He'd only been back at work for two weeks, and he still had a lot of catching up to do. Unlike the other employees of the DoM, his work didn't get covered when he wasn't around. This meant experiments needing exact had been ruined, one of his brains had rotted, and he'd come back to find a very irate ghost, who'd been left in a jar and forgotten. Landis's shipment had arrived and rotted past the point of use.

And yet here he was, his butcher's apron off, his slightly bloody sleeves rolled up to hide the possibly distressing stains and his Unspeakable's robes back on and in working order, waiting for the arrival of a new Trainee. Maybe this is what he got for his involvement with the Aurors, or maybe it had to do with the short straw he'd pulled in the break room. Either way, he felt slightly picked on.

Colin leaned against the wall by the entrance to the Department's main floor, his black-rimmed glasses off and tucked into his breast pocket. He was working his way through the rest of his lunch when the main doors opened and closed, leaving a blonde woman standing there. She met the description he'd been given, though she looked a tad young for the supposed age of 23.

He hurriedly swallowed the rest of his  bite of hoagie and stashed the remainder of the sandwich up his right sleeve, which also held his wand and his thermos of coffee. Brushing himself off, adjusting his tie and overall improving his appearance, he approached the young lady and extended his hand. He smiled.

"Miss Freher, isn't it?" He asked, politely. "Colin Downer. Joining our alchemists, are you?"

She couldn't feel more insecure than she felt while heading down to the Department of Mysteries for the very first time. Una held tight the suitcase against her chest when she stepped off the lift and faced the door ahead. It was not a proper way to carry her stuff, but was a good unconscious mean to protect herself from the oppressive dark walls around her. She took a long breath before walking to the door, "I can do it", she whispered low to herself. "Sure I can do it."

Her heels broke the silence of the place, they were good to solve her low stature problem and, along with her glasses and old-fashionated robe, it could make she looks older. Perhaps they could give her twenty or twenty-one years old. With another deep breath her hand gently pushed the door and she gave the first step to the room, quickly turning to close the door when she noticed she wasn't alone.

The young man there seemed to be caught in a wrong moment and Una considered to apologize and propose to return later, but when she turned to him again, he was perfectly aligned and smiling at her.

"Miss Freher, isn't it? Colin Downer. Joining our alchemists, are you?"

"Ja, indeed!" she smiled back, while offering her left hand to shake. It was somehow comforting to be received by a nice guy instead of some moody elder as her father's friends are. For most terrifying it was to be joining theirs alchemists, it doesn't look that bad by his mouth. "Nice to meet you, Herr Downer. Are you my guide to this fascinating place, I suppose?", she asked, slightly embarrassed for her accent but keeping an open smile for him.

_{OOC: Sorry, I forgot completely about his hand XD}

Herr Downer. That was...different. Not bad by any means, though. It certainly sounded better than Mister, now didn't it? Especially coming fro a pretty girl, but that aside...

"Yes, that's what I'm here for," he told her, brightly - more brightly than he might have about 15 minutes before. He pulled from his pocket what turned out to be a map of the Department, having to recite several passwords to open it. The paper opened like a child's stand-up book, the interior of the Department unfolding into a multistory cluster of passages. It looked rather like a huge spider web.

"You'll need one of these 'til you know your way around the back halls," he said. "The basic area where we are now is pretty simple, but if you get lost...well. We've yet to find 15 of the people who've gotten lost in here." He smirked, half-joking. They had found most of them. She just didn't want to know what condition they'd been in.

"Would you like to put your suticase somewhere?" He asked, nodding to the case in her arms.

Una observed with curiosity as he pulled the map out of his pocket, and listened carefully the several passwords he spoken, as if she was trying to learn it already. She would have to know then anyway, wouldn't she? When the map opened, Una found it's structure so strangely beautiful that she approached to take a better look. The place in form of paper was also something she seemed to try to understand at the first sight.

She smiled to herself when noticed how close she was from the map. It was silly of her showing all that interest to something that was probably an everyday routine to the young man in front of her.

"You'll need one of these 'til you know your way around the back halls. The basic area where we are now is pretty simple, but if you get lost...well. We've yet to find 15 of the people who've gotten lost in here."

"Oh, poor souls...", she said gravely, like she could really light candles and pray for them. The truth was that she already heard that kind of stories and they never ended well - when ended at all. She thought it was some kind of twisted joke her father used to tell her just to see her frightened face. But, well, it was indeed safe to have a map in hands while walking through that maze.

