Sofia the First - Teenage Version - Cedric's Route

by Natnarf01

Sofia wasn't able to choose any of her friends or classmates to be her partner at Royal Prep, and she was told to get a relative of any of her royal servants to be her partner. She decides to ask Cedric for help when an accident happens in the Sorcerer's Workshop. Not to mention the chaos amongst the other young growing royals...Oh Boy...Will everything be alright?...

2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Sofia The First Belongs to Disney.

Comments From the Author:

At the moment...I'm still stressed out 'cause my daughter has been getting sick with sipon and coughing (flu and cough)...but I managed to make last minute corrects in this second part...hopefully it's alright...

Most of the updates are on my DeviantArt, Blogger, and probably YouTube pages, so be sure to check them from to time...hopefully my brain hasn't been totally wrecked by SpringTrap...I still haven't succeeded in surpassing the 5th night! ArGH!

Once I do finish Cedric's side of the story and when the votes on my poll has finally gathered enough numbers to start off another side series, then I'll move on and start getting bashed and hated for not doing other series...UGH!... I don't even know what I'm trying to type here!

Another reason why I wanted release Cedric's side first, is because I wanted to show everyone first how my brain works and how my stories usually run and end up...I don't want other people's expectations to be/get ruined just because I won't be able to meet them...if you understand what I mean...

Anyways...I'm still not sure how many chapters will there be since I'm still in the middle of it all...the PRESSURE!...so If you'd like to see a different pairing after Ced-Fia...please vote your choice of pairing found on my profile page...if you do not have a FanFiction account...you can leave your choice in my Twitter...Deviant Art...Blogger...or on my Youtube Account...I will be accepting these votes until the end of September this year...Yes...You've got a lot of time to get your friends or acquaintances (who likes and knows the STF series that is) to vote for your next favorite pairing for me to write...the highest votes will be the next pairing series for me to write after Ced-Fia...Remember...VOTE VOTE VOTE!

Here's a list of my social accounts...

Youtube: Natnarf1 (With a Cedric picture)

Deviant Art : Natnarf

Blogger: Natnarf1

Ello: natnarf

Twitter: NatNarf01

Well...I won't keep you guys any longer...

Remember...My next Preview of the next chapter or part will be posted in my Deviant Art and/or Blogger, on the 11th of every month...

Happy reading everyone! Enjoy!~

Until then...

This is Natnarf...

Signing Off!~

---

Cedric's POV

I tried my best to fake my reactions, hopefully I haven't and won't blow my own cover.

"I wanted to see you before I turn in for the day, Mr. Cedric. It's good that you're still in one piece." The Princess says with a smile, but quickly turns into a straight line. "Where's your robe? I thought sorcerers never go anywhere without their robes on."

"Oh." I was starting to get all shaky but tried my best to calm down. "H-Hold on." I said as I looked back and forth between father, the Princess and at myself.

I skimply walked towards the curtains, where my coat rack was hidden behind, grabbed my golden robe off of the coat rack and put it on. Calmly. I took out the Elder wand from its box and swiftly slid it up into my right sleeve, then I grabbed the ends of the gold belt attached behind my robe to tie in the front as I came walking out to reunite with the both of them.

"I must've left my purple robe back there with mommy." I said while trying to calm down my fingers from fumbling with the belt. "How forgetful of me."

"Oh. What's this?" Father said as he came over to have a touch at my robe.

"This was made by the Princess." I said as I finished tying the knots on my belt. "I received it just before you and Jaime arrived to extinguish the smoke in here earlier."

"I thought he deserved one, after all of the hard work he has done for me. I'm glad that it didn't get caught or damaged in the smoke. Even magic wouldn't be able to restore it to its former texture if it got caught and destroyed. I'd better head on to bed. I'm glad nothing bad happened to you, Mr. Cedric. At least I got to see you. You too, Mr. Goodwyn. May you both have a pleasant night." She curtsies.

We both watched as she leaves the workshop and closes the door. We then waited for a few more moments before we turned to face each other.

"Ssssssiiiiiiiigggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh..." and I let out the most heaviest breath of my life as I magically brought a chair over with the Elder wand and lazily sat down in it.

"That, uh, was quite a deep one, Cedric." Father commented.

"You're telling me. It was really hard trying to be someone else you're not. The whole Royal family kept on asking question after question, and I had to think up all of the answers on the spot without messing up my back story. Any more of that and my brain will blow into smithereens!"

"Cedric dear! You forgot this!"

I turned to look at the portal and saw mother coming through, holding my purple robe and my long cape.

"I was scared for a moment back there. It's too bad I don't have a spell to ease or sooth the pain you went and will be going through from now on." She said as she hands me my purple robe.

"I thought I was going to die back there." I said as I recalled my experience back at Mystic Meadows.

When I gave the Princess my last bow and went through the portal, my whole body went aching just as I passed through. I could feel all of the blood in my body was pumping hard, as if all of my veins were going to burst or pop inside of me at any moment, even my head was thumping hard and loud like drums. I was trying to walk as best as I could to get a little farther away from the portal, but I only managed to take three stubby steps before my knees collapsed and I completely fell to the ground as I felt like screaming my lungs out. Mother was just nearby when all of that happened and managed to conjure up a giant Magic Bubble, big enough to put me inside of it before I yelled out my heart.

Mother's Magic Bubble was a little different since it was sound proof, so I could make as much noise as I wanted or needed to, without having to let anyone else hear me doing so. You can't imagine how much screaming I made inside that bubble. I have never screamed and yelled my heart out so much in my whole life, I think I might end up with a sore throat in the morning.

"Careful in there, Cedric!" Mother talks to me through the bubble. "You wouldn't want to harm your hair like what happened during your school reunion!"

"That...wasn't...my...fault! ARGHHH!" I tried to speak through the pain.

Mother was mentioning the time where it was a few years after I graduated from Sorcery school and before Princess Sofia and the Queen joined the Royal family. I went to our class's school reunion when Greylock, a former schoolmate of mine who acted more of a Jester rather than a Sorcerer, now serving as a Royal Sorcerer for King Magnus, decided to try and pull a fast one on me and burned part of my hair. If it was any normal fire my hair would've grown back to its natural color, black. However, Greylock had to conjure up a fire made completely from magic, which ended up burning my hair into a greyish color. What's worse is that the color of my front bangs became permanent, so no matter how much I try to get different hair treatments, it will never return my hair color back to the way it was. Telling the Royal family that the hair was magically done due to an amateurish failure, was just a cover up over my own embarrassment.

What seemed like forever was just only a few seconds, and at the last second, the pain had completely vanished. I was able to open my eyes like normally, and while I was still on all fours I checked myself to make sure that I wasn't drugged or passed out, or hallucinating in any way. I almost forgot that I was still in a magic bubble when mother knocked against the bubble.

"Are you alright, Cedric?" Mother said worryingly. "Brace yourself. I'll disburse the bubble."

And with a whiff of her wand, the bubble popped and I landed on my rear end. Not very well prepared to make a glorious fall for someone who was on all fours and about a few feet off the ground.

"I should've placed a cushion or something large and soft to catch your fall. Sorry dear." She quickly came over and helped me up on my feet.

"That's really, very intensifying, mommy."

"And you were screaming a lot, too. Did it really hurt that much?"

"It hurts so much that it just might the experience from the underworld that everyone's looking for." I tried my best to pat off any dirt or dusts stuck onto my when I fell to the ground.

"Well, I do hope you won't have to go through even more of that pain in the next coming days and months while your father and I are finding the solution your problem. Now go! Your father is killing time by chatting with Princess Sofia, who is still waiting for your return." She pats my on my arm.

"Thank you, mommy." And I quickly went through the portal, which was just before I arrived and greeted the princess off.

I carefully took off my gold robe and wore on my purple one.

"Where did you get that nice gold robe?" Mother comes over to me and feels the gold robe in my hand. "And it's really well made."

"You also think so, too, Winifred?" Father answered. "The princess made it."

"What?!" Mother had an obvious surprised look on her. "What a very talented girl that princess is. Always surprises me eveytime."

"And imagine that, it only took her a couple of hours to finish it." I said as I took my gold robe to be hung on the rack behind the curtains.

"You can't be serious. That whole robe done in a couple of hours?! It would take me at least a week."

"Let's just say you're not quite as young as you used to be, Winifred- Ah! My back!" Father puts his hand to where he felt his bone crack in the back.

"Who's not quite as young as they used to be?" Mother said in a neutral tone.

I ignored their small bickering and let down my curtains. Then I see mother walking towards me.

"I've got to go now, Cedric-kins. You'd better get a good night's rest, alright?" She gives my cheek a good pinching, something I could never say no to.

"Y-esh, m-ua-thur." I spoke as best as I could. "I we-aill!"

She gently releases my newly sore cheek and goes through the portal, back to Mystic Meadows.

"You know, son." Father spoke up from behind. "As much as I don't want to say this, but it's best not to get too friendly with the princess. I admire her for being wise and humble, but without caution, she may will be the very one who will cause your life span to shorten quicker than anything else."

