­­In Which Howl Finally Realizes Beauty is Only Skin Deep

By: SilverLunarStar

Part One: In Which Howl is Still a Slitherer-Outer

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Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Howl's Moving Castle or the characters affiliated with either the book or film. I DO own a copy of Studio Ghibli's version of the movie, instead of Walt Disney's, and a copy of Diana Wynne Jones' novel. The plot, while slightly un-original, is mine.

Author's Note: This is my first, but certainly not last, fanfic of Howl's Moving Castle. I completely fell in love with the film while I was staying at my grandma's house in Gardena when I saw the movie on T.V. late one night. As soon as I read the summary and saw it was based off a book, I knew I had to find it so I went straight to the library later in the afternoon, (the library is practically across the street!) found it, and read it in two days. My new obsession… -sweat drops-

This fic is mostly based on the film with some extractions from the novel. Also, their personalities are a blend of both.

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

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"Howl, are you done yet?" Sophie Hatter is exasperated. Even though she has lived with Wizard Howl/Pendragon/Sorcerer Jenkins/Pendragon/Howell Jenkins for almost a year, she fails to see the point in primping oneself for two hours!

"Almost Sophie," comes Howl's sugar-coated voice from the bathroom.

"You said that half an hour ago!" She knows better than to let his "innocent voice" fool her.

"I barely got out of the bath half an hour ago, when Calcifer decided to let my water run cold." How is it that the ex-star listens to Sophie, their ex-cleaning lady, more than him, the boy who saved his life once upon a time? Of course, there is the fact that it's really Sophie who saved both their lives, but he chooses to ignore that fact for now.

The starlight haired girl in the hall sighs, shaking her head. She doesn't even know why she still bothers. If Howl doesn't spend at least an hour in the bathroom then he is one grumpy Wizard indeed!

Howl hums softly to himself as he mixes a few ingredients in order to brew a small skin-clearing potion. Having those feathers burst out of his skin for so long left his pores wide open. Heaven forbid if he ever got one blemish! What would Sophie say…? Frowning, he shakes his head as she pounds the door once more. Turning, he exclaims, "Give me ten minutes!" He blindly grabs for one of the bottles on the shelf.

"Fine, ten minutes Jenkins! And not a second more."

Hearing her angry footsteps go down the stairs, he allows himself to sigh. Maybe he shouldn't spend too much time in the bathroom. After all, he used to spend one of the two hours dipped in a healing bath, the other half hour concocting healing potions, and the last half with his glamour spells when the war was really thick. Now, though, things are settling down a bit. He really can be out in just one hour. Less, if he tries hard enough… Once his potion turns cream-like, he starts spreading it all over his skin, ignoring the roughness of the usual silky ointment, thinking it to be a new cleansing buffer he absent-mindedly added…

"Good morning everyone," he greets exactly nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds later.

Sophie looks up from the pan, shocked. "Good morning Howl." She is surprised, but quite glad he actually got out of the bathroom in ten minutes, even if he was in there for two hours.

He gives her one of his charming smiles, happy that he is able to make her happy. It's very rare when he can feel this pride.

Sitting down, he scratches his arm. All throughout breakfast, he finds a new spot to scratch. Only until he notices Sophie's quizzical gaze does he catch himself. 'Hmm, that's strange. I've never itched this much before. Maybe I'm getting the chicken pox!' Horrified at the thought, he shakes his head and searches in his mind for a more logical explanation. The Witch is still looking at him strangely; he gives her a winning smile, letting her know he's okay. Avoiding her doubtful glance, he finishes his meal quickly in order to slither away from her stare. "That was a delicious meal, as always. Thank you cariad, thank you Calcifer," he adds, before the fire-demon can complain about being ignored.

"Where are you going Howl?" Sophie inquires.

"I have an appointment with Prince Justin. I promised I'd keep helping as much as I can with ending this ridiculous war. 'Wars are easy to begin, but hard to end,' cariad. I'll be back in time for dinner." Taking his blue and silver coat from Sophie, he places a small kiss on her lips before changing the dial on the door from pink to red and exits to Kingsbury. Hearing a mummer of "slitherer-outer", he chuckles amusingly, until he finds himself scratching his leg, feeling it rather dry. 'That's odd…' Shrugging, he heads to the castle.

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During the meeting with Justin and the Prime Minister of Defense he can't stop scratching. When the prince asks him how "Sweet Sophie" is, he scratches one spot until it turns an angry shade of red, gritting out a "Fine."