"Would you like to put your suitcase somewhere?"

"This?" she looked down, remembering she was carrying the case. It was so tightly pressed against her chest by her right arm that it was almost a part of her. She smiled at him, maybe it was no longer needed to hide herself that way. "I figured out I would go directly to my desk, but I don't mind carrying it with me if it's easier, Herr Downer."

Colin's smile was a mask for just a moment, as his mind darted elsewhere and left it behind. He'd seen - and studied - a few of those remains. Sometimes death was the merciful option, when compared to some of the fates suffered by those who got lost in the halls.

"Alright then. I was told to show you around," he explained, waving a hand to indicate she should follow him down the dark hallway. "We're allowed to wander somewhat, here. I'm not aware of how the Ministry in..." Her accent was German, so he jumped to conclusions with the bare minimum of information. "Germany handles it. But, you're aware of all the Unspeakable's guidelines, I'm sure."

The Dark hallways seemed endless. He paused by one of the grand doors, nudging it open and peering inside.

"Thought Chamber," he said, opening the door so she could look in. The room was long, lit by lamps that hung low off the ceiling. Brains floated in tanks, and around the room several wizards were at work, several apparently meditating. Most of the others seemed in an odd dream-like state as they worked on spells.

"They study thought. Don't touch the brains, they're aggressive." He'd tried to pick one up as a trainee and learned that lesson fast. "Don't ask these people for advice, they get all Metaphysical," he added, sarcasm thick in his tone. "'You worry about such simple things. Yet the solutions to all are in your mind, if you were to simply unlock them.'" It was definitetly a quote, and from the sound of it, not one he was fond of.

He closed the door and walked down the hall again. "Mental, the lot of them. Where did you study?"

She lowered the case, carrying it on the left hand while the right she hid behind her back. Una followed him closely, but looking straight ahead at the infinite dark hallway.

"We're allowed to wander somewhat, here. I'm not aware of how the Ministry in... Germany handles it. But, you're aware of all the Unspeakable's guidelines, I'm sure."

"I believe they handle worst." she stated, remembering how she learnt to respect her father's office and documents at home. Not a nice memory; maybe not bad enough for her to say that, but her child's impression were terrible enough for her to feel that. Everything he shared with her could be found in a specialized library, besides his own studies after his time at the Germany Ministry. She never put a foot on there - not that she remembers. "Yes, I'm pretty aware!"

She stood as he opened the door and entered when he announced. Una took a look all over the room and somehow was the Unspeakables in their different, but almost oneiric behaviours that caught her attention. So the advertise about the brains was useless, but she thought if that was based on some kind of bad experience lived by him. Una wouldn't touch in anything without permission anyway.

"Don't ask these people for advice, they get all Metaphysical. 'You worry about such simple things. Yet the solutions to all are in your mind, if you were to simply unlock them.'"

Una looked at him in the eyes directly when he used the sarcastic tone to say the quote. She didn't share his feelings about Metaphysical issues and advices, or so it seemed. She was an Alchemist after all, and would totally agree to that quote depending on the context. Her father was certainly the kind of wizard that gave those advice too, so that was double awkward for her to hear Colin's tone.

But Una simply remain quiet until they leave the room.

"Mental, the lot of them. Where did you study?"

Triple awkward. But that she could obviously see coming - it was not an unusual question to be asked. "I studied at home. Couldn't attend to any school at time because...", she slowly closed her right fist behind her back. "Because of the war, you know, I was eleven when all that happened. But I had wonderful teachers."

"Such as my father, der Metaphysische Narr[1]", she couldn't avoid the thought, but still looked at Colin gently while he was guiding her through the hall. She knew Archimedes wasn't a fool at all and that was a stupid thing to worry about.

"And you, attended to Hogwarts?"

1.	the Metaphysical fool

Homeschooled? Unusual, to be sure. Colin knew wizards could do that, of course, but he'd never met anyone who'd done it. He could certainly see why her parents would have chosen to do so, given what was going on at the time - but she couldn't be muggleborn, then. Maybe her parents were just overprotective?

He crossed his arms loosely, arms slipping into his large Unspeakable's sleeves. "Hired tutors, then? That's unusual," his tone added the unsaid 'But interesting.'

