Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Cinder dragged her feet, hunch-backed and already exhausted from the weight of the shopping bags in her hands. They weren't even anything useful! Just stupid stuff like remembralls and sneakoscopes.

"Cinder! Quit dawdling and hurry up! We have to buy all the new books Pearl and Peony need for school!" Cinder threw back her head and groaned at her stepmother's scathing voice. No mention of the books Cinder will need of course.

Cinder trudged past the stalls of the Common Market to where Adri was waiting impatiently, tapping her foot and scowling. Cinder scowled right back and shoved open the door to the bookstore with her shoulder.

As soon as she was inside, Cinder dropped the torturous shopping bags and sat on a nearby stool, massaging her aching arms. Merlin's beard, how many two-way mirrors does one person need, seriously?

The store clerk leaned over the counter and smiled politely at Adri. "Good day Linh-mei! What books will you be needing this year?"

"I need a Standard Book of Spells Grade 7 by Miranda Goshawk for Pearl, and a Standard Book of Spells Grade 4, and The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble for Peony. Do you have any second-hand copies of the Standard Book of Spells Grade 6, 100 Essential Elixirs, Antidotes and Poisons by Pine Benson, Fighting Shadows by Evret Hayle, Changing Shapes by Jannali Coal and Plants Can Kill Too by Michelle Benoit?"

Cinder rolled her eyes. She always got second-hand. She'd complained about it to Adri once, and got called greedy and selfish and had to suffer through a long lecture about how much full quality items cost. It had taken all of Cinder's self-control not to snap back a comment about Adri's expensive lifestyle.

The store clerk's eyebrows rose as Adri listed all the books Cinder will need. "Cinder's switching schools?" Adri nodded briskly. "Yes, I applied Cinder for Artemisia and she got accepted. I heard that the books they ask for are less expensive than the ones Hogwarts requires, and I thought that Cinder could at least go there so the bite she takes out of my bank account is a little less huge." Cinder didn't bother to hide her snort.

While the store clerk went to look for the books Adri requested in the back, Peony, Cinder's younger step-sister, skipped over to her.

"I can't believe you're going to Artemisia! You're so lucky!" Cinder snorted again. "Well it's true!" Peony insisted, "That's the school Kai Royal goes to! What I wouldn't give to get to see his dreamy face every day…" Peony trailed off and sighed dreamily, thinking about her celebrity crush.

Cinder didn't know that much about Kaito Royal, only that he's the son of the Commonwealth minister of magic and that every girl alive wanted to date, no, marry him, especially Peony.

Peony's sigh suddenly sharpened into a gasp and she started bouncing on the balls of her feet, regarding Cinder with sparkling eyes. "He's in your year!" She practically shrieked. Cinder just blinked at her. Peony squealed again before taking a deep breath, calming herself down enough to explain. "Kai is in your year, which means you'll be sharing classes with him, which means you will inevitably get to know each other, and you'll fall in love with him since he's so perfect and then you guys will start dating and-"

Cinder held up a finger, silencing her. "No."

Peony's face fell and she pouted disappointedly. "Why not?"

"Gee, I don't know…" Cinder rolled her eyes at her sister. "maybe because I'm a muggle-born with no money, no status and let's not forget my fake limbs!" As she said this, Cinder held up her left hand.

Unlike her right hand, her left had strange golden light pulsing through its veins, a slightly shimmery texture to the skin and softly glowing fingernails. The same went for her left leg. They were fake, conjured entirely from magic.

Cinder normally wore gloves in public in an effort to hide her magically-created hand, though the difference was hard to see unless you looked closely or Cinder's emotions were particularly strong, but Pearl had "accidentally" burned her gloves to smouldering husks of thread and leather in a fit of rage at Cinder for breaking her favourite necklace. Despite Adri's fury, Cinder had refused to apologise. It wasn't her fault that Pearl was stupid enough to just leave a delicate necklace where anyone could step on it.