"Father, she's just a princess. I'm sure nothing will happen even having with her around me all day...no, half a day."

"That not what I'm worried about-"

"I'm sure whatever you're worried about will pass, father." I cut him off. "Look, I'm really tired. I would like to at least get enough amount of sleep if I were to match my energy with these young royals, especially the energetic princess herself."

He was about to speak up again, but he stops and lets out a deep breath. He gives me a good patting on my shoulder and walks through the portal. I stood and watch as the portal closes off moments after father passes through it.

I managed to clean up all of the mess on the floor and went straight to bed after that. I've never had a better sleep since I last slept in my own bed at my parents' old home before they retired and moved to Mystic Meadows.

Not many knows of this, but my sleeping chamber, my bedroom, is actually downstairs, just below this workshop. No one knows about it because I wanted to have my privacy, at least when it comes to sleeping. I've already vowed to dedicate my whole life and services into serving His Majesty, King Roland II, and the Kingdom of Enchancia, that I should at least deserve to my have own privacy, to sleep in a peaceful environment, where I could relax, and also have a chance to collect and sort out my thoughts, away from the world of politics and strings of problems waiting for me to solve.

The next morning I decided to get up earlier than I usually would and went straight up to my workshop. As I arrived at the top of the stairs, the shining gold robe that was hanging on the coat rack by the curtains caught my attention. I gently touch the sleeves and run my hand down from the shoulders.

"To last as a Royal Sorcerer is one thing, but to last long enough to be able to beat this curse..." I slowly looked down at my hand as it made its way to the end of the sleeve. "...Is this something that I can triumph over before it's too late?"

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"That knock." I grimly frowned. "Come in!"

The door opens and Princess Sofia comes inside, with a smile as usual.

"Good morrow, Mr. Cedric."

"Why on earth are you here so early in the morning?" I raised a brow. "Are you here with a magical emergency?"

"Nope. I'm just here to visit you, and to kill time before you go off and exchange places with Jaime." She says.

"R-Really?" I was taken aback. "Well...uh..."

I tried to divert my eyes somewhere until I saw a few pieces of leaves on my working table.

"Ah! W-Would you like to have some tea? A-Any requests?" I started taking out my wand to attempt brewing up a set of tea and cookies. But who in their right mind would have tea and cookies so early in the morning before breakfast?

"Oh, no thank you. I'd rather just help you while I wait for breakfast to be served. Is there anything I could do to help?"

She's just making things harder for me to move around without getting tense.

"You...uh...You could start dusting some of the books on the shelves. I know it'll start getting more dustier while I'm away."

"Okay." She whisks out her wand. "Vestire Mutato Habitus!" She magically changes her dress into her purple robe.

'Vestire' is dress and 'Habitus' is robe, both in Latin translation. She has learned to use words to conjure up her magic spells, which is the harder way of doing and learning magic. I, myself, can't remember most words at times, so I usually just go through a shortcut, which is just to mix words that I learned from all of my language classes; Latin, Greek, and Italian. I just mix them up to make a sense of things. It's not wrong, but it's just easier for me. I never did tell her that though, or who knows what would happen if she accidentally mixes up the words or gets them wrongly conjured when she does her spells. Still, she's doing really well for someone who's only using memorization to do her magic.

"I'll start from upstairs." She dashes right for the wooden stairs.

My staircase used to be made of stone steps and steel railings, but just like how the accident occurred yesterday, it also ended up in a horrible accident. I was trying to conjure up a spell that would make my staircase a little wider, when that young prince just had to barge in the middle of the spell. I got the words wrong, and ended up turning my staircase into a set of wooden staircase. Out of all of the children, only the prince is the most troublesome and unpredictable, except during dinner time when he is at his most vulnerable

I continued to set up everything in order, which was something I'd never ever do in my entire life, so that when I change into Jaime, at least I'll have everything in order and prepared. I tidied up the test tubes, the flasks and the Chemistry set away from nosy young royals who can't keep their hands away to themselves from unknown interesting and dangerous looking objects and trinkets, and the other spare wands are kept in a cylinder container and locked away in the drawers of my working table. It was also at this time that the Princess finally came back downstairs, her cleaning towel filled with lots and lots of dirt and dusts. How embarrassing.

"I finished half of the shelves upstairs, Mr. Cedric." She climbs down the last few steps of the wooden steps.

"Oh? J-Just leave the towel down." I pretended to still be sorting out the clutter from my drawers.

"Okay." She says. "Habitus Mutato Vestire!"

I looked a little to the side, and watched her perform the spell on her back into her gown. Not bad conjuring, for a princess. Then she notices me looking and I quickly turned back to face my desk.

"I'll be going now." She says.

"Uh, yeah. Sure. Take care." I said, quickly.

"Mr. Cedric?" She asks.

"What is it?" I was starting to get impatient.

"When did you get back your purple robe? I thought you left it back at Mystic Meadows."

"Huh?" I recalled last night's conversation and was starting to panic a bit. "Oh, uh, um, I got it back, uh, last night, mother came here and brought me my robe back just after you left. Is it really that big of an issue, Princess?"

"No. I was just curious. I'll try to come back early to see you off."

I snapped my fingers to open the door for her, and close it immediately after she leaves the room.

"That princess." I shook my head in disbelief. "I do hope that father gets here a little early later." And I let out a breath. "Now to do my laundry...wherever they've gone to."

---

Miss Nettle' POV

"How much more of this are we suppose to do? I'm already exhausted!" Rosie whined and complained.

"This is the last round, for today. We'll go again two days after." I continued flying about while holding Rosie out around my arm and letting her scatter her infinitive rose petals with a spell I've put on her to be able to do so.

"Two days after?! When will I ever get a break from scattering petals?"

"At least you're not the one who's doing all the flying."

"Hello?! Spreading leaves and vines is one thing, but to scatter petals all over the place, is like me asking you to pull out all of your hair and scatter them everywhere, to the point where you'll be bald!"

"Oh, shush!" I stopped flying forward. "If we get this right, we'll be able to execute our plan. And this time, I am very well prepared."

"Uh, explain me what's your plan again." Rosie asks me. "Just so I won't mix up the order of such."

"Alright, alright." I let out a breath. "First, we scatter enough rose petals and buds in the air all around the Enchancian Kingdom and some of the other locations nearby. Then, we wait to see if at least anyone, and I mean anyone, to start erupting emotions of anger and jealousy. It can't just be one of them, it has be be both emotions erupting at the same level and time."

"Okay. But how's that going to be of any use for your plan on getting back that Princess's amulet? It's not like we're going to wait until she gets both emotions at the same time. She's always calm and cheerful."

"Plus wise, too." I murmured with mild anger. "But we don't. We're going to wait for someone else to trigger both emotions, especially in this season and time."

"Why?"

"Use your brain a little, Rosy. It's the season where young love starts blooming everywhere, whether old or young, single or married."

"Oh. So we're going to make some couples hate each other or something?"

"Not exactly. In every attempt that a young man and a young woman tries to get each others' attention, there's bound to be someone, a third party that is, who is going to get really jealous 'cause they also like one of the two people. When that happens, that jealous person will attract all of your petals and we'll be able to find them. And when we do..."

"We'll be able to take over that person's heart and trap them inside of my vines, fully barricaded and protected from any powerful wands apart from yours." Rosie followed on my sentences.

"Exactly. Then we'll have the Royal family come to us and have the Princess trade her amulet for the life of the hostage. Hahahahaha!" I laughed as loudly as I could.

"Oh, you are so brilliant! And smart!" Rosie commented.

"I know. Now. Let's finish up on our round today."

"Alright." Rosie says enthusiastically and continues to spread, or shed, her petals everywhere.

---

Sofia's POV

I was trying my best to eat my breakfast as normal as I could, but it wasn't easy, with the recollection of Dad's proclamation from yesterday, and with James facing me directly from the opposite side of the table. I was not allowed to leave the table early during breakfast, unless there was a guest or an important matter needed my attention, and I wish any of them could come through the doors to save me right at this moment.

"This porridge is really good today." Dad said out in delight. "Not too sweet, not lacking of in taste, it's just right."

"I agree. Who made this, Baileywick?" Mom asks while stirring her spoon in the bowl.

"I believe it was Violet." Baileywick said, who was standing between Mom and Dad.

"Could we have this for tomorrow's breakfast again? And tell her to maybe add in some blueberries or any fruit suitable with this." Dad gave an order.

"Of course, Your Majesty. I'll be sure to let her know." Baileywick takes out a notepad and jots it down. "Any other requests, anyone?"

"Could I have strawberries in mine?" Amber asks.

"Certainly." Baileywick jots down quickly.

"I'd like to have blueberries in mine, please." Mom follows.

"Of course." He jots down again.

"Is it possible to have chocolate in mine?" James follows.

"We'll see. I'll just put it in." Baileywick scribbles quickly. Then he looks at me. "And you, Sofia? Would you like to request anything?"

"I'd like to have honey and raisins, please." I said. "Thanks."