"Yeah, I went to Hogwarts. Ravenclaw House." He chuckled, his tone taking on a sense of dark humor. "I got out in '97. Just in time, or I'd never have graduated. Muggleborn," he added, to clarify. "They'd have killed me if I'd stayed. At least it's over..." For the most part, anyway. Most of Colin's issues with his coworkers, and with other wizards, stemmed from his werewolf issues - to the point that it was almost refreshing to get ragged on for his blood. Of course, the core of his issues with the Unspeakables was his acute interest in the bits of people no one wanted  to see, but regardless...

"Most of us here went to Hogwarts, but we have a few from elsewhere. None in my department, though." Considering his department was...him and about 3 others, that wasn't surprising. He didn't talk to the other 3 much; for the most part, they were dark, depressing and creepy. This was also the exact same reasoning they used for not talking to him.

"What're you hoping to study, if you don't mind me asking?" He asked, looking over his shoulder. "I mean your personal goal. Everyone's got one, who comes in here." Again, the knowing and amused smirk. "Some more bizarre than others."

Una tried to figure out what's the problem with Ravenclaw for his tone was, once again, obscure. Maybe that was just a trace of his nature. She was not a judgemental girl but his manners was a little creepy. Still she smiled to follow his laugh.

"I got out in '97. Just in time, or I'd never have graduated. Muggleborn. They'd have killed me if I'd stayed. At least it's over..."

"Horrible times, I imagine..." she whispered, thoughtful. If she didn't got the protection of the adoption she could have been killed too. In a way or another. But even with the war over for some years, neither Una nor the Freher family did get out to the world to say about her condition. And she couldn't tell just to sympathize with Colin, another Muggleborn, but still a stranger she had just met. "Thank God that's over."

"Most of us here went to Hogwarts, but we have a few from elsewhere. None in my department, though."

To that, Una didn't answered, but just bit her lower lip, her eyes looked ahead without focusing in any specific point and her head briefly shook. Yes, most of them went to Hogwarts, a few went to another schools and she was the only one who stayed at home. Besides his dark mood, Colin was still nice to her and maybe he could stay open if she get lost on something - besides the halls. The others could not be that kind.

But, thinking about the halls, Una realized they were walking for so long that she started to believe more strongly that if one get lost in there, none could found him without getting lost too. Terrible fate.

"What're you hoping to study, if you don't mind me asking? I mean your personal goal. Everyone's got one, who comes in here... Some more bizarre than others."

Yeah, he was just that way. She looked at him enjoying herself with the conclusion. "I'm already studying Spagyric at home, you know, the alchemical use of herbs and plants...", she added, but with a humble tone, more confirming something he should know than assuming he doesn't know that at all. "They have so much use, so much magic within then! I like to work with healing potions, Panacea, the search for the cure of all illnesses."

She smiled sweetly, knowing she gave him a vague answer. Telling her real and most lower goal was telling about her own issues, and that was not the kind of thing Una shares gladly.

"And you? What's your goal?" she asked, already waiting to hear a bizarre one.

"Really?" He smiled, and it was lanced with considerably less cynicism. "That's a more noble goal than half the people in here, to be honest. Good luck." He sounded like he meant it, and he did. Despite his sarcastic and cynical nature, such things as simple (for a given definition of 'simple') and noble goals were appealing to Colin, who had once had a simple goal himself. Still, those broke down after awhile, and his had too.

Then she asked him what his goal was. Fair enough, admittedly, since he'd asked hers, but... Colin paused, stopping and turning to look at her for a long moment, considering.

"Look," he said, running his fingers through the short hair on the back of his head. "Just so you know," his tone was, had he admitted it, a tad nervous - with good reason. "Most of the department doesn't like me, alright? They have good reasons. But I might as well tell you myself, 'cause the moment you say who walked you through here they'll give you an earful." He smirked, darkly humorous for a moment, before he smiled slightly sadly.

"I'm a werewolf and I recently got my arse kidnapped and got made worse," he said. "And I carve up bodies for a living. To be honest? My goal, currently, is to study and make a living, and try to stay valuable enough they don't decide the fact I turn into a wolf once a month justifies firing me." He chuckled. "It's still close, to be frank. With the attacks in March..." All the werewolves at the Ministry were under tight watch. His own kidnapping hadn't helped.

"That said: My goal is to find out how Ghosts happen and how you make one. I'm also studying how zombies and inferi work, how magic effects the body and so on." And how to improve such things, but that didn't need to get added. He sighed, then smiled. "Any rumors you might hear that I snack off my subjects are hogwash, I should add." He needed those organs. Just because someone saw him licking the blood off his hands once...

