Once Upon a Wizard [Howl's Moving Castle Fanfic]

Chapter 9

Y/N woke to the sounds of a flickering fire, and footsteps on a wooden floor. Her eyes still shut, she reached out and allowed her fingers to drift across the floor of Howl's castle, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She was no longer trapped in the palace with her horrible grandmother who seemed more interested in getting Howl to join the King's army than how her granddaughter was faring. 

"Y/N," Sophie cooed, standing next to the young girl's tired form. "It's time to wake up now."

Y/N rolled onto her back and allowed her eyes to open. She debated shooing Sophie away and stuffing a pillow on her face, but quickly decided against it. There were more people to care for now, and Y/N couldn't leave Sophie to do all the work. She got to her feet and pulled on her shoes before picking up her day clothes and heading to the bathroom to get changed.

As she emerged, tying her hair out of her face, Sophie approached, her arms full of clothes that needed mending. 

"Y/N, would you mind making breakfast for us while I get the aeroplane out of here? Howl is still up in the bathroom and I want to try and hang a curtain over the rubble before he comes down."

Y/N nodded and took the basket from Sophie, setting it down next to the hearth, before heading over to the wall to grab a frying pan and some food for breakfast. She tried to ignore the Witch of the Waste, who was staring at her intently and found it somewhat hard. But, she did her best and started making some porridge and some bacon and eggs. It was a simple breakfast compared to the ones that she recalled making for Howl, Markl, and herself before Howl sent her away, but it would do for the time being. She would have time to experiment later. 

She looked up from making breakfast when she heard Sophie start pushing the aeroplane out of the wall. It wouldn't budge, no matter how hard Sophie tried to push it. But when she decided to give it a solid kick in the side, the engine suddenly sputtered to life and the machine simply flew, or fell, out of the wall, nearly crushing Markl, Heen, and Turnip Head who had been pulling on a rope down below. 

"Are you all okay," Y/N asked, unable to hide the laughter in her voice. 

Sophie smiled at her friend and grabbed a broom to try and sweep out the last few bits of rubble. "Do you think Howl would notice if I hung a curtain here," she asked.

Y/N nodded. "It's the house that he's lived in for years. I would say he would notice a sudden change in wall choices." She pulled the skillet from the fire and asked Sophie to call everyone in for breakfast. 

"Come on in, it's time to eat," Sophie yelled. 

Once everyone was inside and sat down at the table, Y/N started plating the foot, giving a large helping of porridge to the Witch of the Waste. She doubted that the woman's elderly jaw would be able to handle any solid foods. As Markl sat down at the table, Y/N smiled and pressed a light kiss to Markl's forehead, remembering how she used to do that before she left. Markl smiled up at her and hugged her around the waist.

"I missed you, N/N," Markl whispered.

"I missed you too, Markl." 

Thankfully for Y/N's sake, Sophie volunteered to feed the witch, leaving Y/N to eat and do the mending next to the fireplace. 

"Here, have some more," Sophie said, trying to urge the woman to eat when all she seemed to want to do was stare at Calcifer.

"Don't feed her," Calcifer hissed from his hiding place in the logs. "That's the Witch of the Waste!"

"Oh, she's all right," Sophie said with a sigh.

"She keeps staring at me, it's freaking me out!"

The witch, hearing none of the conversation, turned to Calcifer and smiled. "What a pretty fire."