"Ah. Excellent choice. And one of my favorite choice of flavors, too." He scribbles and puts the notepad into his pocket.

"It's nice to have something like this once and a while. I wonder who invented such a simple, and yet a delicious thing?" Dad tires his best to lighten up the mood, and hoping one of us would engage into the topic.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Come in." Baileywick says aloud.

The doors opened and it was Suzette who came through the doors.

"What is it, Suzette?" Baileywick asked.

"I'm sorry for interrupting your breakfast, Your Majesties." She says as she reaches us and curtsies. "The young prince from the Kingdom of Tangu, Prince Zandar, is here. Should I have him wait in the hall or let him in?"

"Let him in, Suzette." Mom answers first. "Maybe he would like to join us for breakfast."

"Please do that, Suzette."

"Of course, Mr. Baileywick. Right away, Queen Miranda." Suzette gives a quick bow and went to fetch Zandar outside.

"What's Zandar doing here so early in the morning? Did you ask him to come over?" Amber points her spoon at James.

"No. We didn't make any plans for today. At least, I think we didn't." James tries to remember.

"Maybe he's come to ask us for something?" I added.

"So early in the morning? Must be important." Mom says.

"Here he is, Your Majesties." Suzette announces at the doors and curtsies on the spot. "Please go right in."

"Thank you, kindly." A voice says kindly and well mannerly tone.

Through the door enters Zandar as he gives her a bow and walks towards the family table. Then he stops and gives a big bow visibly in front of everyone.

"Good morning, everyone." And stands back up. "I do hope my sudden presence wasn't too unexpected."

"Oh no. Not at all, young Zandar." Dad attempts to stand when he tries to put down his spoon.

"Please don't stand, Your Majesty." Zandar raises his hands in attempt to stop Dad from standing up. "A King deserves to eat his breakfast without a second of disturbance."

"Have you had your breakfast, Zandar? We could prepare you some porridge, unless you preferred something else." Mom asks.

"Oh, no thank you, Queen Miranda. I've already eaten. I actually came to ask for Princess Sofia's help. I hope it's not too much of a bother." Zandar puts both his arms behind him.

"It's no problem at all. Are you finished yet, Sofia?" Dad asks me, with the usual kind eyes.

"Just one spoon left." I said as I scooped up my last spoon of porridge and shoved it into my mouth, with grace. "Done."

"You came for Sofia? How unusual." Amber continues to eat her porridge.

I dabbed my mouth clean and stood up, but my eyes accidentally went and met with James', who was the most surprised. It's a well known fact that he and Zandar are the best of friends that anyone has seen throughout the years, but this was the first time that he wasn't called for.

"James." Zandar goes over to him and pats on the shoulder. "Let's chill out later."

"Uh, sure."

They both high-fived each other above their heads, which is their special handshake.

I walked behind Mom and Dad's chairs and just reached to Amber's side when shifted slightly sideways to meet with my eyes.

"Is there something going on between the two of you?" Amber looks at me.

"Nope. I don't even know what he wants." I lied.

"I-"

"I hope not." James cuts Amber's words with a mono tone and scoops up a large portion of his porridge.

"I wouldn't do that, James." Zandar says.

James shoves the whole scoop into his mouth and swallows it straight down his throat. His face quickly turned red as he stands up holding his throat with both of his hands and starts running and jumping about around the dinning room.

"HOT! HOT! HOT! HHHHOOOOTTTT!" He yelled.

"Oh boy." Zandar commented.

"I think it's best that you both leave this to us." Dad ushered Baileywick and nods his head at the doors.

Zandar and I quickly followed Baileywick out of the room and he closes the dinning room's doors once we were out, but the chaos going on inside was still audible on the outside.

"HOT!" James yelled.

"JAMES!" Dad yelled.

"CALM DOWN, JAMES!" Mother raised her voice.

"UGH! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO DO SUCH STUPID THINGS IN THE FIRST PLACE, JAMES?!" Amber lastly.

The sounds of trashing still continues.

"I almost feel sorry for him." Zandar chuckled.

"Me too." I followed.

"Well I don't." Baileywick said. "I did remind him every time to watch how he eats. I guess I better go back in there to help. If you need anything at all, Sofia, you know how to get me."

"Okay." I said.

We watched him quickly open the doors and swiftly shutting the doors behind him.

"I'LL HELP GET YOU DOWN, JAMES!" Baileywick also yelled as I imagined all sorts of chaos behind the doors.

"...What a weird way to start the day." Zandar said.

"You tell me." I said. "So, what brings you here?

"Right. Remember you promised to help me with Hildegard?"

"Yes. Yes, I did. Um..." I looked around. "Let's head to the library. No one will bother us there."

"Alright."

We arrived at the library in no time, and sure enough no one else was around. Just to make sure, we decided to go for the table at the end of the room so that in case anyone comes in, we'll be able to quiet down quickly.

"It's quite a nice library you've got here, Sofia."

"Most of them belonged to Dad when he was still studying in Royal Prep. I hope to fill in with some of mine as well when the time comes." I said. "But I'm pretty sure you've got a lot more back at your place."

"Sure." He answered. "Mostly about politics. I do wish we had more books though, like ones just to read for leisure time. It makes my eyes sore just looking at the title of the same genre from the book binds."

"Which is what you're aiming for anyways, right? To help Hildegard and all."

"I know." He leans against the chair with his arms behind him to support his head. "But I do have to take a little break every now and then. Anyways, let's go back to the real problem."

"Oh, right." I got too excited about the library that I almost forgot about our real purpose for coming here. "So, uh, you managed to get partnered with Hildegard for tonight's school Ball-dance, right?"

"Yup. I was just lucky though since she didn't get to choose whom she wanted her partner to be." He paused for a second. "I think it would've been Hugo if Clio wasn't there."

"Right." I almost rolled my eyes. "And what have you both decided for your costumes?"

"Well..." He was linking each fingers together, pushing them apart and back together like a bouncing magnet. "...the truth is, she decided on her own to being a teal colored Mermaid. 'Dress version of course!' she said, without telling me anything else on the subject." He tries to mimic her voice and gestures. "I'm not really into such things and ideas, so maybe you could help me out here."

"How can I help? Sewing? Measurements?"

"No, not like that." He takes out a few pieces of paper and a small box of colored crayons. "Sorry about the crayons. It was the nearest thing I could reach on my way out of my bedroom."

"It's alright." I said as I opened the box of crayons. "I can color the design with the colors this way than using a quill feathered pen." And I took up the teal colored crayon. "So the theme must be teal and Ocean, right?"

"Yeah."

"Do you...still need something to cover your head though? I'm not really well read up about customs of other countries and kingdoms." I said while drafting out a body outline on the paper.

"Basically, I must have my hair hidden at all times, but I could always let down half my hair, no more than that though. Hold on, I'll try to fix it up so that you'll understand what I mean. It may take a while"

He stands up and quickly goes behind of the tall isolated book shelves to fix his hair. I guess it's also a custom not to let other people see your hair when you're fixing it. I decided to randomly take a book off a shelf just beside me and began deep reading. It was a book about the different types of roses, something I didn't expect to pick out of many different amazing genres available to choose. Then again, I only blindly and randomly picked it off from the shelf, so I might as well read it than waste more time choosing another one and end up not reading anything at all.

It took about five minutes before he finally came back out again, but I was reading a random book off the shelf that I didn't see him already standing next to me.

"How's this?" He asked

I looked up, and there he was, with his turban still wrapped partially on his head, half of his hair was let out. It was quite long actually, some hair was left out hanging behind him until the level of where his belly button is, and in the front were two slightly parted hair sitting on the chest until just below his armpits. It was pretty shiny, too.

"What do you think? It should've been longer, like until here, but my mother had a hard time controlling my hands from pulling on my hair when I was still a little toddler." He said while putting his hand horizontally against his hips to show me the supposed length of his hair.

"It's...It's perfect, Zandar." I clasped my hands together. "You can use a teal colored handkerchief to wrap your head like how you did when we used to dress up and play as pirates together as children." I immediately drew out a sketch. "Would you like to wear a full top or-"

"I'm alright with anything below my head, just don't leave me bare naked." He follows what I'm saying and raised a brow at the end.

"Right. Gotcha!" I said and continued scribbling my design and notes. "You can go and fix back your hair while I draw out the design."

"Nah. I'll just leave it be. So that when I get back I won't have to redo my hair all over again. I'll just have a read at some of the books in here." He says s he starts to go off.

"Okay."

I returned to my draft and began to design out the costume. I mostly used the teal colored crayon in the whole design. I colored out the handkerchief headband, sketched his hair casually parted and laying over and in front of his shoulders down his chest, and I wrote down some notes on the side of the paper the option of having a choker or a necklace. He could probably wear an opened vest just so he wouldn't be totally bare on the upper part of his body, but I'll consult with him about it. His pants would still be like his own everyday ones, with an elastic waist band, but the end would an extra-wide-and low cut one, with scales-like pattern all over it. And lastly teal sequined colored covered shoes. I jotted some more notes on the side that if there was still enough time, the dressmakers could add some of the sequins randomly all over the pants to give that shiny scaly effect.

