Author's notes:

Thank you so much for your encouraging words/adding this story to your favorits etc! Here's the second chapter, and there are still much more already written, so you can expect more posted within short.

For complete list of disclaimers/warnings, see chapter one.

Your feedback means the world to me-and feel free to point out any spelling and grammar errors!

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As Sophie found out, there was indeed a spell that could turn just about anything into something edible. And it would become their lifeline, even though the food produced by magic proved to be nothing like the real thing. It might have had the look and feel of whatever it was meant to resemble, but most often, the taste didn't come out right, nor did it seem particularly nutritious. Furthermore, it took a great effort for any wizard to produce. But with all of the stores closed, much of the cattle killed and a major part of the harvest destroyed due to toxic waste or fire from the bombings, there was little or no choice.

The residents of the Moving Castle soon fell into new, daily routines. Sophie spent much of her time cleaning, washing and cooking, and collecting everything edible that could be found in the surrounding wastelands. She always tried to feed Markl with as much of the real thing as possible, knowing that he needed it for his growth.

Calcifer, (after ensuring that their house was warm, and that there was enough hot water to satisfy their immediate needs), usually spent his days trying to locate whatever could be salvaged from the old, collapsed castle, while Howl was busy trying to catch up on his flying skills, his watchful eyes surveying the never-ending streams of refugees that were now returning to their former homes. He tried to help them out as much as he could, moving debris and getting rid of old bomb shells, but always made sure he had some strength to spare as he was returning home.

Every night, Howl and Calcifer made little improvements to the castle. Sometimes, it was just a piece of furniture, some new utilities for the kitchen or the addition of another window. But soon, they'd managed to recreate their old bedrooms, and the main bathroom was now housing a large tub with a shower. With the ability of once again taking reinvigorating baths in the evening and the morning, Sophie was relieved beyond words to see that Howl's old vigor was returning with a steadily increasing pace.

Most often, he was still totally spent in the evenings, twice scaring Sophie half to death by falling asleep mid-sentence during a conversation at the dinner table.

But one night, he'd bolted in through the door, beaming and twittering with excitement. "Sophie!" he yelled, not caring whether he'd wake up Markl in the process. "Sophie, I found them! Alive and well!"

He swept her off her feet, and kissed her and hugged her tightly. It turned out that the Hatter family had successfully made it to one of the refugee camps, but were now, like so many others, returning to Market Chipping, determined that life must go on and the city had to be rebuilt.

A few hours later, Howl and Calcifer had already created another portal, accessible via the yellow color on the dial. It was their old house in Market Chipping, now partially collapsed. As Sophie got out for the first time, her stepmother and sisters had been there waiting for her. It was a tearful reunion, albeit a rather awkward situation for her stepmother Honey, since she was feeling terribly guilty for her earlier betrayal. However, Sophie had assured her that everything was all right, and that she was forgiven. Nothing could change the past, and now they all had to focus on the present and the future.

Initially, though, her sisters had found it hard to hide that they were still a bit skeptical to the fact that Sophie was now living with that Horrible Heart Eater Howl, and that they were obviously having a romantic relationship. But Sophie had calmly reassured them that he'd changed, and Howl had been trying very hard to put his best foot forward, treating them with an almost overwhelming kindness and courtesy. The Hatter family's new residence had also been in ruins after the war, and Howl had made sure to spend as much time as possible with them, helping them rebuild it.

One night, while Howl was still out, a wide eyed Lettie had been bursting in through the door of the castle, announcing that "Sylvia and Shelia dropped by tonight as Howl was there, and can you imagine, Howl next to ignored them!" Sophie had a good laugh, knowing that he'd made his point.

The opening of the new portal brought other consequences as well. Soon, word spread that there was a powerful wizard in town, and that he had spells and potions for everything.

As people were returning to their homes, there had been other side effects. The entire waste water system had collapsed, and within short, many people, and children in particular, got sick from drinking the water and eating what little food could be salvaged. Howl was next to overwhelmed trying to keep up with everyone asking for food generating and purification spells, (the latter almost as difficult as the former). And naturally, he couldn't charge his customers like before, though some of them did offer him other things in return, like real bread or sometimes delicacies like milk or eggs. Markl and Calcifer did their best to help him out, and Sophie realized that even though she'd never dare to practice magic on her own, she had a talent for memorizing spells, and thus, she could offer her assistance on quite a few occasions.

