The poster catches your eye, one of many drifting about on the notice board, each variously glowing or sparkling or playing faint music in an attempt to catch students’ attention. With the spring holiday starting, there were numerous opportunities for young mages to get some more practice, a few extra credits, or the opportunity to show off some of their flashier spells. Though for a first-year mage, it usually meant walking around with a silver tray of enchanted canapes.

       Still, it was something to do, so you make your way to room 1408, where already there was a crowd of eager students variously patiently waiting, or trying to impress others with conjured fireworks or singing illusions. By the time you reach the front of the line, dodging a few errant fireballs as you wait, the crowd had died down until there were just a few other volunteers & the coordinators left.

       One of the coordinators turns to you, ‘Sophia’ written on a glittering name badge, her curly black hair matching the dishevelled bundle of papers she carried on a clipboard, each page filled with what you imagined was the details of a hundred volunteers. You quickly introduce yourself and your course, watching as she flicked back and forth between pages.

       “I’m afraid most positions are filled up, at least for first-years, though we do have a few positions left in catering.”

       You are about to protest, tell her you were no good with cooking, much less culinary magic, before she cut you off.

       “Oh, don’t worry, you’re not going to make the food, you’ll be the food,” Sophia must have noticed your wide eyes, as she quickly continued, “nothing permanent, of course. You’ll be changed back to your old self after the ball, and the feeling of being food, of being eaten, is… a wonderful experience.” She winked… suddenly her caramel-coloured skin seemed strangely appropriate.

       A little deliberation later, you sign the form.

---

       A few days later, you arrived at one of the academy’s main kitchens. Though the May Ball was still a week away, mages and mundane staff alike were busying about the place in a rush of preparation. Weaving your way between a couple of frantic chefs, you look for the familiar sight of Sophia, spotting her talking to a woman who looked like she’d been carved out of ice, her bare skin sparkling. You blush a little, half at the sight of her, half wondering if that was how you were going to look once Sophia was finished with you. Soon the frozen woman drifts off into the crowd, and Sophia waves you over.

       “Hello again! Ready to be changed?” her voice is cheerful, but there’s a sense of someone very busy trying to get through many people as quickly as possible, “sorry for the rush, we’re trying to get as much done before the party as we can… and that means turning you into chocolate now.”

       You feel your heart racing a little, the idea of becoming chocolate so strangely appealing, to have your body on display… just something to be eaten?

       Sophia nods, “we’re going to need a lot of chocolate, so you’re going to end up as a lot of different delicacies, or maybe melted into a fountain… though of course, we’ll keep your torso and head as a centrepiece,” she punctuates the sentence with a wink, “but we’ll take care of that on the day. For now, we’ll just be changing you into chocolate.”

       Before you have a chance to ask any questions, she bundles you off to a private room, the noise of the crowd dying down as she closes the door behind her.

       “Time for the awkward question,” Sophia asks while she busies herself with a few different potion bottles, carefully reading the labels, “do you mind stripping down? Clothes don’t play nice with chocolate, though you can keep your underwear on, everything will be… smoothed out.”

       You gulp, thinking things over. You know you should be embarrassed, but part of you was excited by the thrill of being put on display, your heart racing. Quickly taking off your clothes, you carefully bundle them up, setting them down on the table next to you. The cool air plays across your skin, hairs rising with goosebumps.

       “Perfect, thank you!” Sophia smiles at you, making you blush again, before handing over a potion; the liquid a murky brown like treacle. You were no stranger to potions, you’d even made a few - of course, they only did small changes like turning your hair blue, or helping you see in the dark. Something that could turn your whole body into living chocolate was definitely a first for you.

       “Oh, before I forget!” she calls out, quickly rummaging in her pockets, pulling out a bottle with a small wooden carving inside, “hold this for a second…” You hesitate a moment before offering your hand out, the wooden carving tumbling into your hand, looking like the rough shape of a person. You barely have a chance to look at it before the carving flares up, blazing brightly, the flames dying down to reveal an intricately carved version of yourself.

       “There! Now we have a perfect reference for when it’s time to change you back,” she explains, carefully taking the carving from your hand and dropping it back down into the bottle, “okay, now for the potion,” she smiles, stepping back to give you space.

       You uncork the bottle, holding it up, the liquid slowly sloshing back and forth inside, wafting a faint aroma of spices and chocolate. Calming yourself, you take a deep breath before tipping the potion into your mouth. The potion was warm and sweet, filling your mouth with the taste of chocolate, insides tingling as it slides down your throat. Tipping the bottle back to make sure no potion was left - the last thing you want is to become only half chocolate - you wait for the magic to take effect.