Peony waved off Cinder's reasoning. "Oh, he doesn't believe in the whole pure-bloods-are-superior way of mind, and what does status and money mean in the world of love?"

"And my limbs?" Peony bit her lip and looked away, having no answer. Anyone who'd ever found out about Cinder's hand and leg had all turned away in disgust and revulsion. It wasn't a prejudice, as far as Cinder knew she was the only one who had limbs like hers. They just marked her, in the eyes of the wizarding world, as something…inhuman, like a werewolf or vampire. Something to be shunned.

Once Adri had bought Pearl and Peony's glossy, leather-bound books and Cinder's tatty faded ones with doodles on half of the pages, she handed the new bags of shopping to (of course) Cinder, who shot her the most hateful glare she could muster.

"We're off to get all your new robes next." Adri announced with a tone of finality. Great, more shopping for Cinder to hold. At this rate, she won't be able to hold that new wand she needs after Chang Sacha broke hers last year at her old school: Hogwarts.

Adri clapped her hands. "Alright, let's get all your new robes now, and gloves for Cinder of course. We wouldn't want her to be bringing further shame on us because of her wretched hand."

Cinder huffed in annoyance.

The woman who owned the clothes shop, Violet Darla, smiled beautifully at the group as they entered with all of her perfect, white teeth.

"Good afternoon Linh-mei. Custom robes for Pear and Peony I assume? And second-hand robes for Cinder?" Darla asked in her lovely, musical voice. "Yes Violet-mei, thank you." Adri replied, "Cinder also needs new gloves, and do you have second-hand Artemisia robes in her size? She's switching schools this year." Darla clapped her hands in delight and her honey-coloured eyes sparkled. "Artemisia? Oh, how wonderful! You're going to love it there Cinder! My own daughter attends that school as well. Her name is Iko. Maybe you two will become friends! She's here now, in fact. Maybe I can introduce you to her!"

Darla usually treated Cinder decently, so, for once, she didn't comment on that statement.

Darla was beautiful, one of the most beautiful women Cinder had ever seen, with wavy chestnut brown locks tumbling down to her shoulders, those honey eyes, perfect dark skin and full curves. If Iko was even half as beautiful as her mother, then Cinder knew she wouldn't give her the time of the day. If Hogwarts had taught her anything, the more beautiful they are, the more they hate Cinder.

Darla ushered Cinder into the waiting area, promising that she'll introduce her to Iko as soon as Pearl and Peony have been measured. Cinder just nodded in reply and put down her bags and sat down on one of the waiting chairs.

Cinder tried not to be apprehensive as she waited for Iko to show. It would just make her fake hand glow brighter, and that would just make the meeting go even worse. To try to conceal her…unique appendage, Cinder hid her hand behind her back. So long as Iko didn't ask about the golden glow being cast on her chair, everything should be fine.

The unmistakable sound of skipping reached Cinder's ears and she looked up. Her heart sank. Iko was the spitting image of her mother, except her eyes were less like honey and more like sunbursts, and her hair was blue and done up in hundreds of braids.

She waved happily at Cinder, smiling with all the friendliness in the wizarding world. Cinder waved back but didn't smile. Past experiences have taught her to be cautious when it comes to friendly girls.

"Hi, I'm Violet Iko! But you can just call me Iko. You're Cinder right?" Cinder nodded. "Great! You have a really cool name by the way." Iko's grin widened as she plopped herself down next to Cinder, who raised an eyebrow at the compliment. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it! So, my mom says that you're transferring to Artemisia, right? Why's that? Didn't you like your old school?" Cinder frowned. It's true, she hadn't been particularly happy at Hogwarts. She'd had no friends and was constantly being teased and bullied, but she at least knew the school. She'd attended it for five years and she knew all the teachers, which staircases moved around the most and where the best short-cuts were. She didn't know anything about Artemisia, just that it was cheaper and was the only wizarding school that accepted students past their first year.

