"And this will be your home, at least while classes are not in session." Ritsuko threw open the door, and ushered Shinji through. He walked into the apartment, which consisted of the entryway leading into the small kitchen, with a bathroom door on the left. The only other room lay at the end of the kitchen/hall, and held a bed and a dresser. A window allowed in the 'daylight' from 'outside'.

Following her sister into Shinji's apartment, Ritsuko continued her little spiel. "Like I said before, while classes are in session you will be expected to reside in the dormitories of your house, but during your free time you'll be able to hang out or study in here if you want. Anything you don't want to keep in your chests or wardrobe in the dormitory can be kept here, but I'm guessing you don't have to much stuff, do you?"

Rei frowned at her sister. "That's mean Rits. A plane did crash into his house you know."

Shinji shook his head. "It's OK. I didn't have that much stuff there either. The only thing I really had was my cello. This is more than enough space."

Both sisters stared at him. Ritsuko recovered first. "Well, moving on... Now, Shinji, remember that you have this apartment because you'll be living here, year round. With all that's happened, it's too dangerous for us to send you back to your Aunt and Uncle's place for holidays and whatnot. Plus, well...eh, don't worry about. After a while you won't notice it. I haven't left the geo-front in over a year, and Rei's never been out."

"RITS!" Rei shouted in protest, turning red, and bolted from the small apartment. Shinji turned from the still open door to the older woman.

"She's never been outside of the geo-front?"

Ritsuko sighed. "No, it's too dangerous for her. Our mother, well, she was working on some research when she was pregnant with Rei, and, well, there was an accident. High level magic can be very dangerous, Shinji. I'm not going to lie to you about that fact. Magic can be used to help make things, and do things otherwise impossible, but it can also be used to destroy. It's just like any other tool. And just like radioactive materials, there are some magics that it's considered best for pregnant women to avoid. Mom had taken all the right precautions, but sometimes, things can go wrong. Rei is the way she is because she has an organ that is seemingly dedicated to the production and manipulation of magic. We call it an S2 Organ. She has to work very hard to keep extra magic and power from being put into her spells, which can sometimes cause, well, unintended side effects. It also makes her a sort of beacon for all the manner of unsavory critters and people, so she has to stay in the geo-front for her safety. Mom feels horrible about it, and since her daughter can never leave, she's vowed to remain here forever as well. Only in a few dire emergencies has she ever been forced to break that vow."

Shinji was breathless. "So... she's trapped down here, until she dies?"

She nodded. "Most of the time she's not bothered by it, but other days... mostly around when we get the students back from holiday or when they leave, she gets touchy about it."

"Trapped here, knowing the illusion of the outside world, but never to actually see it or experience it? To hear about it only from her friends? That's so sad..."

"Yes, well, when you go looking for her to cheer her up, don't let her see your pity. She hates that almost as much as she hates people staring at her."

Shinji blushed, thinking that she was admonishing him for stealing glances at her younger sister. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. She's... she's beautiful. I've never seen anyone with blue hair like that. I mean, I know that albinos have red eyes, but she's not an albino, is she?"

"You what? Err... Well, yes, she's not an albino. We get the sunlight down here via magic, but for some reason you can't tan from it. It's pretty interesting, though. But yeah, her hair and eyes are after effects from the accident. She can be sensitive about it sometimes. She set a girl on fire when she suggested that she dyed it to get attention."

"Uh..."

"But you should go and look for her. Ask her to start giving you the rundown on all the basics about life as a student. You'll be playing catch-up, after all."

He paused now, uncertain of what she meant. "Catch-up?"

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'm sure that you'll be a natural. Go on, shoo! I'll just get your closet set up. I'll leave the key on the counter. Go on!"

He left the apartment unsure where to begin looking. Maybe I should have asked her where she might go. I barely know my way around here. This place is huge, and that's assuming that she's hiding in the castle. How big did she say the geo-front was? A thirty mile long circle?

"I say, young man, but you seem rather lost." The voice was smooth, and a little haughty.

Shinji spun around, looking for the speaker. "Huh?"

"Yes, definitely lost."

"Not the brightest, either." A second voice spoke up, and was followed by laughter that seemed to echo up and down the hall, but strangely did not fade.