Finally, after an hour or so of small talk, they get down to the root of the problem: the Wizards. Even though the Prince Justin has been found, the Wizards won't stop attacking.

Just as he and Calcifer had predicted, the Wizards of Kingsbury have not yet recalled that they are human.

This is causing quite a lot of problems for the soldiers. They have been ordered to capture the present creatures and keep injuries to a minimum. Of course, they are the ones who have to be careful because they are only human after all, hence, why they need Howl's expertise.

The King needs Howl's help and even though the Wizard doesn't want to do it he will, since he is under oath to the King.

During the war, he had been able to avoid harming a majority of the Wizards-turned-monsters. Of course, he was just slithering out of battles at the time…

Well, like he told Sophie before, he is tired of running away. He knows that if he doesn't help, it will be a never ending war. Wizards versus Humans. Humans can come to fear Wizards and Witches if they are not stopped. Currently, the creatures have not attacked civilians, but it is only a matter of time.

In the end, it is decided that Howl will be a strategist, responsible to device the tactics for the capturing of the creatures. At the same time, he is to brew potions and look up spells in order to, hopefully, change them back.

The meeting is adjourned with Howl assuring them he will get started as soon as possible.

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'Why won't I stop itching?!' he thinks, heatedly. Walking/Floating back home, he is furiously scratching himself everywhere. His entire being is like sand paper, except for, thankfully, the most sensitive of parts. Arriving at the porch of the castle, he uses a small amount of magic and turns the door knob. "I'm home," he speaks out miserably, as he continues to scratch his thigh.

"Welcome home Howl." Sophie turns from the cooking pan to give him a quick smile before turning her attention back to her cooking. "How did it go?"

While he explains to his ex-cleaning lady what's going on, he is scratching himself everywhere, since she has her back to him.

"Oh Howl, I do hope you'll be careful."

He smiles, hearing the concern in her voice. "Not to worry cariad you should know by now I wouldn't do anything risk singeing my hair," he teases lightly.

Lifting the large pan, she turns with a worried glance, reminding him of all the times he's had more than just his hair singed.

"Cariad, I wouldn't risk my neck for them but if I don't help, we'll never have peace between magicians and humans." When she finishes setting the plates on the table, he takes the pan from her and serves the fish and potatoes. Seeing as there are only three fish and three baked potatoes, he asks, "Uh, Sophie did you forget about Calcifer?"

"No, Markl is visiting Wizard Sullivan, Lettie and Martha for the evening."

"Ah, I see," he responds, his tone suggestive.

Noticing his eyes glittering with mischief, she blushes. Taking the pan from him in order to feed Calcifer, she accidentally grabs his hand and feels its roughness. She frowns. "Howl, what's wrong with your hand?"

His eyes widen. He'd completely forgotten about the dryness! "Nothing you have to worry about cariad. I must have forgotten to put lotion on my hands and since I was out all day… see? This is what happens when you rush me out," he admonishes playfully.

She looks at him suspiciously.

"Really Sophie, it's okay."

"Alright…"

All throughout dinner, she casts Howl suspicious glances, making him feel uncomfortable.

Since Sophie is too polite for her own good, she lets it go once he bids her "good night". Sighing, she heads to her own room. 'Markl better be home soon, we have a shop to run.' Once her head hits the pillow, though, she falls into a deep, fitful sleep her last thought being, 'I hope Howl is alright…'

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After so many years of waking up early, Sophie's internal clock has been set. Today she is up earlier than usual, though. Why, one may ask? Well, she jumps right out of bed, hearing a blood-curling scream. Startled, she bursts out of her bedroom and rushes up the stairs. "Howl?! Howl, what's wrong?"

"Sophie, what's the matter with Howl?" Markl has just stepped out of his room, with his hair disheveled, and rubbing his eyes. He barely woke up when he heard Sophie banging on the bathroom door. He got home pretty late, after Martha fell asleep, but Lettie tucked him right in. "Sophie, you know there's no use in getting him out. We already have an extra bathroom anyways." He's slightly agitated at being woken up earlier than usual.

"Something's wrong with Howl." Her voice is laced with distress.

Markl's eyes widen. "Howl what happened?" He knocks on the door too.

