While Gus tried to embrace the joys of having a younger sibling, even once Minerva became mobile, she still wasn't good for much in the boy's opinion. She had taken her first steps already, but still preferred to crawl along on her hands and knees as it was the quicker option for tailing her big brother around the nursery.

Up in the workshop, Cedric and Sofia were busy finishing their respective potions when there was a magical pulsation from the portrait of Cedric's parents, though neither Winifred or Goodwyn appeared.

"I better go see what it is," Cedric said, pecking a kiss to Sofia's cheek before excusing himself and pocketing his family wand to make the trip through the portal to his parents' home in Mystic Meadows.

He appeared through his wedding portrait the elderly couple had hanging in their living room and called for his parents, not noticing Cordelia's portrait with school age Calista had begun to glow and his sister teleported in behind him. Cedric was already in the back hall standing motionless in the doorway to his parents' bedroom.

"Cedric, what…?" Cordelia called to her brother only to be halted in her own steps as she looked into the room where their mother was sitting at their father's bedside, stifling tears and just looking down at her husband. The siblings knew in an instant Goodwyn wasn't asleep…

"A heart attack," Cedric informed his wife when he finally returned home after helping his mother make the necessary preparations for the transfer of Goodwyn's body. "He woke up fine this morning, but he abruptly collapsed just before 10… It was quick. Mummy says she doubts he even knew what happened."

Sofia was in tears immediately and took her husband into her arms. "Cedric, I'm so sorry…"

Cedric was numb to any emotion at present. Yes, in recent years his relationship with his father had improved, but there was always some sort of distance between the two. To think that Goodwyn the Great was no longer going to be in his life was too heavy a shock to process entirely. Cordelia didn't fair much better, but she at least wept openly, setting her feelings free so she could better help their mother. All Cedric had been asked to do was inform the king and see what the family needed to do for a state funeral.

Roland and Miranda gave their condolences, but Cedric barely heard them. If not for Sofia remaining by his side, he wouldn't have known what to tell his mother and sister, but not a soul expected him to be immediately accepting of his father's death.

He dismissed himself to the nursery, wanting to be with his own children who hadn't the faintest idea why their father looked so sad, but both Gus and Minerva did like the tight and warm hug he drew them into, nuzzling each of their faces and kissing their cheeks.

"Daddy…?" Gus reached his little hands out to Cedric's face and found them wet with tears. "Are you hurt?"

Cedric nodded his head and placed a hand over his son's. "I love you two very much. You know that, don't you?"

"I love you too, daddy," Gus smiled and hugged Cedric's neck.

"Dadee," Minerva smiled as well, repeating after her brother and pressing her messy wet lips against Cedric's cheek in an attempt to copy their father's kisses.

The two still hadn't the faintest what was going on, but clung without fuss to their father as he held them for a very long time, not saying another word, just needing to be with them a while before Sofia came into the nursery to have a sooner than expected talk to their son about 'death'.

Cedric thought for sure his father would have been looking after his health with various potions as many sorcerers did to extend their longevity mostly due to the sheer demand for such talents, not to mention some of the most complicated spells could take decades to complete and not every sorcerer took on an apprentice to carry on their work.

He learned from his mother after the funeral that Goodwyn had no such intentions of pursuing a longer than natural lifespan. He'd lived a good life, raised both his children well, and had been able to meet three grandchildren. The guilt of not being able to save Roland I's life all those years ago likely held some weight on Goodwyn's decision as well, seeing no need to extend his life when his dear friend and king's had been cut short. It hadn't been Goodwyn's fault of course, but being the great sorcerer that he was, he took issue with his uselessness at the time. Somethings magic simply couldn't overcome.

Winifred, being fifteen years her husband's junior, did feel cheated out of years with her husband in some sense, but she understood and respected his reasoning. She wasn't afraid of losing herself back over to the darkness she came from, having many little rays of sunshine in her grandchildren she still intended to dote on with all her grandmotherly power, but Cordelia and Calista did elect to stay with her a while to ease the woman's adjustment to widowhood.

