Author's notes:

For disclaimers and such, see the first chapter.

Thank you *so* much for your very kind reviews! I'm truly, truly flattered! I'm going through a rather hard time IRL right now, so it's a great comfort for me, reading your comments and feedback!

xXCanaryXx, thank you for pointing out my grammar typo! I've corrected it, and well, this goes for all of my readers, but feel free to point out similar grammar errors and typos!

And ironically, this chapter does actually come with a fluff warning. I swear, there WILL be lots of angst, eventually. But considering that Sophie and Howl *are* very much in love, and that the events described in the first chapters will be of later importance to the story, it somehow *does* make sense, doesn't it? ;-)

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Considering the circumstances, the wedding had been everything that Sophie ever could have wished for. With all the town churches in ruins, one of the remaining reverends had agreed to hold the ceremony at Howl's old cottage, which had survived the war intact. But even out here, several craters from the bombings were scattered all over the landscape. Fortunately, none of them were near the cottage, and Howl had been able to use a masking spell to hide them from view during the festivities.

They'd only intended to invite the very closest family and friends. In fact, Sophie didn't have too many close friends, and Howl had been orphaned at an early age. His uncle, who had been his guardian until he left for the School of Magic – and also once donated the cottage–was long since dead. For many years, Howl had scarcely had any friends among the villages of Porthaven, Kingsbury and Market Chipping-merely just his lady acquaintances… and in most cases, after he'd stopped seeing them, they'd all been doing their best to blacken his name. Yet Sophie was worried that they wouldn't be able to afford enough food and drink for everyone.

But lately, with all the help he had offered during the town restorations, and the fact that he was now excitedly talking about Sophie and their upcoming wedding with everyone he saw, Howl's reputation was drastically changing. There were those, of course, who would never forgive him, but many of the town residents had expressed their wishes to attend the festivities, bringing whatever food and drink they could offer in return.

And indeed, what a feast it had been! The replicated dress didn't quite have the same feel as its original, and personally Sophie had considered Howl's chosen outfit to be a tad over the top, with far too many ornaments and replicated gems attached. Not that it really even mattered.

Her sisters had been very busy, decorating the landing of the cottage with long garlands of flowers in sprouting colors. The weather had been splendid, and the kindness shown by the attending people was overwhelming.

Shortly before the ceremony, Howl had revealed to Sophie that his full name was in fact Howell Jenkins, but made her swear she'd never ever call him by that name, nor encourage Markl to do so, no matter the circumstances.

"No, Howell dear, I solemnly swear," was her natural response, as she put a hand to her mouth, trying to mask her smile.

"It's not a laughing matter, Sophie," Howl said, visibly shuddering, a shadow suddenly crossing his face.

"Oh… I'm sorry…" Sophie withdrew herself a little from him, looking down.

Howl sighed, but pulled her back closer. "I'm…" His eyes flickered for a moment. "I just don't wanna talk about it, all right?"

Sophie nodded. "I promise I won't. Just… well, I'll repeat what the reverend says, when he asks me to..." She smiled.

Howl threw his head back and laughed. "You'd better. I would prefer this marriage to be legal."

–––

Like any other girl (she kept telling herself), Sophie had spent hours daydreaming about their wedding night. However, she was soon about to learn that in reality, things are sometimes turning out a little different. Or maybe a lot.

It had all started out very well. After much dancing, eating and merry making, the last guests were leaving, long after midnight. As the portal was closing behind them, Howl and Sophie were finally left alone for the first time in weeks. Sophie's sisters had agreed to take care of Markl and Granny for a couple days, and Calcifer had accompanied them back to the castle.

Overcome with emotion and desire, for a few moments all they could do was staring at each other, unable to move or act. Everything was so quiet that they could almost hear the sounds of their own hearts beating. But suddenly, a wind swept through Howl's hair, and at the same moment, about a hundred candlelights appeared out of thin air. Lighting up, they were placing themselves all over the cottage. The flower garlands expanded and grew, twirling themselves across the ceiling above the bed, that was made with the finest of linen.