Since only one real doctor had returned to Market Chipping after the war, he was as overwhelmed with work as his services were expensive. Instead, people often turned to Howl for medical advice. Unfortunately, there was no ultimate healing spell, the most powerful in its field was probably the one used for blood quenching. Of course, there were spells that could be used to relieve pain or reducing fever and nausea, but those symptoms were all there for a reason, and in many cases, using the spells could prove downright lethal. Howl-and any other sensible magician-were careful not to use them, very well aware that they would never be able to compete with the doctors.

Initially, when facing a customer who was visibly severely ill, Howl's old self nearly took over, and he tried to talk himself out of it. But with Sophie by his side, he obviously realized that he had to stand up for himself, and tell them that though he was deeply sorry, the only help he could offer was a spell for good faith. It was more of a prayer, really, but maybe it would help them to keep their hopes up.

However, after such an incident, Howl most often remained silent for the rest of the day, sometimes locking himself up in his room or the bathroom for hours. Any efforts to try and comfort him were usually dismissed.

"This is what war really is," he said, gesturing at the closed front door after they were gone.

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Sophie couldn't deny that there had been times when she'd been doubtful about her relationship with Howl. They were usually kissing and hugging a few times a day… more or less passionately, but so many things kept coming between them, and besides, most often, Howl was so exhausted after his chores of the day were finished that he'd just drag himself into the bath or his bedroom. And whenever he was in a better mood, some of his attention had to be given to the rest of their family as well.

But there were times that Sophie's body just felt like screaming for intimacy, and during the night, alone in her bedroom, she'd often caught herself fantasizing about sneaking into Howl's bedroom while he was asleep, curling up behind him, snuggling in his warmth, feeling him gradually waking up… but oh no… they weren't married… and who knew if they'd ever be.

Several times however, she'd woken up in the middle of the night, convinced that he was standing beside her bed, watching her, but that was probably just her imagination… as she sat up, looking around the room, no one was there.

One day though, Howl had been gone particularly late. As he didn't turn up for dinner, Sophie was becoming really worried, and when it was past their bedtime, he still hadn't come home. She decided to stay up in the kitchen and wait. She'd been hoping for Calcifer to keep her company, but the fire demon was so tired after a hard day's work that he had fallen asleep under a log, only the faintly glowing embers revealing that he wasn't out.

By midnight, the front door was suddenly opened, and Sophie, realizing that she'd been dozing off with her head on the kitchen table, awoke with a jolt. It was Howl, and he was looking miserably… dead tired, his suit stained with dirt. He was hiding his left arm behind his back.

"Howl!" Sophie leapt up from her chair, hugging him tight, and he just rested his head on her shoulder, breathing in her scent, but still not moving his left arm. As he met her eyes, she saw that he had been crying. "Are you all right?" Her voice was tense with anxiety.

He nodded slowly. "I'm… I'm just tired…" His eyes flickered. "It's… Sophie-" He took a deep breath. "It's just… I can't live like this anymore. I can't… live with you, still living… without you…"

Speechless, Sophie put a trembling hand to her mouth.

"I know I'm not an easy man to live with… and that I probably won't ever be… and I know this isn't the most ideal of times… but Sophie, please…"

At this stage, Sophie's heart was pounding so hard that her ears were ringing, and falling back on the chair, like in a daze, she watched him getting down on one knee.

"Sophie…I love you… more than I've ever loved anyone in my entire life… so will you… will you marry me?"

It felt like she was watching herself from an outside perspective as Howl finally brought forth his right arm, unclasping his fist. In his trembling hand, a tiny box opened itself up, revealing what at first glance appeared to be a plain golden ring. But taking a closer look, she saw that it was surrounded by a blueish hue… like a reflection of his eyes as he slowly raised his head to look at her. The expression on his face was so intense she almost winced at his gaze, and though his eyes were literally overflowing with love and affection for her, his jaw was quivering. "Look." He lowered his eyes again before continuing, almost out of breath. "I know I couldn't afford a genuine hand crafted one, but I promise, I will as soon as I possibly can, because you're worth it, Sophie, you're worth every-"

At his incoherent babble, Sophie once again found herself being in control of her own body. Without a word, she flung herself at him, with such intensity that he toppled over, dropping the ring box, and almost bumped his head on the empty chair beside him before hitting the floor. Without even realizing what she was doing, she was pinning him down to the ground, kissing him with such a violent passion that he had to catch his breath before returning the affection.

