A Magical Addition

Chapter 4

Oh my goodness, 14 reviews for 1 chapter, that's like the most I've ever gotten. Thanks for all the support everyone, it encourages me to update quickly. Please do keep them coming. Hope you enjoy this.

It was a quiet Sunday morning…or maybe it was Monday…but it could well have been Tuesday, nobody really knew or cared.

'Heliotropes…Heliotropes…' Howl muttered whilst wrecking through the potion shelf, chucking bottles and packets over his shoulders in the process. He finally gave up, heaving a sigh and planting his hands firmly on his hips. 'Where are the damned Heliotropes?'

'Master Howl!' Markl squeaked, his small round face peering through the banister railings in horror. 'What are you doing? Sophie will blow her top when she sees that mess!' He immediately leapt off the stairs and scampered across the floorboards filling his arms with discarded produce. Markl hated it when Sophie got angry with Howl, she usually took out her anger on everybody else as Howl always ignored her and instead smiled at her dotingly trying to calm her with his charm, but it always made her worse.

'Markl, you didn't by any chance use that packet of Heliotropes did you?' Markl paused from his frantic tidying, his mind casting back over all the spells he had recently tried. Howl kept his back to him, his Colombia blue eyes still scanning the shelves.

'I-I don't think so…if you don't mind me asking, what exactly is a Heliotrope?' He replied whilst trying to carry his armful to the disposal unit. Howl, who had now turned to flick hastily through a large spell book, caught sight of the boy and simply clicked his fingers, Markl's armful disappearing with a small bang.

'It's a purple flower,' He answered his finger landing on a page and tracing over a few words. 'It's very important that I have one as soon as possible!' He stressed slamming the book shut and levitating another one off the shelf, having it land in front of him on the table. Markl could only watch in awe hoping that someday he could use magic as easily as Howl did.

'Why can't you just conjure one up?' He asked dubiously.

Howl fanned through the pages shaking his head as he did so.

'I can only conjure things when I know where they are, I don't actually know where to find a Heliotrope.' He muttered irritably.

At that moment Sophie appeared in the stairwell, her short silvery hair perfectly brushed and quaffed, her pale pink dress with white frilled cuffs and hem sitting beautifully over her slender body, her little brown ankle boots placing themselves delicately on each step.

'Good morning everyone.' Her polite voice rang. Howl's eyes immediately shot up from his book, his hair which was now an inky blue colour, rising and settling gently on his shoulders.

'Good morning sweetheart,' He cooed 'how are you feeling?'

She moved gracefully across the room, her fingers dancing across the back of the sofa as she smiled at Calcifer who had risen upon hearing her voice.

'Alright I suppose.' She sighed 'I was thinking of going for a walk, I'm hoping the fresh air might help.'

Howl's expression lit up.

'What a splendid idea!' He grinned. Calcifer snorted, Howl's plans did always work out in the end and he could tell Sophie's sudden urge to go for a walk was going to work to his advantage. 'We can go to the meadow, I need to find a Heliotrope anyway and if I can't find one there there's no hope of me ever finding one.'

Sophie let out a small huff. Howl only ever went anywhere with her when it suited him, or if he needed something, in this case a Heliotrope.

He held his arm out towards her and courteously Sophie took it. Their gazes locked for a moment, Sophie's expression of longing sending chills surging through Howl's body assuring him he was making the right decision.

With his free arm he clunked the portal round to red and opened the door out onto the bed of flowers. He glanced back at Markl, who gave the wizard a thumbs up and mouthed good luck. It surprised Howl that Markl knew what was going on but nevertheless he winked at him guiding Sophie outside and carefully closing the door behind him.

Sophie paused a few feet away from the door, her chocolate brown eyes glancing over the surrounding land, her lips tweaking to form a small smile. Howl came slowly up behind her lacing his fingers through hers and squeezing her hand a little.

'So remind me what we're looking for again.' Sophie asked as the two began to saunter along through the sea of flowers.

'Heliotropes, small purple flowers.' Howl answered her, keeping a careful eye on the ground in hope of spotting one. Sophie did the same, her brow furrowing in concentration.