Gasping, Sophie threw himself into Howl's arms, and they shared one of their most passionate kisses ever. But suddenly, Howl withdrew himself from the embrace. With a visible effort to restrain himself, he lowered his head, his brows furrowed. Putting his hands on her shoulders, he pulled back a little. "Sophie, love… I…" His eyes flickered for a moment. "I'm sorry, but I've just gotta pay a visit to the–" He nodded toward the bathroom. Attempting a somewhat mischievous look, he gave what was probably meant to be a teasing laugh, but it came out too high pitched to even seem remotely genuine. Pulling away, he released her, seemingly oblivious of the bewilderment and disappointment in her eyes. The bathroom door slammed and locked behind him.

Half an hour later , he still hadn't emerged. Sophie could hear the water running from behind the door, but there had been no word from him since he locked himself up. She was almost ready to cry and scream with frustration–curse that wizard and his bathroom rituals! Why had he even bothered to create a fully equipped bathroom for this cottage, with the great outdoors and the lake just around the corner? And what on Earth was wrong with him anyway, this was their wedding night, for crying out loud! Was he getting second thoughts? Had she been doing something wrong, and upset him?

But suddenly, just before the negative thoughts were about to seize her, as she was nearly bordering on panic and on the verge of tears, she realized that she already knew the answer. This time, Howl couldn't just kiss and run. His feelings were real… and now, knowing that this was supposed to be the night when they were starting their new life as man and wife, with all the "firsts" that were about to occur… he was probably terrified of letting her down. His old self would just have slithered away, regardless of the consequences. Most often–as he'd even stated once–the only way he could brace himself to face his fears was pretending that he wasn't doing it…

With a tired sigh, she drew her breath to call out his name, but suddenly changed her mind. Instead, she began the almost impossible task of undressing on her own. As she eventually managed to unbutton the wedding gown, it fell to the floor together with her under garments. She removed her shoes and stockings, but after setting her hair free, she pondered about it for a moment, then rolled it back into a loose bun, and fastened it with a single hairpin.

Despite the fact that her heart was beating so fast that her ears were ringing, and she was aware of that she was blushing furiously, she was still shivering as she opened up the linen closet, wrapping herself up in a large towel. Fortunately she knew that Howl kept a carpenter tool box in the storage room by the kitchen, and as quiet as possible, she collected it, picking up a pair of tongs.

The water was still running inside the bathroom, but no other sounds were heard. Resolutely, Sophie applied the tongs to the lock, and with one single thrust, she unlocked the bathroom door from the outside. With no word of warning, she slid it open. Her left hand clutching the top of the towel, holding it firmly together, she stepped in, closing the door behind her.

She was greeted by a whiff of steam, initially obscuring her vision. There was only one candle burning in a corner, casting anxiously fluttering shadows across the white walls. Howl was sitting in the overflowing tub, chest arched as cascades of water were streaming from the shower, splashing his face. At first, he didn't even see her as she stood by the tub, but suddenly, he winced so fiercely that he nearly bumped his head on the wall. The water turned itself off in an instant, and for a moment, Howl's face changed from surprise to anger, then immediate regret and shame… and he lowered his head opening his mouth to try and say something… but nothing came out and Sophie just put a finger to her lips.

"Shhh…" Very slowly, she raised her free hand to the hairpin. All that was heard was the sound of the dripping water. Howl gasped, wide-eyed, as Sophie shook her hair out and let the pin drop. Her grip on the towel gradually loosened, and it was starting to slide. Seemingly in a trance, his eyes fixated on her, Howl started to rise from the bath, his entire body trembling. But this time, he didn't run.

Several hours later, long after the light of dawn was filtering through the curtains, they finally fell asleep in each other's arms for the first time, surrounded by the scent of a thousand flowers and burned out candle lights.

And Sophie realized, that for the first time in her life, she knew what it felt like to be loved.