"Stop, child! Look at me! Look at the painting, you dolt!"

Shinji stopped, and stared at one of the paintings. An man in a dark suit and a cape of peacock feathers winked at him, causing him to stumble backwards.

"Ah, now you've got it! Yes, boy, the paintings are alive. Now, as I was saying, you look a little lost."

Feeling stupid, Shinji scratched the back of his head. "Well, yes, I am. I've only been here a day, and I'm"

"I don't recall asking you for your life story you know."

Getting annoyed at being talked down to by a painting, of all things, Shinji couldn't help but snapping back at the man. "Well, what do you want then? I'm busy."

More laughter surrounded Shinji as the painting Shinji had addressed frowned at him. "Is that any way to talk to me, mortal? I should think not. What are you so busy doing that has you lost down here?"

"I'm looking for someone." Shinji glared at the painting. "So if you'll excuse me, I'll be going."

"You know, boy, there are paintings all over the castle. I could help you in your search... if you wanted to strike a deal."

"What sort of deal?"

"Oh, nothing much. I'll help you out now, since you need help, and later on, if I need help doing something, I'll be able to call on you."

"What sort of help would a painting need?" Shinji was thoroughly confused now, and the snickering laughter of the other paintings was not helping things.

"Oh, nothing much. You'd be getting quite the bargain, you would. I help you find this person you're looking for, and later, when I need some small favor, I'll be able to call on you for assistance. What do you say, boy?"

"Well, for one, it sounds like they are laughing at me." Shinji pointed up and down the hall as the laughter died down. "I'm not stupid. This magic business is weird, but I'm not stupid. I know that when someone is trying to make a deal with you and other people are laughing, well, something's not right." He had learned that as a younger child, many years ago on one of the rare trips into the city. Several bullies had found him to be an easy mark that day, and he had paid for his ignorance in spades. However, while the lesson had been harsh, and dearly paid for, it was one that he had learned well. He now had an inherent distrust of people who mentioned striking up bargains, and who seemed to travel in groups, on top of the fact that he was uncomfortable around large groups of people in the first place. And when other people were laughing while he wasn't, he started to get mad.

As he opened his mouth to continue, a new voice sounded. "For another, paintings are not supposed to be making deals with the students."

Turning around, he found someone standing there who had not been there a minute ago. She was tall, with a striking figure and long purple hair that reached down to the floor. She winked at him, grinning impishly, and continued. "So, please, tell me, Mazerath" the man in the painting winced as she carefully enunciated the name, "what help could a painting possibly want from a student such as this one? Why, he hasn't even been sorted yet. He knows no spells, no incantations. To make a deal with this one would be foolish indeed. If you were going to break the rules, at least do it with someone who could actually help you."

Mazerath hissed through clenched teeth. "If he has no magic, why is he here? School has not yet begun."

"That is a very good question, but to one that I know the answer, and I don't feel like sharing." She stuck her tongue out at the painting. Clapping a hand on the boy's uninjured shoulder, she turned him to face the direction he had been going.

She bent down, whispering into his ear, her warm, rose scented breath tickling him as she spoke. "Go down this hallway until you reach the library. She likes to hide out in there. Don't talk to paintings, they are a bad influence." She patted him on the rear, making him jump a little as she added a soft squeeze, and chuckled to herself as he sped down the hallway.

"Oh, Mazerath, it would never have worked out for you. You wouldn't be able to strike a bargain with him."

Mazarath's tone was both petulant and haughty at the same time. "And why would that be, Mistress Katsuragi?"

"Because that boy is already dead."

"A rather grim statement, I must say." Ritsuko was not happy. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't share that theory with the boy. Or my sister."

Misato shrugged, "It's the truth."

Ritsuko crossed her arms, glaring at her friend. "You don't know that for certain. He certainly has all the life-signs of a normal living person."

"He's deader inside than your sister." She sighed, and held her hands up in surrender. "It doesn't matter though. If the old man thinks that we can use him in the fight, I'm aright with using him."

"Gee, thanks. And my sister? " Ritsuko asked, her tone acidic.

