Alan Raines
February 05, 2013 7:59 PM
Being social by Alan Raines
At the end of Alan’s first year, a yearbook had been handed out at the Bonfire, and that had made a lot of people get pretty upset for a lot of different reasons. Alan had been among them, though he thought he liked the word ‘concerned’ for himself better than he did the word ‘upset.’ He had not been angry, after all, about the award he got that he hadn’t cared for, just confused and a little worried about how he was managing himself to have gotten it. If he had been asked an hour before the event which awards he thought he might have a chance to receive, it would never have occurred to him to think that he might be considered Most Bashful.He had thought about that a lot over the summer, and it had been a factor, along with white and dark green being colors which worked together, in him asking a girl he barely knew to dance at Effie Arbon’s ball, where a good portion of their year had been and had surely been watching what everyone else did attentively, but he wasn’t sure that was enough to completely undo whatever it had been that had gotten him labeled Most Bashful in the first place. That was important to him, that he get rid of that reputation and replace it with another, because people who were bashful, or at least perceived of as bashful, didn’t go very far in life, in his opinion.
Alan Raines had been Sorted into Teppenpaw, and he was friendly, usually diplomatic, and interested in the personal development of himself and others. He did not, however, see any of those traits as things which barred him from being as ambitious as any Aladren at the same time. Quidditch captain wasn’t a possibility since he did not enjoy playing the game and frankly thought even as a spectator that it could use some improvements – fighting words, he knew, in some places, which was why he kept those views to himself but couldn’t help feeling them in spite of their political incorrectness – but he wanted to be prefect and Head Boy, which was not really possible if everyone thought he was too shy to stand up to the pressure. If that happened, then his sister was still the glowing success and he, rather than just someone who hadn’t gotten far enough for them to tell yet as he was right now, was at least a little bit of a failure.
Alan did not like the thought of being a failure. He was determined to take measures not to be a failure. With that thought in mind, he had decided to take a seat in the Teppenpaw common room to study, but to make sure to look up and, every person who passed him, no matter how much of a fool it made him feel, say something, and say it with a reasonable excuse for a smile.
He didn't think it was going to help the quality of the Transfiguration problems he was working on, but that was all right, he could redo them later if he had to. He had gotten through almost half of one when the first person passed him and he had to look up. "Good morning!" he said cheerfully.
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