Disclaimer: Howl's Moving Castle doesn't belong to me. Its original version belongs to Diana Wynne Jones and the movie version belongs to Hayao Miyasaki.

Note: This story is based on Miyasaki's movie and doesn't have any connection with the original book.

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First Waltz

By Eiko Makimachi

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Chapter 3: The evil and weird plan of Madam Sulliman

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"I still don't get how people mistake you for a girl. You don't look like one."

Howl finally explained the little incident in the shop for Sophie. He definitely didn't look like a girl, at least that was what he always thought. However, he knew that he wasn't the most perfect gentleman of the world. All men were supposed to wear suits and hats, have short hair and a walking stick. Another detail that was out of the normal man's outfit were his earrings. To sum up, he would be what people call "eccentric".

They had just finished having lunch when someone knocked the door. Everyone looked stunned to the door, no one was expecting someone to go visit Jenkins' wizardry shop at 2 o'clock.

Howl opened the door and found a rather tired Prince Justin. It seemed that the prince was also very worried. However, he smiled as always to the wizard.

"Sorry to bother you again, Mr. Jenkins. I wanted to talk with Sophie for a moment."

Howl looked suspiciously to him, but allowed the prince to go inside the moving castle. Sophie went to the kitchen to make some tea, leaving Howl and Prince Justin alone in a small room.

"So, why did you want to see us?"

"Huh... ah, you do not need to be jealous, I am not going to steal Sophie from you." Said Prince Justin, ignoring Howl's eye twitching.

"I wasn't thinking about that." Said the wizard.

"I was just joking, sorry. Anyway, it will not take much time."

Sophie went inside five minutes after, with tea and some cookies. Markl followed her, with Heen.

"Mr. Howl, you were supposed to be teaching me the new spell!" said Markl.

"Oh, I have completely forgotten this! I'm sorry, Markl." Said Howl. "Prince Justin, sorry for leaving..."

"Oh, do not worry about that, Mr. Jenkins."

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"Well, Sophie, the problem is Howl's teacher, Madam Sulliman." Started the prince.

"What is the problem with Madam Sulliman?" asked Sophie.

"She... still doesn't like Howl much." Said Prince Justin.

Howl was outside, teaching Markl a new spell on the kitchen. He wished he could be inside that room, not because he was jealous, but he was quite curious about what they were talking about.

"She doesn't want him to be happy. And..." said the prince.

"And..." said Sophie.

"She wants to force me to dance with you. It's part of a charming spell, that would make you fall in love with me and forget about Howl. "

Sophie stared at Prince Justin, not believing on what she had just heard. She knew that Madam Sulliman was a bid weird, but did she hate Howl so much that she would dare to separated him from Sophie?

"How come she is forcing you, Kabu?"

"She said that if she doesn't see me dancing with you, she will transform me into a scarecrow again."

"But then, all we have to do is to..."

"No, it is a different spell, a kiss won't be the solution anymore."

"But that... is terrible!" exclaimed Sophie. "You should have told Howl about this!"

"I was too afraid! Howl doesn't like me very much."

Sophie let a small giggle come out. "Howl would never do something bad to you. I think we should discuss it all together."

"Are you sure, Sophie?" said Prince Justin.

Going outside the room, Sophie was caught by a flash of bluish light. It came from the kitchen. Worried, she went there, but fortunately the light was just part of the spell Markl had just managed to learn.

"Look, Sophie! Now I can make things float!" Markl said, touching a book.

The blue book that was touched by the boy started to float over the table, but after some minutes it fell again. Howl laughed, saying to Markl that he still had to practice a little bit more. The boy nodded, leaving the couple in the kitchen to play outside.

"Howl, we must talk about something really serious." Said Sophie, guiding the wizard to the room where the prince was still waiting.

Howl didn't understand what was happening. Sophie was rather serious, but she was still smiling beautifully as always. Inside the room, he found Prince Justin sitting on one of the armchairs, looking a bit ill.

"Kabu has a delicate problem, Howl, and that involves us as well." Murmured Sophie.

"Us?" wondered Howl.

"Yes. You see, Madam Sulliman planned something against you." Said Prince Justin.

"She wants to destroy you by separating me from you, so you will be extremely unhappy." Said Sophie.

"In other words, she wants to destroy you mentally." Explained the prince.

Howl took a while to register everything they had just told him. Sitting on the green sofa next to Justin, he looked to the prince.

"How come she will separate us? She wants to kill one of us, or both?" asked Howl, worried.

"No. She doesn't want damage to anyone, besides you." Said Justin. "No, her plan is far worse."

The wizard was asking if there was something worse than that to himself when Sophie sat on the green sofa and held his left hand.

"She is forcing Kabu to steal me from you. " Said Sophie, sad.

For a moment Howl didn't know if he was supposed to laugh or transform the prince into a scarecrow again himself. But then, thinking again about what Sophie said, if Justin wanted to steal Sophie's heart, he wouldn't be saying all those things. Plus, Howl didn't think that the former Kabu head was so stupid to do such thing. After all, the wizard did have power enough to transform him into anything, even kill him.

"Howl, darling, are you okay?"