Shrugging again, Misato played with some of her hair, making it curl around her waist like a living belt. "She's a golem. Not alive. Not exactly dead, in her case, but not really alive. More like a galvanized corpse. Not that boy though. He's not the Boy Who Lived. He's the Boy What Died and Didn't Realize It." She sighed again. "You must be all in a quiver to get him up on the slab and try and figure that one out."

"I'm not going to dissect him!"

"Charlie might, if you don't."

"He wouldn't dare."

"Probably cause he's still got your cloths on his slab?" Misato asked archly, smiling again at her friend.

Ritsuko blushed, but otherwise ignored the jab. "What do the Shoggoths say about him?"

Misato started walking down the hallway towards the library. "Oh, they have nothing but great and wonderful things to say about the 'Young Lord'. They haven't seen any trace of the one they sent with the boy though. They've already written her off as a loss."

"Really? I would have thought they would be searching high and low for her."

"They said the only reason she would not have been with the boy when we picked him up was because she had died fighting off the pursuers. That she would have fought to the death."

"It would be in character for them, concerning who his father was. I sometimes forget that he had... allies like those, outside of GEHIRN."

"I know what you mean. While I was there, a Ghoul raiding party stopped by to talk to Hoja."

"Mother said that the Ghouls were mobilizing. I don't think that she knows they are sending out raiding parties though."

"The Headmaster does. I talked to him as soon as I got back. They were wearing his colors. They were wearing his heraldry."

"The seven eyes?"

"The seven eyes." Misato said grimly. It was weird, seeing it again, seeing the oddly compelling symbol that she had last seen as a young girl. "How much does the boy know? "

"Not much. The Headmaster wants to bring him into things slowly. He doesn't want him going the way of his mother, after all."

"Her device did save the world. It's a shame that it cost her her sanity."

"You ever wonder why it was that his father was able to use it without going mad?"

"Pfft. That man never gave anything up to anyone, ever. You think he'd give his soul to hunk of machine and meat?"

"An interesting perspective. Why are headed for the library?"

"Because I want to see if zombie boy managed to find the place. I don't feel like having to go look for him later."

"Alienating him won't help with getting him to fight SEELE, Misato."

"Why are so interested in him anyways? I mean, yeah, it's neat and all that he's still moving around, but if he was the walking magical nexus golem doom machine your 'sister' is, we would have had him under lock and key a long time ago."

"We think that he'll be able to use the device."

"You think what? It's never worked before, has it? What was it you were always calling it? The oni system? Cause it's a bitch?"

Sighing the sigh of the long-suffering, Ritsuko responded with annoyance. "The Oh-Nine system. Because there was only a 0.0000000000001 percent chance that it would work with anyone we threw in the thing. But check this out, when he got here, the thing light up like Christmas. Even without the core, the wards started to burn up around the thing."

"The wards that happen to be made of gold and lead poured into inch thick carvings on a basalt slab. Those wards."

Ritsuko nodded. "Those wards. The lead ones simply evaporated around it. Poof. We didn't even know what was happening at the time."

Misato held up a hand, and slowly opened the door to the library. The two women silently strained their ears, and broke into grins as they heard Rei giggle at something. Misato shut the door again.

"So what's next? We plug him into the god killing uber-golem, and point him in Leng's direction?"

"We need the core first. They've already sent someone to Geneva to collect it."

"OK, so we plug the boy and the rock into the golem, and then point him in Leng's direction."

"no, we plug the Philosopher's stone into the device, and then run tests on it while we train him up on the magics we think will help him be able to use the device without losing his soul and going mad. Then, we run tests on him inside the device to make sure he's not losing his soul and going mad."

Misato lifted her eyebrows in eagerness. "Then," she said, in a voice akin to a purr, but not the purr of a house cat, but that of a jungle cat, "Then we point him in the direction of Leng."

"Then we point him in the direction of Leng." Ritsuko agreed.

A dreamy smile drifted over the purple haired woman's features. "And we sit back, and watch him deliver payback, with over a decade's worth of interest."

"That's the plan, anyways. We've set him up with an apartment on this floor to use while we're not in session."

"What, we're not going to have someone keep an eye on him? We've still got a month before the year picks up."

"There will be plenty of people around to keep a general eye on him, and I think the Headmaster wants Rei to help integrate him into things."

