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It was the start of the new year at the Australian University of Magical Studies. The students had been sorted into their classes and were waiting their respecive teachers to give them their first lessons. Matthew had been planning for this for almost seven months, since he had been given a job as a teacher. Despite still being a teenager he was given the job by the Headmaster, who considered Matthew to be worthy of his new responsibilities. With his students mostly all seated, he stalked into the classroom on all fours. For any other teacher, this would appear strage. Matthew, however, had been accidentally merged with his Thylacine familiar. Now he could transform inbetween a human/ animal hybred with long tail, claws and pointed ears; and an animal, Thylacine obviously. His hair would go from being tied back to more a long mane and back inbetween transformation, and his clothes would vanish and reappear as well. Normally, this would make him extremely reluctant to be an animal, as he would technically be nude. However, certain parts of his anatomy had changed aswell, so he was quite comfortable in either form. He walked into the middle of the classroom, taking care to bump a few chairs and tap his tail lightly against students who were standing, getting him responses in the forms of 'aaw, aint it cute!' and a few scratches behind his ears. He sat on his haunches and allowed Zanobi, his familiar, to speak.

"Your teacher, Matthew Anderson, wishes you to sit. First lesson shall begin as soon as you are all seated."

The students all looked at him in disbelief.

"D-did that dog just talk?"

Zanobi made a sound inbetween a yap and a bark. "I am no dog!"

"It did just talk! Woah!"

Matthew laughed to Zanobi inside his head. 'First years, what do you expect?'

"Wait, wait, wait." another student interrupted. "This talking animal is correct, dogs don't have stripes!"

"I, talking to you now, am Matthew's familiar, Zanobi. I am, in fact, not a dog. I am what humans have called a Thylacine."

"A what?"

Zanobi sighed heavily. "To the common student I am a Tasmanian Tiger; one of the last. Your teacher shall be with you shortly."

Matthew took this as his cue, and slowly transformed into his more human self. Hind legs becoming more humanoid, paws turning into hands and feet, and his body grew larger. His clothes formed around him as if woven in the air and his hair lengthened and tied back behind his head. Finally, when all his other clothes had formed, he held out his hands and gloves formed around them, animal shapes weaving into the backs of the hands. Several students, including the student sitting directly next to where he was standing, jumped out of their seats. Most of them had been told of a 'student who became a monster and killed another', though they all dismissed it as a joke. Matthew looked around at his panicked class.

"Now, now." He said. "I believe that Zanobi already told you that unless you sit the lesson shall not begin, so sit."

"What the hell are you?!"

Matthew frowned. "Now, I prefer who to what." He said. "I am your teacher, Matthew Anderson; so please sit."

"Y-you're the student the higher year levels told us about! The student monster who killed another!"

This time Matthew became angry, slamming his fist onto the table next to him. "I am not a monster, and I have killed no one!" He yelled. He gave himself a moment to collect his composure. "Your fellow students do not know the full details of what took place last year, and I am not at liberty to discuss them; you must be told, however, that I have killed no one and am not a monster." He finished, baring his sharp teeth.

The students sat in their seats and Matthew walked to the front of the class, grabbing a marker and writing his name on the whiteboard.

"Matthew Anderson;" he announced aloud. "Awarded Paladin, expert in Summoning magics and the reason why no student is to try to summon a familiar on school grounds." He turned to the class. "Any questions?"

Several students raised their hands. He pointed one out.

"How did you-"

Matthew stopped her before she could finish the sentence. "Okay, here's the deal;" he said, "I'll tell you how it hapened and you shall never ask again. Deal?" His class nodded, lowering their hands. "alright, I'll start at the beginning. I, for weeks, had been planning to summon my familiar, and had taken a teacher and my colleagues at the time to watch, the teacher was there to observe and make sure nothing went wrong. During the spell a time student lost control of his magics and missed me by inches with a loose spell. That instant lapse of concentration caused me to accidentally do something that made the spell backfire. Whilst calling the spell off and trying to cancel the magics, the time student hit me with a stop spell for calling him stupid and rendered me unable to move or cancel the spell. We were sent into a void, a pocket the magic had created, where mine and Zanobi's coporeal selves were merged, and Headmaster Greywell pulled us out. Happy?" His students nodded.