"I'm fairly certain her constant attempts to chase us out are a good sign," Cordelia told Cedric a few weeks later over a crystal ball call.

"Mummy'll be fine, Cordy," Cedric informed her as he walked about the castle, a toddling Minerva at his feet as the girl was perfecting her steps. "Sad as it is, you have to let the grieving process play through."

"Heh, how many times has Sofia been saying that to you?"

"About five times a day," Cedric admitted. "I still can't believe he's gone…"

"I know…" Cordelia sighed, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. "I suppose I ought to let you go before we start sniveling again."

"We should all get together sometime in the next month. Family dinner or something," Cedric suggested.

"Mm. I'll check my planner and get back to you before the weekend, alright?"

"Alright, Cordelia. I'll talk to you later."

"Minerva, sweetie! Auntie is so proud of you!" Cordelia called to her niece and heard the child giggle before she ended the call.

Cedric managed a smile and placed the ball into his robe and chased down the hall to catch up with the toddler, latching onto her from under her armpits and lifting her up into his arms. "Whoa! Where do you think you're going, little one?"

Minerva smiled wide and reached her hands out for Cedric's face.

"That's my girl," he beamed, placing an encouraging kiss to her cheek and letting her latch onto his head. She seemed to fancy his silver bangs, her hands always finding their way to the off colored strands to touch and grab.

While Minerva found her way onto Cedric's shoulders, the sorcerer continued down the hall to the nursery to give the toddler a change and step into his bedchamber to give his hair a brushing. After leaving Minerva in the care of Baileywick, he went next door and was surprised to find Sofia in the room midafternoon, fresh from the privy and looking pale, a hand rubbing over her abdomen.

She paused her steps and looked up at him, almost apologetically.

"Are you pregnant again?" He asked as he approached her, gently taking her into his arms.

"I-I know this isn't good timing," she began. "What with your father and–"

He cut her off with a kiss, thanking her for this bit of good news in what had been nearly a month of sorrow. "You should have told me sooner."

Sofia smiled and wrapped her arms around him tightly. "I didn't want to overwhelm you…"

"I'll welcome the distraction of another baby," he assured her with kisses to her face and a supportive hand to her belly.

Godric Ambrose, their third baby and second son was born a bit small and didn't cry as much as his brother and sister had, but fresh out of his mother, he endeared himself by having a head of dark hair like his father and grandfather before him. It made sense to name him after both Goodwyn and Cedric, his middle name paying homage to Merlin in the hopes he'd have the talent of all three sorcerers, but if he didn't, that'd be fine too.

Cedric naturally had high hopes for all of his children, but he never voiced them beyond reason and kept his boasting under control. The last thing he wanted was for any of his children to grow up with a similar complex to his own and so far, they seemed to be trouble free.

Once Godric was born, Gus had begun waving a wand of his own, a simple beginner's wand not capable of much, but somehow the eldest still managed to get into trouble with it as Cedric and Sofia both found out after leaving the oldest two with their paternal grandmother which in retrospect may not be the best idea. Gus had managed to transfigure every limb of his younger sister along with adding different horns, wings, gills, talons, and voice box. Minerva took the transformation well, still being too young to understand her monstrous chimera form, and laughed it off as Cedric and Sofia both hurried to counter the magic while Winifred laughed proudly at her grandson's accomplishments.

No practicing of magic on siblings became a make-or-break rule for further spellcasting.

Author's note: I know it's been a while since I updated anything. I'm in a writing rut. This one was the only story willing to work with me. I do think in the StF universe, aging with sorcerers is optional, and Goodwyn strikes me as the sort who wouldn't go beyond what was natural. I also get the feel he IS a lot older than Winifred, at least ten years. He was already graying when Cedric and Cordelia were younger so that was maybe put him in his 40s? Nearly 30 years later in the main plotline he'd be in his 70s, and add in the time skips I've had in this fic, he'd be in his early 90s. At least his 80s. That's a good long life.