"Makes sense, I mean, she's stuck here year round, and it's not like she's got anything else to do. She could do with a new friend. Wait, how much does he know about her?"

"Just what everyone else knows. I told him about the accident."

"OK, so there is a chance they might get all retarded for each other. Would be awfully convenient."

"Yes, well, I'm not sure my mom would agree. She's rather put out with the Headmaster right now."

"Oh, are they arguing again? What, she doesn't think Rei's ready for boys? We were snogging guys at her age." She winked at her blond companion. "And some girls, too."

Ignoring the not so subtle jab in her direction, Ritsuko shook her head. "I don't think it's that so much as his parentage. She hated his father. She won't tell me why, and if I ask the Headmaster about it, he tells me to ask her."

"Well, isn't that what wizards do? Keep secrets?"

"That's a terrible stereotype and you know it."

Misato tossed her head, sniffing indifferently. "I don't know what you're talking about, miss wonder-worker." Misato looked around, realizing that she had no idea where they were at. "Hey, where are we going?"

"I'm going to my lab. I've got some work I want to do. Got a couple of experiments I want to finish up before I have to start worrying about helping out in the classrooms again."

"We could gossip about the boy. The Ghouls and Shoggoths were impressed enough with him. Anyone started a pool on what house he's going to get sorted into?"

"I don't think anyone's been collecting money just yet, but if I was putting money down on it, I'd say Ravenclaw. They always seem to draw more than their share of the researchers and scientists, you know, going in for all the old ancient and forbidden knowledge what eats one's sanity away."

"His mum was a Ravenclaw."

"Yep."

"Dad was a Slytherin though. He might follow in his dad's footsteps, especially if we're hoping that he's able to use the golem reliably. Besides, these people do seem to get sorted into the same houses as the rest of the family."

"More hope for Ravenclaw then. The Ikaris have always had a tendency for that house, while Gendo came from an orphan-house. No known pedigree there."

"If he gets sorted into the snakes, your mum is going to pitch a fit then."

Ritsuko smiled. "Probably. I don't know how they want to handle this though. It's not like they can just toss him in with kids his age, but putting him in with the first years? It makes no sense. He would stick out like a sore thumb."

"He'll stick out either way. I'm sure the old man's got a plan."

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

Shinji shut the door to the library behind him. "Miss Akagi? Hello? Are you in here?"

From out of nowhere, a squat man with long unruly orangeish-red hair appeared, a scowl on his face. "Hey, who are you? What are you doing in the library?"

Somewhat taken aback, Shinji bowed. "I'm sorry, sir, my name is Shinji Ikari, and I'm looking for-"

He was cut off as the man snorted. "So you're Ikari's brat, are you? Let me get a look at ya." He reached up with an improbably long arm and yanked on his ear, drawing him down to eye level. Shinji gulped as sparkling eyes peered into his. "Hrmm... You don't look like much.. Why are you casing after Akagi's little girl? You bothering her?"

"Umm.. no, well, I don't think I am."

"You don't think you are? If a girl runs off away from you, it's kinda pretty good sign that yer bothering her." He had not yet released the vice like grip he held on Shinji's ear.

"Well, she didn't run away from anything I said or did." Shinji added shortly.

Letting go of him at last, the man crossed his arms. "Well, I'll let you look around in here, as long as you can tell me the rules."

"What rules?"

He threw his hands up in disgust. "What rules? What rules he asks." He paused, breathing deeply and Shinji suspected that he was silently counting to ten, based off the silent motion of his lips, before continuing. "The rules of the library. I trust you've been to a library before?"

"Yes, I've been to a library before."

"Good! At least you're not a savage, unlike some people." He sniffed. "So, what are the rules?"

Not entirely sure that this was happening, Shinji thought hard. "Be quiet, sign books out, return books on time, don't touch the rare books without permission, put things back where you found them. No eating or drinking."

Still scowling, the man tilted his head from side to side as he mulled over the list Shinji had recited. "Well, kinda basic, but I suppose it'll do for now. I don't want you touching anything that's got chains on it, and stay out of the restricted sections! Now, I'll also not have any-"

What ever it was he want going to have any of would remain a mystery as the blue haired girl appeared, grabbing Shinji's free hand and whisking him away. "I'll take care of him Mr. Abelii!"