"Any more questions?" more hands.

"I heard someone say you can do something with the light?"

Matthew held out a clawed hand, the air around it distorting heavily. He swung his hand and pulled a glowing white shield shaped like a wing out of the air. His class were astounded.

"It's not hard, and it's called Lightweaving. Light is forced dense enough to become solid. Lightweave is immensely strong, virtually impenetrable and yet light as a feather. Lightweave, and its opposite Shadowform, cannot maintain its form away from a living source, and shall vanish if thrown into the opposite, for instance, my shield shall vanish if thrown into a dark room." He put the shield down, walked to the light switches and turned the lights off, the shield vanishing as the lights go off. He switched the lights back on and walked back to his desk. "One more question, not about me this time."

"Does your familiar talk other than when you're an animal?"

"Sure do." Came the reply, his voice seemed to echo out of the walls. "Name is Zanobi." He said as Matthew wrote it on the board.

"Now it's my turn." Matthew said. "I would like to call out the roll book and at least try to learn your names."

He called out the name roll like any teacher, ticking off the ones who were absent. About halfway through a student used a rubber band to fling paper at him, which he absent mindedly caught and threw in the bin. After about a minute he finished the names and slid the book into a drawer in his desk. He stood back up from his chair and leaned against the whiteboard in the middle of the room.

"Okay," he began "this class is here to learn the summoning school of magics because that is the school of magics you opted to learn. Whilst in this class I can teach you to create many things. Glass, meat, vegetables, books, even larger things such as tables, doors, chairs and things as large as buses. But we cannot learn anything until we know the basics of magic hand how summoning spells work. That shall all be explained in your first grimoire. After reading it thoroughly, I shall ask you a series of questions at the end of the week. If the whole class shows they know how magic works we can move onto your first spells and continue from there." He walked around the room pulling a trolley loaded down with heavy books, each as thick as his arm. "Please pay extra attention to how to cancel a spell and the consequences that can occur if one should go awry." He continued, handing out the last of the books. "Please know that in my class it is virtually impossible for you to be harmed by any source other than yourselves. This is not a luxury you shall be taking for granted, as I know exactly what happens to people who do things wrong and you shall recieve no consolation if you screw things up intentionally." Matthew finished, pushing the trolley to the front of the class, putting it in the corner. "You have one week to read and know that grimoire from cover to cover. I reccommend you start reading." He said as he sat back at his desk and pulled out a grimoire of his own, this one bound in beautifully carved wood and as thick as four of the student's books. His students stared in disbelief as he read, turning each page rather quickly.

"He's gotta be reading twenty words a second!" the students whispered.

"Actually, the print in this book is rather small and it's more about fifty." Matthew said. "My ears aren't for decoration y'know. I can hear the class next door still calling the roll, I can hear Miss Marble choosing who to torture from her new classgroup, however I don't hear reading in my own classroom." He looked up at his class, twitching an ear idly. "C'mon, this stuff is important."

The students, as a group, opened the grimoires and started reading. Matthew nodded and returned his eyes to the pages, his eyes zooming along.

'You do know that at first break Marble is going to go off her nut when you enter the teacher's lounge, right?' Zanobi asked Matthew in his head.

'Yeah.' Matthew replied. 'I'm actually looking forward to it.' He grinned to himself. He finished reading his chapter and put in a bookmark, closing the heavy tome of paper before rolling back his sleeve. His mother and the headmaster had convinced him to wear a suit, saying it actually looked alright on him. He hadn't really given it much thought, but wore the suit anyway. He pulled out a letter opener from his desk drawer and dragged it across his arm, growling in pain as he sliced himself open.

"W-what the hell are you doing?!" Zanobi said loudly, making the students jump and stare at their now profusely bleeding teacher. Matthew sighed.

