Prettyinpinkgal: Hello! This was something I did for English; I had to write an article taking place during a book I read. Since I'm currently obsessed with HMC, I decided to write the article taking place after the book. I got it back, and decided to post it on FanFiction (is this really considered fanfiction...?). Thought it'd be something different (shrugs). Anyway, I hope you like it! Oh, and I just have my first name in this version that's going up on fanfictiondotnet, because I don't want to give away my last name.

Disclaimer: Howl's Moving Castle is not my own work. It belongs to Diana Wynne Jones. The article, however, was created by me :).

MISSING GIRL FOUND

Alyssa

Midsummer's Week

Market Chipping, Ingary

Miss Sophie Hatter, who disappeared shortly after May Day, has been found. Miss Hatter, who is the oldest of three daughters and was doomed to an uneventful life, was apprenticed to her stepmother in the local hat shop here in Market Chipping before she was spirited away. Many rumors surrounded her disappearance. One such rumor was that Wizard Howl--occasionally known as Horrible Howl--had eaten her heart.

Sophie Hatter herself told us what happened during her disappearance, and sounded put off by the rumor. "Howl never ate my heart at all. It's just a rumor that the mothers and aunts of all those girls he courted created. All that happened was that the Witch of the Waste came in the hat shop one day and wanted to buy a bonnet. She didn't find any she fancied, and she transformed me into a ninety-year-old!" she told us, sounding understandably angry. She went on and explained how she couldn't let anyone see her in such a state and left her home, compelled to find her fortune. Instead of finding her fortune, however, she ended up living as a cleaning lady for Wizard Howl.

When asked if she was terrified of living under the same roof as Howl, she simply laughed. "When you're old, you don't worry much. I was troubled, of course, but Howl really isn't as horrible as he's made out to be. He's a vain slither-outer, but he was very kind to me. What I was most afraid of was a scarecrow that kept showing up, but I'll explain that later."

Miss Hatter then told us that Howl actually destroyed the Witch of the Waste! The death of the Witch ended Miss Hatter's curse, turning her back to her true age. As for the scarecrow, it turned out having parts of both the Royal Wizard Suliman and Prince Justin, who have been missing for some time. As it turned out, the Witch had cast spells on them as well. Upon the Witch's destruction, they became their true selves and returned to their duties.

As for Howl himself, he is also a Royal Wizard now. During their fight with the Witch of the Waste and her fire demon known only as Miss Angorian, it was revealed that he was not only heartless figuratively, but literally as well. He nearly died when the fire demon Miss Angorian grabbed hold of his heart--which was concealed in Howl's own fire demon, Calcifer--and indeed would have suffered a horrible fate if Miss Hatter had not saved him by returning his heart to him. He and Miss Hatter are expecting to be married in the nearby future. After a grand adventure, it seems that they are now finally going to live happily ever after.

Prettyinpinkgal: Dang, that looks so short compared to when I printed it out o.O; I think Sophie's sort of OOC. u.u Maybe in any upcoming HMC fics I write, I'll get down Sophie's personality better. This wasn't really anything interesting, I guess. Just posted it for the heck of it. If you want to leave a review though, I'd be much obliged :). Bye:D