A/N: This one really spoke to me, for some reason. I've got some great images in my head for the continuation of the story. I think I'm going to come back to it and turn it into a sexy little one-shot. But I wanted to post this much anyway :)

Comfort
twenty-one years old

"Well what are you going to do about this?" The little witch stood in front of Cedric. He barely recognized her without her pointed hat. The gown Amber had selected for her was flattering, but it made the young woman look closer to a courtly powder puff than a witch. Her hair, dark and wild, was the only thing that allowed him to identify who she was.

Cedric was sitting beside the fountain in the gardens, surrounded by the sounds of cleaning up as tables from the reception were cleared and servants chatting softly amongst themselves. The sky was a startlingly clear blue, the air warm with a cool, occasional breeze. It was a perfect early summer day and somehow Cedric was still sitting under a figurative raincloud.

Fingers snapped right in front of his nose. "Hello? Mr. Sensational? Anybody home in there?"

Cedric looked up at Lucinda, face glum. "What do you want?"

"Why are you sitting out here?"

"I missed it. It's over. I'm…"

"Mourning," he thought, but couldn't say aloud. The little witch had the audacity to laugh right in his face.

"You unobservant fool." She moved behind him and put her hands on the sides of his face, squishing his cheeks together as she moved his head to face the multi-tiered cake. "Look at that sugar monstrosity." Cedric tried to shrug out of her hands but her grip was strong. "Look at it."

"What do you want me to see?!" he snapped, hurt and sorrow and anger flaring as he turned to look at the witch instead of the cake. "It's a wedding cake!"

She quirked one eyebrow, her eyes alight with entertainment. "An uncut wedding cake."

Cedric felt his mouth gape open slightly.

"He left her, Mr. Sensational. She never wanted him anyway, not really, but she's hurt and embarrassed and won't see anyone. She needs comfort. She needs you but the two of you are both too dense to see it so I thought I'd intervene."

Cedric wasn't aware of how he got from the gardens to Sofia's bedroom door, but he knew he must have been running as he panted, out of breath. He was vaguely aware of the little witch shooting him a knowing smile from down the hall as she pulled out her wand and waved it around, causing Sofia's door to open and then close and magically lock with him on the inside. He could distantly hear her cackling as she walked back down the hall as Cedric turned his attention to the broken bride curled into her childhood windowseat.

She was there. He was there. Chance was there.