Starry Eyes

Summary: When creating a potion in sorcery class, James mistakenly adds the wrong ingredients before accidentally spilling it on Zandar. As James has inadvertently created a type of 'affection potion,' Zandar now has his hands full when the potion has an unexpected effect on Hildegard.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sofia the First…or an "affection potion." Lol. I do own a lot of perfume though…doesn't have the same effect. Haha

A/N: SO what prompted this? Revenge. :P Just kidding. No, I wanted to see how Hildegard would fair under a "love potion" type of situation, and it'll be kind of like payback after her interference with Sofia and Baileywick in the "Mood Swing" series. Plus, it's obvious Zandar has a bit of a crush on her, so I figured why not let him see what an overly affectionate and doting Hildy would be like? :) I know. I'm so mean. :D Anyway, off we go!

"Now don't pour too quickly," Miss Fauna instructed her students as she walked around the room and monitored their progress. "Remember: be slow and steady with your movements."

Sofia grinned and winked at Vivian. "Mr. Cedric says something like that. 'Slow and steady does the trick.'"

Vivian raised an eyebrow at her as Sofia picked up a vial. "Mr. Cedric said that? The same Mr. Cedric who was in a hurry to get us to learn spells so he could leave?" She smiled as her friend laughed.

"The one and the same!" She looked back at her list. "Okay, last ingredient: juice from a golden berry."

"Here." Vivian passed over the concoction and watched as the other girl finished the product. "Are we done?"

"Yep! Miss Fauna, I think we did it."

The green-clad fairy floated over to her two students and smiled as she nodded. "A royal golden color. Slightly fizzy on the outer cusp. And a shimmer of fairy dust. Good job, girls. You've created the Midas Potion."

Amber blinked as she leaned back from her table with Desmond. "Midas?" she asked with a wide smile. "As in the Midas who turned things to gold when he touched them?"

Miss Fauna shrugged. "Well, it's the same name, but it's far from being the same type of power. Trust me, students, you don't want that power."

Hildegard giggled as she smiled toward her teacher. "Well, I don't think it could be all that bad, Miss Fauna."

"Believe me, Princess Hildegard, it really can." She smiled as she moved over to the dark-haired girl and observed the work she and Clio were doing. "And how is it going, girls?"

"Miss Fauna," Clio sighed as she held up two different vials. "I can't tell the difference between these two. Hildy says to use the lavender one, but they both look lavender to me!"

Hildegard rolled her eyes and gestured to the vial on the right. "That one is lavender. The other is mauve."

"They look the same," the brown haired girl insisted with wide eyes. "How do you know?"

"Because lavender is a few shades darker, naturally." She flipped her hair out. "I'm going to have my closet painted that color eventually."

"Who gets their closet painted?" James asked with a laugh as Miss Fauna moved on to check on the other students.

"People with a sense of style, for one thing," the Friezenburg princess responded pointedly. "Not that you'd know anything about that."

Zandar, James's partner for the day, just laughed nervously. "Can we please not argue about this?" he requested. "Hildegard, lavender is a nice color, and I'm sure your closet will look wonderful when painted as such." He paused and blushed a little when the girl actually smiled appreciatively at him.

"Thank you, Zandar," she said sincerely before smirking at James. "See? That's how you pay a compliment."

The blonde boy rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He lifted his own vial and reached for one of several pipettes that had been filled with different shades of red potion. He grabbed one and squeezed it into the vial, grinning as it bubbled lightly before emitting a puff of pink smoke at the top. "All right, Zandar! Looks like we've got ourselves a fire-breathing potion."

Sofia blinked at her brother as she turned to him. "Why on earth would you need that?"

"Why not?" the Enchancian prince retaliated with a happy grin. "The possibilities are endless, Sof!"

Sofia gave him a tolerant smile as Vivian giggled. "If you say so, James."

Zandar reached over to James. "Here, let me see it and I will stir in the rose essence."

James made a face as Zandar reached for the vial. "Why do we even have to have that in there anyway?"

"It's supposed to counteract the smell of sulfur or something." He gasped when James's hand slipped, and the potion fell onto him. "James!"

"Oh, no!" Clio gasped. "Miss Fauna! Hurry!" She waved her arms frantically as the fairy quickly flew over. "James spilled his potion on Zandar!"

Miss Fauna observed the mess and shook her head. "It's all right, Princess Clio. From what I can tell, Prince James, you did not actually make a so-called fire-breathing potion."

"I didn't?" he asked with a blink.

Zandar meanwhile was attempting to shake the red stain out of his lighter clothes, and he didn't notice the stare he was receiving from Hildegard.

"No… I think you used the wrong pipette. You should have used B. This looks…and smells…" She sniffed the air and chuckled. "Yes, that's A…"

"And…what does that mean?" Zandar asked worriedly.

"I'm afraid James has made an affection concoction."

"A love potion?" Amber gasped. She cast her brother a sarcastic glance. "Honestly, James."

He held his hands up defensively. "Hey, I didn't know! It was an accident!" He gave his sister a grin. "Besides, you know you'd like it if a love potion caused someone to fall for you."

She scoffed. "James, a love potion wouldn't be necessary. I'm lovable as it is." She smiled pleasantly at her lab partner, winking playfully. "Isn't that right, Desmond?"

The other boy blushed at her question and stammered, "I-I-I…ohh…" He then promptly fainted on the spot.

Sofia gasped. "Desmond!" She and Vivian hurried over to help their fellow student up.

James smirked, folding his arms. "Nice going, Amber. You killed Desmond."

She shot a glare at him. "I did not! Stop being so melodramatic, James." She knelt down with the other girls to help the boy up. "Desmond, Desmond, talk to me."