Mr. Abelii scowled again shaking a fist after them. "No running in the library!"

They stopped on the fourth floor of the library, sitting in a pair of the old leather chairs that dotted the place. Rei sighed.

"So I guess my sister told you about me then." Her tone was matter of fact and without emotion, but he noticed a tightening around the corners of her eyes.

Cringing, Shinji nodded. "I'm sorry, it wasn't any of my business to hear that Miss Akagi,"

"Why do you keep calling me that? My name's Rei. I mean, you can't really call my mom and sister that, cause they're doctors, and my mom's a professor, but you don't need to call me miss or anything."

"Oh, OK."

"So what did my sister with her big mouth say?"

"Umm... well, she said that there was an accident with your mom, and that because of it you can't leave the geo-front, ever."

"So you decided to come see the caged freak then?" She asked, her voice suddenly bitter. "Well don't bother. I might be caged, but I don't do tricks."

Shocked at this sudden shift in attitude, he swallowed. "It's not like that! I kinda know what it's like... and now I'm not allowed to leave either."

Rei blinked, turning back to look at him. "What do you mean, you're not allowed to leave?"

"Well, I when I left my home to come here, I wasn't sure if I was going to stay. I only came because I had an opportunity to do so. Otherwise, I'd still be stuck on the farm. My Aunt and Uncle weren't going to let me come, you see." He paused, trying to figure out the best way to explain it. "They kept me on the farm for most of my life. I had only gone to town with them a few times, and never on my own. I was home-schooled by a retired instructor who lived near us, so I never had any friends my age." He swallowed, hard, before plunging into the unknown and murky waters of conversation. "You're really the first person my age I've really talked to."

Obviously not believing him, Rei narrowed her eyes. "I can read minds, you know. If I read yours, and you're lying to me... I will... I will... " She giggled. "I'll turn you into a cat. I'll turn you into a cat and put a collar on you, and make you catch mice."

Shinji paled, uncertain if she was joking or not. "Well... go ahead then! I'm not lying." He silently cursed the fact that he couldn't cross his arms dramatically.

Rei giggled again. "I can't really read minds" she said to him in a mock whisper. "It's very hard to learn how to do it, and we're not taught how to do so at school." She paused. "I can turn you into a kitty though. But only for a little while." She winked as he shivered a little. "What's it like, being in a rainstorm? From what I hear, I imagine that it's like being in a giant shower with your clothes on."

He smiled. "Yes, it kinda is, I suppose. A lot of times the wind blows and whips the rain into your face."

She waved a arm at the library. "I've been underground for my entire life. I have never seen the sky with my own eyes, never felt the warmth of the sun's rays as they kiss my face. I will never climb the mountains, to stand there at the roof of the world, seeing it all laid out before me. This world, this hollowed out cavern, is all I have ever known, and all I ever will. It is too dangerous for me to leave. Every year, as far back as I can recall, I have seen people come, and I have seen them leave. Yes, I can go to the town down the road, and browse the wares the merchants bring down to sell, or I can order things online and get them delivered here. It's not the same. I can read about the things up there, I can see them in pictures or videos, or if I'm lucky I can scry them with spells, but it is not the same as really experiencing them."

Shinji shook his head. "It's not. And knowing that it's all so close... and yet so far away... it can be maddening. I stopped caring about them a long time ago, I think. I just concentrated on my chores, on learning what my teacher decided to instruct me in. I saw him, my aunt and my uncle. That was my world. The only things I had to escape with was my cello, and the ocean."

Rei stared at him, seeing a kindred soul. She too had grown tired of hearing about things second hand from her small circle of friends.

"Tell me about the ocean."

He paused, looking at her. "It's vast. Where we lived, it was on a cliff that overlooked the sea. I never got to go down to it, to swim in it or anything, but I could sit on the cliff and just look at it. It went on forever, stretching over the horizon. When the sun set, it seemed like the water caught fire. They say that it was blue, once, like the lakes and the rivers. It's red now," he paused, swallowing hard, not sure if he should continue, but continue he did. "It's the same color as your eyes... and almost as beautiful..." He blushed, as did she.

Rei put her hands up to her face, feeling her cheeks warm. "Do you really think so?" She asked, her voice quiet, peeking at him from between her fingers.

