, no one had come up with a decent enchantment for self cleaning cauldrons, so a non-stick pan would have to do.

As she followed the guide and added the ingredients, she started to daydream about the night ahead of her. She'd entice Aurelius up to bed and then present her handiwork. He'd be astounded at the care she'd put into finding and creating the potion and praise her for being so damn clever and sexy. Then he'd watch in glee as she drank the potion and suddenly became the woman of his dreams. From there he'd have no choice but to ravage her like an animal, throwing her down onto the bed and...

There was a knock at her front door. Meredith shook herself out of her daydream, albeit very reluctantly. She wasn't expecting anyone today and she definitely hadn't invited anyone around. She had specifically put today aside to work on the potion without interruptions! She moodily got out her wand.

"Vide Perspicuus," she said.

Just like that it was as if the door wasn't there anymore and she could see right through it. Being able to see through walls with the use of a simple spell, even temporarily, was definitely a big up for Meredith compared to her life before magic. It was one of the spells she had taught herself early on and it had saved her skin on a number of occasions. For now it just allowed her to see that it was her friend Juni standing waiting with a far away smile on her face like always.

"Vide Opacum," Meredith said with a sigh of relief, reversing the spell.

Whilst it wasn't ideal that Juni was here, she was at least normally quite easy to get rid of. She should have expected it really, because even though they had been friends for years before then, starting in pre-school, Juni had become almost obsessive with her questions and visits to Meredith since she found out she was a witch nearly a year ago. It was a Tuesday when she didn't have work so of course she was here.

Meredith opened the door.

"Hi Juni," she said.

"Hi Meri!" Juni replied enthusiastically.

"Is there anything you need, Juni? I'm a little busy..."

Meredith knew Juni hated to impose so she hoped this would be enough to get her to leave, but today it seemed she had other ideas.

"Ooh, what are you busy with?"

Meredith sighed and beckoned her in. She couldn't tell Juni out on the street what it was she was doing, her neighbours might overhear and they were already suspicious enough as it was. Despite magic being more common than one would think, it was still a semi-guarded secret in general, mostly to avoid persecution. Every other attempt at revealing the existence of magic had led to horrific outcomes that had gotten a number of innocent people killed. It was a shock to Meredith to learn that the 'witch-hunts' she'd heard about had rarely if ever resulted in actual witches and wizards being burnt at the stake but instead meant that anyone considered even slightly 'odd' or 'different' was tortured and then killed by people trying to 'protect themselves'. Thus for the good of everyone involved, it had been agreed that the existence of magic needed to be a more closely guarded secret.

That was what she had been told in her classes and for years she kept it up as much as she could, but there was only so many times she could explain away odd books in her home, things moving on their own or where she had met her boyfriend. Juni was the only one she had told from her 'previous life' and ever since then she'd been a constant presence in her current one.

"I'm almost finished with what I'm doing Juni so would you mind going and sitting in the front room? I'll be in in a few minutes, tops..."

"Oh, sure!" she obliged.

Meredith returned to the kitchen where the potion had been bubbling away quite nicely and had finally reached the consistency and colour it was supposed to be, a dark reddish purple that almost resembled a summer fruit smoothie, a favourite of hers. The potion would need to cool before it could be consumed so she'd washed out a couple of glass flasks and marked where she would need to fill up to for one portion according to the recipe. The glass flasks she already had on hand as, ironically, she'd made herself a batch of her favourite drink not too long ago. It served a double purpose for her as Aurelius didn't drink them and so when the potions were nestled in among the other glass flasks, there was no chance he would accidentally drink one.

The recipe had made enough for two portions which Meredith guessed was so both members of the couple could enjoy themselves at the same time if they wished. She placed them in the fridge next to her existing bottles of smoothie and then quickly washed out the pan and binned anything that was still sat out and she didn't need any more. Finally she went and joined Juni in the front room.

"Sorry about that Juni," she said as she sat down beside her.

"Oh, no worries," she smiled. "So was it some sort of potion or spell?"

Juni always seemed to light up when she got the opportunity to ask questions about magic. Meredith understood her fascination and didn't hold it against her. When they were younger, Juni was always really into stories about witches, wizards, magic and mystery. Meredith wasn't as interested so had always found it cruelly ironic that she turned out to be a witch and Juni didn't.

"It was a potion, one that I've been researching for months..."

"What's it called? What does it do?" Juni asked eagerly.

"It's called 'Perfectus Amantis' and it's sort of related to, like, love potions and that kind of thing..."