"Honestly, Zanobi." He said, sarcastically. "You sound as if I've never had grevious injuries before. I'm practicing the spell from the grimoire, or weren't you reading?" Matthew held his other hand over the wound and closed his eyes. The air warped, shone a golden colour and then returned to normal, his arm completley healed. He opened his eyes once more, pulled a roll of paper towel from his desk and wiped up the puddle of blood on the desk, his attention snapping back to the class. "Aren't you supposed to be reading?"

"Y-you're crazy!" one student, Andrew Freemason, yelled.

Matthew shook his head. "If I were crazy, I would have done it to one of you. I chose to injure myself and risk only my own blood to practice the spell. If I had chosen one of you, you would have rolled on the ground screaming in pain before I could heal you and explain myself." He explained calmly. "Summoning magic is one of the most powerful schools. Healing magic is easy by comparison. I repaired a whole smashed ribcage in the emergency ward over the holidays, so a little cut is nothing." He finished. After wiping up the blood, he scrunched the bloodsoaked paper towel into a ball in his fist and incinerated it with a fireball. "Fire, however, is a whole different ordeal." He mumbled, shaking his hand. "Now, back to reading." He quickly changed back to his animal form and sat on the desk, watching the students nervously go back to their reading.

After the first period broke for break, he locked the classroom from outside, his students standing around the door. He turned to the small first years, rather surprised that they had stayed.

"What?" He asked, looking around at all their faces. "Is there something wrong? It's break period. You have until you hear the bell ring to eat and socialise and then make your way back here for your next lessons."

"Will it be more of the same?" A student asked, raising her hand.

"Yes, you're going to be reading that grimoire until you know it cover to cover." He replied. "Summoning Magic can have the most drastic consequences if it rebounds, so I want you to be prepared." He smiled. "I'll be in the teacher's lounge." He said, jumping up onto the roof, changing form in mid jump.

"You're free to go about your business until time is up." came Zanobi's voice. Matthew ran off across the roof, his paws rapping heavily on the metal. He had forgotten how much fun this was, leaping across the courtyards as if they were but a few feet across, running at at least one hundred kilometers an hour. He landed in his animal form outside the teacher's lounge and nuzzled the door open. To his suprise, he was lifted off the ground as the door closed behind him and he felt a collar placed on his neck. "What the?!" Zanobi exclaimed as Matthew snapped at the hands holding him.

"I told you not to snap, Matthew." Came the all too familiar voice of the Headmaster, Master Greywell, from behind him. Matthew stopped snapping, but continued writhing to escape his surprise captivity.

"Let us down!" Zanobi demanded. "This is humiliating! We're not a child anymore; and what's with this collar?" Greywell simply chuckled as he carried Matthew deeper into the teacher's lounge. Past a pool table, a rather large chess board, and over to a very large round table. All the staff were seated around it, idly chatting.

"The collar;" Greywell began "is a precaution. You enjoy being in your animal form on school grounds, so the collar is a necessity. You'll find it has animal registration tags and a special tag signifying that you are, actually, a teacher here and not just someone's pet."

Greywell put him on the table where there was an empty seat and Matthew suddenly found himself the center of attention. He couldn't help but sit down and cringe slightly at all the attention.

"Whaaat?" Zanobi asked nervously, Matthew's mouth moving to form the words. "It feels like we're in a courtroom. What'd we do wrong?"

Greywell laughed as he sat down. "Nothing wrong, nothing wrong." He said. "Although you could have gone about practicing your holy magics a little differently. We do have animals for your use in that department." A large salamander crawled through the room and up onto Greywells shoulder.

"Snitch." Zanobi said in a sarcastic tone. "Matthew says that he's rather not have to injure one of the animals if he could help it."

"I understand that you do not want to cause harm, as is Paladin code, but the animals do not feel harm because of the magics cast on them." The head nurse, Miss Canthrope said. "Could you shift back to your other form?" She asked sweetly. "It's really unnerving to have a conversation with you in that form..."

Matthew nodded and changed shape, getting down into the chair behind him as he morphed. His collar vanished as he changed shape, hiding it so he didn't have to walk around with an embarrasing collar on. He smiled to her. "Is that better?"