"My stepmother transferred me because Artemisia is cheaper." Cinder replied finally. Iko frowned and Cinder could swear that her eyes changed colour, going from sunburst yellow to more of a dirty copper.

"But…I saw Linh Adri getting her other daughters fitted for Hogwarts, not Artemisia." Now it was Cinder's turn to frown. "How did you know that Adri is my stepmother?" Iko shrugged. "My mom told me."

"Adri's only sending me, not Pearl and Peony."

"But that doesn't make sense! Why is she only forcing you to completely restart and not her other daughters?"

Cinder couldn't help it. She snorted. "Because they are her real daughters. Why else do you think I'm not being custom fitted for my Artemisia robes right now? I'm getting second-hand, same goes for this new pair of gloves I need."

"WHAT?"

Cinder recoiled in surprise as Iko suddenly jumped out of her seat, screaming in outrage. Her eyes had changed again, turning fiery red.

"THAT IS SO COMPLETELY AND HORRIBLY UNFAIR!"

Cinder squirmed awkwardly in her seat in the face of Iko's fury.

"WHY SHOULD YOU BE TREATED ANY LESS THAN PEARL OR PEONY? JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE HER STEPDAUGHTER DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD BE TREATED LIKE, LIKE, YOU'RE LESS IMPORTANT OR SOMETHING!"

Iko kept on screaming at the unfairness of Cinder's life and insulting Adri in every possible way. Cinder could only stare at her in shock. Every other girl who found out about the way Adri treated her would, best case scenario, say "Oh poor you!" in sickening, falsely sweet voices. The fact that Iko has actually become angry on Cinder's behalf…well, it was surprising to say the least. Cinder felt gratitude for the righteous girl blooming inside her chest and let a smile tug itself across her mouth.

Iko turned to Cinder, red eyes flashing, but paused. Her eyes turned back to dirty copper and she cocked her head, frowning at Cinder. "What's that glowing thing behind you?" The gratitude turned to panic.

Iko walked forward and pointed to the prominent glow behind Cinder's back. "It's glowing even brighter now."

Cinder tried desperately to shuffle around her fake hand to try and disguise the glow. If Iko found out that parts of her were made of pure magic… well, Cinder could say good-bye to the righteous anger from before.

"It's nothing," She mumbled, "just… it's nothing." Iko placed a hand on Cinder's shoulder, who tensed at the contact. "Hey, it's okay, you can tell me. I promise I won't make fun! Or tell your evil stepmother if that's what you're worried about."

Cinder sighed and turned away. She liked Iko, but they could never be friends. Not now that Iko has seen the glow cast off from her hand.

Iko's eyes had turned the same warm colour as her mothers. She folded her arms and pursed her lips at Cinder's stubbornness.

Suddenly, she brightened and snapped her fingers. "I've got it!" Cinder's eyes widened with fear that Iko might have figured out her secret.

"You tell me what that glowing thing is, and I'll tell you a secret of my own! I'll make it a really big one too, the biggest secret I have!"

Cinder blinked at Iko in surprise. She was willing to give away her supposed biggest secret to someone she'd only just met? No, no this had to be a trick.

Cinder folded her arms and jerked her chin at Iko. "You first."

Iko, for her part, smirked at Cinder's challenge and wagged a finger in front of her face. "Swear that you'll tell me what that glowing thing is if I tell you my biggest secret?" Cinder rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure, whatever."

Iko grinned and then… her hair turned green. Cinder's eyes widened as Iko's skin went from dark to albino, her eyes turned bubble-gum pink and her canines grew so long that they jutted out from under her top lip.

"I'm a metamorphaguf." Iko said around her new fangs.

"That is a pretty big secret." Cinder admitted; eyes stretched to their absolute maximum size.

Iko's appearance turned back into the blue-haired look alike of her mother and she shrugged. "Yeah, normally, I love standing out and I'd totally parade my metamorphagus status to the whole world but… well, this one time, I totally lost control of my metamorphosising and accidentally grew myself fangs and claws and scales and I think maybe also horns? I was shunned for months afterward and I had to switch schools! Kinda like what you're doing now except my mom switched me because I desperately wanted to go. Anyway, I've made a load of great friends at Artemisia and I'm just… I guess I'm just scared that if they find out I'm a metamorphagus they'll shun me as well."