'And what do you need it for?' She continued to question. Howl smirked, throwing a glance at her from the corner of his eye.

'You'll see.' He sang in his childish manner. Sophie giggled, not something she did very often. She then took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the fresh, sweetly scented air. Letting go of Howl's hand she took off across the hillside in a half run, half skip.

Howl stayed put, gazing after her. Her hair and dress blew out behind her in the breeze, the surrounding flowers parting for her as she went. When she reached the highest point of the meadow she closed her eyes and spread her arms out like wings as she spun around in many tight circles.

Howl chuckled to himself. Never did he think he be in this situation, in fact never did he think he'd be proposing marriage at all as the word alone used the make him feel nauseous. But Sophie certainly was different, she wasn't the sort of girl Howl would usually have preyed on, she just didn't have the look. But over the past four months Howl had spent many long hours puzzling over what it was that made her so different and so attractive to him…

He dug his hands deep into his pockets as he meandered along at the waters edge. Shortly after, one hand reappeared opening slowly to reveal a small black velvet box. Before opening it he threw a quick glance to the hilltop where his love skipped about merrily with several different purple flowers in her grasp, obviously hoping one of them might be a Heliotrope.

The sorcerer's heart thudded uncomfortably as he watched the elegant ring glint in the sunlight. Of course everything he did had to be perfect, therefore he had to find that damned flower. He snapped the box shut and shoved it back in his pocket before returning to his original task.

'Howl!' Sophie's voice rang as she came running down the hillside, her face glowing, her arms displaying an array of several purple flowers, all different shades. Howl's heart almost overflowed with love for her at that one given moment. She truly would do anything for him, including setting off on a wild goose chase looking for a flower they had a slim chance of finding. 'What about these?' She panted as she stared up at him hopefully. Howl pretended to act normal, and with complete seriousness studied each flower carefully. After a delicate examination, he took a step back and shook his head wearily,

'I'm afraid not,' He said with a sigh. 'It seems this is going to be like searching for a needle in a hay stack.' He stated lifting one of the flowers out of her arms and holding it to his nose. Sophie groaned taking her armful and throwing it into the air, letting the mixture of violet, lilac, mauve and lavender coloured flowers float gently to the ground around her, some getting caught in the breeze and being whisked off across the land.

The couple continued the search for what must have been most of the morning. Occasionally one of them would spot a flower they were sure was the right one…but it always turned out not to be.

The sun shone high in the sky, Sophie had given up about half an hour ago and lay flat on her back amongst the flowers basking in the early summer heat.

'Sophie!' Howl suddenly yelled with excitement and glee. Sophie however had managed to drift off into a doze. 'Sophie? Sophie, where are you?' Howl called as he ran across the meadow looking around for her frantically. There was still nothing. Howl began to panic, memories of his childhood where he would wander alone across the very same land hoping that he might find somebody,

Where the hell has she gotten to? She has completely disappeared!

In Sophie's dreamland, her name echoed in her ears sounding several miles under water and eventually she began to stir.

'Sophie Hatter?' Howl yelled one last time as he ran one hand through his hair and exhaled with puffed cheeks. Sophie sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes glancing around for the cause of the awful din that destroyed her dream. 'Oh thank God!' Howl panted as he spotted her, his hand flying to his chest in relief.

'What's wrong Howl?' She yawned smiling at him as he approached her in a fast walk. He chuckled to himself at how stressed he had gotten over losing her in a bed of flowers, most other girls he had dated he would've only been too happy to lose them in a meadow. He paused in front of her letting himself fall backwards onto the ground, the flowers cushioning him. 'Did you find the Helio…Helio-flower…?' She muttered.

Howl sat up suddenly as he remembered the original reason he had wanted to accompany her on her walk. He opened his closed hand, a small purple flower sitting on his palm. Sophie followed his gaze, a smile spreading over her lips.

'Hey, you did find it. That's great!...Now will you tell me what you needed it for?'

There was a long pause as the wizard tried to arrange the words in his mind.