       Sophia had already wheeled out a standing mirror, letting you get a good look at yourself. Setting the potion bottle down, you step closer, looking for any signs of the change starting. You felt it inside you, the potion settling in your stomach, the warmth of the magic spreading inside you. The warmth was soothing and calming, your breathing slowing. Already your insides were turning to chocolate inside you, melting and merging together, the magic of the spell keeping you alive and moving.

       You watch your skin starting to change, a tingle spreading across it, the rich brown colour growing darker with each passing moment, starting to shine in the light. You run one hand down over your arm, feeling the roughness and imperfections of your skin turning into the smooth velvet feeling of chocolate. You feel yourself becoming warm and sensitive all over, the chocolate aroma of your own body growing stronger, fingers smudging your chocolate skin as you run your hands over yourself.

       Looking back at the mirror, you see the shape of your body becoming soft and indistinct, sharp features smoothed out, nipples fading into a smooth chest, the bulge in your underwear flattening into a smooth curve. If your cheeks weren’t chocolate, you were sure you’d be blushing again, resisting the urge to investigate the changes between your legs.

       “Don’t worry,” Sophia replies as if reading your mind, a hint of humour in her voice, “you’ll get them back safe and sound after the party - we just need to keep a little decorum.”

       You nod, turning your attention back to the rest of your body. So much of you had already changed, your eyes gleaming brown orbs swivelling in your chocolate face. Waves of chocolate rippled down over your hair, matting it together, hardening it into a single solid form. It was then you realised you’d stopped breathing completely, even your heart rate slowing to nothing.

       “Now comes the less fun part… because your whole body is chocolate, we do need to, well, freeze you until the party. I’m afraid you might smudge or melt yourself in the meantime - it’s happened in the past, it’s not pretty - and any magical preservatives would just ruin the taste…”

       You nod in reply - it was going to be a little strange, missing a few days, but you know it’s the safest thing for you. Besides, you are pretty eager for the party anyway. You follow Sophia over to a small row of magic freezers, a couple already filled with their frozen occupants, including the crystalline student from earlier. Getting into your own freezer, you barely have a chance to tuck yourself in completely before Sophia began an incantation, drawing out a blazing arcane symbol in the air. The world around you flashes a brilliant blue before you drift off to an enchanted sleep...

---

       You wake to the sounds of commotion all around you, blinking your chocolate eyes as your body warms up again, the memory of being changed slowly coming back to you. All around, people were bustling from station to station, some laden with ingredients or pots and pans, others carefully carrying trays of delicacy after delicacy. The smells and aromas mingle together with the warm smell of wood fires, making you a little sad you couldn’t eat any of them yourself.

       “Welcome back!” Sophia’s voice calls out, snapping your attention back, “hope you had a good sleep… the chocolatiers are ready for you, if you’d like to follow me?” She beams at you, the warmth of her smile putting you at ease.

       You follow after her, Sophia being sure to widen the way through the crowd, just in case someone knocked into you and shattered the dessert table’s centrepiece. Soon you find yourself in front of a wide table, two copper cauldrons atop small fires amongst bowls of different ingredients, assorted fruits and jellies, and a few gleaming silver moulding trays. Two culinary witches were waiting, their kitchen robes already stained with the day’s cooking.

       “Hi, you must be our chocolate centrepiece!” one of them called to you, her cheerfulness almost matching Sophia’s, “I’m Jess, and this is Ezra, we’ll be making some delicious desserts out of you today… Sophia, if you’d be so kind.”

       Sophia mutters a quick spell, and you can feel your body growing lighter, rising up from your ground slightly.

       “Just a little easier to work with you this way,” Ezra continued, picking up a length of metal wire, “we’re going to start by separating your arms and legs. You should just feel a slight pull as I cut through, but say if it feels painful, okay?” His attitude was a lot calmer than either Jess or Sophia, and you were a little glad he was the one armed with the wire.

       You nod, trying to hold yourself as still as possible - which wasn’t too hard, the way Sophia’s magic was gripping you around your waist. Ezra steps behind you, and you feel his hand on your back, Jess stepping forward to grip your arm - their warm hands pressing gently into the chocolate skin, melting it slightly. Then, the cool of the wire cross your shoulder, a slight pressure as Ezra pulls it down, the wire effortlessly sliding through your chocolate body. The sensation tickles slightly, and you find yourself biting your lip, chocolate teeth smudging under the pressure.