Miss Fauna stepped over, using her wand to gently and magically heal the boy of his fainting spell. "Give him some room."

Desmond blinked his eyes open and looked up. "W-What happened?"

Sofia gave him a worried look. "You fainted. Are you all right?"

He smiled sheepishly and avoided eye contact with Amber as much as possible. "I… I'm all right. Thanks for helping me." He nodded gratefully toward his teacher before she moved on to help some others who'd called for her.

While this was going on, Zandar had finally succeeded in getting some of the stain out of his clothing. However, the sweet smell of pipette A still lingered.

"Oh, Zandar," Hildegard began with an enchanting smile, garnering the boy's attention.

He blinked. "Um… Yes, Hildegard?"

She giggled and leaned toward him, whispering, "You smell amazing."

The boy blushed fiercely, looking around to see if anyone had heard her. Apparently, the other students were either focused on their labs or attempting to see after Desmond, just in case. "Uh, th-thank you?"

Hildegard grinned, stepping closer to him, using two of her fingers to "walk" over his shoulder. "Zandar, tell me something…"

The prince of Tangu shot James a helpless look, but he was still preoccupied with teasing Amber. He sighed and shifted back a little, uncomfortable with the sudden attention from a girl he usually fancied a bit… "What is it, Hildegard?"

"Do you like me?" She smiled charmingly as she folded her arms behind her back, her eyes shining as she awaited his response.

"Um…" His cheeks grew pinker as he lowered his head, looking anywhere except at her.

"Oh, Zandy!" She giggled and threw her arms around him, hugging him all of a sudden.

"Zandy?" Clio turned and blinked, seeing her best friend hugging Zandar. "Hildy? What are you doing?"

James finally redirected his attention to his best friend and grinned. "Zandar, something you want to tell us?"

Once Desmond had fully regained his senses and was sitting in a chair to recover, now all eyes were on Zandar and his current…predicament.

Sofia smiled sweetly. "Aw, I didn't know you two liked each other."

Zandar held his hands up, which was no easy feat, considering Hildegard still had him in a tightened hug. "I-It's not what it looks like! She just…started hugging me for no reason!"

"Maybe she likes you," Vivian hinted with a small smile and shrug.

James rolled his eyes. "Hildegard only likes her precious mink and her lavender wall paint."

Hildegard finally released the poor prince and smiled widely. "Hildy doesn't just like Zandy…she adores him." She leaned forward, brushing her nose against his.

Zandar blushed brighter as the kids' mouths dropped.

"Okay, seriously," Amber gasped, "what is wrong with you, Hildegard?"

Sofia looked toward the stain on Zandar's clothing and blinked. "What a minute… Miss Fauna said you'd spilled a love potion on you. You don't think…"

James laughed. "Oh, man! Hildegard is under a love potion." He then grew solemn as he looked at his best friend. "I'm sorry, Zandar. I'll never forget you."

The darker boy glared at the blonde. "James! This is serious! I don't want her acting like this. She's freaking me out!"

The youngest Enchancia princess giggled at the situation before waving her hand, calling, "Miss Fauna! We need you again!"

The fairy sighed with a patient smile on her face as she floated over to the kids. "I'm certainly earning my paycheck today! What seems to be the problem?"

"Hildegard and Zandar are making goo-goo eyes at each other," James explained with a grin stretched on his face. He faltered a bit as Zandar nudged him a little harder than necessary. "Ow!"

"I beg your pardon?"

Clio pointed toward the dark-haired princess. "That affection potion got on Zandar, and Hildegard just…gave him lots of affection!"

Amber rolled her eyes at the statement as Sofia giggled and James snickered behind his hand, stepping out of the way so Zandar couldn't reprieve him again.

"Oh, dear…" Miss Fauna shook her head. "Okay, Prince Zandar. Hold still." She aimed her wand at the young girl and let her magic flow over her, bringing Hildegard back to her senses.

"Oh, what…?" Hildegard blinked when she realized she was still hugging Zandar. She gasped and stepped back, confusion clear on her face. "Who said you could hug me?"

Amber gave her friend a sarcastic smile. "Actually, Hildegard, you hugged him."

"And he liked it," James teased, yelping as Zandar growled in embarrassment before chasing after him around the room. "Calm down, Zandy!"

"Stop calling me that!"

Hildegard blinked in boredom before shrugging the situation off. "Let me a guess: a potion gone wrong?"

Clio nodded fervently. "Yeah! You were being really nice to Zandar though."

"I'll say," Vivian added with a laugh.

The princess in question hid a blush behind her fan as she cleared her throat and turned away. "Yes, well… I wasn't myself."

Desmond and Sofia both gave the girl understanding smiles as her two closest friends giggled.

Hildegard calmed her blushing before watching James and Zandar chasing each other before Miss Fauna settled them down. While her friends went back to work, she found her eyes fixated on the prince of Tangu and a little smile on her face once more…and this time, a potion wasn't necessary.

The end

A/N: Take the ending as you will. :D I'm probably not going elaborate more on Hildy and Zandar, though I do kind of like them as a future potential couple. They'd be kind of cute together. I know it's not to everyone's liking, but that's just me. :) Well, I'm off. I don't know when I'll write next. I started school again today, and my students arrive Thursday, so I'm going to be extremely busy getting things in order the next several weeks. You may see me pop in every now and then, but I certainly won't be writing as often. So for now, I will see you all later. If I haven't collapsed from exhaustion, maybe I'll put the third/final chapter of "Magic of Memories" up this weekend. We'll see! Till later!

~AquaTurquoise