"Yes..." He whispered, not quite believing that he was saying this.

They heard a growl coming from the stacks. "There's no making out in the library!"

The two teenagers jumped up out of their seats, startled. Rei grabbed his free hand again, and made for the door. "Leaving now, Mr. Abelii!"

From his vantage point, sitting on the top of the bookcase, Peter Abelii grinned. "Ah, to be young, dumb, and full of raging hormones."

The bookcase accepted this without comment. It certainly had seen it's share of young men and women snogging amongst the privacy of the stacks over the many years it had been a bookcase in the library. While it enjoyed a good show, as much as any other article of furniture, it didn't have anything to add to the conversation that wasn't covered by what the librarian had just said.

A tall thin man dressed in a rather shoddy set of robes, leaning against the far wall eating a banana shrugged, not sharing the librarian's opinion. "I don't think those two have enough hormones to qualify as teenagers. What was up with that comment about her eyes? Where did he learn to talk like that, I wonder?"

The librarian scowled at the disgruntled looking mage. "Henry? When the hell did you get back? For that matter, why the hell are you back? What are you even doing here?"

Henry Langfellow shrugged again. "Got hired on mate. You're looking at the new Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor. Got in this morning." He pulled a second banana out of thin air and nonchalantly tossed to the librarian.

"You're the new DADA professor? How did they figure that one out?"

Henry laughed, a hollow and somewhat desperate sound. "I'm still alive and kicking, right? I think I've been exposed to just about every terrible and horrible thing that could be thrown against a person, and I'm still here. I've even shrugged off the killing curse!"

Abelii snorted, peeling the banana. "You ran away from it. It never hit you."

"That's the only thing to do against the killing curse. Unless you want to die, and all that."

"It's all you ever do, Henry. All you ever do is run away."

"That's not true, and you know it. Sometimes I scream while running away. It's all dependent in what you're running away from."

"That boy did more than run away, Henry. That was old Ikari's son."

"What, you mean Gendo? That's his son? How long has it been?"

"Years and years. Too long."

"It's too bad what happened to them. They should have gone on the road. It was obvious that they would settle down in here. Should have moved around some before coming back, if ever."

"Everyone comes back to GEHIRN eventually. She remembers all of her children."

"Some more fondly than others it seems. There certainly was no pixie-like girl making eyes at me in my chambers when I was shown them this morning."

"You could go talk to Dr. Akagi about it. That was her daughter."

"I wasn't aware that she had had a second one. Who's the father?"

"Unknown. She hid it the pregnancy well. I don't think anyone knew she was with child again."

"She didn't show with little Ritsuko, I recall. How is she doing? Naoko, I mean."

"I knew who you were talking about. She's probably still mad at you. Doing well enough. Hasn't gone topside in fourteen years except twice. Returns her books on time."

"Yes, she's really got her priorities straight." Henry rolled his eyes. "Well, I'll be sure to avoid her as much as possible."

"For once, your standard approach to life might be the correct course of action."

"My approach to life is always correct. I'm still here."

The librarian jumped down from his perch. Moving up next to his old friend, he lowered his voice. "Things aren't right, are they? If you're back here, it means that you've decided that you want to hide out in the most fortified place in the world. You're not running anymore."

Henry smiled. It was an unpleasant sight, his skin drawing taught over his skull, his patchy, disreputable looking beard sticking odd tufts of hair out at random. He likewise dropped to whisper. "A call was sent out, Abelii. Not the call, mind you, but a call. Word is that the Ghoul armies are marching in the tunnels. That the ravens are flocking in thousands to the necropolis. The hills are abuzz with activity. The wind speak to me, Abelii, and she whispers to me the promise of war. Of course things are bad out there. It has been nothing but bad since Impact. It's gotten better, I'll grant you, but it still nothing but bad news. Don't read into my movements so much." He shoved his hands into the folds of his robes, looking thoughtfully at the door. "So, what did she name the girl?"

"Rei Ayanami Akagi. She's in Ravenclaw, like her mother and sister."

"I suspected as much. The boy been sorted yet?"

"No word. He's not even here officially yet. Hasn't been a staff meeting about him anyways."

"What, you go to those now?"

"A lot can change in twenty years Henry."