"It's alright you two, I'm fine. Just found some more gray hair is all." He laughs nervously. "Looks like I'll have to dye it again. I'm sorry cariad, but it looks like I'll have to take a rain check on that dinner, it will probably take all day."

The coffee eyed girl glares at the door. She's not mad at him for postponing their night out (Howl had asked her out to dinner last week so she could have a 'break' from cooking) she is upset because he's lying to her. "Howell Jenkins, open this door right now! Don't think you're going to slither away from this-"

He whimpers.

"-I don't care if we go out tonight or not but don't you dare lie to me!"

Silence overwhelms the household. Even Calcifer doesn't dare speak to complain about waking up half an hour earlier than usual. Markl decides it best to get away from the adults fighting, so he sneaks back into his room.

With her mind made up, Sophie grabs the door knob and states, "Lock, you do not want to keep me out so it'd be in your best interest if you let me in or you'll be in a world of pain from being knocked over."

The knob shudders and practically cracks the lock open.

Stepping inside, she quickly turns back around when she notices he has nothing but a bath towel wrapped around his waist. It is certainly one thing to see him like that as an old woman and definitely another to see him as a teenage girl; she blushes. Not to mention the scales…

She blinks. 'Wait a minute…' She turns back to face him and there, what had taken a while to travel from the retina to her brain, is standing before her. She does not quite know how to react but it seems her body is reacting for her. She gaps for a couple of minutes until she catches herself and closes her mouth. Now, she's trying her best to hold the giggles that threaten to burst out. In doing so, her eyes are swimming with tears of mirth.

Howl expresses his feelings quite thoroughly. First, he frowns, which is why she stops gapping, then he pouts, resulting in her holding her laughter. Even if he tries, his feelings are not shown by facial expressions, but in his blue eyes. The black scales make it impossible for him to move his muscles. While his body is still structured as to that of a normal human, scales cover him, instead of skin.

"Howl…" Sophie says slowly. "What…happened?" A giggle escapes.

"Oh go ahead and laugh already, Ms. Nose, I know you want to." He scowls.

The young girl is startled. She has never heard so much resentment in his voice. Her laughter evaporates. "Oh Howl, I'm sorry, it's just… It's rather ironic, isn't it? Your slitherer-outer ways are finally showing."

He sticks his tongue out rather childishly, thankful that it doesn't resemble that of a lizard or snake. 'What could have triggered this?'

"Well, one can't possibly think on an empty stomach. Get changed and I'll prepare breakfast."

"Sophie, I can't go downstairs looking like this!"

"And why not? It's just Calcifer and Markl. Maybe Calcifer will be able to think of something; you can't have just grown scales in one night, out of no where." With that, she marches down the stairs.

As he heads to his room to change, he can already hear Sophie bossing Calcifer and Markl around. Shaking his head, he chuckles. "What would I do without her?" He sighs as he sees himself in the mirror. 'She wouldn't want me like this though…'

After a good, hearty breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs and sausages, Howl starts discussing the transformation with Calcifer.

The fire demon tries to remove the scales, but fails.

"Hate to tell you this, my friend, but you're going to have to wait."

"Wait? What? Why?" He panics.

"You're the one who spelled your own skin, you can answer that yourself!" Calcifer then shoots out into the chimney. "I'll be back in time for dinner Sophie."

"Take care, Cal," she replies, before looking at the Wizard.

"What?" he protests, wanting to avoid her scrutiny.

"You shouldn't have yelled at Calcifer like that, it's not his fault," she chides.

"I know, but I can't remember what I could have done to cause this." He inattentively scratches his neck. When he removes his hand, a thin piece of scale comes off. He stares at it with wide eyes. "Of course!" He dashes up the stairs.

Confused, she waits until he comes back down which should be pretty soon.

Sure enough, he rushes back down, this time with a small cylinder container. He goes to his work bench, scoops up whatever's in there and puts some on a cutting board. He starts splitting it, with a blade, into tiny pieces. Once divided, he starts sprinkling various powders and each piece turns a different shade of green. Pouring a bright red liquid on them, it quickly evaporates. Looking at them, he groans as bumps start forming on the pieces.

"What is it Howl?"

Grabbing a bucket, he dumps his little experiment inside, and then brings it upside down. Nothing comes out. Sighing, he joins Sophie on the table, banging his head on the surface.

"Come on Howl, what did you find out?" She starts playing with his blue-black hair, brushing it away from his face.

