An ancient artifact

"What the hell is that?" asked Buffy, pointing to the odd-shaped object that Giles was showing her.

"According to my research, it's called the Draconian Katra," said Giles. "It was supposedly en route to the mayor's office but fortunately one of the -- ahem -- contractors employed by the Watcher's Council managed to intercept it when it went through customs. The mayor was given a harmless lookalike; this, however, is the real deal."

"How do you know that?" asked Buffy. "Maybe the mayor got the real deal and we got the lookalike."

"The source that provided it to us assured us that that was not the case."

"Still... Okay. What does it do?"

"It swaps bodies, apparently," said Giles. "When activated in the correct manner, it allegedly takes the soul of one person who is holding it and places it in the body of any other person who is holding it. That second person's soul, obviously, ends up in the body of the first person. It is all very complicated but I have been assured that it actually works."

"Oh, really?" asked Buffy. "Have you and Wesley tested it yet?"

"Not yet."

"Okay. Then why are you showing it to me?"

"Because it just might provide a temporary solution to your problem," said Giles. "Since the curse primarily affects your body and not your mind, there's a slight chance you might avoid your curse by transferring your self to another body. Not permanently, of course, but maybe for the course of one night. Say, the night of the prom, perhaps."

"This doesn't sound like you," said Buffy. "This sounds more like something Ethan Rayne would come up with."

"Actually Wesley came up with the idea," said Giles.

"Wesley?"

"Yes, " said Wesley. "I got the idea from this new research assistant I hired. One of the friends of your friend Willow Rosenberg, I believe. The two of them were in the same magic class together."

"You checked this girl out, I suppose?" asked Buffy.

"Miss Summers, I assure you that I check out all my female research assistants."

I bet you do, thought Buffy.

Then she said, "Okay. But even if this whole bodyswap thing is kosher, what girl in their right mind would want to trade with me? It would have to be someone willing to stay naked the entire night and maybe miss out on the prom."

"Well," said Wesley, "oddly enough, my assistant was touched by your plight and volunteered her services. She is new in town, anyway, and thus not likely to know anyone who would ask her to go to the prom. As a matter of fact, here she comes now."

Buffy turned to see a young blonde woman enter the library. The necklace around her neck looked familiar but what really stood out in Buffy's mind was the woman's face. Buffy just knew she had seen it somewhere before -- she just couldn't remember where.

"Buffy Summers," said Wesley, waving one hand in the direction of the other blonde woman in the room, "please allow me to introduce you to my research assistant Anya Emerson."