"Done!~" I held up the paper, feeling pleased with myself. "Zandar?" I called out. "Where are you?"

But there was no answer.

"Maybe he didn't hear me."

I held the paper in my hand and tried to look around the shelves, and I found him in the 'animals' section, reading in on a book titled ' Wild Animals From Around The World'. I guess he just he really loves exotic animals, like his pet elephant.

I slowly and quietly walked over to him, until I was inches away from him.

"You really like animals, huh?" I asked the obvious question.

"Huh?" He looks up in surprise. "Oh. How long have you been there?"

"I just got here." I said. "I called out to you earlier, but you didn't reply, so I came looking for you."

"Gosh. How embarrassing." He scratched his right temple with his finger while trying to put back the book into the shelf.

"You could borrow it you know." I said. "Just don't forget to return it back."

"Can I really?" His eyes grew big.

"Sure. I'll just tell Baileywick that I borrowed it. You can return it back anytime."

"THANKS!" He quickly gave me a large hug, and quickly removed himself. "I promise to return it back as soon as I'm done with it."

"Sure." I smiled. "Oh, here's the draft."

He calmly takes the paper and scans the drawing.

"I wasn't sure if the pants could be done in that way, which is why I wanted to show you first." I commented.

"It's a Sarouel." He said.

"A what?"

"A Sarouel. It's the name of the pants that men wear in our kingdom, like the ones I have on now." I looked at his pants that are like a jaggy-baggy style, but it wasn't as greatly loose as the one I drafted. "The one you drew is a more loose type, with a really drop-crotch design." He faces the sketch to me and points at the pants part to me. "I think this is a really good design."

"I wasn't sure on one thing." I quickly followed up. "Do you have to wear something on top?"

"Usually it's alright not to wear anything on top, but this vest is fine." Then his eyes goes over to the part where I jot down some notes. "Necklace or choker? I think I do have a loose gold choker with a teal gem in the middle."

"That will go perfectly well with your costume." I said. "Oh, do you think you could also ask someone to make you a custom trident? Preferably a gold colored one."

"I'll see what I can do with that. Anything else I need to take note of?"

"Yes." I pointed at the feet on the sketch. "Try to get green socks or a way to cover your skin between your pants and your shoes, so that it'll look like it's really connected, like a real tail."

"Alright."

"Well, if nothing else, let's go pack up your crayons. You need time to try them on, too." I said as I started walking back to our table.

"Thanks again, Sofia. You're a really good friend."

"Anytime. Just promise me one thing." I make a sudden halt and turned around with my index finger out.

"W-What?"

I then gave a big smile.

"Promise me that you will give it your best, no matter if Hildegard or the others don't approve if you, as long as you give your best to impress Hildegard and still have a great time at the Ball."

"That, I can do." He gives an approved casual salute with his right hand.

We left the library shortly after he got his other papers and crayons from the table. While on the way after we got of the elevator we had to pass the dinning room just to go the main doors. The doors of the dinning room were widely opened, and inside we see many of the staffs inside, cleaning. We decided to have a look inside.

"What on earth happened here?" Zandar's eyes were more wider than earlier.

The large table was tipped over on its side, the legs facing in our direction, while the chairs were scattered everywhere on the floor. I walked to see the other side, and sure enough, the large table cloth and the carpet were spilled with this morning's bowls of porridge.

"Oh my." Zandar commented.

"This can't all be James' doing." I looked at the mess once more, still trying to absorb all of this.

"I'm afraid it is, Sofia."

We bother turned to see Amber at the door.

"He's just a bit too much to handle that both his tongue and his gums have gone numb." She walks in between us. "Mom and Dad also some of their food spilled onto their clothes. I was just lucky that Baileywick shielded me from any of the flying food. I don't think I'll have any for the next few days."

"I think I won't have any either." I commented.

"Well, I'd better get going, Ladies." Zandar says as he bows. "I'll see ya both later."

"Farewell." Amber waves gracefully.

"See ya later." I waved widely, casually.

We both watched until he goes through the door and disappears.

"So, what did he come for, Sofia?" Amber quickly asks me.

"Oh. He came over to ask to look up on some books, ideas for his costume since he didn't have any books on about clothes back at his."

"He's really taking this costume thing seriously." Amber hummed. "Maybe there's a costume contest being held, or a prize that he's after-"

"Ah, Amber." I cut her off. "You didn't organize any. It's just part of the dress code change that Ms. Fauna rearranged for the Ball. She annouced it to us yesterday, remember?"

"Oh...that's right." She giggles. "How silly of me...He he he."

It still sounds like she's taking it really seriously though.

"Speaking of the Ball, what time do you have to go there?" I asked her.

"I have to be there at four. 'Cause I'm not sure if the food will be enough to fill everyone's belly since the amount was only enough for a tea party."

"I think it's enough as it is, Amber." I tried to convince her.

The amount of food she had planned was considered too much for an ordinary tea party, whether for royalty or ordinary people. I should've just not asked anything at all. I tried to avert my eyes elsewhere to avoid the awkward moment, and I landed on the large cuckoo clock clock that was newly added to the room between a few months back. It was already ten minutes before twelve.

"OH NO!" I said aloud. "I'm going to miss Mr. Cedric's departure!" and started running for Mr. Cedric's workshop.

"What's the rush, Sofia? It's not like he's going to disappear forever!" Amber yelled out to me.

But I didn't bother to stop to listen for her reasoning, because trying to get there in time, is my aim right at this moment.

---

Cedric's POV

"Oh! When's father going to open up the portal?!" I said pacing back and forth.

Father was supposed to open up three minutes ago. Now I was anxiously scared of the time I have left. It's been eight minutes pass our agreed time for my rescuing. If the Princess comes over to bid me farewell, and sees me transforming on the spot, who knows what she might do, or say to King Roland.

Right at that moment, I see a small rainbow portal appear right in front of me, then it slowly gets bigger and bigger.

"Sorry about the delay, son!" I could hear father talking from the other side. "Won't take long now!"

"Where on earth were you, father? Don't you know that-"

Then I heard the doorknob starting to turn.

"Oh no! She's HERE!" I was starting to get delirious.

"Just hold on!" He said.

But the doorknob was almost finish turning. I decided and made the most hasty decision ever.

"I'm coming through, Father!"

"WHAT?! But Cedri-"

I didn't stop to listen for the rest as I took a few paces back, then I ran forward and leaped into the portal, diving head first and landed on the ground, felt myself rolling like a ball. I stopped after a couple of rolls and landed flat on my back, trying to catch my breath.

"Mr. Cedric!" I heard the Princess calling my name from the other side. "Mr. Cedric?...Oh...Did I miss him already?"

I didn't have enough time to react though as the pain in my body started to take over me.

"AHHHRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"

I screamed, harder than I did last night. My head aching harder and louder than the sounds of a lighting storm, and then all hell broke loose. My couldn't hear but a painful silence, I screamed but no voice came out of my mouth, my arms and legs were pumping so much blood that I could even feel my heart about to come out, even my eyes were tearing up as I was slowly loosing vision. When I could no longer take anymore of it, the pain in my body had stopped altogether in just a flash. A couple of seconds later I could sounds of knocking nearby me. I slowly opened my eyes and gradually looked up. My vision was still teary and blurry, but I could make out the outline of my mother.

"Are you...alright, Cedri-dear?" Mother spoke slow, but concerned.

"Mu...Mother?..." I barely spoke.

"I'll let you out of the bubble."She says.

I could hear the bubble pop, but I didn't feel myself falling or anything. I opened up eyes and my vision was starting to clear up. I slowly sat up, crossing my legs, rubbed my eyes against my gloves. When I finally got a good hold of my vision, I saw mommy, crying, while holding her wand in one hand.

"Mommy? Why are you cryi-"

But she quickly lunged at me, holding me ever so tightly in her arms. The impact of her running had a little too much force that it made me fall on my back. I tried using my forearms as supporters to hold me up and steady.

...

She was crying.

"Cedric...my poor Cedric..."

It was all I could make out from her. I couldn't hear anything else 'cause of her heavy crying. Of all of the times she's given me her biggest and tightest of hugs, this one was the only one she's ever given me, with tears. I gently stroked her back to try and calm her down.

"I'm sorry, mommy." I said softly, afraid of breaking her even more. "But I have to go back. The Princess is waiting for me at the other side."

She slowly let go of me, but she was still crying.

I stood on my feet, stretching a bit here and there, being able to feel my energy and strength back into my body. Then I knelt down in front of mother an placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm willing to endure this curse for as long as I can until you and father find the cure or solution to it. 1 need you to be strong for me, mommy. Just don't give up." I said.

"Oh Cedric...It's not the same...It's just not the same..." She continues to cry against her hands as she drops my cape on the ground that was hanging on her forearm.

I stood up and slowly removed my purple robe without tearing the tight sleeves, then swiftly folded my robe and placed it next to mommy. I picked up the cape, opened and latched it to the collar of my shirt. I faced my back at her so that I wouldn't see her crying face. I couldn't afford to show tears on my face when meeting with the princess

"I'll...I'll see you later, mommy."