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

"Well, that seems complicated. What if a person has none of the same attributes as their parents? "

Rei shook her head as she flipped through the photo album. "It's not all based on what house your parents were in, but it just happens because you're liable to have been raised with the same attitudes as them, so the hat puts in with others that share your same general drives and ambitions."

"But that seems so narrow-minded. Wouldn't it be better to expose people to a mix of different ideas and viewpoints? It could help remove old stereotypes."

Rei pulled a picture of Yui Ikari and several other young students out of the book and set it aside with a few others they had found. "Mages tend to get into trouble a lot when mixed up like that. They get into arguments, tempers flare up, then you've got people running around on fire. Especially with the ones who's magic depends on their worldview, like wizards."

"The ones who do whatever they want just by thinking about it."

She nodded. "It's more complicated than that, but yes."

"So a person can't have friends outside his or her house?"

"No, see, it's entirely up to you who your friends are. It's just that within your house there's a bunch of people you're most likely to get along with, because you all already think along in the same lines."

"What house are you?"

"I'm a Ravenclaw. We tend to grab up the researchers, the scientists and thaumaturges. Most of the 'thinking' type mages and scholars come to us. Very much focused on the world of academia. But we also get some very creative types, a lot of poets and musicians have come from Ravenclaw as well."

"Huh." He studied the blue and bronze scarf tie his mother wore in one photo. Also present in the picture was his father, wearing a tie of green and silver. He tapped the photograph. "What house did my father belong to? His tie is different."

"He was in House Slytherin. Also thinkers, but more like planners. Intelligent and cunning. Very goal oriented people, for the most part. They can be slow to act, but once they do, it is with a purpose. Many battle mages come from Slytherin, but the Gryffindors would never tell you that. It gets a bad reputation every once in a while because the idea that the ends justify the means is very popular with them, and some mages, just like normal people, can be horrible people. Cunning and ambition can often be turned for personal gain at the cost to others."

"What if a person isn't happy in the house they've been sorted into? What happens then?"

Rei bit her lower lip. As far as she knew, the hat had never been wrong. Granted, she didn't talk to many people, but that did not mean she kept her eyes and ears closed. She had never heard of anyone really complain of unhappiness in the hat's choice of house for them. "I-I don't know. I don't think that it's ever come up. Why?"

Shinji shrugged. "I just don't see myself fitting in with any of the houses. I'm not really impulsive or brave, and while I've never run head on into something, I've never sat and thought things out to much. I'm not that smart, and while I will do what I need to do to get he job done, I'm not really that hard of a worker."

"Well, those are all just basic descriptors. People are complicated beings even without magic. The hat will know where to put you. It always does." She slid another picture out, a rare one of just Gendo, the only one they had found so far. She tapped the photo. "Your father was very loyal to your mother, a quality mostly associated with the Gryffindor house. He also was a hard worker, a Hufflepuff trait. He knew that he had been given a rare opportunity, attending the school, and he worked very hard to ensure that opportunity wasn't wasted. If you were to look at the honor rolls for the years he attended the school as a student, you won't find his name, despite his excellent grades. He was a crafty planner, but he also enjoyed getting into fistfights with little to no prodding. If you were to look his name up on the detention lists, you will find his name listed many times over."

"Besides, I think that you sell yourself short, Mr. Ikari." She grinned at him as he rolled his eyes. "You certainly seized the chance to come here, and even when presented with things far outside the normal, you continued on. Sounds like a Gryffindor to me." She passed him the photo of his father, and shut the album. "Do you think this is enough?"

Looking at the stack of pictures, he nodded. Rei disappeared back down the hall, and when she came back she held an empty photo album.

Sitting back down across the table from him, she opened the book and slid it in between them. "Now we'll organize it, starting with the earliest pictures first."

They ran out of photos near the half way point. Rei again got up and went down the hall, motioning Shinji to stay put. She returned, carrying a camera.

"And now we'll take a photo of you for the book."

"A what for what?"

Lowering the camera, Rei looked at him. "You said that you didn't even have any pictures of yourself. So we'll get at least one in here for you." She raised the camera and snapped a photo. "And I'll go print it out."

"Um, Rei? Can I get something to drink?"

