Chapter 1: Ordinary Girl

A/N: This is my first fanfic, oddly I'm kind of nervous! Haha. Please comment, I want to know what you think of my work :)

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Howl's Moving Castle, sadly.

Sophie

I watched the other girls from the hat shop start off down the street, laughing and enjoying themselves. Not that I regretted not joining them. Because I had never quite fit in with the others. They all wore bright colors and laughed a lot and gushed over the latest fashion trends. They even obsessed over the Wizard Howl, the most terrible and cruel wizard in all Ingary, who could be found wandering the Wastes in his walking castle. Apparently he was very handsome, and tricked girls into loving him only to eat their hearts. (I didn't see why they nearly passed out whenever his castle came near town. He was probably terrifying and most likely would know that everyone thought so, which in turn would make him conceited on top of everything else.)

All that just wasn't my kind of thing. I was just the plain brown mouse in the corner that no one seemed to pay any attention to, even if I wanted them to. Which was rare. But still. I was eighteen years old and never had a boyfriend, for crying out loud! Not even so much as a friend who happened to be a boy.

It made me wonder what it was like to be wanted. To be missed even for a minute, to always be in the spotlight. Spotlights. Ugh. I shuddered at the thought, then gave a start. Black smoke from the passing train billowed outside the window, blocking out the sun for a few seconds.

I sighed and leafed through the piles of hats still on the table. Maybe I was done for the day after all. I stood up stiffly and dusted off my work apron before hanging it up and grabbing my hat. I went down the stairs, past the courtyard, and into the hat shop. Glancing around, I saw that the girls had put up the 'closed' sign on the door. I blinked, then smiled fondly realizing what happened. Those girls, they were so smart sometimes. So maybe I wasn't like them, but we all knew each other well enough anyhow. I walked to the tri-fold mirror and smoothed my plain-looking brown braid before I put my hat on, smiling like an idiot and trying to look halfway decent. I fail, I thought, exhaling and looking sullen.

Turning, I decided to catch the trolley before it left. I made sure the shop door was locked, then made my way through a small crowd to get to the already-packed trolleys heading into town for the May Day festivities. I jumped onto the nearest one, hanging on near the edge just before it began to move.

I was the first to get off and immediately hurried across the square, fully aware that I was the only one walking this way, away from the crowd watching a bunch of blue-uniformed soldiers and a lot of others important people get bigger egos as they marched down the street to applause and lots more of all that festive stuff. Don't get me wrong; I love celebrations. It's just that, what's the point, if no one cares if you're there or not? But it was May Day and everyone was out so I figured this was good enough for me. I got to one of the back streets and crossed a courtyard, using my perfected art of getting places without too many people seeing me. I took the slip of paper out of my pocket with directions to Cesari's bakery, where Lettie said she'd be working today.

The sound of cheering and music got louder and I found myself looking up an alley to the crowded center of town again. I high-tailed it in the opposite direction without a thought. Surely that other street I need must connect… I thought, looking up and back behind me for a sign, or anything, as I came around a corner. I turned forward again to look where I was going and stopped short when I found myself staring at what looked suspiciously like the front of a military uniform—well, jeez. How could I have missed someone walking right at me? I was spacing out so much more than usual today. I stepped back to apologize and hurry along when I realized that the soldier that belonged to the uniform was leaning casually against the wall, looking down at me. He couldn't have been all that much older than me and everything about him was screaming 'ego overflow'.

"Hey. Looks like a little mouse lost its way," he said, smiling impishly.

I took half a step back. He so was not trying to pull that line. However, I didn't exactly make a snappy comeback. "Oh. No. I'm not lost." And I wasn't! I was just…mistaken about my location and where to go next.

"This little mouse looks thirsty. We should take her for a cup of tea." He stood up and blocked my way as I tried to step around him. His friend came out of the wide doorway behind him. So that was why I hadn't heard them coming; they'd just been standing there. Duh, Sophie. You little idiot, I scolded myself.

"No thanks, my sister's expecting me," I tried to be polite and firm but probably ruined the effect by hiding under the brim of my hat.

His friend leaned down to get a good look at my face and I saw that he had a big brown moustache. "She's pretty cute for a mouse."

"How old are you, anyway? You live around here?" Bigheaded Number One asked flirtatiously.

I gritted my teeth. "Leave me alone!"

He just smirked at Number Two. "Ya see? Your moustache scares all the girls," he complained.

"So? I think she's even cuter when she's scared," his friend retorted, still closely contemplating my face.