–––

With the current situation, Sophie and Howl had both agreed that a few days of solitude was more than enough time that could be spent away on honeymoon. And sure enough, there had been loads of work to take care of upon their return.

To begin with, the castle no longer fitted their needs. By now, Calcifer, happily aided by Markl, had managed to scramble most of the missing parts of its main construction, and also, by the use of various summoning spells, he'd even been able to find a major part of the books, furniture and ornaments, including most of Howl's old toys and even the dartboard, wizard contract still attached. But much of the stuff had just been stored in Sophie's old bedroom. The wizard and the fire demon still had to cooperate to make any major changes to the castle.

In fact, the first thing Howl did upon their return was asking Calcifer whether they could have a talk in private. By the look in Howl's eyes, Sophie knew that he probably had something of a surprise in store for her, and didn't mind at all. About half an hour later, they summoned the family once more, and they were all asked to sit on top of the kitchen table.

"Now, cover your eyes, Sophie," Howl smiled as Calcifer flew from the hearth, placing himself in front of the wizard where he was standing on top of a new diagram on the floor.

Markl was giggling with excitement as Sophie felt a wind sweeping through the room, and heard the now rather familiar sounds of walls stretching and furniture being moved around.

As she open her eyes again, a rather exhausted Howl was helping a panting Calcifer back onto his logs. And the room had completely changed. Now, there was a patio directly attached to the main living room… in fact, it was more like a garden, with real trees and flowers and lots of space for Heen and Markl to play. The bottom floor now housed a laundry room, a larger bedroom and a sewing room for Sophie, designed as her old bedroom and workshop. However, her old bed was missing and had been replaced with a sofa and a table. There was also a separate bedroom for Granny, and the downstairs bathroom had tripled in size, now complete with a tub and a shower.

Upstairs, what used to be Markl's old bedroom had become twice as large, located in a separate wing of the house, together with a smaller but fully equipped bathroom. The other wing housed the main bathroom, though now a bit larger than before, a study, and last but not least, Howl's old bedroom, that was now supposed to be their bedroom. Many of Howl's shiny ornaments and toys had returned, but there were no longer any stuffed animals on the bed. The bed itself had grown somewhat larger, and the books were mostly neatly stacked into shelves. But the most prominent addition was a large window, its golden rimmed curtains a floating pattern of purple and green.

Sophie was speechless at the sight, and could hardly believe her eyes as Howl waved his hand at the ceiling of the bedroom, which opened up to the starry sky above. A spiraling flight of stairs was descending from the hole. Howl took Sophie's hand and started leading her upstairs. But suddenly, their way was blocked by Calcifer, who came jumping out of nowhere.

"Guys…" he started, an uncharacteristically humble look at his face. "There's… I do have something for you. Call it a… wedding present if you like."

He moved aside, allowing them to continue their ascent. As they reached the top of the stairs, Sophie could only gasp in amazement. It was a tall balcony on the very top of the castle, and despite the fact that it was rather dark outside, she could see that it offered a terrific view over many of the castle's new wings and windows. Yet, its visitors were granted privacy as gazing up from the opposite direction would be rather difficult.

Only then, she realized that something else had changed as well. The ground was now even father below them, and the movements of the castle were even smoother than usual. They were flying!

"Aw, Calcifer… old friend…" she heard Howl beside her as he was enjoying the view. "That is quite a gift! This is amazing!"

The fire demon actually seemed to be blushing a little before he regained his composure. "Well… as long as you're not pushing me too hard… moving the castle is, if I may remind you, not the easiest of tasks…"

"Thank you so much Calcifer!" Sophie leaned in toward him, placing a small kiss on his fiery cheek… or at least as close as she dared without being burned.

"Well, Sophie…" Howl put his arm around her shoulder, holding her close. "If there's anything you'd like to change, or add… just tell me and I'll see to it…"

"Howl…" Her voice was quivering slightly as she continued. "This is the most wonderful and perfect house I've ever seen… and now I'm living in it!"

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To be continued...