"Yes, thanks." She replied, before looking back to the headmaster, who stood up again, raising a small glass.

"To our newest teacher." He announced. "In class 103. Good luck Matthew." The teaching staff, with the exception of Miss Marble, toasted. Matthew smiled.

"Thanks." He said numbly.

'You're a sap.' Zanobi laughed in his head as he wiped a tear from his face.

"Anyway." Greywell said, putting his glass down. "We will certainly enjoy your input at the staff meeting Wednesday afternoon. Being a student until so recently must have left you with ideas and insights into things that the rest of the student body would find useful."

"Well;" Matthew started. "I do know that yard duty has alot to be desired for."

"Yard duty?" Marble parroted in a demeaning tone.

"Yeah, for instance. If all the teaching staff is here right now, who is outside?" A scream rang out, causing the staff to jump to their feet.

"I told you this could wait until after school!" Greywell's Salamander snapped angrily. Matthew and Zanobi, however, took no time to run across the table in but a few steps and leap out an open window, changing shape in midair. The teachers watched him as he vanished through the blinds. "That kid is certainly enthusiastic." the Salamander commented.

"I told you what happened during your hibernation, Sinclaire." Greywell snapped, rushing to the door. "C'mon!" he called to the staff. "I'm sure we'd all like to see how he deals with this." The staff all filed out, following the sounds of small explosions. Matthew was nowhere to be seen, neither was anyone else in the huge three hundred cubic courtyard.

"He's fast." One of the teachers said, before they saw him watching something from the far roof, two storeys up. A barrage of fireballs pelted past, and the four legged teacher got knocked off the roof, landing heavily on the concrete with a sickening crack. Greywell rushed over, alone, and knelt next to Matthew.

"Three broken ribs and a collapsed lung." Zanobi informed him. "Not to mention serious bloodloss due to bleeding. We won't survive this without aid."

A dozen people, all dressed in white robes with runes inscribed around the egdes, softly floated down in a circle around Greywell and Matthew. Greywell grimaced.

"The Order of Magical Enforcers." He said to them, healing Matthew. "To what does my school owe this displeasure?"

"This creature is a mage killer." One said. Only one had to talk. One spoke for all. "And what's worse is that the mage in question was a student. The death penalty is the punishment."

Greywell stood up, ice and fire magic forming in each hand. "This is one of my teachers!" He snapped.

"Stad down, Greywell." The robed figure said again. "Even you cannot win against twelve trained Enforcers."

Someone behind the enforcers cleared their throat. the entire teaching staff stood behind them. Miss Marble stepped forward.

"I may not like the little fuzzball or Greywell." She snarled. "But if there is one thing I do not tolerate it is fighting against teachers." The air around her bubbled and warped disturbingly. The group of enforcers chuckled.

"Please, even with a whole staff of teachers you shall be no match." The speaker said, before he was clocked across the head with a glowing white shield. Matthew stood in the middle of them, even Greywell had backed off slightly.

"You shall not need to assist, Maria." Greywell said calmly. "Matthew could kill this lot before they even knew what hit them, though I believe incapacitation shall suffice."

Light spun around Matthew, forming solid platemail with wings on the pauldrons. His form was cloaked in the shining white mist, only his glowing red eyes showing he was still there. The whole student body had come around the corner to watch this spectacle.

"Paladin Matthew Anderson;" Greywell announced. "as a group they have challenged."

Matthew's eyes shone brighter, the mist surrounding him flying off and knocking the enforcers off their feet as solid matter. The speaker stared at him in disbelief. "LIghtweave?!"

"As a paladin, I shall accept!" Matthew yelled, suddenly vanishing in a white blur. The enforcers, who were slowly getting back to their feet, were floored again as blows connectd with vulnerable spots. Tears tore into their robes as Matthew clawed at them in his speed. The blur changed, became smaller, but still lightning fast. Matthew stopped infront of the talking enforcer in his animal form. His Lightweave armour had changed with him, now covering him in his reduced height. He snarled menacingly, baring all his teeth with his eyes still tinged red.

"Matthew would not kill you." Zanobi said aloud. "But there is very little that would stop me in the wilderness."

