Hello my fellow Fanfictioners, and welcome to my first story! This is based on the bookverse of Howl's Moving Castle, but may feature a small amount of movieverse content (I like both, so I wanted to include both!). It's set a little bit after the first book. I'm trying my best to keep to the style that Dianne Wynne Jones wrote in. Of course, all characters are owned by both Dianne Wynne Jones and Studio Ghibli. Enjoy!
It was two weeks into June, and Sophie Hatter was completely and utterly bored. May Day had come and gone, along with its festive food, its bright, flowing apparel, its alcoholic aroma and its sighs of short, yet passionate romantic flings. After the rush of numerous customers buying red roses by the bunch, china white lilies by the dozen, and butter yellow daffodils by the armful, the lull of May Day's aftereffects had finally taken its toll on poor Sophie.
"Drats," Sophie muttered to herself, as she realised she had once again accidentally overwatered the potted pansies, "I really must find something more enlightening to do other than stand here, and keep these darned things alive!"
The warm, dry weather that came with June, alongside the sheer and utter boredom from the lack of customers had put Sophie in a foul mood. Looking over her shoulder to the large, round wooden clock on the wall, Sophie decided to close the shop, for she had not had a single customer during the last forty-five minutes. Closing and locking the shop door, putting away potted plants and carefully taking arrays of multi-coloured flower arrangements from the display window took her less than ten minutes. With one final look out of the shop window, before turning to go back into the house, Sophie stopped to admire the colour of the fellow houses and the stone pavement that were tinted a rich, warm orange from the late afternoon sun. The arid air lightly flittered through the numerous trees on the street, and the slight smell of wonderful food from the nearby restaurants and pubs began to make its way down the road.
Brushing off any residual specks of dirt from her light, sky blue cotton dress, Sophie made her way back into the house. Since the numerous, yet daunting events of breaking Howl and Calcifer's contract, destroying the Witch of the Waste and her fire demon and returning Ben Suliman and Prince Justin to their former selves, Howl had become ever so lenient towards Sophie's tendency to decluttering, cleaning and arranging the main areas of the house however she pleased. Once he realised that all it took was for a woman's touch to make their house feel like a home, his pedantic, almost obsessive ways had been limited towards his designated areas: a medium sized study which housed both his and Michael's magical experiments, and the back courtyard, which now contained a small red brick shed.
Since breaking the contract between Howl and Calcifer, Sophie had noticed little, yet significant changes in Howl's behaviour and manner towards other members of the household and town, including herself. Small notions such as a softer tone of voice when having a conversation or asking questions, spending less time priming himself in the bathroom, actively wanting to patriciate in completing household chores, and lend a helping hand around Market Chipping were just some of the many things that had changed about Howl recently. Not to mention the way he held her hand when showing her a new magical contraption, or the way he squeezed her shoulder and smiled as he talked to her, or even the way his raven hair and emerald green eyes made him look absolutely handsome –
"Sophie! With the way you're smiling absently and staring off into thin air like that, I'd have thought that you had become senile!"
And there is was, one of the few things that she did not like about Howl.
"Oh, sorry!" Sophie remarked pointedly, her mild annoyance returning from her dull day, "but you're not the one who has had to stand in that hot shop all day, with very few customers coming to buy flowers!"
Sophie, now blushing from being caught out by surprise, was now staring at Howl, her determined eyes and her upright posture making the wizard smirk.
"Surely you don't think it is entirely terrible, Sophie, or you would have shut the shop and stormed around hours ago," Howl retaliated, "we would all know about it if you were in an absolutely awful mood."
Despite the fact that Sophie complained, the quiet days did give her time to day dream and process the manifest of events that had happened to her during the past year. So instead of arguing further, she decided to remain silent.
Howl, concluding that this was the time to delve into the deeper meaning of Sophie's minute tantrum, took a step towards Sophie, ran his strong yet delicate hands through her flowing auburn hair, which then rested on her shoulder.
"Cariad, we all know that you work tirelessly around this place. You keep our home looking beautiful, and you put in a great amount of effort in keeping the shop running. We don't say it enough, but Michael, Calcifer and I are so very thankful for you. You should know that you deserve whatever you want for what you do around here."
