AN: Don't let this chapter scare you. This is the only planned chapter from an OC's PoV.

Disclaimer: None of the words are mine. I just put them in this particular order.

Prologue

Maia Andrews was not in a good mood.

This is noteworthy because it is exceedingly rare to see anything but satisfied smiles on the faces of the patronage of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. Even rarer still to see it on such a beautiful day in the run-up to the summer Solstice.

Yet there she sat, glumly watching her ice cream turn into brightly colored sludge with sprinkles.

"Oh come on May, it can't be that bad. Unspeakables are basically the wizard MIA! You're Andrews, May Andrews." Nymphadora Tonks said, gesturing wildly and almost knocking her ice cream bowl to the ground in the process.

"I'm starting to wish I were MIA. That'd mean I'd have actually seen some A." Maia sulked, taking it all in stride. "I've been working there for almost a year now, and the most exciting thing to have happened is that I escorted Dumbledore to the head's office. And he didn't even need my help!"

"I'm sure you're exaggerating. I can only imagine the kinds of magic you must see on a daily basis."

Maia shrugged. "Sure, the magic is interesting, but it's also been mostly theoretical. And I can't talk about it with you or Trent. I'm left sitting there listening to all of your adventures and his feel good stories, and I feel so boring. It'd be different if something actually happened, even if I couldn't talk about it."

"Well… I'm sure it'll all start happening soon. There's no such thing as a boring Hufflepuff!" The metamorph said, cycling her hair through a myriad of colours for emphasis before settling on her preferred hot pink.

The brunette managed a smile for their old motto as she got up. "I hope you're right. I have to go in now, but I'll see you Tuesday?"

"I'll try to make it" Tonks said, "but you know how crazy selection's been, May. There's really no telling when I'll get called in."

"It's your own fault for trying to impress Moody. I told you Kingsley was the best choice for mentor."

"At least he's not boring!" Tonks called after her as she slid the speckled sludge over to her side of the table.

Maia turned around, stuck out her tongue, and apparated away.

The Department of Mysteries really lived up to its name.

Maia still felt like she'd barely scratched the surface of what went on there, although she'd at least gotten much better at navigating it.

"Right on time." Her boss said as she walked into the office.

She smiled at him, even as she winced internally. That joke had gotten old not even a week into her time with him.

"We got Fourteen back from the DMAC this morning, so we're almost at full strength again. I saved it for you."

"Thanks!" Maia called over her shoulder, her smile turning genuine.

'I may not be happy with my job, but Jim really is a sweetie', she thought to herself. He'd only recently gotten his promotion to Senior Researcher of Time Magic after working in the department for almost seventy years. She suspected it was because he was just too nice. Unsurprisingly, almost half the Unspeakables she knew were Slytherins. Advancement within the department seemed to come natural to them, whereas it was just a pleasant surprise to the archetypical Ravenclaw when it had been announced to him.

Maia got to her station and threw her robe over the back of her chair. Within the DoM, you could wear whatever the hell you want as long as you're quiet about it, and she took full advantage. It really was a shame employees of the ministry were required to wear robes in the atrium and really pretty much everywhere but the DoM. She'd bought a nice summery yellow dress with a sweetheart neckline last week, and she couldn't even show off in it!

Bringing the time turner over, she got to work.

Maia hummed quietly as she settled in to the familiar routine. She found there was a relaxing rhythm to the ritual of crystal clearing, glass cleaning and sand-spelling.

Not to mention the effect the loose sand has on the psyche of course. Time passes in a gentle haze when one works with time sand.

It was evening when Maia finished up with Fourteen. She took a moment to appreciate the elegance of the decorations on the casing before getting up from her desk. All of the time turners at the DoM were pretty, but looking at Fourteen's soft golden shell Maia couldn't help but think it was the most beautiful of all.

There were no enchanted windows down in the DoM, but working with time magic as much as she did had resulted in Maia always being able to tell the time of day with uncanny precision.

'It's not all bad here', she thought to herself as she got up, twirling the finely wrought chain Fourteen had been on.

She brought the time turner over to Jiminy's bench for the mandatory check.

She hadn't made a mistake in over four months now, but following protocol is what you do when you work with 'Magics Most Arcane', the official designation of the group of magics that includes dimensional magic, blood and sex magic and even soul magic.

"She's done Jim, good as new." Maia said, tapping Jiminy on the shoulder to get his attention.

Going deaf can easily be fixed by magic, but Jiminy maintained that havings sounds in the office be no more than background noise helped him concentrate. ("Besides, this ensures you'll have my full attention when you talk to me!")

"Let's have a look then."

Maia read the scribbles Jim had made today while she waited, but it didn't look like there'd been any progress. Not that she expected any. They'd been working on it for half a year and they still weren't any closer to future-travel.

She was starting to think it might not be possible at all, but projects like this one were dropped and picked back up again for ages before such a conclusion could be reached, if ever.

"Perfect." Jiminy said, handing her the time turner again. "Tuck her back in for me will you?"

"Of course." Maia smiled. "When's mysterious Number Seven coming back by the way? It'd be nice to see all of them together before we need to send them off into the world again."

"I'll be picking her up myself end of the month. It'll be good to catch up with Minerva."

"McGonagall?" Maia asked, perking up. The description of Seven's current whereabouts in the log was rather vague, which was unlike Jiminy. Unlike all of the DoM really.

"It was a personal favor. Don't you worry about it." Jiminy said, patting her on the shoulder and shoving her in the direction of the storage room.

Maia entered the storage room, but she hadn't taken three steps before apparition vertigo overtook her, but on a scale completely uncomparable to anything she'd experienced before. She wanted to vomit in the vain hope that would offer any release, but she was frozen in place, seeing double, triple, mirrored, in the span of a decade.

The feeling receded as fast as it had come on, and Maia stumbled into the trestle table. That was the least of her worries though.

The room, devoid of people before, now contained five others.