Cinder couldn't speak. Her mouth hung open with shock. Iko's reasons for hiding the fact that she was a metamorphagus were pretty much identical to the reasons Cinder hid her fake hand and leg!

Iko's expression suddenly dissolved into one of absolute terror and her eyes turned lime green. "You're not going to shun me now are you?" Cinder shook her head and Iko slumped with relief. "Oh thank Merlin…"

Cinder huffed a sigh. "Well… a deal's a deal." She tugged out her hand.

Iko's eyes widened and her jaw opened and closed like a fish as she stared at Cinder's glowing veins and shimmery skin. She reached out tentatively to touch it, letting her fingertips lightly rest on the unique appendage.

"Wha… how… why…?" The beginnings of questions stumbled out of Iko's mouth as she stared at the magical creation.

"My left leg is like this too."

The blue haired girl's head snapped up to stare at Cinder. "Your leg too?" Cinder just shrugged. "I lost my hand and leg in a car accident when I was ten. Some really talented witch or wizard managed to create magical versions of them. My parents had died in the crash so a man named Linh Garan adopted me. I never really got to know him though."

"Why's that?"

"He died not long after he adopted me."

Iko's mouth formed a silent "oh" and her eyes turned slate grey. "Letumosis?"

"Yep."

The two girls sat in silence for a bit. It's true, Cinder hadn't known her step-father for long but in the short time he'd been alive he'd treated her with far more kindness than Adri who had hated Cinder from the moment she saw her glowing hand. That hatred had only grown after Garan died, or at least become more obvious.

Iko turned her attention back to Cinder's hand and shook her head in amazement. "This is… it's…" Cinder waited. It's hideous? It's freaky? It's unnatural? She's heard them all.

Iko's eyes turned tangerine orange and she grinned at Cinder with excitement. "It's awesome!" Cinder stared at her in shock. Okay, so she hasn't heard that one.

Iko gripped Cinder's hand and started turning it this way and that. "Look at the way it glows! So magical and pretty! Does it have any special abilities? Like, can you cast spells with it?" Cinder shook her head, completely and utterly bewildered.

Iko raised her own hand and frowned in concentration. The skin turned silver, then gold, then back to silver, then back to dark as Iko groaned in frustration. "Dang it! I can't mimic it! Oh well, guess that's one way to tell it's the real you! Unless it shows up when someone drinks copycat potion to look like you."

Cinder raised an eyebrow. "Copycat potion?" Iko waved her hand nonchalantly as she replied, "Oh, it's real name is poly-something potion, but I just call it copycat potion, way easier to remember! It makes you look like someone else! Think your hand and leg would show up?" Cinder frowned down at her hand. "Don't know. Never really thought about it."

"Cinder!" Adri calls out sharply, dumping more shopping bags into Cinder's lap. "We're leaving now. We have to get that new wand you need after you so carelessly broke you last one. A witch should have more respect for her belongings!"

Cinder rolled her eyes and slowly got to her feet. Iko stood too, hands clasped in front of her, chin tilted upwards.

"Pardon me," she said, her voice oozing politeness and respect, "are you Linh Adri?"

"I am." Adri replied with a short sharp nod. Iko nodded back, still the personification of good manners and politeness, right before sticking out her tongue at Adri, blowing a loud raspberry, and flouncing off.

Adri stared after her in shock and Cinder fought back a chuckle. "That's Iko, Violet-mei's daughter." Adri's face twisted with disgust as she looked down at the still-sitting Cinder. "I see your outlandish ways have rubbed off on her." She turned away and started walking towards the exit, Pearl and Peony close behind her. "Now come! Let's get you your wand already."

