Forever Young

Summary: During a magical mishap, Cedric and Greylock both turn into little kids again. To keep them out of trouble, Baileywick begrudgingly looks after them while Sofia, Amber, and James try to figure out how to get the sorcerers back to normal.

Disclaimer: I don't own "Sofia the First!"

A/N: This should be my last "little" Cedric story for a long time! Lol. I know, he's cute as a kid, but I prefer to keep him his normal age. But I literally could not get one particular scene out of my head, so this had to be written. Enjoy!

"Ooh, what does this do?" Greylock asked as he picked up a bottle of what he assumed was perfume, observing it curiously.

Cedric yelped and waved his hands. "Put it down, Greylock!"

The other sorcerer smirked and rolled his eyes. "Oh, lighten up, Ceddy-kins." He placed the bottle onto the table to avoid an outburst from his friend/rival.

The Enchancian sorcerer growled under his breath before sighing. "I knew I never should have told you about that…"

Sofia giggled as she leaned against the table. "Mr. Cedric, I think we should probably go now. Baileywick said you two needed to meet him outside."

"Right, right. Come along, Greylock." He brushed his bangs aside and folded his arms. "Not that I don't trust you in my workshop, but… I just don't trust you period."

Greylock pouted, a pathetic look on his face. "Now that really hurt, Cedric! I'm merely being observant…and my keen eye noticed that you have an extra jar of poppy oil hiding behind all these vials." He grinned as he turned back to the aforementioned vials.

Cedric glared at him cautiously. "Well, you can't have it," he scolded, causing his friend to look at him in disappointment. "Last time you had poppy oil in your possession, you made our teacher fall asleep for a week!"

The brown-haired sorcerer chuckled proudly. "You should thank me. Professor Josephine was a bit of a stick in the mud anyway."

"Did you two get into a lot of trouble when you were younger?" Sofia asked curiously as she led them down the stairs.

"No." "Yes."

The sorcerers exchanged glances, eyebrows raised at each other.

"Well, I wasn't getting in trouble much," Cedric defended as he folded his arms. "You may have been in trouble while around me, but that doesn't mean I had anything to do with that."

Greylock shot him a pointed look. "Two words: 'Merlin's Museum.'"

Cedric glared back at him, a soft sound of disappointment escaping his throat.

Sofia turned toward them as they neared the end of the staircase. "What happened at Merlin's Museum?" she wondered.

"Oh, I'd be delighted to tell you, Princess Sofia!" Greylock grinned energetically, making Cedric sigh in annoyance. "You see, when we were about ten years old, our professor decided to take our class to the museum to study Merlin and his history with magic. However, Cedric here wanted to emulate the man so badly that he dressed up like Merlin, stole his father's Family Wand for the occasion (which I hear got him grounded for a year, no less), and put a sleeping spell on all of the staff at the museum."

The princess blinked at her mentor in surprise. "You really did all of that, Mr. Cedric?"

He shrugged. "Admittedly, not one of my proudest moments…" He huffed. "Especially when my father found out about the Family Wand and gave me a grounding I'll never forget. Naturally, I became a bit of a model student after that and never got grounded again." He side glanced his friend with a smirk. "Greylock, on the other hand…"

"Eh, what can I say? Grownups have no sense of humor."

As the trio reached the hallway, James and Amber approached their sister.

"Sofia," Amber began pleasantly, making the auburn-haired girl slightly wary already, "my, you look so pretty today. Doesn't she, James?"

"Oh, yeah," he added, though he was nervously looking around. "Even Cedric looks pretty today."

Cedric blinked while Greylock snickered behind his hand. "Um…well, thank you, Prince James… I think."

"Huh?" The prince laughed before looking toward them sheepishly. "I—I mean, uh…"

The youngest princess observed their behavior and frowned. "What did you two do?"

Amber rolled her eyes and took hold of Sofia's arm. "Sofia, you're always helping people out, right?"

"I…guess?" She was still utterly confused as to what was going on.

"So would you be willing to help James and me out for just a teensy-weensy second?" She started tugging her down the hall, much to the younger girl's dismay.

"No! Amber, whatever it is, it needs to wait. Baileywick is waiting on Mr. Cedric, Mr. Greylock, and me." She pulled her arm from the older girl's grip and moved over to her mentor, practically hiding behind him now.

Amber shrugged. "Fine. I guess we'll just work on the repair spell later. Hopefully Daddy doesn't get back too soon to see the mess James made in the kitchen…" She smiled apologetically as Sofia gaped at her.

"Are you going somewhere?" James asked, interested in their possible travels and glossing over the fact that he'd just been accused of yet another mess in the castle.

"We are traveling to Rudistan," Cedric corrected while ushering Sofia from behind him and placing one hand on her head. "Princess Sofia is staying here, whether she likes it or not."

"Aw, Mr. Cedric, I could be a big help though!"

Amber raised an eyebrow at her. "What exactly are you two doing that Sofia can't go along?"

"Basically we are doing a run-through with the castle to make sure Slickwell didn't leave anything dangerous or spell-ridden behind," Greylock responded as he twirled his wand. "I mean, the man got his greedy little hands on a clumsy spell pin, so who's to say he didn't have something else laying around?"

James frowned in confusion. "Shouldn't you guys have done that like months ago?"

"We should have," Cedric conceded, "but I'm afraid our schedules just simply didn't match up; and Greylock is practically helpless without me." He grinned.

Sofia folded her arms. "And they won't let me go because they think it'll be 'too dangerous.' But I've done lots of things before that were dangerous, and I've been all right."