Hearing Sophie's voice calling him brought him back to reality. Shaking his head softly, he asked how Madam Sulliman was forcing Prince Justin to follow her plan.

"She said she was going to cast another spell on me, transforming me into a scarecrow again, if she doesn't see me dancing with Sophie on the ball. And it is not the same spell cast before, it is a stronger one."

"What dancing has to do with all this?"

"It's part of a spell she is going to cast that day. It would make Sophie fall in love with the person she is dancing with."

"Why don't we try to use a protection spell? So you won't turn into a scarecrow." said Howl.

"She warned me to not ask help for you." The prince said. "When I asked why, she simply told me that you could not help, even if you wanted to."

That confused both Howl and Sophie. "By that she meant that I couldn't use a proper protection spell against her own magic?" asked Howl.

"I think so."

The wizard stood up and started to walk in circles, trying to find another solution. His mind seemed to be blocked with dense mist, he couldn't find it. A love spell can't be blocked, it can only be removed. However, Howl knew that if it was Sulliman's spell, it's better to avoid it rather than try to remove it.

"I don't see anything I can do, besides... Wait, Sophie, you have a sister, don't you?" asked Howl.

"Huh, yes, Lettie, but what does she...?"

"Is she going to the ball?"

"I don't think so." Said Sophie. "She doesn't know anyone from the royalty."

"What if Prince Justin 'accidentally fall in love' with another young woman? I bet she is forcing you to do this because you are the only one that she knows that haven't found a girl to go to the ball with you."

"I don't think it will work." Said Prince Justin alarmed. "She will transform me into a scarecrow anyway."

Howl and Sophie were still trying to find a good solution to their problem. That's when Sophie smiled and stood up quickly.

"I think we should introduce Kabu to Lettie and then we can convince her to go to the ball."

"But that was my original plan." Said Howl.

Sophie giggled a little. "Yes, but what if you use a switching spell?"

Prince Justin looked to her with wide-opened eyes." Switching spell?"

"It's a quite hard spell that consists on changing the appearance of two people." Said Howl. "So, Sophie, what you are trying to say is that..."

"All we have to do is to cast this spell on Lettie and me, so I'll become Lettie and Lettie will become me."

It was a good plan, the prince thought. However, while listening to Sophie's plan, he started to worry about something. Wouldn't Madam Sulliman be powerful and smart enough to find out about the spell? He hoped Howl had a way to make this spell impossible to be noticed.

"But the only problem is that Lettie will fall in love with him." Said Howl.

Good, another problem, thought the prince again. He didn't even know who was Lettie.

"Oh, I bet she will like him." Said Sophie. "Her Prince Charming is someone who is kind, polite and somehow royal."

Howl tried to not laugh. It was the perfect description of Prince Justin, he was way too polite and, after all, he was a prince, so he was royal.

"And what if Madam Sulliman finds out about the switching spell? It will wear-off after some days."

"She can't use the love spell twice in the same person, its kind off dangerous." Said Howl. "She knows that and she won't use it again on you. If she fails, she won't be able to use you again and she will probably leave you alone. I think you should disappear for a while until she forgets about the whole thing."

Prince Justin agreed about that. He couldn't disappear right now, because everyone would notice his sudden absence, but after the ball he could tell the King that he was going to travel and go to somewhere far from Kingsbury and Porthaven.

"You can go to Wales if you want." Said Howl. "I used to live there when I was a child."

Sophie remembered about Calcifer saying that Howl came from a foreign country. She also remembered going to there when she turned the door switch to black, at the time she was trying to save Howl from dying. However, she never thought of asking to the wizard the name of the country. When she heard that he used to live in Wales, the first thing that crossed her mind was 'Oh my, Howl's boyhood country is very far from here!'.

"Wales?" said Prince Justin. "I have already been there before, it is a very nice country."

"So, everyone agrees with the plan?" asked Howl.

Everyone nodded.

"We shall start our plan tomorrow. Kabu... Oh, I still call you that, sorry..." said Sophie.

"You can call me of anything you like, Sophie." Said the prince kindly.

"Howl and I were supposed to visit Lettie tomorrow anyway. Why don't you come with us, so you can meet her?"

Howl coughed. "I didn't know we were going to visit your sister."

"She is quite curious to see the 'handsome wizard' that 'stole' my heart." Sophie said, kidding.

"I shall go with you tomorrow to see your lovely sister, dear Sophie. But I am afraid that I must return to the palace." Said Prince Justin.

When the prince left the castle, Howl sat down lazily on the chair next to Calcifer's fireplace. Looking to the fire demon complaining about 'being hungry', the wizard gave a log of wood to him and laughed.

"I do hope your sister like that prince. Because the way he speaks makes me sick."

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Author's note: Finally I did a long chapter! Sorry for not updating in a long time, I was with writing block. But then I started to read Howl's Moving Castle book (yes, I finally got to myself a volume of the original book!) and then the idea for this chapter appeared. My Word's spell and grammar checking is weird, so forgive me for any mistakes. Unfortunately, I only had time to read again this chapter once, so probably there are some mistake in it.

This chapter is a bit serious, I know, but next one will be more light and funny.