Plugging the camera into her computer, Rei called back down the hall. "Yeah, I think we've got some pumpkin juice left in the fridge."

"Pumpkin what?" Shinji opened the refrigerator, after eying the second one that sat humming away in the corner for a moment, and found a glass pitcher with an orangeish liquid with some cinnamon sticks floating in it.

Maybe I'll just have water. Pumpkin juice just sounds... too weird. He put the pitcher back in the refrigerator.

Sitting back down at the table with his water, he paged through the album. There were many more pictures of his mother than there were of his father. In fact, of the four pictures with his father in them, three had him included with his mother and a few other people. It was strange, to be able now to put faces to the names of his parents. To be able to see what people meant when they said that they saw his mother in his face.

Rei came back, and tucked a photograph of a slightly surprised and embarrassed Shinji Ikari looking up from the table into a page of the book. Grabbing a pen, she captioned it as 'First Day at GEHIRN'. Shutting the book, she looked at his choice of drink.

"You don't like pumpkin juice?"

"Ehh... I'm fine with water, really."

"If you say so."

They sat at the table in silence, the minutes dragging out before Shinji spoke up again.

"So... why do you have two refrigerators? If you don't mind me asking."

Rei smiled and jumped up. "I'll show you. One is for food, of course." She put a hand on the door to the second refrigerator. "This one is where Pen-Pen lives." She threw it open, dramatically, revealing a small television and a small chair, with a box with a blanket and pillow on a upper level, accessible by a ramp. The inside seemed to be larger than it should, which gave Shinji the beginnings of a headache as he looked inside.

"Umm.. Who's Pen-Pen?"

Rei, confused, looked inside. "Aww.. he's normally sleeping this time of day." She shut the refrigerator and sat back down. "He's probably in the bath. He's a penguin."

"A penguin?" Of course she has a penguin for a pet, why not? Magical people can't be going around having normal pets like cats and dogs.

"A penguin. Oh, he's not a normal one, one of the super endangered ones. He was exposed to the massive magical spill over from Impact, and unlike most things, he didn't die. One of the battle mages brought him back with them when they returned from what was left of Antarctica, because they couldn't just leave him there. My mom did a lot of research on him, but she wasn't ever able to figure out why he lived while so many others died."

"So magic is a lot like radiation then, like what your sister said."

"Yes, it's like radiation, and magnetic fields, and religion, all rolled into one big package. You might not think so at first, but there is a science to magic."

Recalling some of what they had discussed earlier, Shinji nodded. "And that where the thaumaturges, enchanters, alchemists, and potion makers fit in. Their fields all have specific processes they follow, with reproducible results, for the most part."

Rei nodded as well, pleased that he had been paying attention. "And what about some of the others? Witches and warlocks, for example?"

"Umm... They are more... elemental in their approach. Not really anything to do with real elements, but the nature elements. Stuff like fire and water. They can make them do things otherwise impossible, like make a sword out of fire, or summon a wall of water."

"And sorcerers? What do they do?"

"They use spells, channeling raw magic from around them, focusing it with a spoken incantation and physical movement of a wand, to achieve a specific goal. The most common sort of mage, as anyone with magical talent is a sorcerer, but many of the other types of mage normally require a knack for it, or years of study and practice."

"Now, how about wizards?"

"The most powerful, and most rare type of mage. They impose change on the world around them simply because they will it to be so. While, with dedicated study, a person may claim mastery over all other realms of magic, it is not so with wizardry. One is either a wizard, or one is not."

Naoko, who had arrived without them noticing, clapped her hands. "Very good, Shinji. Now, I hate to interrupt your lessons, but you are needed in the Headmaster's office."

Shinji glanced at Rei. After spending most of the day with her he was starting to pick up her body language, and he didn't think she looked very happy. "Can Rei come?"

Successfully keeping her eye from twitching, Naoko nodded. "Yes, Rei, you can come too, so wipe that sad look of your face. The Headmaster has decided that it's time you met the Hat, Shinji."

Rei beamed, a smile on her face. "Is it going to sing a song for him?"

"That's up to the hat, now isn't it? I don't think it will, as we're only sorting one person today." Naoko's eyes twinkled as she watched her daughter. "But, you might get lucky. Now, let's get a move on."