The day of Nayeon's Great Mistake™ started like this: her transfiguration homework left behind on her bed, her wand nearly snapped in half after Sana accidentally sat on it during breakfast, and a letter from her parents concerning her future after graduating from Hogwarts ("Oh honey, we know just the right person who'll get you on the right track of becoming future minister!"). All in all, it began as a ty day, and it ended as a ty day.

Bloody hell. She knew there was a reason why she hated Mondays.

✭

When she saw a time turner on Chaeyoung's bed after dinner, her natural response was to touch it.

Time turners were thought to be long gone. The last time she checked her textbook, they were destroyed in the Department of Mysteries nearly fifteen years ago, and the Ministry hadn't produced more since then — and the other owners of time turners were left unknown. Maybe that was the reason why seeing the timepiece set her on edge, especially when it was placed neatly on top of Chaeyoung's red comforter, laying innocently on the bed.

Sorry, Chae, Nayeon thought as she wrapped her fingers around the golden timepiece, bringing it up to eye-level. Up close, she could see the sand inside the time turner, and the little silver clasp it had if the user wanted to tie it around their neck. 

She spared a glance behind her back to make sure nobody had entered the room, and with trembling hands, moved to clasp the time turner around the pale flesh of her neck. She could tell Chaeyoung later, the younger wouldn't mind — they practically shared everything anyway, a notable example being Nayeon's empty snack stash under her bed all gone, devoured by the younger. (Now she felt worse after reminiscing that particular memory, as the chocolate she'd bought were imported from Beauxbatons' kitchens, and she didn't even manage to taste a bite before Chaeyoung ate it all.)

"Nayeon? What's going on?"

A yelp escaped Nayeon's lips at the sound of a sudden intruder, and she whirled around, startled eyes focused on Sana Minatozaki. During the process, the time turner slipped past her grasp and was knocked to the ground — if she squinted, she could see cracks on the glass, and her heartbeat rose in panic. "Reparo!" She pointed her wand at the time piece, panic rising in upon seeing the spell having no effect.

"Is that a necklace?"

Ignoring the japanese girl's inquiries, Nayeon tucked a strand of hair behind her ear — a nervous habit — and looked around warily, to see if there was something that could conceal the crack in Chaeyoung's time turner. "Nayeon, what is that?"

In the corner of her eye, Nayeon saw Sana take a step towards the time turner, and without much thinking (had she even done a lot of thinking today?) took a step forward to block the girl, unaware she'd stepped on the time turner until she heard a loud crack and her sudden stinging feet.

The last thing she saw was the look of horror on Sana's face and a shrill scream — whether it was hers or Sana's, she didn't get to find out — and then, after a tugging feeling in her stomach not much different to the feeling after apparating. The world spun away, her feet feeling like it was stepping on air.

When the movement came to an abrupt stop, the first thing Nayeon noticed was brown, cat-like eyes meeting her gaze, silent and unblinking.

✭

author's note

this is more of a prologue than a first chapter tbh. the next ones will be longer, i think.

there are obvious changes to how a time turner works, but other than that, everything else will be similar.

i wonder which era nayeon ended up in. :^)

thank you for reading!