Cinder didn't bother to look around the wand shop Adri had chosen, simply shuffling out of the pathway of any other entering customers and dumping the shopping bags once again. Only then did she notice it wasn't the same shop as the one her last wand had come from.

This shop didn't have the musty smell of dust like all the others. The wooden walls still shone, bereft of the darkness of age that came with most other shops, and the hundreds of boxes set into their alcoves were very neatly stacked, without the lopsidedness found in other shops due to the owners just not bothering so long as the wands were in the right place. The small bell on the desk lacked the typical fingerprint smudges and the open logbook was blank. In short, this shop was completely new.

Adri ringed the bell and waited impatiently for the shopkeeper to come. After about two minutes, she rang the bell again. This time, she was met with an irritated cry: "Merlin's beard, alright I'm coming!"

A very short old man with small glasses perched on the bridge of his nose and sharp blue eyes shuffled into view. He glared at Adri as he took his place behind the desk. "Alright, so which of you needs a wand?" Adri's expression soured and she gestured wordlessly to Cinder. The man peered at her through his glasses and Cinder supressed a shudder. It was like he was staring straight into her soul.

"I can't help but notice that she doesn't share that many characteristics with you. Does she take after her father?" Adri snorted. "Maybe she does, maybe she doesn't. She isn't mine, my husband adopted her without consulting me."

"How inconsiderate of him." The man replied sarcastically.

He gave Cinder an impatient "come here" gesture and, scowling, she obliged. He pulled out a tape measure, which immediately flew into life, measuring all of Cinder's dimensions.

"My name is Dmitri Erland, but most people know me as Dr Erland for my work in the medical field," the man stated as the tape measure wrapped itself around Cinder's waist, "but letumosis kills so many people, and there being nothing I can do about it, I decided I would be more use as a wand maker, something I also studied along with medicine, though in much less depth. " He rested his elbow on his desk and cupped his chin with his hand, studying her with narrowed eyes. Finally, he said, "How old are you miss…?"

"Linh. Linh Cinder. I'm sixteen." Cinder replied.

His eyebrows shot up. "Sixteen? That's… quite late to be buying a wand."

"My old one broke." Cinder grumbled, glaring at the tape measure as it wrapped itself around her armpit.

"Did it now? Do you remember it's details by any chance? What it was made of, what its core was, facts like that?"

"It was apple and had a kneazle whisker core."

"Hmm, a substandard core but makes for quite a loyal wand. And it was apple you say? Fascinating. You can stop now." The last part of the sentence was directed at the tape measure, which flew back to its master, much to Cinder's relief. What could she say, things that measured her earlobe made her uncomfortable.

Dr Erland wandered into the aisles of wand boxes, frowning at the labels and running his fingers lightly over them. "So, I gather that that woman isn't your real mother."

"That's right." Cinder replied, smirking as Adri stiffened at being addressed as "that woman".

"Do you know who your real parents are by any chance?"

"They were muggles that died in a car crash."

"I see."

He pulled out a box and made his way back to her. "Willow, twelve inches, dragon heartstring, pliant. Give it a go."

Cinder had been dreading this. She'd gotten her first wand when she was eleven, after she had tried every other wand in the shop. The shopkeeper had reassured her again and again that they would find the right wand for her, but Cinder could tell that even they were growing uncertain.

She picked up the thin, wooden rod tentatively and waved it. Nothing happened.

Dr Erland frowned as she put the wand back into its box, though he didn't look so much disappointed as contemplative. Cinder got the feeling that he hadn't expected that wand to work at all and he had been testing her somehow. But for what?

He disappeared back into the shadows of the shelves and Cinder was left waiting again. She tapped her fingers idly against the desk top, wondering if this would be another test or an actual try at finding her the right wand.

When Dr Erland reappeared with a new box, he shot a glance down at her left hand and his eyebrows rose. Cinder glanced at it too and found to her horror that it was glowing faintly. She hurriedly hid it behind her back and tilted her chin up at the doctor, waiting for him to ask what it was, why she had it, if any of her other body parts were like that. Instead, he gestured impatiently toward the wand box. "Well, what are you waiting for? Are you going to wave it or not?"