"Oh yeah? Man I wish I knew about you being a witch sooner, a love potion or two would have been really handy when we were younger," Juni laughed.

"Yeah I know right? So anyway, this one doesn't make a person fall in love with another but what it does do is make the drinker transform temporarily into whatever the biggest desire of the person they are nearest to is."

"I'm not sure I follow," Juni said, confused but still enthusiastic.

"Erm ok, what's another way to explain... how about this: who do you have the hots for more than anyone else in the world?"

"The h-hots?" Juni said.

"Yeah, like who's the one person in the world you dream about getting it on with? Who if they walked in here right now and said they wanted you, you'd spread your legs and say 'yes please' without hesitation."

"Oh, err, well I'm not really sure..."

Meredith watched as Juni went about the same colour as the potion. She was never usually this embarrassed when they talked about this stuff, so Meredith was a little confused.

"Come on, are there, like, no celebrities or famous people you like?"

"Well, I mean I kinda like Phoebe Miller..."

"The singer? Ok, yeah I see it," Meredith mused. "So anyway, this potion would make it so that whoever you're with would transform into Phoebe Miller and then you could live out all your fantasies!"

"S-so is it like a proximity thing? It's whoever you are closest to physically when you take it?"

"Yeah I think so. I mean if you ever were going to take it, you'd be with your partner anyway so there's not much danger of, like, crossed wires or anything..."

"So you mean if you drank some of it now, you'd turn into Phoebe?"

"If that's who you desire most then yeah," Meredith laughed. "Although I'm not going to, by the way, it took ages to get this thing right and I'm saving it for tonight. Besides, it'd be a bit of a waste don't you think? I mean me and her already look kinda similar when you think about it..."

Meredith trailed off as she noticed Juni going red again. She had suspected for a long time that her friend might like her more than just as a friend but as she was pretty sure she didn't like girls herself, it had never gone beyond that. There had been that one time where she was experimenting with what she liked and found she had a penchant for watching two girls go at it with a strap-on, but that had subsided once she started dating guys. They hadn't even really talked about it beyond the occasional talk between them about what guys and girls they liked. She knew she needed to change topics fast and put the emphasis back on her being with Aurelius so that Juni wasn't made to feel any more awkward.

"Anyway, so my plan is to wait until Rel gets home, tell him all about it and then..."

Meredith mimed drinking the potion.

"How come you've decided to do this?" Juni asked.

"Well as you know from what we've spoken about before, Rel is a really nice lover. But that's kind of the problem, he's just 'nice', you know?"

"Isn't 'nice' a good thing?"

"I mean yeah of course, but I'd just like it if he let himself just really go for it for once, you know? Hey, remember that guy I was with for all of like 2 months before I met Rel?"

"Oh yeah, Lothris. The guy who wouldn't let me being a lesbian get in the way of flirting with me..." Juni recalled.

"Yeah, and I am once again really sorry about that, although I did dump the guy when he wouldn't let up so, you know... Anyway, as much of a douchebag as he was, when we did it he didn't hold back at all. Like he properly slammed into me, smacked my ass, dominated me, all that stuff..."

Meredith could once again see Juni about to go red so pulled back to her main point.

"The point is I enjoyed it. I mean it was about the only enjoyable thing with that asshole, but all the same. If Rel could bring even just a little of that to the bedroom, I'd be a very happy woman."

"And you think that if you take the potion and become whatever he wants most, he'll do all that stuff to you?"

"I mean it's worth a shot right? And what if I don't change at all, even after taking it? It'll mean I'm already what he desires most in a woman and will be really sweet if you think about it."

Meredith was feeling more and more like she was having to justify herself. Luckily she'd had this argument with herself many times over the past month so felt entirely prepared to answer any question.

"Couldn't you just ask him to do all that stuff?"

"Well, yeah I could, but it's not the same when it's not this organic urge to just do it you know?"

"Ok, I suppose I get that. It seems like a lot of trouble to go to though..."

"I mean it has been a complete pain, I'll grant you that," Meredith grinned. "At worst though I come away from tonight knowing a little more about what Rel really likes and then maybe I can apply it to the bedroom later on. If he doesn't just go for it when I'm all his dreams come true at once, then I know for sure he never will and it'll be an easier pill to swallow that I won't be getting that kind of action. Does that make sense?"

"In a weird way yeah..." Juni trailed off.

"Good, I thought so," Meredith laughed.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket (another thing she wasn't willing to give up) and as she checked it she saw it was Aurelius calling her.

"Oh, it's Rel, you don't mind if I take this do you?"

