Simple

It was just never that simple, Cedric had to admit. After days of running into decorators and tripping over wedding decorations, and being asked to do this little thing and that by their highnesses, he had finally hoped to have some peace alone in his study. Just time for a real distraction, where the world could actually pass him by and he could forget that things must always change.

It was too much to ask, he realized, when the white vision came bursting through his doors.

"What in Enchansia…?" Cedric could hardly finish as the woman slammed his doors shut, nearly catching her skirts in the doorway, and bolted them tightly before collapsing with a terrible cry against them.

"Sofia?" he gasped, blinking at the stranger. He couldn't be sure at all until she turned her face to him. Even then, he had to look closely to be certain it was stained her cheeks and her ringlets escaped in waves from a tiara, which dangled perilously at one side of her head. "Whatever is the matter?"

Sofia sobbed into the mounds of silk and white taffeta of her wedding dress as she apparently tried to pull her knees up to her chest. "Oh, please don't make me go back out there! Please! Let me just stay here forever and never, ever think of leaving again."

"Wha…what?" Cedric stared down at her.

"I just want to be a little girl again! I don't want to get married! I want to go back to Royal Prep, the village! I never asked to grow up! I don't want to! Oh, please make a spell that will just keep me from growing up. Please! Please!"

Her sobbing near broke Cedric's heart. "Sofia…"

"What was I thinking? I can't get married! I can't go to Avalor by myself! What about Amber and James, and Addie? Mr. Cedric, what if Addie forgets all about me?"

There were shouts outside the study window. They were faint, but Sofia's gasp informed Cedric that the calls were for her. Before he could make heads or tails of the situation, Sofia leaped from the floor and flew at him. His vision swam with white and silver as she pressed her head into his chest.

"Please let me be your apprentice again! I promise I'll always keep your study neat and your spells organized, if you'll just make me a little girl again! Please, Mr. Cedric!"

"Oh. Oh. There, there, little one." Slowly, Cedric managed to smooth down the floating layers of her skirts to wrap his own arms around her, mindful of his potion splattered sleeves touching the handstitched wedding gown. "There's no need for tears…" Well, there might be, poor girl… "I'm sure this will all get figured out, if you will just calm yourself." He patted her head, catching the tiara as it finally slipped free of its pins.

Sofia clung all the more tightly to him, though her sobs slowly lessened.

"It's just wedding jitters," Cedric continued, repeating exactly what he had heard others say time and time again. "All brides feel that way before their wedding day." He certainly hoped that was true.

"It's not jitters," Sofia mumbled into his tunic. "It's different, Mr. Cedric. My head hurts and my heart hurts. Please, just make a spell and take it all away!"

Oh, that he could. Cedric grasped her tightly to him, forgetting the dress and his messy robes. He wanted nothing better than to change her into that little princess that would come bounding into study, if only for an hour longer. What he wouldn't give for ten more minutes of her chatter and her requests, and her cheers as she told him that he was the best sorcerer in the world! Surely there was some way to stop children from growing up and leaving!

Cedric, Cedric, you nincompoop. You know that you can't. It's just not possible.

"Sofia, it just isn't possible," he whispered, somehow summoning a calmness and certainty he didn't know he had. "I am sorry. I would do something for you, if I could." A heavy stillness followed, barely broken even by the voices which now clearly called for Sofia outside his door.

"Mr. Cedric," Sofia said at last, her voice hoarse. "What am I going to do?"

What was she going to do indeed? What are you going to do, you fool? Somehow Cedric managed to ease the princess onto his stool and loosen her hold around his chest.

"Now, you just listen to me," he said, holding her gloved hands (well, one of them was still gloved) and resting his weight on one knee as he caught her reddened eyes. "I may not know a lot about weddings or marriage, but I do know one thing for certain. You are Princess Sofia of Enchansia, and you can handle everything this world tosses at you. This is not the end of everything. This is just…just…just like fighting off that fairy to rescue your school."

"Miss Nettle." Sofia swallowed.

"And making up with Princess Amber to stop that butterfly princess."

"Ivy." Sofia blinked back more tears.

"And lots of other times you thought you couldn't win, but you managed somehow." Cedric patted her cheek, regretting not knowing where any of his handkerchiefs were. "You always know just what to do, even when it seemed hopeless. Getting married is just…another mountain to scale. If…if you actually love this boy, that is…"

"Yes." Sofia released his hand and dug around on his desk until she produced a neat stack of handkerchiefs (drat, how did that girl always know where his things were?). She wiped her eyes with one. "Yes, I do love Hugo with all my heart."

"Then, just be brave, princess," Cedric said, though his own heart was faltering inside of him. "There's no point in fighting evil sorcerers and fairies just to be undone by a…by a wedding…"

"Or a dress fitting." Now she managed a laugh, however hoarse. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Cedric. I was just standing on that stool, looking at the mirror, and the seamstress said…" She blew her nose on the handkerchief. "I guess it is just wedding jitters."

"Sofia!" Amber's voice echoed through the hallway outside of Cedric's door. "Sofia, please don't hide! Mom is worried about you, and you'll ruin the dress!"

"Oh!" Sofia jumped to her feet, knocking Cedric backwards with the skirts as she examined the dress. "Oh, no! I forgot! If I ruin it now…"

"We'll just use magic to make it right," Cedric muttered, rubbing his head where he had hit it on the floor.

"Are you sure?"

"That's one spell I know I can do." Cedric shrugged, trying and failing to sound nonchalant. He accepted the hand she offered him and got back on his feet.

"Thank you, Mr. Cedric. For everything." She was smiling again, clasping his hand with both of her own. "I'm so sorry I interrupted you for something so silly. I shouldn't just dash into your study like this. I promise I'll be more sensible from now on."

Cedric couldn't find an answer as his heart broke into even more pieces than before. He could still feel the warmth of her hands and the earnest promise the rest of that day into the next afternoon. He recalled her hot tears and sobs against his chest as she walked the grassy aisle on her father's arm; he remembered her drowning in the cascades of the wedding dress as he watched her now, tall and enchanting in the white skirts and silver embroidery.

"Please, make me a spell that will make me a little girl again!" her voice cried in his head as she turned to Hugo and waited for him to lift her veil. "Please let me be your apprentice again!"

"It's just never that simple," Cedric said, finally releasing the tears he had been holding back for months.