"And how many are your mother and father unaware of?" The Royal Sorcerer of Enchancia nodded as his apprentice gave him a reproachful look. "That's what I thought. I can't have you getting hurt or something, so I'm afraid my answer is no. You need to stay here this time."

She sighed. "Fine, Mr. Cedric… I'll stay here."

Greylock grinned toward the other sorcerer. "Well, perhaps before we leave, we should take a look at this so-called mess Prince James seems to have made, eh? We could possibly help the poor lad out so that he doesn't get into trouble."

James grinned up at the brown-haired man. "And I now have a new favorite sorcerer!"

Cedric gave the young boy a pointed look. "I'll remember that."

The quintet approached the kitchen, which indeed did look rather disastrous. Pots and pans were dented and lying on the ground. Bags of flour had been overturned and were ripped. The walls were stained with what Cedric hoped was tomato sauce…

"What happened?" Sofia asked with wide eyes.

"Rex," the twins answered together.

"But if James hadn't thrown the ball in the castle," Amber explained, garnering looks of realization from the other three, "then none of this ever would have happened."

"I didn't know it was going to bounce in here," the boy defended with a pouting face. He glanced toward the sorcerers. "Can you fix this for me…please? I'm already on my last chance, and I can't be grounded before our birthday… That would be really bad."

"Oh, I don't know." The blonde girl smiled and folded her arms. "I could finally get all the presents to myself."

Sofia gave the girl a disapproving look. "Amber."

"What?"

Deciding to have mercy on the boy, Cedric and Greylock worked together and got the kitchen back into working order. It looked as if nothing had ever happened, which made the young prince very happy and grateful.

"Thank you!" He beamed up at the sorcerers. "You guys are the best."

"We know," Greylock answered playfully, adjusting his monocle. "All right, Cedric, we really must be off now. We're losing daylight."

Cedric nodded as he followed Greylock, the three children following them out of interest perhaps.

Once outside, Baileywick sighed in relief as the royal sorcerers approached him. "Finally," he breathed, his arms folded. "I was about to send a search party after you two."

"Aw, you do care," Cedric returned sarcastically, smirking at the steward rolled his eyes. "Good to know. Okay, you three stay here and out of trouble, Sofia."

Amber tilted her head. "Baileywick is going with you?"

"I asked him to come along as a non-magical accomplice," Greylock explained. "Perhaps if we find something else of Slickwell's, then he could test it out for us."

"So Baileywick is your guinea pig," James remarked, laughing.

The steward sighed, rubbing his forehead. "It would seem that way…"

Sofia moved forward and hugged Cedric, surprising him a bit. "Be careful," she told him, looking up at him worriedly.

He smiled and returned her hug gently. "We will be. I promise. And keep your brother away from the kitchen."

She giggled and nodded as she released him.

Cedric glanced toward Greylock. "Before we go, perhaps we should put a protective barrier over the castle, especially since none of us will be here with the children."

Greylock nodded. "You have a point."

With a spell carefully spoken and the castle guarded by magic, the two sorcerers exchanged satisfied glances.

"So that means no bad guys coming in, right?" Amber clarified with her hands on her hips. "No Miss Nettle, no Slickwell, no strange bad guy wannabes out for revenge?"

Greylock chuckled. "That's right, Princess Amber. You'll all be safe and sound, or my name isn't Greylock the Grand!"

Cedric rolled his eyes and glanced at the three royals, his face an expression of concern. "Before we go, Greylock, I think it would be best to put a spell over the children to protect them as well…"

James laughed nervously. "Uh, Cedric, not that I doubt your ability to 'protect' us or whatever, but considering your history with spells gone wrong…"

Amber rolled her eyes. "James, have a little faith. I'm sure Cedric knows that a miscast spell on us would only be detrimental to him." She smiled at the sorcerer, who now appeared somewhat annoyed. "Go ahead, Cedric."

"Hmph… Very well." He lifted his wand, chanting, "Revertere iuventus!"

Greylock's eyes widened as he bolted forward, knocking Cedric's wand askew, the magic ricocheting off the ground and toward a castle window. "Cedric! You said the wrong spell!"

Cedric frowned at the other sorcerer. "Excuse me! I think I know—"

"It's servare, not revertere!" He gasped when he saw the magic bounce off the windows and zoom back in their direction. "Duck!"

"Huh?" Cedric and Greylock didn't quite react in time, and they were both hit with the magic, knocking them backwards onto the ground.

Sofia gasped and moved quickly over to her friends. "Mr. Cedric? Mr. Greylock? Are you okay?"

Baileywick blinked as he observed the backfired spell's effects. "Oh, my…"

When the magic cleared, smaller versions of the sorcerers now looked up at the three children and the steward.

Greylock looked down, seeing he was much closer to the ground than normal, and he glared at Cedric. "CEDRIC!"

Cedric couldn't help the laugh that came upon hearing the childish growl from his friend. "S-Sorry! Ahh! My voice!" He whined. "Not again!"

To be continued…

A/N: Yep! I think this deserves to be a chapter story. :D And look for chapter two sometime later this week. I already have an idea of what I want to happen, and this story will not be super long either. By the way, thank you all for the kind reviews recently from "Dancing Through Life" and "101," and even from "Shaken" and before. They make me happy. :) I'm planning to get "Shadows" up soon, and that story probably will be a bit longer… We'll see. I'm working out my plans, so fingers crossed. :D And I think this is a record for me… Is this really three stories/chapters in one day? Ha, pretty neat. All right, later, everyone! Have a good week!

~AquaTurquoise