At this, Sophie's heart decided to give a little jolt, but not for the same reasons when she was cursed into an old woman. Despite the fact that she could occasionally become very annoyed by Howl, his genuine sweet words and actions reminded her that she was wanted and loved in the castle.
"I'm just slightly worried that because of things being very slow with the shop over the past few weeks, we might begin to struggle," Sophie said quietly with half a smile.
"Don't worry, Cariad," Howl began to explain, "we did extremely well over the May Day period. In fact, we did so well that it has put us in a surplus for the next couple of months!"
This was news to Sophie, but now that Howl mentioned it, she did begin to take this into account.
'I suppose that it could be possible' Sophie thought to herself. Each family member had a role to play in running the shop: Sophie was the main face of the shop, and was often there to open, close and carry out customer orders. Howl was in charge of maintaining the garden on the edge of the Waste, and often spent early mornings distributing spells and concoctions to keep the numerous plants and flowers in pristine condition. Michael was in charge of the financial aspect of the business, and would spend nights counting money, dividing takings into separate accounts, and updating the prices of different flowers and arrangements. Calcifer, who was now free to roam and wander as he pleased, would occasionally travel to parts of the country and inform the others of any new plants and flowers that he thought would make a good addition to their garden.
On top of his contract with Calcifer being broken, the responsibility of running the shop and keeping his family happy and healthy had jolted Howl into becoming extremely aware of his spending habits, to the point he was almost frugal. Realising his apprentice's extraordinary ability to handle the financial aspect of the family had taught Howl that there was only a certain amount of spending, saving and investment money to go around. Because of this, not only were the family able to save money for their future, they were more often able to enjoy small delicacies such as a cream and custard cake from Cesari's, or even a family meal at the local pub. Despite the fact that Howl would often wear his suits out to these occasions, and encourage his family to follow his lead, his everyday wear had become a lot simpler and quaint. His newfound style had appeared to please Sophie, because she no longer grumbled and made short remarks about his dress.
Sophie, deciding that Howl's reasoning was more than enough, smiled at Howl in full, and made her way towards the study to investigate Michael's newest spell. In recent months, since Howl had become more involved in the family, the war had ended and there was less nervous tension in the country, Michael's magical abilities had soared: he was now taking less time on decoding spells, creating remarkable magical concoctions and imagining almost impossible inventions.
"Still studying Michael? What are you making this time?" Sophie asked.
At this, Michael jumped in his seat, "Sophie! I didn't hear you come in!"
Sophie thought this to be strange, for she was not entirely quiet when entering the study – the hinge on the door squeaked, and she stepped in what appeared to be green gravel.
"I don't know what has gotten into to lately, Michael, surely you heard me come in," Sophie said.
"I guess I must have been concentrating too hard, there's a lot of things on my mind", Michael responded almost sheepishly.
Deciding not to push things further, Sophie looked over Michael's shoulder to the spell that he was currently working on.
"It's a sort of cooling spell. I'm hoping it will be able to cool the house and the shop on really hot days," Michael said proudly, "I thought of it myself when I was at Cesari's and it was really hot in the kitchens."
"He's becoming really clever now that he's turned sixteen. Most magical apprentice's abilities seem to really take off around then."
It was Sophie's turn to jump; Howl's voice and body appeared out of nowhere. Michael and Howl laughed much to Sophie's dismay.
"I thought I told you not to appear out of nowhere! You gave me a fright!" Sophie exclaimed jaggedly.
"Aww Cariad," Howl replied between laughs, "that was when you were and old lady, and your heart couldn't take the shock. Besides, I walked in just as plainly as you did. My guess is you were concentrating just as hard as Michael was."
At this, all Sophie could do was sigh. She had had enough of today's events, and did not have the strength to either argue or complain any further. Deciding that is was time to cook something for dinner, she made her way from the laughter-filled study to the empty kitchen. Calcifer was not resting in the hearth tonight, so she built and lit a fire herself, all while talking encouraging words to the small flame, which soon became a large, hearty fire.