Disclaimer: Uh...this is pretty much the part where I say that I don't own Diana Wynne Jones' Howl's Moving Castle. I don't. Go away-er-I mean read! Ignore that sentence!

Chapter Two

Howl woke up hot but very comfortable. The first thing he saw when he managed to crack one eye open was a mass of light light hair. Strands tickling his eyelids and filling his mouth. He bet he had ingested a handful of hair in his sleep. He laughed through a content yawn. Sophie was turned on her side away from him breathing very deeply. This barely elicited the shock he might have felt a few days ago. Sophie was usually up before him cooking breakfast or cleaning up after Michael and Heen, but since her recent swap of sleeping arrangements she seemed quite content to sleep in.

He was compelled to roll her over and kiss her but decided against it when he heard a small yelp from the main room. He sighed in mild irritation and rolled out of bed. Michael was probably running around the potions again with little Heen wobbling and crawling after him. Sophie needed sleep, he would wake her later. Besides, she was very cute when she was buried under his blankets. The sharp contrast of colors made her hair glow around her. He tucked her unkept hair behind her ears and turned her head slightly so her face wasn't hidden beneath the thick covers. There, now he could see her clearly.

He kissed her gently on her nose and left to go and start breakfast. Maybe she would be so happy that she wouldn't go see Turnip Head. Howl knew that was not going to happen but it was certainly worth a try; Howl was hopeful by nature but also selfish. Whistling softly under his breath and jogging jauntily downstairs he was met with two very strange things. The first was Michael who was whispering earnestly to Calcifer an angry expression on his round face. Calcifer, Howl saw, was looking as surly as ever.

"So you can't even greet me with a simple 'Good morning, Howl'? I am wounded, Calcifer." Howl made a dramatic gesture before ducking instinctively as Calcifer chucked a nearby bowl at his head. This was starting to become quite frequent, Howl mused. He shrugged mentally, at least it wasn't Sophie hitting him with food containers. She had quite an arm and with magic on her side she could bewitch the pans to keep hitting him until he apologized. Of course he could stop it quite easily but he wouldn't deny her the pleasure of doing magic on her own. He made so many sacrifices for her...

Sophie awoke to someone humming downstairs. Calcifer? Michael? Howl? She listened closely, a smile stretching her lips. Yes, it was Howl. Why was he so happy? Chances were he had already had his moment of hysterical drama and he was eating something. Sophie was usually up before him and cooking breakfast. For Howl to be up before her and humming as though he hadn't done his usual routine of bathing for 2 hours, complaining about being ignored, complaining about the breakfast, complaining about Sophie not caring enough about him to stay with him in bed, then sulking for the rest of the morning. Being cheery this early was so out of character for Howl that Sophie's smile faded away quite quickly.

Stumbling out of bed she made her way downstairs, red gold hair wildly flying and the hem of her nightgown clutched tightly in one white fist.

"Sophie! Darling!" Howl gushed and went to hug her. Sophie frowned at his happy expression as he crushed her to him.

"What's wrong?" she asked skeptically. Howl made a face. "Does something have to be wrong for me to be happy and to greet my sweetheart when she wakes?" Sophie knew he was laying it on pretty thick. She sighed just a tad gustily expressing as she never failed to do, her impatience with him.

"Howl, must you make everything so dramatic? I'm only worried that you're up so early and so happy about it! I've never seen you this way."

Howl frowned again, green eyes sparkling with mischief. So he was up to something. That might explain the sour faces of Michael and Calcifer and maybe even those strange scratching noises. Of course that was a bit much to hope for but she was up for any explanation.

"Sophie, is something the matter?" She shook her head rather quickly, too quickly for Howl's liking but since this is not his narrative as of yet I won't go into detail. Maybe he wasn't up to something. His eyes always sparkled but maybe they weren't with mischief. Huh, she would have to think about this later. Breakfast was starting to sound really good.

But before she could even fetch a pan to fry some bacon Michael stopped her in her tracks. His voice sounded just a little high which usually meant that he was very stressed. "Sophie, you didn't hear any strange sounds last night did you? Calcifer says I'm losing it and Howl won't talk to me because I didn't say good morning to him!" Sophie ignored the parts about Calcifer and Howl and thought about the strange noises. Poor Michael must have heard them too.

"As a matter of fact, I did. I thought it might have been Heen or you, Calcifer, running about like you had no sense." Calcifer humphed. Howl looked thoughtful and Michael looked just as curious as Sophie at his serious expression. Seeing as he wasn't going to say anything on the matter right away Sophie busied herself with breakfast. She's expected Howl to laugh at their naivete and explain the matter in such a simple manner that they would all feel foolish for thinking it was anything serious.

Hmmm. Must be pretty unimportant for Howl not brag about it. She went back to breakfast. There would definitely be a discussion after breakfast. That slither-outerer wouldn't get out of this one.