Priceless

Summary: When a haughty prince starts making fun of Cedric, Sofia stands up for him.

(A/N: This story contains derogatory terms such as "fluffy-head" and does contain a rather snobbish prince created solely for this story. Lol. I'm not sure how this came about—must have been the obscene amount of caffeine and sugar consumed after getting out for Christmas break. Who knows? :D)

"It's always 'Cedric, do this,' or 'Cedric, do that,'" Cedric muttered under his breath as he cleaned up his floor, where a vial had recently shattered. "Well, maybe I don't want to do anything other than my job—ever thought of that, your majesty?" He sighed when Wormwood gave him a perturbed look. "I'm sorry for venting, Wormy. I'm really not even necessarily mad at King Roland this time. It's more of the fact that I'm tired of having to entertain visiting royals. The mere sight of their smug faces makes me want to—to w-wand them! Or something…" He shook his head. "I'm being silly, aren't I?"

Wormwood cawed once and flew down to his friend's shoulder, resting there and nudging him gently as if to give him some encouragement.

"Thanks, Wormy," Cedric told his raven, stroking his feathers. "I needed that. Well, then! Let's get to work, so we can prepare ourselves for this new prince…" He made a face. The princes were usually the most annoying visitors. They had an air about them that just said "rich and spoiled." Sure, princesses could sometimes be just as bad, but for all thing considered, Cedric had actually had slightly more luck with them. Sofia, anyone?

Speaking of his young apprentice, he smiled lightly when he heard her knock at the door. "Come in, Sofia."

The girl grinned as she slipped into his workshop. "See, I'm getting better at knocking and waiting," she joked happily as she shut the door behind her. She blinked upon seeing the mess on the floor that Cedric had almost gotten cleared. "What happened?"

"The wind," he replied, nodding back toward his open window. "A pretty strong gust blew over a vial earlier, so be careful where you step."

"Oh." She stepped around the glass and smiled excitedly at him. "Guess what?"

"I'm not sure, but I'm almost positive you're going to tell me either way," he teased, used to her excitable nature by now.

"You're right! Dad said when Prince Vince gets here—weird name, right?—I can help you out with the show you're supposed to put on." Her face fell when she saw him pause. "I'm sorry about that, by the way… I know how much you hate putting on shows for the royals."

"Well, it isn't your fault, Princess Sofia," he assured her as he trashed the glass and put his broom aside. "It's merely a fact that I have to face: I'm at the beck and call of the kingdom."

She grinned. "One of these days, I'll make it so you just work with me so that you don't have to do all of that. Then they can get a new sorcerer to do all this other stuff."

He rolled his eyes and laughed. "You don't have to go through all that trouble. Besides, if a new sorcerer comes in, he'll get this lovely tower," he said sarcastically, making the girl laugh again. "And I can't have that! So don't worry, Sofia. I'm just going to do my job as I'm instructed to do and not make a fuss so I can move on and do the other millions of things I need to do."

"And if we add in the practices and quality time we have together, I think you're totaling at least a billion." She grinned when he gave her a deadpan stare.

"You're not helping." He smiled as she giggled. "But I appreciate the effort. Now, since you're oh-so-willingly volunteering, what would you like to do for this visiting royal?"

"How about the snow spell you did for me on Wassailia?"

"No."

"Why not?" she asked, tilting her head.

Cedric shook his head. "No, that was your gift, Sofia. I don't perform those kinds of feats for just anyone."

She smiled happily and hugged him gratefully. "Aw, Mr. Cedric! You're so sweet!" She giggled as he blushed at her statement and smiled. "Okay, how about the rainbow spell?"

"Oh, yes," he said sarcastically as she let go of him. "A prince of any proportion would love a rainbow spell."

"Desmond likes rainbows, and so does James."

"Yes, but those two are easy to please." He tapped a finger to his chin in thought. "Perhaps we should stick to something we know well." He picked up his wand and handed her the training wand. "Morpho Mirrors?"

She grinned and nodded. "Morpho Mirrors!"

Over the next week, Cedric and Sofia practiced and perfected their new and improved Morpho Mirror trick. Not only would the mirrors allow people to see various versions of themselves as before, but the mirrors would also now allow the various versions of other people to appear in their reflections. It was a complicated spell to perfect, but they managed to do it with quite a bit of effort on both parts.

"Are you ready?" Sofia asked excitedly as she stood next to her mentor while they awaited the arrival of the visiting prince.

