Disclaimer: I do not own Howl's Moving Castle, because if I did I would not need to put up a disclaimer and some witty sentence about how if I did own it I would be blah, blah, blah. (Though I must admit, those witty sentences are fun to come up with)
In Which the Family Takes a Trip
Howl was waiting impatiently downstairs, sitting at the workbench and drumming his fingers on the table. He was waiting for Sophie and Michael to come downstairs. It was ten o'clock and unusually Howl had been up since 7:30, spending only two hours in the bathroom to prepare for the day. But Michael and Sophie had not been up as early as he had been, so they were now probably only rubbing the sleep from their eyes, but none the less excited about the day. At least, Howl hoped they were as excited about today as he was.
Normally a trip to Wales would not excite him this much, because normally a trip to Wales meant seeing Megan and listen to her nag and complain. But today they didn't have any plan to see Megan, or any of Howl's relatives for that matter. Today they were just touring the town that Howl's family lived in. Sophie and Michael had only been to Wales once, and Howl didn't think that was a very happy experience. It had been when they all went to retrieve the enlargement spell and to find the rest of the poem by John Donne.
Howl sighed and rested his head on his hand, which was propped up on his elbow which was on the table. He looked over at Calcifer, who was not in the grate at the moment. Calcifer had been angry at Howl for not letting him come with them, even though Howl had explained to him again and again that the people there weren't used to see falling stars up close, and the same with Fire Demons for that matter. So Calcifer had mumbled some things and hadn't talked to Howl since yesterday, but Howl had heard him eagerly asking Michael and Sophie to tell him what was out there, but trying not to sound to eager. Howl snickered at the thought.
Howl was brought back to the attention of the real world when he heard Michael coming downstairs. He looked as if he had just gotten up half an hour ago, but he looked excited and a little impatient himself. "Sorry," he said to Howl when he entered the room. "That I overslept."
Howl turned around on the bench to face him. "It's alright. Do you know if Sophie's up, though?" he asked, eyeing the stairs to see if Sophie might be coming down them while he was saying that. But the stairs remained quiet and empty.
Michael shook his head. "No, the room seemed pretty quiet, though. But she could be up and just be being really quiet," he suggested, but Howl could tell he didn't think that was true.
"Well, I better go check," he said, getting up and walking to and up the stairs. He tiptoed as he neared their room. If she was still asleep, he wanted the pleasure of waking her up, and did not want it to be ruined if he woke her up by making a racket while walking into the room. So he crept towards the closed door and pushed it open slightly, peeping his head in to take a look.
Sophie was lying on the bed with her back towards him, her breathing even and rhythmic. So she is still asleep, Howl concluded, and tiptoed into the room and up behind her. "Sophie…" he whispered. Nothing. He got closer "Sophie…" he repeated, but Sophie kept sleeping. He leaned over the bed towards her, and tugged at a lock of her hair. "Sophie!" he said strongly, though still in a whisper.
Sophie groaned and turned over to face Howl, though she still had her eyes closed. "What is it Howl?" she asked groggily, sleepily swatting his hand away from his hair.
Howl grinned. "Are you going to sleep all day and miss the trip?" he asked her.
One of her eyes opened and she looked at Howl. "What time is it? You said we would leave at 10:30. So if—"
"But Sophie dear, it's 10:10. You've slept in," he said, and laughed a bit when she opened both eyes and sat up, alert.
"You're joking, right? It can't be that late," she asked, rubbing her eyes.
"Yes, it is. I've been waiting down there for you and Michael, just wasting the day away…" he said, frowning. Sophie jumped out of bed and hurried away to get changed, while Howl flopped back on the bed and closed his eyes. "Getting up at 7:30", he thought, "hard work…" And he took this time to relax, even though he hadn't been doing anything stressful for the past three hours.
Something hit him on the arm. He opened his eyes to see Sophie standing at the side of the bed, dressed and grinning. "Who's sleeping now?" she joked, and ran downstairs, and Howl heard her say to Michael, "Howl will be down. He was just resting," she said in a joking, mocking tone.
Howl smiled a bit and followed Sophie downstairs. Calcifer had returned to the hearth, and was blazing up bright even though he wasn't coming with them. Howl rubbed his hands together. "Are we ready to go?" He asked them. They both nodded. "Then let's move out!" he said and moved towards the door, changing the knob to black down. "You don't have to move the castle that much today Calcifer. We'll be back tonight," he called back to Calcifer before walking into the nothingness, and setting foot into another world.
A/N: Okay, so I wound up having this idea and then I ran out of ideas just when the walked through the door. So instead of just prolonging the time until I put it up on Fanfic, I decided to make it chapters! Please review!
