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

Chapter 3

"Here, Sophie," Y/N said, helping her friend up the steps. The house certainly was much warmer than the outside and once the door was shut, all the sounds of the moving house faded away, leaving the girls in the silence of the house, broken only by the fire in the hearth. Y/N noticed a chair that was propped up next to the fire, and she led Sophie over to it, trying to ignore the dirty state of the place.

Sophie let out a hiss as she sat down, most likely due to her bones being all worn, and Y/N turned to take in the appearance of the room that they were in. Dust and grime seemed caked to the floor and piled up in the corners, and as Y/N looked up, she felt all of the blood drain out of her body. It looked like every insect and bug in the entire town of Market Chipping had made its home in the rafters of the room. Subconsciously, Y/N lifted her shawl to cover her hair, not wanting any bugs or dust to fall in it. 

Y/N turned to make sure that Sophie was okay before walking over to one of the small windows in the room and sitting down on a somewhat clean chair. She pushed the window open a bit and sighed as she felt the cool night breeze on her face, and she lifted her elbow to prop up on the edge of the window sill. With the crackling of the log fire and the wind on her face, Y/N quickly fell asleep, listening to a piece of quiet music that seemed to play in the back of her mind.

. . . 

Y/N woke the next morning to a gentle ray of light kissing her eyelids, and as she opened them, she smiled when she saw the bright sky in front of her. It didn't even seem odd to her that she was staring at a village rather than the wastes that she and Sophie had left behind the day before.

The young woman rose from her awkward sleeping position and stretched her arms out above her head and wound them around a few times at the shoulder joint before turning to take in the sight of the room. Unfortunately, it seemed dirtier now that she could see it in all the light that the sun offered, and she sighed. 

'If Howl lives here, he should take better care of this place,' she thought, picking up the hem of her dress so that it wouldn't trail on the floor. She tucked the front of the dress in around the waistband of her apron and walked over to Sophie, smiling when she saw that her friend was still asleep. The fire was starting to grow dim and Y/N frowned when she saw all the ash that was built up around it. 

"No wonder the fire is going out too easily," she whispered, careful not to wake Sophie. "With all of this ash, it's hard for the fire to breathe." She looked around the room and found a dustpan that she could use. Then, she started to carefully sweep the ash away from the fire, careful not to burn her fingers. She wouldn't be able to get close to the fire until it went out, but for now, even taking away the ash around the fire would help the fire breathe a little easier.

As she was working by the fire, someone knocked at the door. She glanced up from the ash and wiped her hands on her apron, having half a mind to go and see who it was, but before she could, a young boy came running down the stairs. At the bottom, he turned and stopped dead in his tracks, staring at Y/N, who stared back. Another rapid and impatient knock broke their staring contest and the boy ran over to one of the tables and pulled on a dark blue cloak.

"Who are these two," the boy asked, tying the cloak tight around himself. "How did they get in here?"

Y/N nearly screamed in fright as she heard the fire speak to her. "Porthaven door!"

"Oh, my stars!" Y/N pressed a hand to her chest and reared back in shock. Sitting on the log, where the fire should have been, was a face in an inferno, smirking at her. She turned back to the young boy to see him replaced with a short old man, and she blinked owlishly, wondering what she had missed.

"Stand by," the old man said in a gruff voice. He turned the knob on the door, switching a dial so that the arrow pointed to a blue section, and pulled the door open. Standing on the other side was a stocky man dressed in a black suit with a pink sash across his chest. Behind him was a guard, though he wasn't wearing the uniform that Y/N had seen the day before.