Sparks

Summary: After a spell backfires when preparing for an upcoming sorcery exam, Hildegard suddenly realizes she has the ability to perform simple magic with her fingers. Needless to say, she's not about to pass up that opportunity.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sofia the First!

A/N: I've been approached a few times about writing another story for Hildegard, so I opted to give it a go. Hildy is a hard character to write, in my opinion, but I figured I'd give it another try. ;) Enjoy!

*Story*

"Mumbo-jumbo, my name isn't Dumbo," Hildegard mumbled in obvious annoyance as she waved a practice wand around before rolling her eyes and tossing it onto the bed beside her. "I don't know why Sofia likes this magic stuff so much. Okay, yes, sure… It has its benefits and fun times, but it's just so complicated." She yawned before sighing. "Besides, there are so many better things I could be doing with my time than studying for this ridiculous exam…"

The princess grinned before grabbing her guidebook and opening it up, flipping a few pages in. "I wonder if there's a spell to create a whole new wardrobe for me! After all, I feel like I wear the same old thing over and over again… Time for a new Hildy!" After skimming a few more pages, she finally located what she believed she was looking for. "Ah-hah! The Alteration Spell." She shrugged. "Should work, right? If the clothes don't fit, you alter them. Makes sense." She giggled excitedly before grabbing up her wand again and clearing her throat once.

"Twists of change, come wrap around; newest layer I've now found. With a spark of edge and flair, alter me as I so dare." She blinked after a few minutes, realizing nothing had happened. "Well, that was a waste of time… Ugh, magic is too hard." She tossed her wand on her bed again and hopped down to her floor, reaching out for her brush before withdrawing her hand as she saw a startling blue spark erupt from her fingers. "What in the…?"

Frowning, the princess extended her hand over the brush once again, but this time instead of just a spark, the brush actually seemed to react to her hand's presence and began levitating before her eyes. "Whoa," she said in awe. Her lips suddenly curved into a smile. "Hmm…this could be interesting, actually." With a flick of her wrist, the brush suddenly levitated higher and twisted around in the air. She then lowered it and closed her hand, cutting off the connection to the brush.

"Wow, that's amazing!" the usually hard-to-please girl gasped. "Ooh, what else can I do?" She grinned and looked at her study materials lying innocently on her bed. "Hmm. Such a disorganized mess will never work. Let's tidy that, shall we?" With purposeful movements, she thrusts her hands forward, and the materials actually flew up into the air before landing in a more organized fashion on top of the covers. "There, much better. Oh, this is so exciting!"

She spent the next hour playing around with her new magic and hardly glanced at her study materials at all. Soon enough she went to sleep without a care in the world…although a steady stream of blue electricity poured out through her fingers every now and again before dissipating altogether.

The next day at Royal Prep, Sofia yelped as she felt herself pulled unceremoniously into an empty hallway. She gaped at the older princess before her. "Hildegard, what's the matter?" she asked in curiosity. It wasn't often that the Friezenburg princess actively sought her out.

"Sofia, you enjoy magic, right?"

The auburn-haired girl blinked before giving the dark-haired princess a sarcastic look.

"Right, of course you do. Everyone knows that… Anyway, have you ever been able to perform magic without a wand?"

"Well…" She absently felt her hand reaching toward her amulet, which she slid along its chain. She couldn't very well talk about her secret with Hildegard, so she instead changed the subject. "Why do you ask?"

"Watch this!" she squealed as she held up her hands toward a portrait and motioned emphatically, turning the portrait upside down.

Sofia gasped. "How did you do that?!" she asked, astonished.

"Shh! I found a spell in that guidebook last night; it was called The Alteration Spell. I thought it was for fixing up clothes, but apparently it gave me magic powers. Can you imagine having powers, Sofia? Ahh!"

The younger princess laughed uneasily. "Heh, yeah… I guess that would be neat." She made a sound of surprise as Hildegard pulled her back into the main corridor before guiding her to their classroom. "So, obviously you've discovered a spell to give you powers. That's great…I think. Do you know how to get rid of them?"