I walked all the way to the portal and through it without ever looking back. Once I stepped through and made it back inside the workshop, I see father and Princess Sofia chatting by a set of bookshelves to my left. They both noticed me and father quickly came over to me.

"You alright?" He whispered.

"I'm good." I noticed the dust and dirt on my sleeves. "Just a little dusty." I said as I try to pat off them off.

"Good." He smiled. "Behave nicely, alright."

"Yes, uh, Mr. Goodwyn, sir." I said

It wasn't audibly loud, but you could hear him happily laughing even his mouth closed. He faces to the Princess.

"I shall be going now, Princess Sofia."

"Take care of yourself, Mr. Goodwyn." She curtsied and waves.

He walks through the portal and it quickly shrinks in size and disappears in a flash.

"How are you, Jaime?" Sofia walks over to me. "How was your first night with everyone at Mystic Meadows?"

"Huh?" I was lost.

"You know, was everyone comfortable with you around them yet? Or were they giving you the look like you're a killer?" She explains further.

"Ah." I finally caught on. "It was...alright. Just a few 'Hello's and 'Take care of yourself' sentences. Nothing more." I quickly added.

"Oh. That's good. At least you're making progress." She said.

"Yeah...I guess so." I scratched the back of my head.

"Well then, did you have lunch yet?" She asked. "I'm supposed to join my family in a few minutes. You have to come along with me. We...all aren't on the best of terms with each other yet." She begged with her eyes.

"Why? Am I in trouble or something?" I was a little scared.

"No, you're not. It's got nothing to do with you. We're just...sorta in a fight, but I'm sure everyone will behave when they see you at the table." She added. "So could you, please? Pretty please?" She puts her hand together and begs with a smile.

I wanted to refuse, but my line of sight was drifted to her amulet as it shone in the sunlight through my windows.

"Alright, alright." I gave in. "I'll go, but only because you insisted."

"Oh, thank you, Jaime!" She says as she lunges forward and gives me a hug.

Her face was so close to mine that I thought I was going to have a heart attack, I quickly looked away, praying that it'll be over soon.

"Princess Sofia! Jaime!" A cheerful voice spoke.

We turned our heads to the source of the voice, and sure enough, it was Baileywick, standing there and smiling.

"Ooh. Baileywick!' Sofia cried out happily, still not letting me loose. "Is it lunch time already?"

"It sure is." He says. "And a 'Hello' to you as well, Jaime."

"Hello there. Bow." I said the word out since I was still in the arms of the Princess.

"Why don't you have lunch with the Princess and the rest of the family? I'm sure the King and the Queen still has a lot of curious questions to ask you." He said.

"I just said 'yes' to the Princess's invitation, so I don't think I have the right to say 'no' to you, do I?" I said.

"How wonderful." He said. "Let's get going then."

I wonder whether he was teasing me or trying to tone-warn me to lay off the Princess.

"Alright." The Princess said as she finally lets me loose.

I gave a slight massage to my upper arms. Even for her size her grip is a little painful.

I locked up the workshop with my key and slipped it into my sleeves. As we walked along the hallway with the Princess in the front, Baileywick walked beside me.

"Do forgive her, Jaime." He whispers.

"Hm?" I hummed.

"For those tight hugs she's given and will give you in the future." He says. "The family's going through an intense issue, so it might take some time before everyone's open to each other again."

"Oh." I said. "But won't it make things worse because I'm there?"

"Nonsense. You saw how the family talked to each other when you arrived at their dinner last night." He said. "They were clearly talking normally to each other, and that was after their argument in the morning. Try to encourage them again to talk for the next couple of meals, if you can."

"If I could be of any help, then I'll give it my all."

"That's the spirit, Jaime." He pats me lightly on my shoulder. "I'll be counting on you." And he gradually speeds up to catch up with the Princess.

"Easier said than done, Baileywick." I murmured to myself.

We were the first one to have arrived at the dinning room. The table was fully set up with plates and utensils. Baileywick called for one of the maids over and she arrived as she swiftly placed another set of utensils on the side where the chairs are facing the windows. That row has now three sets of plates. The Princess took the seat in the middle of the three, her chair pulled and pushed for her by one of the staffs. I choose the one with the newly added set of utensils, was given a chair on the spot stood by it. It wasn't long before the rest of the family entered the room and noticed my presence as I stood up and greeted them with a bow.

"Good morrow, King Roland."

"Ah. A good morrow to you, too, Jaime." He replied as pulls up the chair beside Princess Sofia for the Queen.

"Good morrow, Queen Miranda."

"Good morrow, Jaime." She said. "It's good to see you again." She takes and sits in the chair. The King then goes to sit in the middle solo chair.

"Thank you, My Queen." I said.

"Oh. You're here again today." It was a recognizable young female voice.

I turn see the twins walking into the room together, side by side.

"Hey! You're a sight for sore eyes!" The Prince said aloud.

"Good morrow, Prince James. Princess Amber."

"Good morrow." Princess Amber ended short. Then takes her seat on the first chair, to the King's right.

"Haha. Good morrow, Jaime!" He comes over to me and gives me three strong hard pats on my back.

Thankfully my newly built body was able to withstand the impact, or my spine would've being cracking audibly.

"I really like you, Jaime. You're a whole lot friendlier than Cedric." The Prince complimented.

"Um...thank you, Your Highness?" I wasn't sure how to respond to that as I was feeling both insulted and honorably thankful at the same time.

"And a whole lot fitter, too." She says as she sits down in her chair being pulled up by another one of the castle staffs. "Cedric would've been sent straight to the hospital if he was patted on the back like that."

Prince James went to take his seat next to Princess Amber, directly opposite of Princess Sofia. As I finally remembered to look for my Swan folded napkin and unfolded it by spreading it on my lap, I turned to see Princess Sofia's eyes wandering elsewhere, which was really unusual. It wasn't long before the other staffs brought in two large lid covered trays and placed them in the middle of the table. Two of the staffs gracefully took off each of the lid and quickly flipped it upside down to avoid dropping any of the evaporated water down onto the food. The first one was some sort of large fish, and the second one was filled with more vegetables, assorted ones at least. Both had its own large set of serving utensils; a knife and a fork, and a large pair of serving tongs.

"Wow! It's a large size Tuna." The King said in delight. "It's the best one I've seen this year."

"Which part would you all like?" Baileywick says as he takes the knife and fork in his hands.

"I'd like the head, please." The King said just as he was served.

"I'd like the tail, thanks." The Queen said just as she was served.

"I'd rather have the salad, please." Princess Amber said and another castle staff, who was by the windows on standby, went over to her side and served her some of the vegetables.

"I'd like the part after the head, please." The Prince said just as he was served.

"I'll just have the salad. Thank you." Princess Sofia said.

"Allow me, Princess." I said as I stood up.

I got the serving tongs and got of the vegetables onto her plate. Clean and quickly.

"Wow. Thanks, Jaime." She said.

"Jaime." The King called me. "Next time, just let Baileywick or the other castle servants do it. You are Sofia's guest after all."

"If I may, Your Majesty. I'm still just a part-timer hired by Mr. Cedric, so-"

"Forgive me, Jaime." Queen Miranda looks at me strongly. "Even if you're just a part-timer, you were invited by Sofia to join us. Just stay seated and be served next time she brings you here again, alright?"

"Mom." Princess Sofia whispers to the queen.

For someone like Queen Miranda, she's really got a strong personality. Unlike my own mother who always spoils me as a child due to my father's lack of trust and belief in me, you can tell that this woman is someone who is willing to do anything at the expense or at willpower to protect and love her children, whether of her own blood or not.

"Alright. I'll do as you say, My Queen." I smiled with a bow of my head.

"Don't do it because I say so, do it as if it's something naturally done, Jaime." She smiled.

"Of course." I never feel so scared, yet glad at the same time.

I sat back down, with calmer nerves than ever. I've never been told off or scolded by anyone other than my own father. I only knew a mother's love when she is calm and kind, until now. I finally met someone who is not only both calm and kind, but also strong and caring in the way of her own words. I think Sofia's got all of her strong points, which is why Sofia is kind, too kind, for my evil tastes. Once I finally find a way to return back to my normal self, I'll be able to swipe her amulet, and take over Enchancia.

"Jaime, will it be the salad, or the fish?" Baileywick asks me.

"I'll have a bit of both. Thank you very much."

I watch Baileywick swiftly takes a slice of the fish and slides it cleanly into the middle my plate, then with a slight of hand takes a portion of the vegetables with the tongs as it dances and falls around the fish.

"Wow. Nice Serve." I was impressed that let out my thoughts again.

"You're quite welcome, Jaime." He says as he carefully hands over the serving utensils to the other castle staffs on stand by.

"You know, Jaime." King Roland says and I quickly turned to look at him. "It's a real shame that you had to be in the Sorcery category. We could really use a set of strong young arms and legs in our army."