'You know in the language of flowers the Heliotrope means "I adore you"…' He began lifting the small cutting with the thumb and forefinger of his other hand and turning the top half of his body towards her. He tucked a few strands of her hair behind her ear along with the small bloom.

Sophie frowned staring at him confusedly.

'The flower was for m-me?' She asked with a surprised tone, as she raised her hand to make sure it was securely woven into her hair as after all that hard work she would hate to lose it.

Howl took a deep breath and nodded, waiting nervously for her reaction. Sophie's jaw dropped a little.

'So you're telling me I just spent three hours searching for a flower that was effectively…for myself?' She stated in astonishment.

Howl laughed sheepishly closing one eye and scratching the back of his head.

'Eh, yes…yes that's correct.' There was another moment of awkward silence before the baffled woman burst into hysterical fits of laughter. She fell back into the flowers and rolled from side to side slightly. Howl blushed and then began to laugh with her.

'Oh Howl…' She giggled, her fingers hovering over her mouth as she opened her eyes to look up at him. 'You're so strange, yet so incredibly sweet!' She said before lapsing back into more laughter.

'S-Sophie that's not the only reason I brought you here.' He said in complete seriousness, regaining the Hatter's attention almost immediately, her taunting grin being replaced with a tight, straight line. She sat up slowly, her eyes burning into his with curiosity yet she didn't say a word.

The sorcerer could feel beads of sweat beginning to break on his brow. It was then he realised he was going to struggle with this more than he expected.

'Sophie we've been living together for quite a while now and I feel we've been trying to build ourselves a family out of…well, Markl, the witch of the waste and Suliman's dog. But…don't you feel there's just something missing…something not quite right about it?'

Sophie raised an eyebrow.

'Howl where are you going with this?' She asked completely avoiding his question.

Howl tousled his hair nervously.

'I put so much thought into this and now my brain's like mush!' He chuckled, his gaze catching hers once more.

'Just spit it out Howl, you know I don't like speeches!' She snapped folding her arms across her chest and pursing her lips.

Howl nodded sitting up on his knees and reaching into his pocket.

'Don't freak out.' He warned her, hesitating before producing the little velvet box. Sophie's eyes widened, her breath catching in her throat. She had certainly not been expecting it, she thought he was going to tell her that he'd been summoned by the king for another job that he would try to slither out of.

He fixed his position slightly so that he was traditionally on one knee in front of her, his eyes not leaving her face for a second even though her gaze was fixed on the box, her hand settling on her chest, her cheeks progressively getting pinker and pinker.

'Sophie Hatter…' He began, Sophie managing to tear her eyes away from the box to lock in a loving, teary gaze. 'Would you do me, the most incredible honour…of becoming my wife?'

As he opened the box his words swirled viciously in Sophie's mind. He had done it so perfectly in his cavalier manner that he surely would be the envy of every man on the planet if he wasn't already. The ring, which was one reasonably large diamond, surrounded by another eight much smaller diamonds on a thin gold band, glinted in front of Sophie, tears sitting in her eyes ready to spring any minute.

Her mouth opened and closed wordlessly for several moments as she glanced between Howl's impatient expression and his beautiful ring.

'Of course I will Howl.' She managed to choke out, those patiently waiting tears eventually making their way in a stream down her flushed cheeks. The wizard's face lit up, a few tears of his own managing to roll over his perfect cheek bones and he slid the ring onto her shaking finger. The velvet box fell amongst the flowers as the silvery haired woman flung her arms around her fiancés neck pushing him backwards into the grass as she straddled him for a kiss.

Their lips moved softly against each other, visions of their future together flashing through their minds, especially Howl's.

Sophie pulled away resting her forehead against his, her left hand with her newly ringed finger caressing his cheek, brushing away the occasional tear.

I wonder what my mother and sisters would think of me marrying Howl the heart eater?

Thanks for reading, please keep reviewing. For the record, I never said that if you didn't review I wouldn't update, I said the more reviews the faster the updates which is not the same thing at all :) Also I really want to include the bit from the book where Howl catches a cold as I thought that was incredibly funny and it will probably appear in one of the shortly following chapters. Anywho, more to come soon.