"Zanobi, heel." Greywell said. Matthew found himself compelled to sit at Greywell's side, looking up at the headmaster.

"Hey, that's not fair." Zanobi protested.

'I don't want his death on my... Our paws.' Matthew told Zanobi in his head.

"An army of one." Greywell said, picking the enforcer up off the ground by his collar and holding him against the wall. "An amazingly powerful force if used right. I told your leaders that Matthew was under my protection and guidance, and they promised to lay off. This attack is in direct violation of our agreement that your people would stay off my school."

"Army is a very curious word to use, Master Greywell." The struggling man spat. "You, down here, making your own private army out of these students; don't think that we've not noticed your motivations."

Greywell let the enforcer fall to the ground, angrily glaring at him. "I thought so." He mumbled angrily. "You're one of those 'Right Declaration' people aren't you?" Greywell clicked his fingers and a confused and bewildered man appeared next to him in a puff of smoke, looking around in surprise until he noticed Greywell.

"Oh, Greywell." He said, fixing his suit. "How many times have we told you to notify people before you forcefully teleport them?" The man stepped forward before jumping back when a loud yip sounded through the courtyard. He looked down and saw Matthew glaring up at him accusingly, now with his tail looking a great deal flatter. "And you must be young Mr. Anderson." The man said, leaning down. "Sorry for that."

"Don't do that again." Zanobi said defensively. Matthew changed shape until he could look the man in the eyes.

"That really hurt." He said, pulling his tail around and wiping grit off the fur.

"Greywell, what do you want?" The man demanded, before noticing the enforcers on the ground around him all groaning in pain. "W-what's the meaning of this?!"

"Don't mess with me, Colonel West!" Greywell growled. "The agreement between myself and your organisation has been breached by these Right Declarationists when they attacked my school, almost killing one of my teachers in the process! If you don't want this made into any more public an affair, I suggest punishment!"

The speaker slowly struggled to his feet, holding the wall as he rose. Matthew growled.

"We came to give the deserving punishment on that creature! It killed a student last year, it cannot be allowed to do it again!"

"I'm not a creature!" Matthew snapped, barely being held back by Greywell. "And I've killed no one! I... I...!" Matthew fell to his knees, palms on the ground. The recollection of the previous year's events opening old wounds in his chest. "...I've never killed anyone."

To Matthew's personal shock, not to mention everyone else's, Miss Marble stepped up to comfort him, cooing him as she rubbed his shoulders.

"Why are you suddenly being nice to me...?" Matthew asked sadly. "You aren't nice to anyone; least of all me..."

"I may not like you, kid, but even I don't want to see you like this. Miserable from being bullied is one thing, but being heartbroken is another entirely." she said calmly, before leaning closer in. "Tell anyone that this isn't just a momentary aid to the newest teacher and I'll have to pummel you." she whispered, before loudly saying: "Besides, I have a new student to pick on." in a teasing voice. Matthew smiled, actually chuckling a little.

"Thanks." He whispered back, before brushing her off and standing back up shakily. "I've never killed anyone, surely the official report is on file?"

"Why should we believe anything that Greywell says is fact? The man is unable to do anything but lie when it comes to official reports on school matters."

"You should believe him;" Colonel West retorted "because when he lies they are outrageously bad. Honestly, who would believe that twelve enforcers forced their way onto the campus and attacked a teacher without provocation, and then proceeded to recieve no assistance from me when Greywell blew you all to bits in a fit of rage?" He nudged Matthew in the ribs, grinning innanely as the Headmaster cracked his knuckles. Matthew checked his watch before turning to the massive audience of students.

"It's ten minutes into session two!" He yelled "I hope my first years are reading that grimoire they've been handed!" The collective audience laughed as he waded through them, right up to his class who were grouped near the middle. "Let's go back to our classroom, this has been quite enough excitement for one day." He said, pulling the Lightweave armour off and tossing it aside, watching it vanish in the shadows under the crowd of students. He led his students through the crowd until he heard scuffling shoes. He turned as a fireball was launched by the enforcer's talking counterpart, directly at one of his students. In a panic he grabbed her and shielded her by holding her tightly and turning his back towards the oncoming attack. the fireball plowed into him, jolting him forward slightly. He turned his now teary and stunned face to the student. "Are you alright?" She nodded to him, her face looking terrfied. "Good..." He wheezed, falling to the ground.

