Wizard Born

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."

***

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.