"I really can't do combating, or anything that has to do with shedding blood on a blade." I said feeling squeamish from thinking of the blood that would be pouring out from a cut. "I can only hold a cooking knife and cut meat, and that's as far as I can get."

"Why not take up martial arts? I've got a few good men who are better in fighting with their fists than their swords."

I was about to say something again, but then I remembered saying a certain speech during my earlier years. Then I looked steadily at the King's eyes.

"I, took up sorcery, to learn all of the world's spells. I learn spells so that I could conjure them for a purpose. My dream is to become a great sorcerer, where everyone would look up to me for my brilliance. But my lifelong dream is not to become someone who will be able to use magic, whether by wand or book, not to protect or take a life, but to use magic to make the world a better place for everyone of all ages, genders, sizes, races, or social status, to live in harmony." I bowed my head deeply. "So I humbly refuse, Your Majesty."

"CLAP!" "CLAP!" "CLAP!"

I looked up to see Princess Sofia clapping her hands, then Queen Miranda followed, then Prince James, and lastly Baileywick who was standing beside the prince. I was both lost and confused as I finally turned to look at the King, who was smiling.

"Um...I just refused you, Your Majesty. Why..." I couldn't think of anything to say.

"Jaime." He said. "I'll admit, I don't like sorcerers that much. I love the things that they do and make on the spot, or when they perform, but usually I think of them as Opportunists. Most of the ones I know, they tend to try and overthrow their Kings and family just to gain power and social status. Apart from Goodwyn the Great, whom I so greatly trust, and his son, Cedric, who I try to keep my faith in at most times since he has helped protect our family and the castle a number of times."

I felt my heart 'Thump' loudly on one beat at the moment of my name.

"I have not given my full and complete respect to anyone who has ever wield a wand in my presence." He stands up and takes his cup in his hand.

Then the queen and the prince also stand up and raises their cups in the air. Princess Sofia then pulls me up, takes my cup filled with juice from the table and puts it in my right hand, and raises and levels my arm up to the same height as the others. She also follows.

"You have shown me that there are still sorcerers like you who exist, only wanting to see what's best for the people and the world. Cheers!" He said,

"CHEERS!"

Everyone clinked their cups against each other, where as mine could only clink with the prince's and Princess Sofia's. Then we all sat down into our chairs.

"I don't get how this is such a big deal, Daddy." Princess Amber said. "He only refused now, that doesn't mean he won't again later on when other Kings of other kingdoms will ask for his services once he graduates."

"You know, Amber, My father also asked for Goodwyn's services when he was also on the way for graduation." The King said.

I blinked on the spot.

"It was the same for Cedric, he was going to refuse at first, but just before he graduated he came back and told me that he had changed his mind and accepted the position, even though he is the only son of Goodwyn." He continued.

It was true that I had refused, because at that time I wanted to be an adventurer instead of getting involved in politics, but then I heard from a few rumors that the Amulet of Avalor was hidden somewhere in the castle of Enchancia, which is why I had decided to stay to serve the King. Who knew that father was also asked to serve just before his graduation.

"Whatever." Princess Amber said. "It's not like we're going to be out of sorcerers to choose from. After all, Cedric's not even married, or have a girlfriend for that matter, so he doesn't have any offspring to pass on the title to. We can freely choose some other sorcerer after Cedric retires, who are far more talented and well knowledgeable on magic and spells. Maybe we could try hiring his sister for a change." She stabs into one of her lettuces and puts it into her mouth.

I was about to tell her off when I felt a hand on my right arm, I looked to see Princess Sofia slightly shaking her head at me, probably telling me not to argue with Princess Amber.

"That's true, but Cedric's still young, so there's still plenty of time for him to search for his lifelong partner, or wife if you translated that." He lets out a laugh. "Besides, we're not allowed to elect female sorceresses, it's against the rules. I'm sure there will be someone who will choose him as her husband sooner or later. "

"Which is when and who exactly, Daddy?" Princess Amber followed. "Wait. Don't answer that."

I quickly and quietly stabbed all of the vegetables into my mouth, which I amazingly swallowed in one go, shoved the whole piece of fish on my plate into my mouth, encountering no bones in my throat along the way, and flushed the cup of juice down my throat in one go. I finish off by taking my napkin on my lap and quickly, but not strongly, dabbed around my mouth to clean off any food bits left around my mouth and placed the napkin on the side of my cups.

"I-"

"I'm finished, Dad." Princess Sofia says it before I do. "May I be excused?"

"Already?" The King asks. "What's the hurry, Sofia?"

She quickly turns to look at me and my plate, then back to him.

"Jaime and I are supposed to go to Madame Collette's, to have him try on his clothes for tonight's Ball-dance. Madame Collette said that we could go to her anytime from noon onwards." She says and dabs her mouth with her own napkin.

"Well then, I do hope I get to see you in your attire before both leave, Jaime." The queen says.

"Um, of course, My Queen." I said with questioning thoughts running inside my head.

"Come on, Jaime."

Sofia pat a few times on my right shoulder with her left hand as she slowly gets up from her chair and leaves the table. I stand up and bowed to the other royals at the table, and I scurried after the princess out of the dinning room and closed the doors. When I heard the 'click' sound, I waited a few more seconds before I let out my breath.

"That was an intense lunch." I closed my eyes and slowly let go of the door handles.

As I turned around and opened my eyes, I see the princess leaning against the wall between the windows. Her head bowing a little for the sunlight to not reach her eyes.

"Princess?"

"It almost seemed like it was yesterday morning, where we were all still happily chatting with each other while having breakfast. But after that, everything has somehow turned upside down." She says as she looks up, a little teary eyed. "I wish we where still little kids. Things back then were so much easier, and happier than it is now." And her eyes drifts to the side. "It may take awhile before I could finally made a straight conversation with Dad, without trying to leave in the middle of it."

I remained silent as I waited for her to make the next move. It took a few moments before she finally moved herself away from the wall and put her usual smile on her face.

"Sorry for the wait. Let's get going."

She turns around and starts walking in the direction of Madame Collette's dressmaker's room. I followed quietly after her.

---

Sofia's POV

"Perfect fit!" Madame Collette yelled in delight. "You look splendid, Mr. Jaime."

"Uh...thanks, I guess?" He said as he tries to adjust his newly tailored clothes in front of the mirror.

We are in Madame Collette's dressmaker's room, and Jaime had just come out of the changing room, wearing his newly tailored clothing, looks very ravishing, too.

"Please around once on the spot in a circle, slowly if you please." Madame Collette raises her hand in the air and uses her index finger to make a small continuous circle in the air.

He slowly turns walks around in a small circle, like he was modeling.

"Good. Now, is there anywhere on you that you feel might be a bit too tight or too loose?" She asks again.

"No. Every part feels fine." He says.

"Now lets see you sitting down." She points towards a chair just near the doors.

He walks over and sits down with a straight back as he rests both of his arms on the arms rests.

"Good. Now try standing up and bowing, like how you'd normally greet the Royal family." She instructs again.

He stands up with ease and take a few steps towards me. He stops far enough away from me, and when he bowed in front of me, he was at least a foot in length apart from my chest.

"Ooh. You know of the proper way to bow." I said. "Good job, Jaime."

"Thank you, Princess." He says and stands back up.

"Good. Nothing's tearing." Madame Collette says as she walks forward to my side. "Let me just add one last thing."

She fiddled a little bit with the front part, which was in the way of my view, and then she backed up to my side.

"There. Nice touch, don't you think, Princess?"

I looked to see that in the front of Jaime's opened jacket, just at the foot of the collar, was connected with a gold bouquet from one side to the other. It was attached with a triangle and a swan on each end, and in between were two different lengths of gold chains. It's like something that you'd attach at the neck part of the cape, but in a more fashionable way of displaying it, normally seen on constables or head commanders.

"I had intended not to put any buttons after the base of the collar, for that chain. How do you like it, Princess?"

Jaime got curious and goes to a nearby mirror stand, checking himself out.

"It's perfect!" I clasped my hands together. "I love it!"

I walked over to him as he turns around to face me.

"Is this alright?" He asks. "I mean, for someone like me to wear such a thing. Isn't it a bit, um...I'll just be straight, a little too flashy and stylish for the likes of me?"

"Oh, no. Not at all." I said with a smile. "Everyone should deserve to wear something as good as this, even for at least once in their life. So don't feel ashamed. Wear it like you own it, Jaime. It's my welcome gift to you."

He looks at me wide eyed, then he puts his hands to his sides and bows down.

"Thank you very much, Princess." He says.

Just as I was going to reply, I saw something on the back of his head. I don't know if I've overlooked it or I just never noticed it, but he has hair tied up in a pony tail.

"You have long hair, Jaime?" I asked.

He quickly stood back up and looks at me.

"Uh, yes. I do. Why do you ask?"

"I only just noticed it." I said truthfully.

"Why not let it down, Mr. Jaime?" Madame Collette said in a suggestive tone. "I'm sure you'll look even more manlier."