"Get rid of them?" Hildegard scoffed. "Why on earth would I want to do that?"

Sofia shrugged. "Fair point… Did you at least study for the exam?"

"Well, see, I started to…but then I got distracted by all the amazing things I can do now that I have magic powers. I moved stuff around; I made a magical mural on my empty wall in my room; I fashioned one of my old dresses into a new, gorgeous gown… I'd say I've been relatively productive."

The other girl raised her eyebrows questioningly. "Uh-huh… And what's one of the main rules of sorcery?"

Hildegard gave her classmate a pensive look before clutching her guidebook possessively. "Finders, keepers?"

Sofia rolled her eyes. "Always be safe?"

"Psh, don't worry about me, Sofia! I haven't done anything dangerous."

"Yet."

Hildegard groaned. "Sofia, stop being such a worry wart. I'm fine! I've got this! Magic is a piece of-!" She'd lifted her hands in a wild gesturing motion and, before she could react, an unexpected stream of magic shot from each of her fingers, knocking items off the walls and turning various objects into different items.

"I hope you weren't going to say cake," Sofia complained in slight irritation as she sighed at the mess Hildegard had accidentally made. She shook her head as the older princess giggled sheepishly. "We've got to figure out how to reverse the spell. Clearly, magic isn't for you…"

"Is so!"

"You knocked a vase from a table and turned it into a frog!" The younger girl sighed in exasperation as said vase-frog ribbitted before hopping away. "Face it: magic isn't your calling. So let's fix the problem before it escalates."

Hildegard smirked as Sofia quickly used her wand to fix all of her errors before placing it back into her backpack. "Been studying your vocabulary, I see. Whoa!" She was surprised when this time Sofia grabbed her hand and pulled her away into an empty classroom.

It took a few minutes, but Sofia located the spell Hildegard had used. "Hildegard, you do realize this spell wasn't intended to just give you magic powers, right?" She frowned when she saw her friend's confusion. "It's supposed to change your entire being, by turning you into a magical entity."

"Awesome!"

"It could be dangerous though…"

"Who cares? I'd have powers for the rest of my life!" She laughed. "Sorcery lessons would be so easy!"

Sofia folded her arms. "If your magic backfires, it could hurt you."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take," the older princess replied dutifully with a haughty huff. She winced in pain as a sudden sharp sensation spread throughout her body. "Wh-What was that?"

"Hildy?"

"It feels like my veins are on fire!" She glanced at Sofia with pleading eyes. "Sofia, I take it back. This hurts! De-magic me!"

"But what about-?"

"Please, Sofia! Pain and I don't mix!" She whined as she grasped her arms, attempting to calm the feeling.

"O-Okay, let me see what I can find." Sofia quickly skimmed the information in the book before sighing in relief and grabbing her wand from her backpack again. "Remove the spark of magic new; return her to her state so true!" With a flash, Hildegard collapsed into a heap on the floor. Sofia knelt beside her, gently patting her hand. "Hildegard, are you okay? Talk to me."

"Huh?" The Friezenburg princess blinked a few times before sighing. "Thanks, Sofia. I think… I think I'll leave magic to the professionals. It was neat to have the ability to move things around…" She smirked. "But that's what servants are for anyway, right?"

Sofia rolled her eyes. "Same old Hildy." She giggled and stood, pulling her to her feet. "Come on. Let's go before we're late for our test." She made a mental note to ask Miss Fauna exactly why such a spell would be in their study materials later… Hopefully it was just a misprint. In the wrong hands (cough—Hildegard—cough) things could get testy quickly.

"As long as it's just a regular test and not asking us to conjure something, I'm good. I think I've had enough magic experience to last me a lifetime." She laughed. "Whoever heard of a magic princess anyway?"

Sofia just smiled knowingly as her amulet twinkled in the glint of the sunlight.

The end