Button Eyes

Chapter One

The back door slammed behind Albus louder than he expected, but he didn't jump. He kept on walking down the steps of the small porch, taking each one slowly. He frowned as he looked out over the vast garden that was grey and dull and dead. The sky was also dark and cloudy, putting a bigger damper on Albus' and already sour mood.

Moving to a new house was not Albus' idea of fun. The Potters hadn't even been moved in a whole hour and he already wanted to go back to their old house. It didn't help that his older brother, James, and his younger sister, Lily, seemed to think this move was a dream come true. They had already decided to take a trip into town for the on-going Shakespeare festival which Albus took no interest in, so he was left to his own devices, which wasn't unusual.

He padded through the dry dirt and peered over an extra dead looking bush, breaking off the most perfect 'Y' shaped branch he could find. He closed his eyes and held the branch up pretending as if it was going to guide him in the right direction of the secret well he'd heard the landlord talking about, and began walking up the hill that led past the garden.

As he walked, hitting the branch against rocks and stamping in the dirt, he heard rustling in the bushes beside him. He paused and squinted his eyes, peering into the poor, spindly things, not seeing anything.

He nudged them with his branch and the sound of a hissing cat caught him off guard. A ratty, black mass suddenly jumped out of the bushes and quickly circled him.

"Agh!" He jumped back, not wanting to be attacked by a cat. He moved further up the hill, shouting at it, "You scared me to death, you ugly thing! I'm just trying to find a secret well, do you know where it is?"

It seemed to ignore Albus, licking it's paw.

Albus heard more rustling and turned around, facing the forested area beyond the trail he'd been following. He stared, squinting his eyes and suddenly saw a flash of white and grey followed by the sound of snapping branches and crunching leaves.

The wind howled and his heart rate picked up, the first thing coming to mind was ghosts...

He suddenly felt a presence behind him, and he felt his throat catch, spinning around just as his mysterious stalker opened his arms and shouted, "BOO!"

"Argh!" Albus shouted just as a loud crack of thunder boomed in the sky. He stumbled back and waving his branch at this stranger.

Ghost boy had white blonde hair and was wearing a baggy grey rain coat and tight worn jeans along with black rain boots that almost went up to his knees, he also had black gloves on which Albus found odd.

This was a stark contrast to Albus bright yellow raincoat and matching rain boots.

"Let me guess, you're from somewhere all posh, like London, or Cambridge," this mysterious boy spoke. His blond hair hung down in his eyes but he didn't seem to mind. He also didn't seem to stop moving - pacing around Albus as if he was giving him a full body inspection. He suddenly slipped Albus'' branch from his hand as if he had the rights to it. He held it up inspecting it curiously. "I've heard about water witching before, but it doesn't make sense - it's just a stick."

Albus, suddenly offended, stepped towards him and yanked the stick from his hands, "It's a dowsing rod! And I do not appreciate being stalked by ghostly nerds and their raggedy cats!" He huffed.

"Oh," the ghost boy perked up, pandering over to the cat who was still perched on the rock, minding it's own business. He knelt over and began petting it, "He's not my cat - I mean, sometimes I feed him, or let him sleep inside when it's cold - but he mostly just follows me around and brings me funny dead things. He's not mine, you see, grandfather would never let me keep a cat."