Howl's Moving Castle: Tales Of Love

The Family

The streets were bustling, the noise so loud, if you were trying to have a conversation with someone more than to feet away you were going to have to shout. Fortunately for Howl and Sophie, Howl could just use his magic to make them walk in the air so they could talk as close or as far away as they wanted without having to shout to hear each other. Plus, walking on air was so much easier than walking through large crowds and continuously bumping into people who would automatically just glare at you.

Today was the day that Sophie was going to see her mother again. It had been more than four months since she had last seen her, and had been feeling kind of guilty about it. Sophie didn't know why Howl wanted to come along, but he did, and by no means was she going to stop him.

They arrived at the hattery Sophie knew all too well. She grasped onto his hand, a bit nervous, and knocked onto the door. She could hear the voice on the other side. "Oh hello So-" Sophie's mother paused when she saw Howl out of all people, the wizard known for stealing poor, beautiful girls hearts, right behind her. "Hi mother!" Sophie exclaimed, looking around, inviting herself in.

Howl followed in, inviting himself in as well. Sophie's mother pulled her aside, practically shrieking, "Why did you bring Howl here? Sophie, don't tell me you love him. He'll eat your heart!" Sophie sighed and said, "Mother, my heart hasn't been eaten. You really don't have anything to worry about. He is actually quite nice."

"Sophie, you're so naive. He's going to eat your heart someday, I hope you realize that." Here mother noted, fumbling with something on her fancy gown. "Mother, you've got it completely wrong! He hasn't eaten my heart, he's stolen it." Sophie said, with a smile that only real love could produce. It was safe to say here mother was appalled and definitely opposed to a wizard like Howl playing her daughter along like this, but there was nothing she could do. Once Sophie made up her mind, she held strong on to her choice.

After Sophie and her mother had stopped conversing, they quickly noticed how quiet and in shock the rest of the shop was. Half of them were either on awe or in fear of Howl, and the other half were staring at Sophie, fairly shocked at the words she shared with her mother. Some whispers went through the crowd of customers, mainly consisting of rumors that Howl had put a spell to make her love him, and that this would probably be the last time they'd see here because of it.

"C'mon Sophie, we should get back before Calcifier gets lonely." Howl said, noting the increasingly judgemental atmosphere. Sophie agreed, and turned to her around to her saying, "I know you probably think I'm a big dummy, but I'm telling you the truth!" With that, they left, leaving the shop in a big fuss, and leaving Sophie's mother with a small headache, hoping that what Sophie said was really true.

A/N Thank you all for the reads! It means a lot to me :)! Please remember to vote/comment or I'll simply die