Silhouettes

Summary: When Sofia suffers a strange attack at school, the royal family turns to Cedric for answers. He determines that she's under attack by someone who possesses dark magic, and it's up to them to figure out who the culprit is before it's too late.

Disclaimer: I don't own the show. I own only a few particular characters mentioned in here.

A/N: I have every intention of incorporating more people into this story than usual, because there are several who can and will offer Sofia some form of comfort and/or assistance due to her very challenging and negative situation. She's truly going to need all the help she can get. Also, I actually had to do some research on real "dark magic" to get a general feel of what can and cannot occur with it. Of course, with this being STF and Disney, I'm scaling it back a bit, so I hope this comes through. :) But yes, I promise you, this is much darker than many other things I've written before, so buckle up. ;) Enjoy!

*Story*

Chapter 2: Precaution

Dark magic. Dark magic? Dark magic?! How on earth could she have encountered such a thing? Who in their right mind would think to attack such a sweet girl with such a horrid and dangerous form of magic? All these thoughts and more flew through Roland's mind as he listened to Cedric's explanation. "Is there a way to stop it?" Roland asked as Cedric finished speaking.

"I certainly hope so," the sorcerer said uneasily as he sighed. "Honestly, King Roland, there are very few people I know of who've actually possessed such dark power. Granted, there are a few—including me—who have done some questionable things with relatively normal or light magic, but for one to actually not only possess but use it…" He shook his head. "That's a dangerous person, Your Majesty. In fact, dark magic is forbidden by the Conjurors' Board. So whoever has access to it is acting outside of the magical laws."

"This is really bad then," James surmised as he and Amber crawled onto Sofia's bed and sat beside their sister. "Someone's obviously trying to hurt Sofia."

"And we need to stop them," Amber added. "I think anyone who would harm Sofia deserves to be taught a thing or two." She ran her fingers through her sister's hair as a comforting gesture, smiling as the younger princess smiled at her in appreciation.

"While I agree with you, Amber," Roland began, "I'd say it's best for you two to stay out of it. I don't want any of you getting hurt. Leave this matter to the adults this time."

"But Daddy…"

"He's quite right, Princess Amber," Cedric told her gently. "Dark magic is nothing to make light of. If you or Prince James were to interfere, the one pursuing your sister might very well turn to you both as well." He faced both the king and queen as he stood up. "If it pleases Your Majesties, I'll be more than willing to delve into this mystery and see what is going on."

"You're going to do it either way," Miranda realized with a small smile. "I know how protective you are over Sofia, Cedric, so I can think of no one better to help her."

He smiled. "Thank you, Queen Miranda. And when she goes to school tomorrow—"

"I can't go back there," Sofia suddenly interjected, garnering the others' attention. "Please, Mom, Dad, please… Don't let me go back there now." She felt James take her hand for comfort, and she probably squeezed it a little too tightly, but he didn't complain. Obviously she needed some sort of grounding at the moment. "I've read about dark magic and know what it can do. I… I'm scared of not only getting hurt myself, but others around me suffering too."

"That's precisely why I was going to make a suggestion," Cedric told her as he looked toward the girl in question, who glanced up at him. "I will go along with you, your brother, and your sister tomorrow, Sofia, and I'll be there to protect you in case of another attack."

"Mr. Cedric…"

"I don't want you to miss school and be scared of life just because some coward with too much gumption has decided to make you a target. You're not weak, my dear, and you never have been. Don't let this defeat you."

Sofia considered his words before frowning and nodding. "You're right. I can't let this miscreant think I'm scared."

"Miscreant," Roland laughed with a calming smile. "Only Sofia would offer a gentle insult at a time like this." He nodded toward Cedric. "We appreciate your service to our children, Cedric. Please keep a close watch on not only Sofia, but all of them tomorrow."

"Yes, King Roland. I'll protect them with all I have."

The next morning, Cedric accompanied the Enchancian students to Royal Prep and discovered pretty quickly that everything seemed relatively normal. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and he didn't sense anything sinister…yet.

He made sure to inform all three fairies of the situation at hand, though he discovered pretty fast that they'd already started to make a connection.

"We had a feeling it was something malicious," Merryweather told him privately as the children waited outside the door.

"The only thing I don't understand is, why Sofia?" Fauna wondered as she sighed. "She's such a darling girl and could never cause harm to anyone, so for someone to target her is so bizarre."

It suddenly occurred to Cedric that these three didn't know the full extent to which Sofia battled against negative forces, or what have you. They were clearly unaware of her connection to characters like Grimtrix, Slickwell, and the like, so he wasn't about to explain. After all, some things were best kept secret.

"Would it be all right if I accompanied Sofia to her classes today?" Cedric asked, steering the conversation in another direction. "I indicated to King Roland and Queen Miranda that I would come along to keep an eye on her, and I'd like to keep my promise to them."

"Absolutely," Flora insisted with a nod. "You have every right as their Royal Sorcerer to fulfill your obligations. Besides that, we know very well how much you mean to her." She smiled as Cedric seemed rather shy all of a sudden. "She speaks highly of you, Cedric. I feel you should know that."

Cedric smiled thoughtfully as he nodded slowly. "Thank you, Miss Flora…"

The day started off relatively well. There were no signs of anything malicious going on so far, and Sofia was more than relieved. However, things took a bit of a turn when she arrived to Fauna's class and sat down.

Cedric instantly recognized the girl's look of fear as she shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. He grabbed a spare chair and sat next to her, observing her momentarily. "What is it?"

"I'm so cold…" She glanced around and observed that none of her classmates seemed to notice her actions. Even her siblings were busy working and seemed to have forgotten about the temporary issue. Sofia looked back toward Cedric. "Don't you feel cold at all?"

"No. Perhaps you're feeling nervous about the situation. That often causes switches in body temperature."

"You don't understand, Mr. Cedric," she whispered as she shivered. "This is how it started yesterday…"

Cedric frowned and wielded his wand just in case. Upon glancing around the room, he realized he knew probably three quarters of the students in there. Well, he recognized them anyway. Very few did he know.

Sofia yet again glimpsed something out of the corner of her eye yet hardly had time to process it as she felt a distinct, piercing pain in her right arm near her Enchantlet. "Ahh!"

The entire class turned to face Sofia, who was gripping her arm and seething in pain and shaking.

Cedric was fast to react and gently grasped her left hand, lifting it up and gasping at what he saw. There, on her right forearm near the Enchantlet, was a circle with some sort of symbol or lettering he didn't recognize in the center. What he did know was it was glowing an eerie red color and felt warm to the touch. "Sofia…" He was extremely worried for her safety now, though he did not demonstrate any signs of fear as he did not want her to panic. Then again, despite his actions, he felt she would worry regardless; truly, he didn't blame her one bit.

"Wh-What is this?" she asked.

"I believe it's a dark mark…from dark magic."

"Sofia?" Amber asked worriedly as she stood from her desk and hurried over to her sister, who was swaying a bit. "Sofia, speak to me. Please!"

"Dark…magic…" Again, Sofia's vision was swimming. Again, she felt weak. And again, she thought she saw something in her peripheral vision, though she didn't manage to see just what. She hardly noticed her classmates' worried calls as she fainted, collapsing right into Cedric's arms, much to his surprise.

Something was coming… Or worse yet, something was already there.

To be continued…