AN: This is a Chrestomanci and Howl's Moving Castle crossover. I hope you like it. It's my first attempt at an official fanfic that I'm actually showing anyone, so please give me criticism! I really need some. Not as happy as I could be with this first chapter. (I'm never happy with any writing I ever finish, though, so I have no idea how good or bad it is.) Please comment. Second chapter will be up in a few days.

An Exciting Day

"Cat, Marianne! Would you settle down? Neither of you have stopped fidgeting since lessons started, and the rest of you aren't much better," scolded Michael Saunders.

"Sorry, Mr. Saunders," chorused his pupils. He looked over at Marianne and they shared an excited smile. Though the reminder from his teacher did make him try to pay attention to the history lesson, Cat knew he was fighting a losing battle. Not ten minutes later, his foot was tapping, and his fingers were drumming on his leg. He couldn't wait for morning lessons to be over. This afternoon, in his magic class with Chrestomanci and Marianne, he was finally going to try traveling between worlds all on his own. Well, Marianne would be with him, but they would be travelling unguided for the first time. They'd been preparing for the past month and a half, and had taken many short day and two-day trips to all sorts of worlds with Chrestomanci. However, now they'd be on their own for the first time, and he couldn't wait to try.

Of course, since he was so excited, time seemed to drag by painfully slowly. He couldn't stop glancing over at Marianne, and sharing a smile or an impatient look. The excitement, of course, had spread to their friends who were having just as hard a time paying attention to their teacher.

Janet, of course, had her own reasons to be interested. She really liked everyone in the castle, but there were times when she missed her own world and everything she had grown up with. She hoped that Cat would be able to take her back to her own world for a visit at some point. Not that she had told him this yet. She had scarcely dared to admit the desire to herself, until Cat had told her that he would be learning how to travel between worlds himself, and then she couldn't help the feeling from making itself known. Besides that, Cat had been her first friend in this strange world. She hoped he'd do alright.

Julia, on the other hand, was somewhat jealous. She knew her magic skills weren't up to solitary inter-world travel, but everyone was so excited, and she couldn't do anything or have anything exciting to look forward too. Even Roger and Joe were working on their latest invention—a machine that could travel underwater.

"Well, I am so glad that tomorrow is Wednesday and I don't have to worry about teaching all of you again. Next time, try to pay a little more attention, won't you?" complained Mr. Saunders at the end of the morning.

The children tried to look sheepish, but they were too happy to really pull off the look. Not to mention, none of them really was very sorry.

Janet walked up to her almost-brother, "So, Cat, are you nervous at all?"

"A bit," he admitted.

Roger chimed in, "I'm sure you won't have any problems with it. You've been studying for so long now! You must have it down by now."

Marianne broke in next, "Oh but Roger, we've always had an adult, namely your father, the most powerful enchanter across multiple worlds, with us. It's quite different when we're going by ourselves."

Janet spoke again, "But you've been studying so hard! I can't imagine Chrestomanci would let you go if he thought you would have any problems. You have to tell us all about it when you get back!"

Cat responded, "It's not like we're going anywhere unique. Just to the world where Conrad Tesdinic lives. We've all heard about it. We'll head over at 3 o'clock sharp when we will meet Mr. Tesdinic for afternoon tea. An hour later Chrestomanci will come and see if we can come back on our own or if we are too tired. We'll be there maybe two hours, at most. Nothing at all exciting will happen."

"I don't care! We still want a full report, right Julia?"

"Of course! Even if all you can tell us is what type of tea and biscuit Mr. Tesdinic likes we want to know."

Marianne laughed, "Of course we'll tell you everything. Though I'm afraid that Cat's right and at the end of the day this will probably prove to be a big let-down."

After that, the children went to lunch and passed a very slow two hours before Cat and Marianne had to meet Chrestomanci.

The enchanter went through the procedure, which was exactly as Cat had explained to Janet. Afterwards, he gave a few words of advice and watched as the two teenagers set up their spell. They worked slowly and carefully, not wanting to mess up, but wishing they could travel as easily between worlds as Chrestomanci, who made it look as easy as walking into a different room.

Cat and Marianne held hands as they started the final process, the actual moving between worlds. Suddenly, the door to Chrestomanci's office burst open, surprising both of the young magic users, so that each tried to head in a different direction, but because they were holding hands, they went in a third, completely different, direction.

Uh-oh was the only thought Cat was able to form before he found himself whipped away, holding on to his friend's hand with all his might, eyes tightly closed.

When he found solid ground beneath him, he opened his eyes slowly and looked at Marianne, but a moment later, she was the last thing on his mind.

A large, moving castle was heading right towards them!