Disclaimer::::

I do not own the characters from Harry Potter or Howl's Moving Castle. Only my OC character (s).

I don't make any profit from any of my stories on this website.

Rated M due to future sexual content.

"Characters Speaking"
Characters Thinking
/Authors Comments\

~~~Chapter Eight~~~

I had to take a bath again. The smell of pollen was making Sophie sneeze and it had stuck in my hair and got on my clothes. Night fell and we all headed to bed. I said goodnight to everybody and I made sure to hug Markl before when he came to say goodnight. He is now asleep bless him. Must be exhausted. It has been a busy day today.

I hummed to myself, thinking of the words Markl had told me earlier. "Don't worry about Master Howl, Rose. Sometimes he likes to go away for days on end." I got to have a chat with him about that. You do not leave young children by their selves, whether Calcifer was there or not.

The next morning after breakfast, I showed Sophie and Markl the field of flowers Howl gave me. We decided to sell some flowers in the shop. It gives us something to do so we all went around picking out some flowers. I made some posters with Markl while Sophie placed the flowers into bunches.

Later on in the afternoon, Markl came rushing in shouting about a strange lady being in the shop. We went and saw that it was our mother.

She started crying and hugging on the Sophie, she hugged me briefly before talking to Sophie again. I listen to the conversation but there is one thing I don't understand, why wasn't she surprised about Sophie being an old lady? How did she know Sophie working as a cleaning lady? We didn't tell her that. Why did she just leave her purse on the table? Don't tell me she is helping Suliman? Is something inside that bag?

"Don't leave, Rose, Sophie!" he shouted trying to hug both our legs at the same time. "I love you. You have to stay." his tearful confession was muffled due to him placing his face into our clothes.

"Oh, we love you too, Markl," Sophie told him.

"I promise that I will stay. I have no doubt Sophie will too." I finished, picking Markl up and placing him on my hip. He sure is light. He needs to eat more.

"Because we're a family now." he said looking between the two of us.

"Yep! Family." I said, nuzzling my nose in his auburn locks. My Cub, My Pup. It seems all of my animal forms has claimed him as our own.

"Thank you, Rose, Sophie." he said, hugging me tighter as we made our way back inside.

That night, I sat down on the wooden chair, completely surprised when Markl plonked himself on my lap with a newspaper while Sophie was trying, but failing, to get Calcifer going again.

But the newspaper said we won." said Markl, holding up the folded paper as proof.

"Only idiots believe what they read in the paper." the Witch of the Waste replied, blowing more smoke from her lips as she knocked the ashes from the tip of her cigar onto the floor.

"That's so strange. I can't get Calcifer going." Sophie said, worried. Markl glanced up at me and I smile gently down at him. Calcifer will be fine as soon as Howl gets here. Hopefully, he won't be too long. "Do you have to keep on smoking that? It smells terrible."

"Don't deny an old witch her pleasure, young lady." she replied taking another puff.

"Markl, can you crack a window please?" Sophie asked.

Markl got off my lap but I remember that Calcifer wasn't going so the castle wouldn't be protected if the window was opened.

"I wouldn't open that window, if I were you, dear." the Witch said. I sprinted out of my seat and managed to pull Markl gently away from the curtain before he could open them. "Calcifer's too weak right now to protect this place. Suliman's henchman could get in."

Markl held onto me tightly as the house shook and we all heard explosions from outside. Markl had buried his face on my stomach completely. I ran outside with Markl still attached to me to see a battleship flying over our house. I passed Markl over to Sophie, who had also followed us outside.

"Sophie, Markl, get back inside. I'm going to check on the shop." I told her, rushing away. Markl called out to me but Sophie quickly took him back inside the house, out of danger.

I opened the door to the front shop and gasp. There was a building in flame across the street. Luckily, there is no one there. Most of the people living here had already left the town. Sirens wailed and people cried out and yelled. I look over my shoulder, when I heard hissing, to see that soldiers were turning into the henchmen of Suliman.

So instead of helping out the rest of the town, they focus on trying to find Howl and the rest of us. They need to set their priorities straight. I run back inside and lock the door behind me. I heard the front door slam open and glass breaking, just as I made it out into the courtyard. I looked up with a gasp as another ship flew up above us, dropping more bombs. I saw one of the bombs heading towards the courtyard. Not good.

However, I saw a black object zipping through the sky, attach itself to the bomb, I knew exactly who it was. "Howl! No!" I cried out, not wanting to lose another person I care about, I have already lost enough people.

As the other bombs exploded, I was slammed against the brick wall. I place a barrier between me using my magic, noticing my barrier is stronger that what it used to be.

