Raivis Galante // Finished! //

Character's name: Raivis Galante

Country of origin: Latvia

Year: 4th

Age: 15

House: Hufflepuff

Personality:
On a normal day Raivis is a shy, quiet boy. He doesn’t have many traits that make him stand out in crowd, not unless he’s been pushed to the edge, which takes a lot to do. His isn’t likely to run his mouth, but when he does, he has a knack for saying the wrong things and insulting others. He doesn’t like strangers much, and prefers to be in a small group of friends than to be around new people. He’s nervous around large groups of people, and won’t stick around them too long. Raised in a small family, and growing up with few friends, Raivis is very skittish around too many people.
Raivis’ thoughts and his actions are a bit contradictory; when faced by a bully, his thoughts tend to lean towards the more profane, rude side, while his first reaction is to stutter out an apology and try to escape. Raivis doesn’t have the courage to say what he’s thinking most of the time, and his demeanor has always been that of a small, frightened kid. On the inside, though, Raivis is much stronger than he’s made out to be. He doesn’t take insults to heart, because he’s very confident in his skills and abilities. He knows his weaknesses and strengths, and has very strong opinions; he just has a hard time voicing himself. He’s nervous and shy, and while his mind might be set ablaze with inspiration and ideas, he won’t share it, unless with a very close friend.
Most of what keeps Raivis from being confident on the outside is his fear of being hurt. He doesn’t like pain, and is very much a pacifist. He values his safety, not being the strongest physically, and finds that when he yells back at someone, he’s not able to fight them off when they get angry. Instead, he quietly agrees with, submits to, or goes along with something, even if he doesn’t want to, to get himself out of trouble. When Raivis does speak his mind, he's skilled at wording it very badly, often too nervous to even think about what he’s saying before it leaves his mouth. This gets him back into the trouble he can squeeze himself out of.
He can be a bit cunning. Along with his submissive attitude that gets him out of confrontments, Raivis uses his tears and his small size to get his way. When he can’t get out of something, he’ll resort to crying, and if he’s really desperate, acting like a child(due to his height, for most people mistake him for much younger than he is). Normally Raivis doesn’t get himself into bad enough situations that he has to resort to crying…But he does tend to be a crybaby anyway. Simple things, like a scrapped knee, or a nasty paper cut, make him very misty eyed. Often in these cases, his tears aren’t manipulative, he’s just a bit of a baby.
Raivis is a dreamer. He’s not very spacey when he’s doing his school work, but in his free time he likes to lose himself to his thoughts. In particular he likes to play over love scenes in his head, sometimes writing them down later. His writing isn’t serious, and is just an escape for him, usually. He became a hopeless romantic when he was younger, when he tried reading some of his mom’s books, and some from his school library. Though usually, most of the books were too hard for him, as he got a bit older, and his reading level advanced, he fell in love with love itself. He’s easy to embarrass, and is usually left a little flustered and stunned if someone flirts with him…he’s very awkward, especially when he tries to flirt back. Flirting is not an art he has any sort of mastery over.


Appearance: Raivis has short, slightly curly, light orangish-blonde hair, which curls out at the sides a bit. His bangs are just about at his eyebrows, with one more prominent curl at the top near his part, and aren’t long enough to get in his eyes. He’s very short and a bit scrawny, and has pale-ish skin. He does like the outdoors, but due to the colder weather of his country, he doesn’t have much of a tan.
He has violet eyes, and normal sized eyebrows. His face is a tiny bit chubby, but not quite round. He has a small chin, and not much cheek structure; he looks younger than he really is.
Outside of his Hogwarts uniform, he usually wears sweaters and heavier clothing, because he gets cold easily. In warmer weather, Raivis likes neat clothing: button-up shirts(weather dictates whether they're long sleeved or short) and slacks. While he does have some jeans and t-shirts, they're rather plain and he only wears them when he doesn't want to get his nice clothes messy. Raivis likes being and looking clean, so he tends to keep his clothes tidy, often folding his clothes before the house elves can tend to it.
Raivis isn't a big fan of yellow, much preferring red, so he has a back-up red tie, and all but one of his few t-shirts are red.


Muggle-born, Half-blood, or Pureblood? Half-Blood; Wizard blood from his father.