I was trying to come up with something that would make them leave off when someone seemingly appeared out of nowhere to stand next to me, putting their hand on my opposite shoulder possessively. I stiffened and probably looked terrified—another one to get rid of?—until I heard them speak.

"There you are sweetheart, sorry I'm late. I was looking everywhere for you," said a male voice. But it wasn't just a voice; it was down-to-earth but soft, deep but slightly lilting, a little lazy but you got the feeling it could crack like ice if the speaker wanted it to. It was gorgeous to listen to. I could have replayed those few words for hours in my head and never be tired of them, but right now I had stuff to deal with.

"Hey, hey. We're busy here," the first soldier said irritably.

"Are you really?" said the owner of the arm around me. "It looked to me like you two were just leaving." And with that he flipped his hand up with a long, thin index finger extended. The two soldiers immediately stood up straight, and swiveled around when he flicked his wrist, looking rather insulted and disturbed by what was happening to them and protesting loudly. As the man beside me held his hand out and motioned to the side, the two began a fast-paced march around us and down the alley. I was in shock myself. How did he do that? He must have magic, that was the only explanation. But wizards were evil and dangerous! No one in their right mind, or any mind at all, ever voluntarily went within miles of them if they could help it. Why would one go out of his way to save someone, let alone a little ordinary nobody like me?

"Don't hold it against them. They're actually not all that bad."

I looked up to see the man's face and practically fainted. And I had thought his voice was beautiful. He was tall and thin but still nicely muscled, with blond hair that looked like it captured the sun and held it there. His mouth was lazy and one side seemed to be turned up in a perpetual mischievous smile, but his straight nose made him more down-to-earth, somehow. What shocked me were his eyes. They were blue, but any color was just too plain to describe them. If his hair absorbed the sun, then his eyes had surely taken some combination of sea and sky. All in all, he made for an intimidating person, but I got the impression of something childlike behind those eyes. How odd.

I had about half a second to take this all in and most likely looked fairly stunned. With good reason. Now I really couldn't figure out why he had helped me. But he was speaking again with that gorgeous voice.

"Where to? I'll be your escort this evening." He smiled calmly, like he dropped in on people like this every day. Well, maybe he did.

"Oh! I-well-I was going to the bakery…" I blurted without thinking. What was I doing? He could practically stalk me if I kept blabbing. He was just too much to take in at once.

But no matter how beautiful, he had to be a wizard and was going to kill me any second.

"Alright. Well then, let's get you there," the wizard said to me. I stopped as I was about to take a step.

"Ah, thank you for helping me. But I really should go." I got my wits about me again and began to edge away from him. At least his arm wasn't around me anymore.

"Well, in any case, you did seem to be lost—" he started to point out but I interrupted him.

"I'm not lost! I know exactly where I'm going and how I'm intending to get there." I turned to march down the alley in what I thought was the right direction. He was a pushy wizard, wasn't he.

"Left."

I turned. "I beg your pardon?"

A smile tugged at his lips again. "If you go left, you'll be close. But before you leave…" He was at my side faster than my eyes could track him with his arm around me again. "At least let me buy you a drink."

Tempting, but I choose life, thanks. "Sorry. Thanks, but no thanks. I have people waiting for me." I smiled up at him sweetly. He looked quite taken aback, like he didn't know what to say to a no. Probably used to being obeyed at a second's notice. Taking a longer look at him, I could see something else in him fairly plainly that I hadn't seen at first. Vanity. He was so preoccupied with himself that his ego had shot through the roof long ago. One more reason to get away. But before I left, I just had to needle him with something else. It was out-of-character for meek little Sophie, but I couldn't stand people who thought of themselves above everyone else.

"And, by the way—would you happen to be one of those famous wizards that everyone is always talking about?" I asked him, resisting the urge to bat my eyelashes at him. Not like it would work, but it was still tempting.

He obviously thought he'd won me back. He pulled me a little closer to him, still smiling seductively. "That would normally depend on who's asking, but since it's you, I'll tell you that I'm the greatest wizard there is."

I giggled. "Well alright, fair enough." I put some coldness into my expression then. "I just hope all those lesser wizards aren't following your example, because I mean really, teaching people to be overconfident asses? These days, that's taking it a bit far, don't you think?" I shrugged off his arm for good measure and waltzed away down the alley and to the left, glancing at him out of the corner of my eye as I turned the corner, my braid swinging. He was in obvious extreme shock and looked like he was about to explode. Good. I smiled, seeing the lights of Cesari's not far off across the main square.