"Maybe your cure can cure lycanthropy," he said, with a shake of his head. "If you try that, let me know if you need a test subject."

His sudden lack of cynicism and the courage to be sincere caught Una off her guard. She slightly blushed when he stood nervous in front of her and said everything. It was some kind of guilty what she felt, for expecting something much less than that from him and for herself never, ever, been capable in her whole life of doing what he did. And she thought that be a werewolf in these times was far more sad and distressing than passing through what she passed. Or what she remember passing.

Una felt sorry for him, so that she wasn't able to hear the corpses part and "snacking subjects" with the negative attention he might be used to get.

"Well...", she wondered for a while, not knowing exactly what to say first. "My father was an Unspeakable, and I remember the day I asked him about living dead and he told me that necromancy was a nasty kind of magic because you have to steal one's peace in such manner that he could never entirely leave his body nor stay completely among us. The soul must get stuck in a terrible way. You must know all that, of course, I'm just saying because I understand why people may dislike you..."

Una gave him a mysterious hint of a smile. "You study something that goes brutally against the Nature's law. But I believe your interest is authentic, and you being part of Nature, maybe it wants someone to go against it's laws..."

Then she smiled fully, shrugging. "You know, all that Metaphysical Unsinn... Bullshit. I believe in that. Everything that exists deserves some kind of respect." But at the end she was caught thinking about the souls of the dead. Well, with his science maybe Colin could be capable of discover some way painless to deal with the death. He really doesn't seen to be evil, nothing like a Dark Wizard or someone who could do an Inferi army and start a war for power or just for fun.

On the contrary, Colin seen to understand how bad it was to see a war happen and be someone on the lesser side.

"I'll tell you if I discover something new about lycanthropy...", maybe Una would tap him on the shoulder gently if she knew him longer, but she just started to walk again, worried about stealing more of his work time than expected. "And hey!" she looked at him over her shoulder. "I could do the Wolfsbane Potion for you next month! The aconites I raise in my garden are the best!"

Her lapse into silence was not unexpected in the least. Colin waited for the oh-so-polite disinterest, the withdraw in every way but physical. And it came, sort of. Certainly not as strongly as he'd expected, but there it was.

Then she spoke up, and he quirked an eyebrow.

"Something like that, yes." It didn't have to be a human soul, as he'd found. It was possible to raise just about anything, if you tried hard enough. They just weren't very useful. He was proud of his zombie fly nonetheless. That had been a masterpiece. A pity it'd escaped.

Still, he smiled slightly. "Thank you," he said, simply. "It's sort of against the laws, I suppose. My main goal is to understand why people become ghosts. There's a lot of theories, and none of them really hold water when you sit and look at it. The 'strong emotion' tie is the most commonly believed, but with so many ghosts that's not the case. A lot of the ones I've spoken to are downright surprised to be a ghost - plenty of them were ready to pass on in every way and then they wake up...and they haven't."

He cleared his throat, and echoed her smile with a slightly more hesitant one. "I'm fine with metaphysical studies," he said, "Up until they're getting in the way of me doing my job. I got that 'all problems are in your mind' answer when my lab was on fire and a few Inferi had gotten out." He let out a soft laugh. "It wasn't a very good answer to 'Have you seen an inferi? It's got Francis."

A shrug, and he turned and followed her, taking long strides to catch up. "That'd be nice. My usual supplier is having issues at the moment." He wasn't about to namedrop Landis.

Colin waved a hand at the hall ahead. "Oh, and speaking of him...This is where Francis works. Francis Pepper. He builds timeturners. He's a friendly chap." Colin liked Francis, even if the other man couldn't step foot in his lab. "Sometimes he'll turn up and ask you  about things you haven't talked to him about, or seem to be in two places at once. You get used to it. He's usually only an hour or two behind."

Una surely felt bad for his reactions, and tried to smile brightly so all could be seen a little better than sounded - or so she hoped. The ghost issue sounded more fascinating now, maybe even noblest, and much more easy to talk about. But for another time, now she was really concerned about stealing him from his work.

Still she laughed of the lab on fire story. Some wizards certainly doesn't know when to get down of their own ideal thoughts and be useful on the here-and-now world. But Una admitted to herself that she would tell Colin that "everything happens for a reason" if she were involved, but only after trying to actually help him somehow.

"That'd be nice. My usual supplier is having issues at the moment."