Rolling her eyes, Cinder obliged. Again, nothing happened.

Not even waiting for Cinder to return the wand to its box, Dr Erland went back into his dark labyrinth of shelves. His movements seemed different now, less calm and calculated and more hurried and even excited.

He kept on bringing her wands at a rapid pace, half the time not even waiting for her to wave them. And with each failed attempt his blue eyes grew brighter.

Finally, he came out of the shadows holding a box and smiling confidently. "I believe that this should work for you."

Cinder studied the box. Unlike all the other boxes (in this wand shop and every single other) it was made of polished wood instead of cardboard, and instead of a handwritten label it had an engraved piece of metal on one end: "CHERRYWOOD; 13 INCHES; DRAGON HEARSTRING"

She slid the wooden cover off and found the wand to be nestled in a soft bed of red felt. The wand itself, however, was not nearly as polished as its box. The wood was dull and smudged with small fingerprints and it even looked burned in some places.

Cinder picked it up. The wood felt warm in her hand. Her fingers slid over the worn patches, fitting into them like she'd made them herself. She waved the wand.

A rainbow of silver and gold cascaded out the tip in a sparkling shower, drenching the shop in joyous light.

Adri and Pearl stared at the remarkable display with their mouths hanging open whilst Peony jumped up and down and clapped with delight. Cinder just looked at the wand in shock.

It took several minutes for the light-show to stop, and Cinder couldn't help but think afterward that the wand had been waiting to show off like that for a very, very long time.

"Interesting…" Cinder glanced up at Dr Erland, blinking. For a few moments she'd forgotten he was there. He was smiling at her, stroking his chin softly. Something was sparkling in his eyes, but Cinder couldn't decipher what.

"Tell me," He said abruptly, taking a seat at his desk as he began to write something down, "what school are you attending Miss Linh?"

"I'm starting at Artemisia this year."

The quill Dr Erland had been writing with dropped limply out of his hand. Cinder realised with a shock that his face had gone pale. "Artemisia?"

"Yeah…" Cinder confirmed cautiously, "what about it?"

Dr Erland rang his hands and muttered something under his breath. Cinder narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Why is he so worried all of a sudden?

Finally, the old man took a deep breath and managed, "It's just… I've received a request from the headmistress of that particular academy asking for me to be the potions professor. I am quite adept at potions, goes with the territory of being a doctor. Seeing as you're going there, I might just take her up on that."

Cinder opened her mouth to question him further, but he wasn't listening anymore. He took the wand out of her hand and place it back in its fancy box. Cinder rubbed her hand. It felt empty without it.

"That'll be five galleons, please." Adri's jaw dropped. "Five galleons for a wand? That's ridiculous! Especially considering it's so old and clearly already been used-"

"All the more reason why it's so expensive." Dr Erland interjected firmly.

"What about if you sold it in a cardboard box instead of that wooden one?"

"That would do absolutely nothing for the price. Five galleons."

Adri's face turned sour, but she finally relented, reluctantly relinquishing the five large gold coins, which Dr Erland wasted no time in putting his cash register.

He put Cinder's new wand and its box into a small shopping bag and handed it to her. She took it wordlessly before heading back to gather up the rest of the bags. Adri cast Dr Erland one last glare before storming out of the shop, with Pearl and Peony trailing behind her. Cinder moved to follow them but froze when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

The hand turned out to be Dr Erland's. He fixed his intense, serious gaze on Cinder and she shuddered involuntarily.

"Be careful at Artemisia." He warned, "Be careful of your teachers, be careful of the students, but most of all, be careful of the headmistress."

A/N: My first TLC fanfic! What do you think? Updates will happen once a week. I had a lot of fun writing Dr Erland and Peony . Why is Dr Erland so afraid of Cinder going to Artemisia? Who's the headmistress? All in good time my dear readers. Please review!