       Another quick pull on the wire and your arm came free, your body bobbing up slightly due to the lost weight. The sensation was strange and slightly unsettling, the feeling of air against the exposed stump of your shoulder, still feeling Jess’ hands gripping your arm tightly.

       “Think that was weird? This is going to feel even weirder-” Jess teases a little carrying your arm over to one of the brass cauldrons. You already feel the warmth of it billowing up, the heat spreading through your arm, a stretching feeling as your arm starts to droop and melt, drips of chocolate running across your skin. It slips from her hands, a moment of lurching weightlessness in your arm, then the feeling of your arm splashing against blazing hot metal. Part of you knows it should have been painful, but the feeling was strangely pleasurable; the way your chocolate body was quickly melting, mingling into itself, warm currents spreading swirls of chocolate through yourself.

       They turn to your second arm, expertly splitting it clear of your body, dropping it into the same cauldron. Cold and warm chocolate mingles together, your second arm melting into the first, the sensations becoming harder and harder to make sense of.

       “How does it feel? Weird? Good?” Sophia asked, shifting her stance slightly, raising you up so Jess and Ezra could reach your legs more easily.

       You nod. It definitely feels good.

       Another two quick slices and your legs came free, leaving you with just a chocolate torso and hips attached to your head. You realise it was becoming harder to move, the same magic lifting you up freezing your torso in place.

       “Wouldn’t want you accidentally tipping over,” Sophia carefully sets you down into a shining golden pedestal, magically fitting perfectly around your hips, leaving your torso and head standing proud on the table - watching as your legs are dropped into the second cauldron. Feet hit warm metal, quickly warming up, melting, your legs slowly melting downwards into them. Jess drops a spoon in, gently stirring, a weird feeling as the solid metal swirls around your melted body, churning it this way and that.

       The two culinary witches quickly got to work preparing the rest of the moulds as arms and legs melted together. Toppings were carefully laid out in each of the trays, piping bags of syrups and caramels set down on the table. Their prep done, each took one of the cauldrons, your limbs sloshing around inside as they moved. Expertly, they drop out a small portion of your chocolate body at a time, a weird feeling of a part of you dropping down, splashing into the cool mould, quickly cooling and hardening around the shape of the toppings.

       One row of trays done, they quickly pour one cauldron into another, scraping out the last of your body clinging to the cauldron, setting it back onto heat - the familiar warmth like relaxing in a bath, except you were the back. A little heating later, and they resume their work, one pouring a small portion of your body into a mould, the other sticking a piping bag inside. You feel the cool metal of the nozzle push your molten body apart, the flow of warm liquid from it, the way your body stretches and expands around it, cooling while they move onto the next chocolate.

       You feel each and every part of you split out into the dozens of trays, the feeling of your body cooling at different rates, each piece of fruit or caramel stuck into your body.

       “There, ready to serve!” Jess calls out, satisfied with her expert chocolate creations, while Ezra starts to tumble bits of you out onto serving trays, quickly stacking them up into dizzying displays.

       You almost want to reply, though you don’t know what to say - though you quickly realise you couldn’t say anything even if you wanted to, the rest of your body left un-melted now frozen into a perfect display. You can only watch as servers arrive to carry you out into the May ball, filling out the dessert table, your torso set alongside the frozen torso of the student from earlier, something pink and sparkling running down her body into chalices below.

       With the trays of your body laid out, you didn’t wait long before hungry members of the crowd made their way over, sampling the different desserts and delicacies your body had become. Warm fingers squeeze against your smooth chocolate shell, some parts of you set on tables for later, others quickly popped into warm mouths. You feel each and every part of you being eaten, teeth splitting and chewing your body, mingling with the toppings or fillings inside you. Stranger still was the lurching, sliding feeling of being swallowed.

       You try to imagine what you must taste like - though gauging from the looks of pleasure on the guests’ faces, you must taste wonderful. As the night draws on, more and more of you was picked up, eaten, savoured, dissolving in a hundred guests’ stomachs. With each bite, your consciousness drifts slightly, expanding out throughout the hall, your thoughts getting muddy and dizzy from the almost overwhelming sensations. With so little of you left to sample, your thoughts drift back to Jess and Ezra…

       Soon they’d need to melt and serve the rest of you, and you couldn’t wait...