The courtyard was silent as the youngest teacher on campus fell to the ground with a soft thump. Nurse Canthrope ran over, grabbing him and pulling his shirt and jacket off. Master Greywell, however, attracted by far more attention from the student body.

"Penalty dealt." the enforcer announced.

Colonel West nodded to Greywell, who grabbed the enforcer by his arm, tears in his furious eyes.

"CASSO!" Greywell screamed. The enforcer's entire arm, all the way up to his shoulder exploded, sending gore and blood across a ten metre area. Greywell flexed his fingers, breathing heavily. He reached down and lifted the screaming man by his other arm, ready to cast again.

"Master Greywell!"

Greywell stopped, looking across the area at the small, horribly singed Thylacine now looking up at him from its stomach.

"A paladin does not kill." Zanobi yelled. "Matthew's consiousness is unable to wake, so I've taken control for now. He would not want this man to die." Zanobi said, wincing as Nurse Canthrope poured water onto his back. A pool of diluted blood ran off of his back and onto the ground around him. "The damage is not enough to kill us, but I cannot walk or I also may lose consiousness, reducing our survival chances drasically."

The headmaster exhaled heavily before dropping the struggling man. "That target of yours just saved your life." He growled. "Never set foot on my campus again."

With Matthew out of action, Zanobi was carried to his classroom by one of his students. He sat on the table, watching the classroom in silence, only disturbing the peace every so often with a soft whimper as he shifted his weight. He eventually shuddered horribly. The whole class noticed.

"Is everything alright sir?" One of them asked. "I could go get the nurse if you want?"

Zanobi shook his head. "No, no. Matthew's just woken up. It's quite a shock for there to suddenly be two people in the same head again."

'What's going on? Why aren't we dead? Is Mary alright?' Matthew asked in rapid succession in their head.

'You had me worried for a while, Matthew.' Zanobi said. 'Nurse Canthrope healed what damage she could, but more powerful magic is required to heal the injury fully and it could not be cast while you were asleep, we did not know what it might do to you. Mary is fine, she's sitting in the corner next to Wesley. At next break I shall ask one of the students to carry us to the teacher's lounge. The nurse should be able to heal us there, but we must endure this pain for another ten minutes.' Zanobi finished. 'Do not try to take control back, changing to our human shape would do more harm than good.'

'I understand.' Matthew replied. 'Are we able to go over there to talk to her?'

'No. we cannot walk or the pain will make us both pass out.' Zanobi replied. 'I can let you talk to her though? All it will take is a little concentration on your part.'

'Please.'

Zanobi, whimpering again as he carefully turned his attention directly to Mary, called out to her.

"Mary, could you come over here please?"

She sighed, closed her book and walked over. "Sirs?"

"Please, sit down in the desk's chair, we can't talk in private from this distance."

Mary sat as Zanobi struggled to turn around, dragging himself a little closer to the edge of the desk, leaving a bloody smudge.

"I want to apologise for anything I may have put you through back in the courtyard." Matthew said, his voice slightly higher pitched than usual. "Through my actions I put you in great danger. I'm sorry." His voice, while filtered by pain, sounded miserable. "It was a stupid thing to do. I'm sorry."

Mary put her hand on Matthew's head, rubbing his scalp back and forth gently. "It was not your fault, sir." She reassured him. "He cast the bolt and you protected me from the blow. You saved my life at great risk of your own."

"A paladin protects those who need it most." Greywell said as he walked into the class. "She is right, there is nothing for her to forgive you over. If anything she should be thanking you." He walked to the desk and put a finger on Matthew's back as he tried to turn, making him yelp. "Just a reminder not to move too much." He said. "That man has recieved less than he deserved for his actions."

Matthew's face became worried. "What did you do?!"