Without any objections, he pulls off his hair tie and puts the hair tie around his wrist. He fiddled around with his long hair and brought it to the front in two parts. I gasped at the sight of his slight change. It was only a let down of the hair tie, but it made a huge difference. He looked a lot more buffer and muscular than just a few seconds ago.

"There. How's this?" He asked Madame Collette.

But she had gone speechless, probably had the same thought as I did and was not able to overcome the sight.

"I-I-It's great, Jaime!" I quickly tried to get his attention. "You don't even look like a student at all!"

As I spoke, I got a better look at his hair. It was only until shoulder's length, but it seemed like it was longer than that. I can't say that I've never been more astonished and surprised by anyone's hair, but I am.

"So...is that a bad thing?" He asks with a raised brow.

"Are you kidding?! It's a good thing! No, it's the best! It's Ah-Mazing!" I was almost out of control. "Everything about the way you look right now fits the agenda for tonight's Ball." I turned to look at Madame Collette, who still wasn't out of the 'spell'. "See? Her face says it all, even if she's a little...hypnotized at the moment."

"Okay." He says. "So...where's your gown, for the Ball?"

"Right." I said. "Just wait downstairs, and I'll go and get changed."

We turned to look at Madame Collette, but she was still glued to the floor.

"Bye then, Madame Collette, when you manage to regain back your control again." I said. "Let's go, Jaime."

"Is it really alright to just leave her like that?"

"I'm sure she'll eventually snap out of it."

"I hope so."

We stepped into the hallway and continued walking until we reached the main staircase. We parted ways as I went up to go to my room and he went down to wait in the lobby. I arrived at my room and saw Clover, sitting on his pillow slowly munching away on one of his carrots.

"Hiya, Clover."

"Hey, Sof!" He waved his carrot at me. "Are ya ready for the tea party?"

"It was changed to a Ball-dance instead, so I have to get dressed now." I got my dress from my wardrobe room and went behind my changing screen.

"But it's still too early to go, Sofia."

"I'm not going to go yet. I'm going to have a little dance lesson, with Jaime." I was putting my hands through the sleeves.

"Jaime? Who's that?"

"Oh. He's the new temporary Royal Sorcerer. He and Mr. Cedric will be exchanging positions for the next six months, which is until he takes his finals at Sorcery school."

"Wow. It's that time of the year already?"

"Haa. Done!~" I came out from behind the screen and twirled around a couple of times. "So, what do you think, Clover?"

"Girl!~" He said. "That's the most prettiest and glistering dress I've seen so far. Who made it?"

"I did." I said and twirled. "I put this dress together myself, I even went to the village to ask for these materials. I couldn't find any in Madame Collette's room of materials and fabrics."

"That's one totally awesome dress!" He says and puts down his carrot in his hand, or paw.

He takes a couple hops over to me and stays put, and I slowly twirled around once in front of him.

"Hey. It's not purple." He says with his head tilted.

"Yeah, I figured that I ought to have at least one dress with a different color other than purple. Does this color look weird on me?"

"No." He said enthusiastically. "It's actually suits you. I think any color would fit you just fine, Sofia, even black!"

"Hehe. Thanks, Clover. Where are Mia, Robin and Whatnaught?" I said as I scanned around the room.

"They said they were going on a stroll. I'm sure they'll be back for lunch sooner or later." He says while hoping back to his pillow and carrots, slouches in it and begins to eat again.

"Oh well. I'd better get going. Can't have Jaime waiting for me forever." I walked towards the door.

"It's better to make guys wait, Sofia." He says. "It shows what kind of person he is if he has enough patience to wait for you to get dressed."

"I still rather be punctual than be late, Clover. But thanks for the advice." I waved goodbye to him as I closed my bedroom doors.

I quickly went to the staircases down to the lobby, and there I found Jaime leaning against the wall, holding his wand doing some little magic tricks on the spot. He must've gotten bored waiting for me and was practicing his magic to kill the time.

"I'm here, Jaime." I called out to him.

"You're finally...here..."

As he looks up at me, all of the magic dust that was spraying out from his wand stopped. He had a look on his face like he has never expected something to happen for a reason, like the one Madame Collette had on her face when we left her. I walked up to him and smiled.

"Sorry it took so long. I just had to make sure that I wore on my dress properly. What do you think?"

But he didn't reply, only blinked for a couple of times. Maybe he was trying to think of a nice way of saying how he didn't like it or so.

"So...you don't like it?" I said with a frown.

"N-N-N-NO!" He shook his head. "I-I-I, Yes! Duh-I-I mean, I like it! It suits you very well. S-Sorry, Princess. I was just at a loss for words for a second."

"Hehe. That's alright." I said with a smile filled with relief. "As long as you don't freeze on the spot like Madame Collette."

"I wonder if she's alright though." He says with his finger propping his chin.

"I'm sure she'll be alright. We can always check on her later if Baileywick hasn't yet." I said.

"Oh, you're both dressed up already?"

I turned around to see both Mom and Dad walking towards us coming from the stairs, Mom on Dad's left side.

"That's a really nice gown you've got there, Sofia." Mom commented. "Did you make it yourself?"

"Yes, Mom. I got the fabrics from the tailor shop in Dunwiddy. Has such a nice touch feeling to the hands, too."

"You made it yourself?!" Both Dad and Jaime said at the same time, and looked at each other at the same time.

"S-Sorry, Your Majesty." Jaime said.

Both Mom and I looked at each other and giggled.

"That's alright." Dad said. "But is that really you, Jaime? You look really different from your student profile."

"I'm not so sure about that, Your Majesty. I think it's just the clothes." Jaime answered.

"Could you do a little turn for me?" Dad said.

Jaime was obviously confused as he slowly turned like he did back at Madame Collette's.

"That's a really good suit you've got yourself there, Jaime. You'd really make a good soldier or knight, you know." Dad said.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. But once again, I just don't have the skills to be in such positions." Jaime gently shook his head.

"Where are Amber and James anyway, Mom?" I asked.

"They already left, Sofia. They just brought their clothes along with them." Mom said. "I really love the way you did with the gold lining on the edges of your whole dress."

"I even did it on my shoes." I lifted up my dress a little to show my shoes to her.

"They are really gorgeous, Sofia. I kind of wished I had a pair myself." She giggled.

"It's still a little early though. Are you both going to go already?" Dad looks at me.

"I was planning on bringing Jaime to the hall, for a little dance lesson." I said.

"Oh. Do you know how to dance, Jaime?" Mom asks.

"Only when I'm with my own mother." Jaime answers. "So I'm not really sure where the level of my dancing skills are on, My Queen."

"Well, I'm sure you will do just fine. Sofia's great at dancing, so I'm sure she'll teach you well." Dad answers proudly.

"I'm sure she will." Jaime replies.

"Oh, Rolly. Can't we watch them for just a bit?" Mom begs with her hands together.

"Now, now. We've got some things to arrange, remember? After all, now is the most convenient time since it'll only be the two of us for a few hours." Dad props his right arm up.

"Oh, right. I guess I just kinda got carried away." She said. "Be sure to take care of yourselves when you both go out for tonight, alright?" She gives me a kiss on my forehead.

"Sure, Mom." I said.

"I promise to take care of her, Your Majesties." Jaime says.

"Good man, Jaime." Dad gives him a thumbs up with his free right hand.

We watched as Mom and Dad left us arm-in-arm towards the staircase.

"Let's go, Jaime." I said and led the way to the hall.

We arrived at the hall, where it was empty. No one was on cleaning duty for the next two hours, which is until we leave for the school Ball. We walked towards the middle of the room and stopped. I turned to face Jaime.

"So, what kind of dance do you know, Jaime?" I asked.

"I only know the basic one, where you hold hand in hand with your partner and dance in a box pattern." He says.

"Ah. You mean the one where you go 'One, Two, Three, One, Two, Three.', right?" I said while I did the steps on the spot in a box pattern.

"Yes. That's the one." He says. "And some of the ones where you add-lib some extra steps into that dance, like linking arms or raising arms into the air."

"Great." I put my hands together. "What about the type of music? Which are you most comfortable with?"

"Um...I usually dance to classical music...instrumental...but anything that has an obvious rhythm or beat to it that I can easily follow along is fine too."

"Hm. I think you'll be fine." I said. "Shall we try one small dance together?"

"R-R-Right now?" He says.

"Of course. Why do you think we're here in the hall?" I spread my arms open wide.

"O...'kay? Lemme just, uh, conjure up a tune."

He takes out his wand from inside of his jacket and points towards the large glass window where you could see Mr. Cedric's tower just outside. A floating violin appeared levitating in the air as it starts to play a familiar song.

"It's...the song from my very first Ball, a Ball officially announcing my arrival in the castle!"

"Oh, uh, is it?"

"It's going to be easy for the both of us then. Let's just hold hands instead for now"

I lifted my dress a bit and did a curtsy, and he makes a bow with his right arm in the front and the left behind him.

"Try taking the lead, Jaime." I said.

"Uh, sure."

He takes my left hand with his right and my right with his left hand, my hands on top and his hands under.

