Soul Spotter- Years One through Four

I don't own Harry Potter! I only own Lydia Smart and her storyline!

"Smart, Lydia." Professor McGonagall's voice rang through the great hall.

A small, pale, blonde haired eleven year old girl hurried up the steps to the stool to be sorted. She sat on the stool and McGonagall lowered the Sorting Hat onto her head.

"Ah! A Smart!" The Hat spoke in her ear "I've been waiting for you. A spirit spotter. A soul saver. Where to put you? A bright mind, but not a Ravenclaw. Kind and helpful but Hufflepuff's not for you either. You have ambition but not enough to be a Slytherin. Better be..."

"Gryffindor!" The hat shouted out loud. The scarlet and gold table exploded in cheers.

Lydia stood up and skipped down to the table. She sat next to a girl with frizzy brown hair.

"Hi!" The girl said "I'm Hermione Granger. What's your name?"

"I'm Lydia Smart." The two shook hands.

Lydia's eyes drifted to the space behind Hermione. In the line of first years, there were two adults. A man with dark hair and glasses and a woman with vibrant red hair. They stood behind a boy who looked like a miniature of the man.

"Potter, Harry." Professor McGonagall called and the boy stepped out and sat on the stool.

The two adults moved to stand behind him and waited. The hall was silent.

"Gryffindor!" The hat shouted.

The table burst into roaring applause and two redheaded boys screamed "We got Potter! We got Potter!"

Harry Potter made his way to the table, the woman crying and being hugged by the man as they drifted by, following him. He sat down near Lydia and Hermione and the sorting continued.

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During the feast, Harry noticed a blonde girl who kept glancing in his direction. He should get used to it. Apparently he was famous, he'd be getting stares the rest of his life, he figured. But something was odd about this girl, she wasn't looking at him. More like, behind him.

He turned around and saw only the backs of the students at the table behind him. He looked back at the girl, who was staring around the great hall, and tried to catch her eye. Percy Weasley noticed.

"Harry, who are you looking at?" He asked curiously.

"That girl, who is she? Why does she keep looking at me?"

"I think her name's Lydia something-or-other. Does it bother you that she's staring?" Percy made to get up and go talk to Lydia.

"No, no. I just...Well I feel like she's not actually looking at me." Harry tried to explain.

"Her?" Ron, mouth full of food, asked pointing.

Harry nodded.

"She's Lydia Smart. She was called not long before you. I've heard stories about the Smart family." Ron lowered his voice "They're weird."

"What do you mean 'weird?'" Harry asked, confused.

"The Smart family founded a division of the Department of Mysteries about spirits and communicating with them." Ron explained.

"That's right!" Percy nodded "The Smarts' got in big trouble with the Ministry for experimenting on witches who they believed had the power to communicate with the dead."

"But can't anyone talk to the ghosts?" Harry asked "Hogwarts is full of them." He gestured to The Fat Friar who sat behind them.

"No, Harry, you misunderstand. They wanted to talk to people who hadn't passed on to the next world but didn't come back as ghosts. The ones in a kind of limbo." Percy explained.

"Look, stay away from Lydia Smart." Ron said "Her family's bad news."

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Year Two

Lydia had made no friends her first year at Hogwarts. People thought she was weird for always staring at empty spaces and muttering to herself. Or they thought to herself. Her only friends were the spirits at Hogwarts.

She particularly liked James and Lily Potter, who had noticed her looking at them during her first welcoming feast. But there were others. A young girl named Ariana who refused to tell her what her last name was, for example.

She walked down the long hallway when suddenly a jinx hit her square in the back. She fell over, dropping her books everywhere. As she rolled over she saw Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin, standing over her.

"Well look at the little blood traitor." He sneered "Going to cry to your friends? Oh wait, you don't have any!" He laughed.

"Leave her alone, Malfoy!" Harry Potter's voice shouted out.

"And why should I do that, Potter?" Malfoy turned to face Harry, forgetting all about Lydia.

"Potter! Malfoy!" Professor McGonagall rushed up, almost stepping on Lydia "Oh miss Smart! I'm sorry." She returned to shouting at the arguing boys.

Lydia snuck away and into her next class.

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Year Three

Lydia still had no friends and the bullying was getting worse. Slytherins and Gryffindors alike hated her. Her dorm mates, Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, were cruel and stole her things. Hermione Granger, Her other dorm mate, wasn't as bad, but she never stood up for her and basically ignored her. She had thought Hermione might be a friend, but in first year she had started to hang around Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley.

Ron Weasley was one of her most disliked bullies. He would trip her, call her names, and spread rumors. Harry Potter did nothing to stop it, but he didn't do anything himself.

Sirius Black had escaped over the summer. Everyone was terrified. Dementors had been stationed around Hogwarts and Lydia hated it. She could see the spirits and the souls the dementors had taken. It physically hurt her to be around them but she had no choice, the halls were filled with them.

The souls had been sucked from their bodies and they lived in eternal pain. Screaming and wailing. Still, Lydia would speak with them, try to calm and help them. She searched for family members at Hogwarts and would gift them the information about their relatives secretly.

Walking through the halls this year was a trial alone. It took everything in her not to cry for the lost souls and the pain their screams caused in her heart.

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Year Four

The Triwizard Tournament was happening this year. Lydia could sense that something bad was going to happen. Something very bad. The spirits were whispering and wouldn't tell her what about.

She spent the whole year in fear. The new professor, Mad-Eye Moody, seemed to sense her discomfort and took full advantage of it by humiliating her every chance he got. Snape was no better but she was used to his form of torture.

By the end of the year Voldemort had returned. That was what the souls had been whispering about all year. Lydia could already sense the newly murdered souls streaming around Britain.

Word count: 1137 words

I know, I know. I'm starting to many new books. But I had to get the ideas out. Please don't forget to comment, vote, and add to your reading lists!

Love,

The Author