"Yesterday, while we were arguing, I was concocting my usual lotion. When I turned around it seems I accidentally added the powdered fang…of a snake!"

Her hand stills and she brings it to her lap.

He peers through his long bangs, which have fallen back over his face.

"I'm sorry Howl. If I had not been shouting at you, you wouldn't have been distracted-"

He takes her hands, amazed that she doesn't flinch away from his scales. "No need for apologies cariad, I should have known better than to add something while I wasn't paying attention."

"But if I-"

"You're too insistent Sophie, it was my fault and that's that," he speaks firmly. "It shouldn't have been in the bathroom anyways."

"Is there any way for you to make another potion to clear it up?" she asks, trying to lighten things up while trying to hide her blush. It's rare when he acts so affectionately towards her. That's alright with her, though, it just makes the times he is all the more special.

He abruptly lets her hands go, shaking his head. "That's the problem, there's no way to remove the spell. It has to wear off on its own."

She looks curious. "How can it…?" She trails off as he bites her lip.

"What?" he questions, confused.

Bringing her hand to his face, she carefully removes a thin piece of scale.

Noticing what she has in between her fingers, he frowns until he hears her giggle.

"Well, it will most likely take some time for you to, um… shed, and I'm pretty sure you won't be going out?"

He viciously shakes his head.

"Well then, you can help out around the castle!" She claps her hands together, leaving him gapping. "Markl is preparing to open the shop and since May Day is in a week, we've been rather busy. Would you be a dear and help us collect flowers when we run out?" Her coffee eyes sparkle with enthusiasm.

Howl, unable to resist her excited look, slowly agrees.

The day wears on.

Before opening the shop, Markl sees Howl and goes in a bout of laughter. He stops as soon as the dark haired Wizard threatens to discontinue training for a week. However, snickers escape his mouth all throughout the day.

By sunset, business has calmed down and they are ready to close.

Markl and Sophie clean up the shop while Howl arranges the small portion of leftover flowers in Sophie's specially made plant-nutrition.

The small boy is completely exhausted. He has not been able to sleep after the morning's commotion so he goes straight to bed, bidding the two adults good night after dinner.

Sophie yawns and is startled to see Howl fast asleep on the couch. 'I didn't know he snored…' It's very light though and one can't really tell unless they're very close, like she is now. Hovering over him, she sees his face relaxed, several scales shedding off. 'He worries about his looks a bit too much, maybe this will be good for him.' She has to admit to herself, he is quite handsome but he's a bit too conceited about his looks. Knowing she can't let him sleep uncomfortably, she shakes him lightly. "Howl you should get to bed."

He mumbles incoherently.

Shaking her head, she tries to wake him up again. "Howl you're going to have a backache tomorrow, if you don't get up to your room."

Stirring slightly, he murmurs a sweet, "Cariad."

Blushing, she steps back but his hand unconsciously finds hers.

She looks down at his scale-covered hand and an image of his whole body covered in scales appears in her mind. At least, everything that the towel showed… Her face resembles that of a ripe tomato. Tightening her grip on his hand, she marvels on how smooth the scales are. 'Well, I've never been scared of snakes…'

Howl's eyes suddenly snap open and he retreats his hand from her hold. Baby blues stare into coffee irises.

"I-um, was trying to wake you up so you could get to bed. I didn't want you to wake up stiff so…" The blush, that had faded, comes back with a vengeance.

A chuckle escapes his mouth. "Thank you cariad, I don't know how I ever survived all these years without you." He smiles gently. Sitting up, he slowly stands and stretches, letting his bones pop back into place. "You should get to bed too. It's going to be another long day."

She laughs, tearing her gaze away from him in order to try and banish her blush. "That's only because you're not used to doing so much work in one day," she tease lightly.

He pouts, but it quickly disappears when she tip-toes to kiss his cheek.

"Good night Howl," she says before heading to her room.

His cheek tingles through the scales. 'How can she stand to look at me, so much as touch me?' he thinks as he gets ready for bed. 'It really is a wonder how I managed to live without her…' is his last thought as sleep overtakes him.

Calcifer crackles, pondering over what he just witnessed. 'Maybe Howl will finally realize looks are not everything. Maybe…' The fire demon's flames dim as he rests.

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This was intended to be a one-shot, but it was too long, eleven pages, so I divided it where I saw fit. I'll update the last part next week if I have at least five reviews!

Thanks for reading!

Eli