"No," he said with a minor squeak to his voice before he cleared his throat and shrugged. "I mean, well, I just want to get this over with so I can get back to more pressing matters."

She smirked. "Still working on Wormwood's wardrobe?"

Cedric rolled his eyes and smiled at her. "Of course not, Princess Sofia… I only work on that on Tuesdays."

The princess giggled a little more loudly than she'd meant to, and Amber nudged her to calm her down as the visiting prince walked in.

"Ah, Prince Vince," Roland greeted, walking forward and bowing slightly, receiving the same gesture. "This is my wife, Queen Miranda."

"Enchanted to meet you, your highness," Prince Vince stated, taking Miranda's hand and kissing it gently. He released her hand and looked up, his brown curls falling over his curious green eyes.

"Oh, my," the brunette woman laughed with a smile. "It is nice to meet you too, Prince Vince. And these are our children—Amber, James, and Sofia."

"They're delightful," he examined, "and charming."

"And beautiful," Amber added in with a wave of her fan to her face.

"And fun!" James replied as he grinned and winked toward Sofia. "Right, Sof?"

"Um, yeah!" She laughed.

"What a delightful family!" Prince Vince looked around the throne room, where they were currently gathered. "So, as I'm visiting this kingdom to discuss business on behalf of my father, I'd like to get started as soon as possible so I might return. I have a wedding to plan."

"Yours?" Amber asked, gushing with a dreamy smile.

"Indeed! Princess Helena and I are to wed in a few months. I'd like to actually have a hand in it this time."

"This time?" Sofia asked in a whisper to Cedric. "How many times has he been married?"

"How many purple dresses do you own?" he joked back just as quietly, trying to avoid being heard.

"Mr. Cedric!" Sofia laughed out loud, smiling sheepishly when the others turned to look at her. "I—I'm sorry. Mr. Cedric said something funny."

"An amusing sorcerer, hmm?" Prince Vince surmised, noting the wand in Cedric's hand. "That's hard to come by. I take it you're the entertainment?"

Clutching his wand a little tighter, Cedric bit out, "Yes, your majesty… I'm in charge of making your stay a little more delightful."

"Oh, yes," Roland realized with a large, oblivious smile. "Let's head into the dining room so we can get our meal. And Cedric, I hear you have everything in order?"

"I do, King Roland. Just leave it to me." As the family left with the visiting prince, he huffed in annoyance before feeling a comforting hand on his arm. He looked down and saw the young princess looking up at him in concern. He offered her a small smile. "I'm fine, Sofia. Not everyone is like you, unfortunately."

Instead of answering him, she simply smiled back at him and took his hand, leading him into the dining room to prepare.

Cedric set up the Morpho Mirrors trick just as he had done the previous year with Sascha's visit. Ignoring the feeling of annoyance that crept into his mind upon remembering the deceptive fairy, he created the multiple images of everyone at the table. He smiled as each person left the dinner table to inspect his or her counterparts.

"Wow," James breathed as he turned around, looking at his multiple images. "This is always a cool trick, Cedric! And—hey, where is my reflection going?" He watched as a reflection of himself, dressed in knight armor, jumped into another mirror and tackled one of Amber's reflections playfully, messing up her painter's dress and getting the rainbow paints everywhere.

Amber gasped and pointed at James accusingly. "Daddy! James's reflection got my reflection messy!"

Sofia tilted her head with a curious smile. "Really, Amber?"

Roland chuckled as he observed his reflections. "Amber, just relax and enjoy what Cedric has created."

Cedric felt pride well within as a smile graced his lips. It wasn't often that Roland appreciated his efforts in such a way, so it felt nice. "W-Well, your majesty, I honestly couldn't have done it without the help of Princess Sofia."

The auburn-haired girl giggled. "Thanks, Mr. Cedric, but I just followed your lead. You're still the best teacher ever."

"So you teach her?" Prince Vince asked curiously as he turned from his own multiple reflections to face Cedric curiously. "A sorcerer teaching a princess? Isn't that what school is for?"

Cedric blinked. "She's interested in the art of sorcery, your majesty. She has been since she arrived; so I took her on as my apprentice, and she has excelled in everything I've ever taught her." He smiled down at Sofia, who blushed lightly at the compliment but giggled all the same.