"Of course no problem. Can I get a drink?"

"Go ahead," Meredith smiled as she answered the phone. "Hey Rel, what's up?"

"Hi Meri, just calling you quickly to let you know I'll be home a little later tonight. One of the customers in the shop dropped an Andrean Tremor Stone and the stock's gone everywhere."

"What an idiot!"

"I know. We're still trying to work out if he did it on purpose and whether we should prosecute. Anyway, that's boring stuff, I'll let you know when I'm on the way home yeah?"

"No problem sweetheart, and hey if it makes dealing with things easier, you'll have something to look forward to once you get home..." she grinned.

"Well I'm not sure that does make it easier but thank you, I'll look forward to it," he replied jovially.

"Love you!"

"Love you too."

Meredith truly couldn't wait until that evening. It would be a little later than she had wanted, but Aurelius was going to lose his mind with lust when she drank the potion for him.

"Is Rel ok?" Juni asked as she walked back in from the kitchen.

"Oh yeah he's fine... wait, didn't you say you were getting a drink?"

"I did, I've already drunk it. I was really thirsty," she smiled.

"Oh ok," Meredith said, before she suddenly felt a chill run down her spine. "What did you have to drink?"

"Oh, I had one of your smoothies, I hope you don't mind..."

Meredith went white as a sheet. She dashed into the kitchen as Juni looked on with confusion. She was praying she was wrong but she'd only know once she checked the fridge. She had placed her two flasks of the potion on the right hand side and now... one of them was missing. She stepped back from the fridge and stood in silent shock.

"Is everything ok Meri?" Juni asked.

"No, it really isn't," Meredith had to reply.

"What's wrong?" Juni asked, looking concerned.

"That 'smoothie' you drank, did you get the bottle from the right hand side of the shelf?"

"I mean I think so yeah..."

"Fuck!" Meredith shouted.

"I'm really confused Meri, what's the matter?" Juni said, looking more worried than confused.

"That wasn't a fruit smoothie you just drank..."

"What? Then what was it?"

Meredith stared at her and watched as the realisation dawned on Juni's face.

"Oh... oh my god!" Juni cried, worry changing to shock and veering towards panic.

"For God's sake Juni, couldn't you taste the difference?" Meredith barked at her.

"I mean it tasted a little funny but I thought you'd just used different fruit or something! Oh god, this is bad, this is really, really bad!"

Meredith wanted to be angry. Her bumbling idiot of a friend had just accidentally wasted a portion of the potion she'd been working so hard on! But as she watched Juni's slow descent into panic quickly speed up into a plummet towards a panic attack, she reminded herself that her friend had no experience with these things and would likely need her help.

"It's ok, it's ok. Calm down," she said, trying to quell her fears.

"What's going to happen to me Meri?" she quivered, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Well if the potion works as designed, you're going to transform into the perfect fantasy lover of whomever you're nearest to," she said before pausing for a second and continuing, "which is me."

"S-so I'm going to t-transform into a guy?"

"If it works, yeah," Meredith said sheepishly. "Look, all it means is that you'll likely just turn into Rel for a bit, ok? The potion will eventually wear off..."

"How long is 'eventually'?"

"I... I'm not sure. A few hours maybe..."

"A few hours?!" Juni cried.

"I might be wrong, it could be less or... oh shit!"

Meredith had watched as Juni lurched forward and almost fell, catching her before she could topple over.

"We need to get you laid down. I'll take you upstairs," Meredith told her.

Juni babbled something in response but it seemed she was in no fit state to disagree with Meredith even if she wanted to. Meredith carefully guided her up the stairs to her and Aurelius's bedroom and laid her down. It was like putting someone to bed who was obscenely drunk.

As she laid her down, Meredith noticed Juni's wrists protruding out of the sleeves of her blouse more than before. Aurelius was taller than Juni and thus had naturally longer limbs meaning the transformation was officially beginning. It also meant the potion was a success, but Meredith had very little time to celebrate as she heard the quiet but distinct sound of Juni's tights starting to rip as her legs followed suit. She checked with Juni to see if she was ok but she seemed to be either unaware that Meredith was talking to her or unable to answer.

Bizarrely, Juni's hair had started to lighten to a blonde colour. And instead of shortening like Meredith would have expected to match Aurelius's close cut, it was getting longer. Even more bizarre, Juni's facial features were becoming more defined and feminine as opposed to matching Aurelius's masculine features. Perhaps the potion hadn't been quite right? In any case at least Juni's body was reacting mostly as expected, clearly still gaining in height as her limbs and torso extended.