( 4 Months to go )

It had been a month since Howl told Sophie about what Madame Suliman told him, she took it better than he thought but maybe that was just for his sake, the past month had been crazy. The witch of the waste had been hunting down Sophie to do the fitting for her dress but Sophie just ran into her room, she didn't like needles being prodded into her. "Please Sophie" called the witch, "I know it will look great on you, I promise I'll try not to poke you with needles but thanks to Madame Suliman I am only an old lady so give me some credit, I am trying" she was shouting at Sophie's door because she locked herself in her room again, Howl was behind the witch smiling at how desperate the witch was to do Sophie's dress. He knew that she wasn't upset but just stubborn so he just walked off and left them to it,

"it's embarrassing" whined Sophie from her room, Howl heard that and laughed,

"don't worry Sophie, if she hurts you I'll heal you, ok" shouted Howl from upstairs. Sophie unlocked the door and slowly made her way out, the witch smiled and grabbed her hand pulling her upstairs, they pasted Howl,

"help me" Sophie mouthed, Howl laughed and waved goodbye going into his own room. In the witch's room there was a bed, desk and in the corner was an ordinary white dress, she got out a stool,

"come on Sophie, stand on it" she said, Sophie whined as she made her way toward it, the witch gently put the dress over Sophie's head, let's just say it made her look fat, Sophie pulled a dull face, "don't look at me like that, your lucky I actually asked you so we could do the fitting or you would be walking down the isle looking like you were 5 mouths pregnant" Sophie blushed then stopped whining. Continuously the witch kept pricking Sophie, the witch told her to wear a blindfold so she didn't see it until the wedding day, she did tell Sophie that she would ask Markl how it was so Sophie didn't walk down the isle looking like a fruit cake. Next door in Howl's room, he was working with Markl, they kept hearing Sophie yelping because of all the needles,

"I believe she should have stayed locked in her room" said Markl,

"I HEARD THAT" shouted Sophie from next door, they both laughed like mad. The witch told Sophie that she used to make dresses before she turned to the way she was, she was very skilled and made a lot of money from the, that made Sophie relax a bit. She could feel that the witch put a ribbon round the waist so she could look more thinner, she wanted to know what it looked like, desperately, to know what the reaction of Howl and Markl will be,

Was she beautiful?

Did she look like a bride?

What would her friends and family think?

Those were the questions going round in her mind, "when you made dresses for people, did you normally make them wear a blindfold?" asked Sophie, the witch sighed,

"no, I didn't, I'm making you wear a blindfold because this is one of the best dresses I have ever made, and I know that you wouldn't want to spoil it for yourself, just think about it. You're on your wedding day and you see the dress that you have already seen before, I want you to be surprised, dazzled even, will you just trust me on that" Sophie nodded and let the witch continue, this was going to be her best dress ever, Sophie was wondering what that would turn out like.

After about 4 hours of modelling, the dress was finally done, the witch gently took it off of her and led her out of the room before removing the blindfold, "MARKL, IT'S READY, YOU CAN LOOK NOW" called the witch, Markl came running out of Howl's room and carefully went into the room of the dress, making sure that Sophie didn't get a glimpse of it. The door shut and Howl came out of his room smiling,

"look at you, that witch really did make you suffer, your skin is full of holes" he said and held out his hand, "come on, I'll heal them" she nodded and took his hand, he took her into his room and sat on his bed, he sort of did a "waterbender" healing way, he got some water and put it on her wounds, it began to glow which looked like a good sign. Howl was concentrating but Sophie didn't take her eyes off of him, she just looked at him in the eyes and though about what Madame Suliman said, she believed in Howl but what Suliman said was too cruel, Sophie had been hiding her sadness for a month now and couldn't do it anymore. While Howl was healing her, he saw a tear fall on her hands, he looked up to a crying Sophie, he already knew what she was crying about, he was thinking that if she didn't cry then she would have no heart, but here she was crying her eyes out. He stopped and put his arms round her

"sssshhhhh, it's ok, I told you didn't I, I would protect you and the child" he said, Sophie sniffled,

"how did you..."

"it doesn't take that long to figure out Sophie, if you didn't cry I would be worried about you, I have been worrying about you for the past month but guess you were just trying to be brave" she nodded and continued crying into his shirt, he kissed her forehead and held her trying to make her stop crying. If you hold in tears they can come out as a waterfall, and that is what Sophie did, she held them in for to long and here is the waterfall. Eventually she stopped crying and just stayed there motionless in Howl's arms,

"never let me go, you hear me" she whispered, he kissed her forehead,

"wouldn't dream of it"

Next door in the witch's room, the witch was showing Markl the dress, Markl stood there in front of it with his mouth open and speechless, and not one of those stupid ways, Markl's heart literally stopped, "how?" he managed to spit out, the witch smiled,

"I told Sophie that this would be my best design and I guess I was right, I have been saving this design for 50 years just waiting for someone special to come along and let me make it for them, Sophie has helped me before and now I want to help her, and this is how I accomplished it." Markl hadn't taken his eyes of the dress, it was just perfect, nothing was out of place, to think no magic went into this was unreal, it was impossible, he then smiled and turned to the witch,

"oh yeah, she will love the dress, it a master piece" he said before taking one last look at the dress them leaving the room. The witch looked at the dress then sighed,

"that special person was meant to be me, and I was to late in answering that stupid question, but I'm glad that I got to make it for Sophie" she said before walking out of the room and locking the door leaving the dress in the corner.

Ok, want to know what the dress looks like, you will find out on the wedding day,

You've got to feel sorry for the witch, it's heart breaking,

Oh and just say, who ever reviews I will post your name up for everyone to see,

Well, thank you Yasmin (guest) for reviewing, it means a lot to me and it helps to keep me going,

Well, until next time