Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this fanfiction. Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, who thankfully allows others to play in her universe.
Chapter 11 Ballet and X-Rays
It was after Scarlet left for breakfast the next morning that Roxanne remembered she had wanted to look up ballet. She pulled the B volume off the shelf and after a little searching she found it. It was quite a long article with a few pictures. Roxanne was still staring in wonder at these pictures when Mandy came in to help her with her tie. "Mandy! You can do this? You're amazing!" Roxanne said, seeing her petite friend in a whole new light.
Mandy laughed and came to look at the page Roxanne and pointed to when she said "you can do this?" The black and white picture showed a dancer in a tutu balanced on her toes, one leg up behind her higher than her head. "No, I can't do that yet. I don't get point shoes until I'm 12."
Roxanne looked questioningly at Mandy.
"Point shoes are special shoes that let you stand on your toes, like in the picture. It's not good for your feet to get point shoes too early so I can only go on demi point like this." Mandy dressed in her uniform of a white blouse and burgundy skirt. Lifted up on the balls of her feet and raised her left leg behind her until her black dress shoe was level with her head.
Roxanne had never seen anyone move like that, "it's like magic."
Mandy laughed and return to standing, "it just takes practice."
Roxanne shook her head in wonder. Her new friend could do something she had never seen a Wizard do and she thought nothing of it.
"You should come with me to my private class during 6th period." Mandy offered.
Roxanne knew she should work on the homework that she hadn't completed last night. But she wanted to see more of Mandy's ballet. "Okay."
xxx
So during 6th period instead of going to the library she followed Mandy to one of the far buildings on campus. It was an older building and the hallways were dark and narrow. Mandy hurried through them, taking the twists and turns with confidence.
"Wait here, I need to change." Mandy instructed before entering what look like a storage room filled with brightly colored clothes. Roxanne waited wondering if it was normal for ballet to be in such a dark place. Then Mandy emerged in a pale pink leotard, white tights, a pink see through skirt and pink leather shoes. She had also pulled her hair back into a tight bun. Somehow she looked older then when she'd gone into the room.
Mandy smiled, "let's go!" They walked a little further down the hallway, turned right, and entered a spacious room. Light filled this room. Reflecting off the mirrors that covered two of the walls. The floor was made of brightly polished wood, and besides a few things in the corners the room was empty. Mandy dropped her bag by the door, moved out to the center of the room, and started bending every which way. Roxanne had never seen anyone bend as much as Mandy. The stretching Fred and her cousins sometimes did before playing Quidditch was laughable by comparison. Roxanne was still standing by the door staring at Mandy when it opened.
A tall, dark-haired woman entered, Roxanne stumbled back out of her way. Mandy stop stretching and curtsied, "this is my friend Roxanne Weasley. She has a free period this hour and I wanted to show her my ballet. Roxanne this is Mrs. Stalinskey."
Mrs. Stalinskey turned her sharp eyes on Roxanne. Roxanne not knowing what else to do curtsied like Mandy had.
Mrs. Stalinskey smiled, "very good." Then she turned to Mandy and asked, "are you warmed up?"
The next hour was unlike anything Roxanne had seen before. Mandy moved in a way that was both very strong and amazingly graceful. But as she watched Roxanne's thoughts flew. If Wizards didn't do ballet, it wasn't necessarily because they couldn't. It was more that they didn't bother. It was a strange thought and it opened a whole new idea to Roxanne. Perhaps there were more things in the Muggle World that weren't in the Wizarding one. She was so lost in her thoughts she didn't notice, when Mandy finished class and slipped away.
Mrs. Stalinskey had to say her name twice to get her attention. "Roxanne, Roxanne, Mandy has gone to change."
Roxanne looked up from where she had been sitting on the floor, eyes wide and her body tense.
"What were you thinking about?"
"Uh, X-rays?" Roxanne said. Then she realized what a stupid answer that was, Mrs. Stalinskey wanted to know what she thought of ballet. "It was lovely... Ballet.. And um Mandy."
Mrs. Stalinskey smiled at her and said, "Would you like to learn to dance? You have a good build for it."
Roxanne's eyes widened in horror as she tried to imagine herself moving like Mandy. She would be as ugly and gangly as a Thestral next to a Pigmy Puff. Franticly she shook her head, but she did manage to whisper, "But I'd like to come watch Mandy again."
"That would be acceptable."
Mandy was back and gesture to Roxanne, who scrambled to her feet, clutching her bag.
Mandy curtsied to Mrs. Stalinskey. Then looked at Roxanne and whispered, "you're supposed to curtsy."
Roxanne blushed, and not looking up she made an awkward curtsy.
But Mrs. Stalinskey only said, "Very good, I'll see you both tomorrow."
"Well, what did you think?" Mandy asked as soon as she left.
Roxanne considered this, she felt oddly serious and treated the question as such, "I think you are very good, watching you makes me feel more... hopeful."
