Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, just the original characters and the plot. No copyright infringement is intended.

I don't know if I will ever know why I ended up where I did. Though many reasons have presented themselves to me, I'll never know for sure why it was that I was pulled from Time when I was.

The only thing I know is Time takes and so it seems it also has to give. I guess it's the natural law or something.

I do know the why of how I ended up where I did. It all has to do with family. My father was (Is? Even now, the tenses still are a source of confusion) an Unspeakable.

They are permitted families, though many that end up working in that field don't seem to have one. I suppose most people who choose to pursue a career in the Department of Mysteries aren't naturally the type to want a big family. Maybe it's due to a natural proclivity towards quiet and secrecy. Or maybe it's just because keeping secrets for a living is hard enough without having to come home and lie about it.

Whatever their reasons, they didn't apply to Dad. Ours isn't even a nice, small, discreet family: I am one of six girls. It would have been tough on any dad, living with six squealing, curious, bright girls. Tougher still on a dad who was used to quiet and could never actually share what it was he did all day at work. I can't imagine what it must have been like for him, having to deal with the looks on our faces when he turned away, silent, from all our questions.

Now that I am living with so many secrets of my own, I wish I could tell him I am sorry I didn't at least try to understand. But all that regret comes later.

We were a happy family, even with all his secrecy. At least that's what I remember My oldest sisters, Lucy and Julie, remember the war. My parents weren't that involved, but everyone knew someone who was dead or missing. My mum's old friend was killed by Death Eaters in a random raid. And everyone was afraid.

Lucy was nine and Julie was seven. Margaret was only four then and the rest of us weren't around yet. But Julie told me stories about how they were prepared to leave at any moment, the plans Mum and Dad made for them, should the worst happen. She said that Dad stopped going to work and that Mum had to charm him sick when people came to find him.

Lucy even remembers how scared Mum and Dad were when Mum got pregnant with the twins. They said they didn't want to bring any more kids into this kind of world. But then there was that last battle and Harry Potter saved the day. Voldemort was gone and people were happy. That's what they say at least. I was born two years after it all so I never really knew, except for what people told me.

All I knew was that the wizarding world was fun and bright and pleasant. I went to Hogwarts like every other young British wizard and it was brilliant. Everyone knew the family after so many of us. We were considered an odd bunch because we didn't stick to one house. Lucy was in Ravenclaw along with Audrey and Isabel, but Margaret was a Slytherin. Julie and I were both Gryffindors.

Margaret was a prefect my first year and she lorded it over Audrey, Is, and me. But then she graduated and Audrey and Is pretty much ignored me, which was fine by me. I was on the Quidditch team (a Beater) and so I had good friends from that. I liked school. Everything was going nicely. I wanted to become a Healer and I had all the credentials for it too.

But the summer before my seventh year everything got screwed up. It all started with what was supposed to be a regular shopping trip to Diagon Alley. I needed to get new robes and such for school but I didn't want to go with my mum. So Julie went with me. She might be nine years older than me but she's always been my favorite sister. Maybe it's because we shared houses. I don't know. Julie's the best, whatever it is. Lucy and Margaret are both married (Lucy's got three kids, all girls, and Maggie's got a boy and a little baby girl) but Julie is still on her own.

Before we left, Mum asked us to drop by and ask after Dad, to see if he'd be home for dinner. You don't really pop in to see an Unspeakable, but you can have them messaged and wait out front of the Department. So after we'd picked up my new robes and books, stopping of course to ogle the latest broomstick models, we went by the Ministry. We had the lady at the desk message Dad. She told us to wait in the Atrium but we've been coming to the Ministry since we were little so we just got on a lift and headed down.

I remember Julie pointed out that Harry Potter and Ron Weasley (he's another famous wizarding bloke, I think cause of the war too, but I mostly know his name from the joke shop) were in the same car and we giggled because even though Harry's kind of old and married with kids he's still handsome. Not to mention the fact that he's just about as famous as it gets in the wizarding world. But they got off before our floor and it was just the two of us until we got to the right floor.

We'd been standing waiting for maybe ten minutes, getting more and more impatient all the while, when Jules dared me to go in the door and find out what was behind it. She was half-joking, but really neither of us ever thought that there'd be something dangerous waiting right behind the simple door. Besides, I was never one to turn down a dare. So I went in.

I wonder what she and Dad thought when I never came back out.

A/N: After an incredibly long hiatus I am returning to finish At Time's Mercy. I will be editing and updating the story from the beginning- I hope that some of my old readers will return to hear what happens with Evie, Sirius, and the gang. I also hope that I'll gain new readers along the way!

The decision to return to fanfiction has been a difficult one- while still a major HP fan, it's been a while since I've immersed myself in the fandom. Recently, however, I've realized how much I gained from writing in a pre-established world. The structure and rules of Rowling's world are the perfect playground for me right now- I'm looking forward to jumping back into it!

This is the first of the revised chapters I'm posting. So far the changes are not incredibly significant (i.e. they don't change the plot or alter characters in any significant way) so until they do, I'm going to top each chapter with the word revised as I post it. I'll let you know when that revised means something more significant, just in case there are previous readers following along!