"I personally think sorcery is a waste of time," the prince argued, rolling his eyes. "Sorcery is for those who are too lazy to do something for themselves, or are too impatient to allow things to happen at their own pace. Besides, it's not like you are magical. It's your wand—anyone could do your job!" He laughed heartily. "I mean, if I wanted, I could do your job. Here, hand over your wand, Mr. Magic Man. I guarantee I could do just as well as you."

"I'm afraid I can't," Cedric replied with a wary glance, holding onto his Family Wand tighter. "This wand was passed to me by my father, and it's only to be wielded by the one who earns it."

Prince Vince smirked. "You really believe such a thing? How gullible can you be?" He laughed. "Honestly, King Roland, where do you find these people? And why bother with a sorcerer anyway? This guy is just crazy."

"Excuse me," Sofia interjected with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face. "I'm sorry, Prince Vince, but I can't allow you to continue talking about my friend like that."

"Your friend?" the prince scoffed with an incredulous look. "He's but a sorcerer, Princess Sofia… One shouldn't mix and mingle with the servants."

"He's not a servant—he's a Royal Sorcerer! Get your facts straight, fluffy-head!" She paused with wide eyes and her hands flew to her mouth as she realized what she'd just said to another noble.

Roland and Miranda gasped in surprise. Sofia never spoke like that to another adult, especially royalty.

"Well," the man began with a slight cough, his eyes focused on Sofia, "it's good that you can empathize with the commoners, princess, considering you used to be one."

Sofia looked hurt as Cedric took the opportunity to step forward and comfort her this time, which she responded to by hugging him.

"Now that's going too far," Roland declared as he glared at the prince. "You are a visitor here, Prince Vince, and as such you are expected to abide by a certain decorum. If you can't do that, I'll ask you to leave." He nodded toward his sorcerer and step-daughter. "Sofia and Cedric have a bond unlike any other I've seen. He's been good to her and taught her many things. To insult him is to insult Sofia; and to insult Sofia is to insult me." He looked back at Prince Vince with a pointed stare. "Understood?"

"Yes, your majesty," he said warily, laughing nervously under his breath. "I apologize…"

"Oh, don't apologize to me." The king indicated Sofia and Cedric. "They're the ones you've insulted."

"Insulted? I—" Prince Vince caught himself before sighing. "Yes, I suppose I was a bit…rude. I apologize to you both, sincerely. It won't happen again."

"I sure hope not," Sofia told him as she looked up at him from her spot beside Cedric. "Because Prince Vince, you get what you give to people. If you do something mean to someone or say something hurtful, eventually, it's going to come back on you. Please be careful what you say, because everybody has feelings."

Seeing that he'd actually really hurt the young girl, Prince Vince nodded in agreement. "I understand. I apologize, Princess Sofia…" He looked toward Cedric, who seemed a bit standoffish now. "And to you as well, Cedric."

"Oh, well, apology accepted," Cedric said with a wave of his hand, not really buying the other man's words but wanting to move on already. "Thank you, your majesty. Princess Sofia, I think it's time we laid our Morpho Mirrors to rest for the evening."

Sofia nodded and extracted her training wand from her dress pocket, pointing at the mirrors and indicating the necessary words to close off the spell and retract the mirrors.

The meal continued in a much better atmosphere. That night as everyone was departing for bed, Cedric took Sofia by the shoulder gently, getting her attention.

"You didn't have to do that."

She smiled. "Yes, I did." She hugged him happily. "Good night, Mr. Cedric."

He chuckled. "Good night, Sofia. I'll see you tomorrow."

"You bet you will!" She laughed happily and skipped down the hallway, feeling lighter than air.

Cedric rolled his eyes in humor at her resilience and headed back to his tower for the evening.

The end

(A/N: So I was trying to make Prince Vince not so one-dimensional, but it's hard when you have what I call "plastic characters," meaning they only serve a purpose for one story and usually one plot line. But I tried to redeem him at the end just the tiniest bit. Do I still dislike him? Uh, yeah, because ya don't insult Cedric! Lol. Anyway, hope you all liked this. I've been kicking around ideas about real *friendship* stories I could do with these two and this finally stuck. And to the requesters, I'm getting your requests and I'm going to see if I am able to do what's been asked of me. No promises though. I do have a lot of new ideas I'm developing, so yay! And Sofia2015, I'm going to see about getting that second chapter of Princess Convention for you. Just be patient with me. :) Now I'm off to enjoy the beginning of my Christmas break! Look for chapter five of Timey Wimey hopefully by Sunday, and a new story maybe as soon as tomorrow. We'll see! ;) ~AquaTurquoise)