Mandy nodded. "That's a high complement." Then she grinned, "I'm so lucky to be here at Fieldspark working with Mrs. Stalinskey towards my dream. Not many eleven year olds can say that."
Roxanne nodded. She truly believed that Mandy would reach her dream. Even though she had no real idea of what being a ballerina took. It just seemed impossible that Mandy wouldn't achieve it. Then she thought, what was her dream? She didn't know anymore and wondered if it was in the Wizarding World or the Muggle World. She smiled and followed Mandy to Science.
xxx
Science seem to drag on, they were learning about waves and not just the kind in the ocean. Apparently sound was wave too, and light was sort of or sometimes a wave. It was very confusing. Roxanne was trying to stay focused on the lecture. But instead she kept thinking about what she would put in her next letter to Granddad Weasley. When the bell rang she hung back a little to let the rush of students clear. Mandy was always one of the first out because she had to get to her after school ballet class. Roxanne had no reason to hurry out of the class room as she only had study hall.
The class had emptied when she found Mr. Crew watching her.
He smiled, "you are very dedicated student."
Roxanne ducked her head, sort of nodding in agreement. Not because she agreed but because she didn't like to argue. But Mr. Crew was looking at her like he expected her to say something. He wasn't looking away, she had to say something. "How exactly does it an x-ray work?" Roxanne's eyes went wide she hadn't meant to say that. But she had been thinking about how Granddad Weasley had wanted to know, when she had told him about the x-ray of her arm. Now Mr. Crew would think her weird for not knowing, her face heated up.
"An excellent question. But one I won't have time to satisfactorily answer today before the weekly staff meeting. If you can stay after class tomorrow, I'll be happy to explain then."
Roxanne blinked, he acted like it was a normal question. She nodded.
"Wonderful," Mr. Crew said as if he was looking forward to explaining.
xxx
Roxanne walked back to the dorm, contemplating, was it just Mr. Crew or had the question really been a good one? She was so lost in thought she ran into someone on the second floor landing of the stairs. She was knocked back into the wall, but she wasn't hurt because her backpack absorbed most of the blow.
The boy she ran into, fell back up the stairs with a loud thump. "Watch it, Witch," Sevastian said rubbing his butt and shaking out his other arm.
"Sorry," Roxanne mumbled.
"You should be," he muttered back.
"Are you okay?" Roxanne asked, trying to do the right thing even if it was Sevastian.
Sevastian glared at her, "shove off. Freak," he said as he continued on down the stairs.
As Roxanne watched him leave she had a flash of inspiration like when she came up with a new prank. Sevastian would be sure to point out if she asked a stupid question. "Hey, how exactly does an x-ray work?" She called after him.
He stopped and frowned back up at her, and after a moment's thought he said scathingly, "who cares." And then continue down the stairs.
Roxanne smiled, he'd never said that before. She wasn't positive but it sounded like he didn't know, either. The day was really looking up.
xxx
Roxanne was cautiously optimistic when Science ended the next day. She started packing up very slowly, in case Mr. Crew had forgotten. Mr. Crew however gathered a few books and hurried over to her. "Now x-rays are pretty complicated but I'm going to do my best to explain. Stop me if there's anything you don't understand."
Mr. Crew was looking through one of his books as he spoke not at Roxanne, so he couldn't see her nod. Roxanne swallowed, "okay," she whispered.
"First off, x-rays are a part of the electromagnetic spectrum. With wavelengths shorter than visible light." He drew a squiggle that he labeled visible light and then a much tighter squiggle under it labeled x-rays. "But x-rays have a higher energy than photons." Roxanne remembered that photons were light particles, so she nodded again.
"There are different kinds of x-rays. But in general they are used to image the inside of objects because of their penetrating ability."
"Like seeing the bones inside my arm?" Roxanne asked.
"Exactly, x-rays are often used to examine broken bones."
Roxanne looked at her arm. Would her x-ray have looked different if her arm was fatter? "How do the x-rays know how far inside to go?"
"The x-ray only has so much energy it can get through skin and muscle but is stopped by the bone." Mr. Crew flipped open one of his books and showed her several pictures of people's bones. There was also one of a person lying on tables with a big machine over them. "This machine takes the x-ray, sort of like a giant camera."
"Do you have to have the machine or can you do something to a normal picture?" Roxanne couldn't remember if they'd used one on her broken arm or not.
"Currently you need the machine, but science and technology advance every year. I wouldn't be surprised if you made a new discovery one day."
Roxanne ducked her head. Pleased that he thought she could accomplish such a thing. And embarrassed because she wasn't sure she wanted to.
Mr. Crew probably sensed her embarrassment. He went on to explained about airport scanners and how x-rays were used to detect weapons.
An hour later when it was time for dinner. Roxanne had a bunch of notes, two of Mr. Crew's books, and only a few things she didn't fully understand. With the books and her encyclopedias she was pretty sure she could answer any questions Granddad Weasley had about x-rays. Which was what really mattered.