"Good." I said. "What's next?"

"I shall lead, Princess."

No sooner than when he finishes his sentence that he takes his first step forwards with his left foot and I took a step back with my right foot, then he does a couple more in the same step, make it a complete 'Box' step dance. Then we stop.

"You know the Box step." I said.

He takes my hands again and he does half of the whole 'Box' steps, then he releases my left hand and raises my right arm while still holding my right hand above our heads, and starts turning me around with him going backwards, and he comes back forward to catch my left hand after I finish a whole turn. Then we stop.

"The Ladies Underarm Turn." I said again.

He takes my hands once again, and with a little nudge back on my left hand I move back on my left leg to make the first part of the box, without turning ourselves to any sort angles or degrees. Just as we finish the first part he nudges my right hand back, instructing me to move back again, this time starting on my right foot. I move my right leg back to make a part of the box, still without moving into any angles or degrees, and he nudges my left arm back again before we finish the step. Then I move my left foot back again like the first time and did another part of the box.

I was about to say something just as we're finishing the last part of the step when he nudges my right arm towards him, indicating that he wanted me to move forward with my right foot this time. It took me a moment to realize what the whole dance step was as I looked up at him to make eye-to-eye contact.

"You were doing the Progressive step, right?" I said.

"Yeah. I was." His smiled half way.

I let him finish the whole dance step until we were back in our original position. We stopped there again.

"Anymore?" I asked excitedly.

"Only one more, I think. I just don't remember what it's name is." He said.

"Just lead me." I said as I let him take my hands again.

He leads me to make half of a box starting on my right foot back, then into the Ladies Underarm Turn starting on my left foot. As I come back from my twirl, instead of taking hold of my left hand which I had to let go to make the Ladies Underarm Turn, he presses his right hand's palm to meet my left's palm as we meet face to face with about an arm's length space between us. I take a quick look down to see his legs, and saw his right leg bending inward. He starts moving his right leg outward 90 degrees, as I did the same with my left leg. He then takes his left leg forward in front of the right leg with our fronts facing outward and our backs back to back still going in one direction. I start to make my guess as I move my right leg forward 90 degrees and turn myself forward with my left palm raised up to my chest level, and there I meet Jaime with his right palm closing the space on my palm. Finally we start moving with the 'Box' step with him moving his right leg back as we slowly shorten the gap between us. We stopped and let go.

"That is one complete Face to Face step, Jaime." I clapped.

"Thank you, Princess. But I still lack the skills needed for dancing." He shrugs his shoulders. "And the knowledge for some of the other steps."

"That's alright. At least I know one thing about you."

"And that is?"

"You know how to follow on counts and beats. You have the rhythm for dancing. Although that last one had a mixture of Salsa and Meringue in it."

"Oh. Well, my mother was a bit of a dancer, so it does get a bit confusing when I dance with her. I actually know more dance steps, but to tell which steps are which and to which category they belong to, I just can't tell."

"Well, we've still got time, let's sort out what you know and sort them out with the time that we've got left." I offered my hand out. "If you'd let me."

"You're to take the lead, huh?" He smirked, in a good way. "Alright." And he takes a bow.

It felt like an intense workout, but within the time that we've got, we managed to sort out most of his dances and steps into categories and organization. As soon as we were done practicing we left the castle and headed for the school, on the flying coach. I sat on the side of the carriage where I am facing the flying horse, and Jaime was sitting facing the back.

"Finally we're going to the Ball-dance. Isn't this exciting, Jaime?" I said.

I was all excited with my head full of thoughts, imagining how the Ball would look like, how the decorations would be decorated, and how everyone would look in their clothes. I waited for Jaime's reply, but he didn't make a sound.

"Jaime?" I turned to face him.

But he was facing, staring out into the vast sky. He must probably be in deep thought about his finals, or other personal things. I decided not to disturb him and his thoughts until we reach the school grounds. It's kind of fair since I did kept him moving about all day without letting him take a break since he came back from his shift back at Mystic Meadows. As I thought about that, I turned to take a look at him and found him already asleep with his head resting on his right hand. I carefully shifted over to his side and slowly laid his head onto my left shoulder. His face looks very pale from all of the tiredness he's gone through.

"I'd better help him get in shape and in good health. He must be very tired and had not enough to eat or rest. I promise to take good care of you and Mr. Cedric, whenever either one of you are in the castle."

Some of his black hair were sticking onto his face by the wind, I moved them away as gently as I could with the tips of my fingers, trying not to disturb his sleep as best as I could.

I watched the sun set into the clouds as the coach finally arrives onto the school grounds. There were other coaches parked on the ground; Amber and James' one was parked just beside the school gate's fence, followed by Clio's, then Hildegard's. Just on the opposite of Amber and James' was probably Zandar's, followed by an orange coach and a pale pink coach of which I do not know who came in them or belonged to. Our Coachman decided to park our coach beside the pale pink one.

"I've secured the coach, Your Highness." The Coachman said to me.

"Thank you." I replied back.

Jaime was still fast asleep on my shoulder. I kind of feel bad, but I have to wake him up now or we'll never get inside the school.

"Jaime. Jaime~." I said in a calm tone. "We're here, Jaime."

"...uuuuuuhhhh...uh?.." He moaned.

"We've arrived at the school, Jaime." I said.

"...Huh?...school?...five more minutes...please..." He was slowly drifting off. He probably thought that it was time to go to Sorcerer's school.

"Hehe. Come on, Jaime. The Ball-dance's about to start soon."

"...Ball-dance?..."

"That's right, the Ball-dance at Royal Prep." I said. "Besides, I can't have you sleeping on my shoulder any longer, it's already numb."

"...shoulder?...Huh?!"

He slightly moved his head down first, then he turns to look up at me, his eyes blinking multiple times.

"Hi." I said with a smile. "Had a nice dream?"

His eyes instantly opened as wide like you would opening the curtains, quickly removes his head off my shoulder and stand up straight and tall. You could clearly see that he was in a shocked state, probably scared about how his head was on my arm just now, but I wouldn't blame him.

"W-W-W-W-W-W-Why d-d-didn't you wake me up, Princess?!" He said without facing at me. "D-Don't you know surprises like that could harm one's heart?! And possibly lead to Death?!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. You looked so tired that when you dozed off your head and hand were bobbing up and down." I lied, with a smile. "I wanted you to rest anyway, you must've had it hard back at Mystic Meadows."

He sharply turns to look at me, with one brow up and his eyes narrowed in on me, just like a hawk.

"Are...you mad...Jaime?" I was a little scared.

He breathes in really deep, and slowly exhales out of his mouth.

"Next time, just let me sleep sitting upright, alright?" He says with a calmed voice. "I don't do very well with scares and surprises like that. I don't...have a very healthy heart, despite how I look like on the outside."

"Oh. You have a heart condition." My eyes widened.

"Something like that."

"I'm sorry, Jaime. I promise not to do something like that again. I won't ever surprise you with anything ever again." I said with a sunken feeling as I looked on my hands and to the floor.

Then I felt his hand on my shoulder.

"Surprises like dinner by the window and being tailored on the spot for clothes is fine, but surprises like this or when I'm being ambushed, are what would make my heart go all wrong." He says. "Uh...or something along the line like that...sorry, I can't find the right words. What I'm trying to say is, you can still surprise me, but, uh, not with ones that would give a heart attack. Aaaaahhhccckkk! What am I saying?"

I watch him as he scratches his head, desperately trying to find the right words to say to me. At the sight of it, it made my heart smile warmly. I gently took his hand that was scratching on his hand and sandwiched them with my hands.

"Princess?" He looks at me with a curious look.

"Thank you, Jaime, and I'm sorry. I promise to only give surprises that won't cause you to panic."

"Oh. Um...Okay." He says, with an easy smile. "And I'm sorry about raising my voice earlier."

"It was my fault, you don't have to apologize." I brushed it off with my hand. "Ready to go inside?"

"Shouldn't I be saying that?"

We both laughed.

After we both got off the coach, we walked through the gates and saw a large glittery banner that had 'Welcome' written in large black colored lettering. It was probably something Amber had put together at the last moment since I didn't see it being made during her previous preparation days.

"That letter 'M' looks like-"

"I know, Jaime." I quickly cut in his words. "Best not to say anything. There might be ears nearby."

Amber usually hears the tiniest of whispers, so gossips and rumors that goes around in school usually reaches her, either for good or bad. We looked at the entrance of the main building and saw something like fog or smoke flowing out.

"That's funny." I said.

"It's fake fog." Jaime says right away. "Like those make shift ones you'd usually use in those Haunted houses attractions during Halloween."

"Hm. Interesting."

We entered the school building and I guided us along the hallway, towards the main hall. It took a while as we finally reached the windowed doors of the hall, which were conveniently opened, wide.

"Princess."

Jaime says as he offers his left arm. I take it by wrapping it around with my right arm and lifted up a little bit of my skirt with my left hand.

"Ready." I replied.

As if in synced, we walked into a slow curve as we centered ourselves and entered through the doors, into the hall.