After that, he tried to go upstairs through the broom cupboard, and then the yard. This seemed to puzzle him a little. But finally he discovered the stairs, all except the bottom on, and fell up them on his face. The whole castle shook.

Annoyed?” said Sophie. “Why should I be annoyed? Someone only filled the castle with rotten aspic, and deafened everyone in Porthaven, and scared Calcifer to a cinder, and broke a few hundred hearts. Why should that annoy me?

Really, these wizards! You'd think no one had ever had a cold before! Well, what is it?' she asked, hobbling through the bedroom door onto the filthy carpet.'I'm dying of boredom,' Howl said pathetically. 'Or maybe just dying.