So I was told I should write more fic for this fandom, and really it's not hard to encourage me to write fic, especially since I have a couple more ideas bouncing around. This is going to be in two parts, because I needed to post this bit before I over-thought it way too much and called quits. Second part is almost done and will be coming soon.

"Ow!" Cedric dropped the whittling knife and pressed his thumb to his lips, nursing the cut there. This was the fifth time he'd nicked himself in the past hour. "Merlin's mushrooms," he muttered as he dipped the injured digit into the beaker of healing potion he'd set up beside him on the desk. "Why am I doing this, again?"

Wormwood, who had been watching with amusement from his perch, cawed in response.

"Right. Sofia." Cedric dried off his thumb and leaned back in the chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. Wormwood made a low grumble, and Cedric looked over at him. "Well, I have to thank her somehow, right? Otherwise I'll be indebted to her or something, and I hate that." When the raven gave him a skeptical look, he protested, "It's not like I'm doing this out of the goodness of my heart! This is just part of a plan to… swipe her amulet? Right? That's still a thing I'm planning, isn't it? I'm… luring her into a false sense of security!"

Wormwood would have liked to point out that Sofia already had complete faith in the sorcerer and that was the biggest load of bull he'd ever heard, but Cedric wouldn't be able to understand a word of it. He ruffled his feathers irritably.

Cedric sighed. "That sounded better in my head. Out loud it's just ridiculous."

One thing Wormwood was glad of was Cedric's remarkable ability to hold complete conversations with himself.

"That's the thing I don't understand, Wormy!" Cedric spun his chair so he was facing the bird. "She trusts me so much, from the moment I met her! I'm sure she heard plenty of terrible things about me when she first got here, but she never even began to doubt my abilities." He stood up and grabbed the perch, pulling it towards him so they were nose-to-beak. "What is she, Wormy?" he demanded, as if there were some conspiracy. "Where did she come from? What does she want?"

It occurred to Wormwood that Cedric hadn't slept in quite some time now, and was probably running solely on caffeine and stress. "She came from the village," the raven responded dryly, "and I believe she wants to be your friend."

Cedric let go of the perch, and it wobbled around before settling back into place, Wormwood squawking as he tried to keep his balance. The sorcerer began to pace the room, kicking clutter out of his way. "'Friends,' she says. Pah!" He winced as an Erlenmeyer flask unlucky enough to be in his path shattered against the wall. "I don't need friends! They'd only distract me from my real goal." He stalked back over to the raven. "The kingdom, Wormy, the kingdom! I can't lose sight of that. Not now, not when I'm so close!" He began to turn away again, and then he noticed the wand box Sofia had given him atop a stack of books next to him. Absentmindedly, he ran his fingers over its smooth surface.

"Honestly, I don't think you've ever been further," Wormwood remarked.

The same thought seemed to occur to Cedric, and he rested his hand on the box. "What am I saying, Wormy?" he asked wearily. "Do I even want the kingdom anymore? I can barely remember what I was going to do once I got it. I've spent so much time thinking of ways to take over that I didn't stop to think about how to do the job itself. The more Sofia talks about her dad and her classes, the more I realize I wouldn't have a clue how to run a kingdom! It's not just making rules, I have to make sure that villages are safe, that crops are growing, that the economy is running properly and whatever else is going on or it'll all fall apart. I can barely keep up with her once she gets going!" He gave Wormwood a bewildered look. "There's paperwork, Wormy. Paperwork!" Running a hand through his hair, he said, "But then what? What if I don't want to be king after all? No, I'm sure I do. It's nothing I can't handle! I'm Cedric the Sensa… tional…" He slapped his forehead. "The Great! Cedric the Great!" There was a long pause, and for a moment Wormwood thought Cedric had fallen asleep standing. Then the sorcerer let out a harsh bark of laughter, startling the raven. "Ha! Cedric the Fool, more like. I don't even know what I want anymore."

Wormwood, however, was fairly certain of what the answer was, but he wouldn't have said anything even if he could have, unwilling to give Cedric any ideas that he didn't already have.

Slumping back into his chair, Cedric stared morosely at the project on his desk. After a stretch of brooding silence, he sighed, "I might as well keep working on this. It's something to do, anyway."

Wormwood shook his head as Cedric picked up the whittling knife again. By now, the raven was used to Cedric's pendulum rants, but he wasn't entirely sure he was happy with the direction this one was swinging in. Taking over the kingdom had been a long-time goal, one that Wormwood had gotten rather attached to, but now it was starting to look like Cedric's priorities were changing. Wormwood was not fond of Sofia, but he supposed that when push came to shove, where Cedric went, he went. Still, he hoped that the sorcerer would soon shake himself of the silly notion of mentoring the girl and get back on track with the treason.

Time passed, the still air occasionally punctured with sharp hisses and curses, and the raven dozed, head tucked under his wing.

After perhaps another hour or so, the door opened suddenly and Sofia called, "Mr. Cedric?"

Cedric yelped, jumping in surprise, and the knife went skittering out of his control. He let out a curse that was very much not child-friendly as the blade sliced him across the pads of three fingers. "Princess Sofia!" he shouted, whirling to his feet so fast he rattled the desk. "What have I told you about sneaking up on a sorcerer?"

She cringed a little. "Sorry, Mr. Ce-" Then she cut herself off with a gasp. "You're bleeding!"

Cedric grabbed the wobbling beaker of healing potion before it fell off the edge of the desk and dunked his fingers into it. "It's nothing, I'm fine!" he said a little too loudly.

Sofia peered curiously at his desk, and he moved to block her view. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Nothing," Cedric said hastily.

She raised an eyebrow and tried to look around him, but he got in her way again. "Really," she said.

Wormwood was almost tempted to tell her just for the spite of it, but Cedric really had been working hard, so he held his tongue, even when Sofia shot him a questioning glance.

"Really," Cedric replied, pressing back against the desk.

"Well, since you're doing nothing," Sofia said, "maybe you can help me with some of my magic class homework."

"Oh. Um." Cedric floundered. "Well, actually I am working on something. But it's super secret sorcerer stuff. So you can't see."

"Mm-hm."

"But, uh, if you go outside for a moment, I can tidy this up and then we'll see about that homework."

Sofia sighed. "Alright." She left, closing the door behind herself, and Cedric shouted after her, "And no peeking!"

"Don't you trust me?" he heard her ask innocently.

"Absolutely not, you nosy little brat!"

She laughed, and he hurried to clean it up, shoving tools into drawers at random and brushing wood chips over the desk so they fell down behind it. It would be a pain trying to find everything again, but he'd just have to deal.

He slammed one last drawer shut, shaking the desk, and this time the healing potion did fall, breaking the beaker and spilling the potion across the floor. "Neptune's nettles!"

"Everything okay in there?"

"Fine! Just- ugh. You can come in." As she reentered the workshop, he picked up his wand and flicked it, saying something that flowed. The potion slid back into the beaker, which repaired itself and floated back up to settle in its original place.

"Neat!" Sofia said. "Can you teach me how to do that?"

Cedric put his wand back into his sleeve. "It's a very complex spell," he replied. "I'm actually surprised that I got it ri-"

He was interrupted by a loud crack, and the beaker crumpled in on itself and vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving only a scorch mark behind. "Or… not."

They both stared for a moment at where the potion used to be, then Sofia broke the silence by holding up her textbook and asking, "So, homework?"

"Homework," Cedric agreed.