When it had ended, I looked up and slowly turned knowing Howl was there. "Howl!" I yelled happily, running into his arm and pecking him on the lips. "You're all right!" I sighed in relief. His crumpled wings curled around the both of us as I embraced him more tightly. The bomb was still in one piece on the ground, stopped by Howl.

"I'm sorry, Rose. I should have gotten here sooner," he said gently, blue eyes shining down at me.

"We are still having a chat later, Mister," I said but then I happily nuzzled my face into his chest as he ran his fingers through my moonlight silver hair. He wrapped his arms tightly around me before leading me inside just as the blob men tried to follow us. They were squished into a deformed pile of black limbs and green suits as they all tried to reach us. They were of course forced out of the house by the use of Howl's magic when we swooped inside.

"Master Howl! Rose! You're okay!" Markl said happily and came rushing over to hug me, as soon as Howl had placed me down. Sophie rushed over no long afterwards, making sure that I was alright.

We watched as Howl brought a black glob out of Calcifer's mouth, exploding it into sparks of magic.

"Calcifer! You hang in there, now." Howl said, but he then walked over to the Witch of the Waste with his hand held to his chest. "Tell me, was that cigar a gift from Madame Suliman by any chance?" he asked her as she blew smoke around his figure.

"Howl, she fed me something gross. I feel sick." Calcifer moaned.

"Why, if it isn't Howl. I think you and I need to have a nice, long, heart-to –heart chat," she said, lounging with her chin resting on her knuckles.

"There's nothing I'd like more than that, but right now there's a war going on," he said with one of his charming smiles, holding out his hand. She blew out one more puff of smoke before placing the cigar into his hand, created magical sparks.

"How unlike you, Howl, not running away anymore." She commented, looking at me, with a smirk.

"Until later, then," he said. He turned to me, placing his arms around my waist as I gazed up at him. "Stay here. Calcifer will protect you from the henchmen. I'll stand guard out front." He said, gliding towards the door.

"Howl! it's dangerous." I said, embracing him tightly. Though I knew he wouldn't hide this time.

"Another wave is coming. And Calcifer's too weak to stop the bombs," he told me, shifting his head to the side.

"Please, be careful. I can't lose another person that I care about." I pleaded.

"I've had enough of running away, Rose. Now I've got something I want to protect. It's you." he said and I gasped lightly, loosening my grip enough for him to fly off.

I looked at the shop to see the blob men reforming. I rushed back inside the house and switched the dial to the wastes. I cracked open the door and saw that it was pouring with rain. I try to spot Howl from the cliff.

Sophie followed me and I couldn't help and notice that her old features had melted away to show her 18-year-old face with silver hair.

"That's where we are at the shop. Looks like Howl's in trouble." Sophie stated as she pointed to the ship flying above the shop. It caught on fire. "Howl, look out!" I cried out just as the battleship went down in flames. It exploded on the ground just as Markl came out. Turnip-head had also hopped over to Sophie's side.

Sophie looked up and she ran inside, dragging me along but not before asking Markl for help. It looks like Sophie has come up with a plan.

"We have to move the portal away from the shop!" She exclaimed to Calcifer as soon as we entered the room. This made us all pause before I could feel a grin start to form on my face. That could work.

"Are you crazy? I can't move the portals without Howl's help." Calcifer said, snatching a piece of wood from its spot on the hearth before shoving it into his mouth.

"You have to try. If we don't, Howl will keep protecting the flower shop. Okay, we have to go now." Sophie told the Witch softly, helping her up before handing her over to Markl so he could lead her outside.

"Rose! Sophie! They're about to bomb the flower shop!"Markl cried out. Sophie rushed forward to help Markl take the Witch outside quicker. "Rose, get Calcifer!" Sophie ordered. I picked up the black shovel that Howl had used to move houses.

"You're coming with us. Hop on."

"I can't! It's impossible. No one but Howl can take me out of this hearth." he protested.

"There isn't any time Cal. We have to try." I said, then picked Calcifer up. He yelped, clinging to the sides before realising that he was fine. I placed magic around him to protect him. As we got closer to the door he started to warn me. "If you take me out that door, the castle could collapse." I waited until Markl raced back in, telling me that they were already outside.

"Alright, stand back." I carefully made my way down the stairs. "Make sure I go out last, Rose. I don't know what's gonna happen, but I'm sure it won't be good." As soon as the shovel had crossed the entrance, the castle door disappeared and the castle completely collapsed on itself.

"I told you it would collapse!" he yelled before letting out a gasp. "Rain! Rain!" he tried to cover himself as Sophie asked Markl to stay with the Witch as the rest of us look for a way back inside of the castle.

/Thank you for reading this chapter. Please leave a review. Your opinions are appreciated.\