But suddenly, a load crackling noise from the hearth broke their attention. "Excuse me." Calcifer certainly didn't seem too overjoyed with being awakened in the middle of the night, stressing every syllable of the words in a sarcastic tongue-in cheek manner. "Even if you were married, I wouldn't exactly consider a kitchen floor to be the most… suitable place for… the kind of activities you're demonstrating at the moment… considering that some of us are actually trying to SLEEP here!"

Sophie, her face flushing red, her wet, sparkling eyes now filled with laughter, broke the kiss, one of her hands covering her twitching lips. "I'm sorry, Calcifer…" she said, before bursting out laughing, tears now freely running from her eyes.

"But it seems we are getting-married within short," Howl panted from underneath her. "At least… I'd take that as a "yes"…"

His eyes once again met Sophie's, and pushing him down anew, her face was hovering just above his. Her right hand got hold of the ring box that had closed itself again, and opening it, she brought forth the ring. "Yes. It's definitely a yes."

Placing the ring in Howl's hand, she allowed him to sit up again, and she offered him her left hand, stretching out her ring finger. Gently, he took it between his long, slender fingers, and very carefully, he slid the ring on. Once in position, it flickered slightly before its blue light was matted again. It was a perfect match.

At the same moment, Sophie felt another ring materialize on her right palm, this one with a dark amber glow. Howl held out his left hand, and Sophie, just as gently as he did a moment ago, let the ring slide into place onto his ring finger.

They kissed once more, albeit a little more careful this time.

Calcifer, rendered momentarily speechless from the scene playing in front of him, rolled his eyes, sighing. "Well, certainly not a moment too soon. And I'll wish you the best of luck when the day comes… but for now… would you mind?"

Laughing, Howl rose from the floor, offering Sophie his hand as her legs didn't really seem to obey her. As she finally stood, he swept her up in his arms. "Good night, Calcifer," he said, giving the fire demon a somewhat apologizing nod. Turning to Sophie, he continued. "I've got another gift for you, my love."

He'd probably felt her tense a little as he started carrying her toward her bedroom. "Don't worry," he whispered as they were crossing the former Witch of the Waste's bed curtain. Fortunately, "Granny" still appeared to be sound asleep… but with her, Sophie knew that you never could take anything for granted.

As Howl was softly putting Sophie down on the edge of the bed, he waved his fingers in the direction of the doorframe, and a clothes box came hovering through the door, which shut itself behind it. The box landed on top of Sophie's lap.

"Open it." Howl was smiling solemnly at her.

Sophie removed the final layer of wrapping paper… and gasped. "My… it was… my mum's wedding dress… my real mum's… Howl… how did… how…?"

Softly, she unfolded it, revealing its full length. The fabric was glittering like little stars in the pale moonlight from the window.

"Just like your hair..." she heard Howl whispering, seemingly in a trance.

"But how did you find it?" Sophie once again felt the tears running down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Sophie…" Howl himself sounded on the verge of tears. " I need to be honest with you… this is also just a… replica. We found the real one… among the scattered remains from what they saved from your real mum… but I'm afraid there wasn't much left of it… Martha was inconsolable and she let me into a secret… She said… she said you always used to say you'd never get married… but once, she caught you, trying out that dress… when you thought you were alone…

"Oh…" Sophie was speechless. In fact, she had been trying that dress on, on several occasions during her early teenage years, but she'd never thought she'd been seen…

"It was then I realized how much it must have meant to you…" Howl continued, "…and I wondered why in the world we were waiting… I've made up excuses for myself all the time… but I don't want to be a coward anymore… so I had it recreated for you… It might not be perfect but-"

Without a word, Sophie pulled him into a tight embrace, and they clung to each other for what felt like an eternity.

To be continued...