"He is not dead;" Greywell said "but he's one arm too few for playing an accordian now." Matthew nodded. "If Zanobi hadn't taken the initiative when he did, I would probably have killed that man, so I thank him for keeping me from breaking one of our most sacred rules."

"No problem." Zanobi said.

"Now, I believe that it is time for our one hour lunch break." Greywell said, carefully lifting Matthew off the desk. "Your students can show themselves out, I'll leave Sinclaire to lock the door after they go so that I can get you to the Nurse before your back can become infected."

Matthew relaxed as he was gently carried through the campus, many students watching as Greywell walked past them, practically displaying Mattew's horribly mutilated back to the entire school.

"Yet again I find myself in your arms, sir." Matthew sarcastically said.

Greywell laughed. "Indeed. You are alot of trouble, it must be admitted."

Matthew lay his ears flat. "Sorry, sir. I don't mean to be so much trouble."

"I know you don't, Matthew. It's just unfortunate that you attract so much attention from the wrong people. Last year the science beareu and this year the Right Declarationists. Hopefully today's events will be enough warning for people to leave you alone. Incidentally you are going to need a new jacket and shirt, your last ones have a huge hole burned right through them." Matthew whined as Greywell bumped the teacher's lounge door open and put him on the large table. Nurse Canthrope stepped over and started pulling little bits of incinerated fabric out of Matthew's injury with some tweezers. He jolted when she pulled a large piece off, yanking along the wound and reopening what had barely scabbed over. She lightly slapped him over the head.

"Don't move or this will only hurt more." She told him, dropping the burned scraps into a bin. "With the fabric removed I can see the damage clearly, and this is extremely severe. At least third degree around the edges and I can see your spine clearly in the middle, so you've got yourself fourth degree burns." She said, prodding it experimentally.

"You think?!" Zanobi growled. "Stop playing with it and heal it, we can only take so much pain."

"I'm trying to say that this was an extremely powerful firebolt. Most of the fabric that is missing from your jacket is gone, probably completley disintegrated. It's a good thing you're so resilient, if this were any worse it really would have killed you outright."

"It was a class seven firebolt and travelled at one hundred and twenty kilometres a minute." Came Colonel West's voice from the door. "If it had hit the girl, the firebolt would have gone right through her and also killed the student behind her." He walked up to the table and sat infront of Matthew. "I am sorry for the actions of my subordinates." He said. "If there is anything I can do to make this up to you?"

"I'd like a new jacket and shirt." Matthew groaned. "And you to keep this kind of shit from happening again."

"New jacket and shirt is easy." The Colonel replied. "But the only way to stop this from happening again is to make you known in the government and put you on the VIP list, which is meant only for government officials and royalty. There is the organisations' protection list, but that requires you have enforcer bodyguards."

Matthew sat in silence as the nurse cast healing magics on his back, the fur and skin instantly regenerating as the seconds ticked by.

'Matthew, what're you thinking?' Zanobi asked, authentically curious.

'Oh? Just that I need to be more... Efficient at keeping people crippled after I take them down.'

'That's easy.' Zanobi replied. 'You hit them hard in soft places, like stomachs or the backs of their knees. Try hitting them in a harder place, like their chest.'

'What?'

'If you wind them, they take longer to get up, it'll take a little caution, because for the risk of stopping their heart if you hit them hard enough.'

Matthew contemplated this for a moment before the nurse finished.

"All done." She said. "Try and move."

Matthew tensed up his back, untensed and then turned his head. He smiled happily and then jumped to the floor, changing halfway.

"Thanks, Miss Canthrope." he said, before ducking under the table and shadowforming a shirt. He pulled it on and stretched. "Much better."

'Speak for yourself. I was enjoying having control for a while there.'

'If you want control back just ask, but no chasing any cars.' Matthew replied, returning to his smaller shape and giving control back to Zanobi, who promptly smiled and nuzzled Canthrope's leg, making her blush. 'Zanobi! We're a person, not a cat!' Matthew protested.

'Oops, sorry. I got carried away.' Zanobi replied, pulling away and walking out the door into the bright daylight.