"Gut! But I'm gonna ask you to remind me when the Full Moon is coming, ok? I don't know how it will be from now on and I think that the work can take all of my thoughts, but I still want to make it for you." Una slowed down her steps so they could walk side by side again.

And then he pointed up the hall ahead and introduced an absent man. Nevertheless, he sounded like he really liked that man, for the way he spoke about him and by the fact that he was the first person Colin actually named.

"I'm sure Herr Pepper must be a fascinating wizard..." she said, sincerely. Una expected the severest elders to work along at the Department, and that was one of the various sources of her insecurity. Colin was being a good surprise for her, and his references was sure to be reminded by her. "I'll keep your advices at mind if I see him!"

"You'll know, trust me," he said, less enthusiastically than he'd really meant to. "With the attacks in March, and my...continuing issues, they'll whisper about it a week in advance. I had to stay in the cells now, anyway." He hated that more than anything. His safe room was, well, safe. But now the full moon was a massive ordeal; his lengthened transformation meant he had to arrange for a pet sitter, had to check in early, and had to get poked and prodded and fed different potions to see what would happen.

Admittedly, the trade off was greater control and heightened senses all the time. instead of just close to the full moon. It was a debatable improvement, really.

"Hah! Fascinating is about the right word, yes. He's not in today - his wife's in St. Mungos, poor soul. He visits her fairly often, apparently." He and Francis avoided that subject, usually carefully. "If you need help, though, he's a good resource. He'll usually try. He's squeamish, though." Colin's definition of 'squeamish was, he'd be the first to admit, not the most usual.

The door to the Timetuner workshop was decorative,  and clearly sealed. No light came from behind the closed doors, which were decorated with delicate clockwork patterns. The cogwheels sometimes seemed, out of the corner of the eye, to be moving.

Colin breezed by. "Word of advice," he added. "It's the death rooms up ahead, where I work. If you never need something from one of us, be careful of Grimm. He can be touchy. Very touchy. Bit of a misanthrope, honestly."

Cells? He told her that it got worse when he got kidnapped, but she never thought about the necessity of any extreme measure. Colin seemed to her so far a nice gently guy, even cute, besides his creepy mood that wasn't that bad to handle with.

Suddenly she realized the real issue - he WAS a werewolf, and by the Full Moon won't be transformed into a puppy dog wagging his tail wanting to play. Even being hard to imagine, he would turn into a wolf, capable of murder - or curse others with the same fate - no matter how many potions he takes.

But still she raised her eyebrows, wondering. Being locked up was inhuman, and for God's sake, werewolfs were humans - at least most of the time.

Unfortunately all she could really do was shrug, smile and think a little more about discover something about lycanthropy. Some problems were definitely more serious than her owns.

And speaking of problems, have a wife in St. Mungus was also something for her to consider. Una's world seemed to be suddenly so small to her. Still she laughed softly of Herr Pepper being squeamish. She could be considered that too by Downer's eyes? Well... She certainly thought she looks a lot like that, so it would be normal.

"It's beautiful..." she just whispered, passing through the door and turning to see it once again when the cogwheels seemed to move. That was a little annoying, but still beautiful.

"It's the death rooms up ahead, where I work. If you never need something from one of us, be careful of Grimm. He can be touchy. Very touchy. Bit of a misanthrope, honestly."

She couldn't avoid to think about Grim, der Grimm, the death omen itself, but then she realised he could only be telling about a person with such strange name. And Una almost was silly enough to ask, so she laughed quietly, embarrassed to herself. "Well, Herr Downer, I'll try to remember all that!"

"You just get used to it. He's a talented guy, Grimm. Just stay out of his way." Colin smirked. "He's our head Necronomist. Works with the Control of Creatures department, too." He rubbed the back of his head.

"You might be lucky. Your division's pretty empty," he said, after a moment's thought - clearly trying to remember the roster. "Or filled with very, very dull old men who I can't remember at all. I think that'll be an advantage, for you." He smiled, though there was definitely a hint of smirk to it. "The faster you move up around here, the more freedom they give you. Though, from the sound of it, that won't be a problem."

Hands stuffed much more casually into his pockets as they walked, he seemed much more relaxed and cheerful, suddenly. "From what you said, what you're looking into is pretty kosher," he explained. "Unless you're in the habit of using exciting or bizarre ingredients....?" It trailed off into a question, his brow raised in a friendly way.