Your Character's backstory:
Pit pat, tip tap, pit pat…Raivis’ feet tapped against the floor as he hurried for the exit; students were filing loudly out of their class, going off in every which direction. Raivis clutching a book to his little 9 year old chest, all eyes on the school exit. Just one more hallway! One more and he’d be home free, no one would be able to take his new book, oh no they wouldn’t, not this brand new book! He couldn’t very well hide it in his backpack, he knew much too well that kids would take something out of it if he left it unattended for even a second. Instead, clutched in his scrawny arms was much safer, for, while he was in school, the teachers stopped people from teasing Raivis too much. The time right after school ended was the worst; not only were the teachers tired from dealing with elementary students all day, Raivis’ peers were all too happy and excited to be out. Raivis learned he had to be very quick on his feet, if he wanted to keep his belongings and himself safe.
Aha, there was the door! Raivis squeezed his book tight as he raced up to the crowd of kids escaping the confines of public school-
“You’re really a fast little guy!” a boy’s voice laughed, and Raivis felt himself being tugged out of the crowd, and pushed up against a wall. With a bit of quick thinking, Raivis tucked his book under his shirt, over his belly, before his assailant could see it.
“E-ehh, no, j-just…s-school’s out!” he said, staring down at the floor, arms crossed over his stomach. “I-is the weekend…”
“Do you think I’m stupid? I know it’s the weekend!” the boy yelled, so he could be heard over the crowd of students rushing by, no one noticed. Yes, yes I do think you’re stupid, moron…Raivis thought, turning his head.
“E-er, sorry!” Raivis squeaked, hugging his tummy tightly. “Do you h-have any plans, J-Janis…?” Raivis asked hesitantly, a bit too quietly, to the older classmate.
“Speak up, I can’t hear a thing you’re saying, brat- Oh, what’s that you’ve got there?” the boy laughed, turning and waving to a few friends, before jabbing at Raivis’ middle. “It’s gotta be a present for me, right? You’ve always been so generous, Galante! Let me see it!” he said loudly as the friends he motioned for joined him, standing around Raivis.
“N-no, it’s nothing…I h-have a stomachache,” Raivis murmured, his lips curling in a little big of agitation. “I was in a hurry t-today, I’ll b-bring you a present M-Monday!”
“Why’re you so stingy, Galante?” complained a girl, hands on her hips. “Making Janis wait the weekend! You’re so mean!” the group laughed. Yeah, I’m stringy…buy your own things, stupid, Raivis though, holding his book tighter.
“No way I’m gonna wait until Monday! Just give me what you’ve got there, and I’ll let you go,” the boy said with a false innocent chime to his voice. Raivis shook his head, then felt his shoulder being slammed into the wall again.
“I-is nothing! I promise, I-isn’t- Mrs. Briedis!” Raivis squeaked, looking up with wide violet eyes all of a sudden. The group of his bullies turned quickly, and Raivis took his chance…He dashed right passed the boy, Janis, and fled right out the door, pulling his book out of his shirt and hugging it again.
“Get back here, you stupid liar!” Raivis heard, but didn’t turn to look behind, and zoomed off the school’s premises, the roar of children growing gradually quieter. Once he was far enough away, Raivis stopped and took a few long deep breathes, grinning to himself.
“Stupid i-idiots,” he grumbled, before sliding his bag off his back and put his book inside, now a safe distance from his school. No one ever followed him out of school, not unless he’d insulted them, and Raivis tried not to do that. He’d only been hunted down once, and received a black eye and a big tear in his shirt. He’d learned since then, to try and keep his mouth shut.
Only a few more blocks away, Raivis reached his small home, in Riga, the capital of Latvia. He didn’t need a big house, for it was only his parents and him, no pets or siblings. Raivis didn’t mind his home at all; his mother had the best cooking, and their house always smelled a little like Rupjmaizes kartojums, buberts, or some odd Latvian dessert Raivis always loved. His mother cooked a lot, Raivis was used to homemade, fresh, delicious meals, just one of the reasons he loved his mom. As Raivis walked up the steps to his home, he knew his mom has been cooking; the kitchen window was cracked open. She always opened it, to the let the steam out and not set off the fire alarm, when she was cooking. The smell of piragi, an appetizer roll, with bacon, onions, and the right spices inside, met Raivis as soon as he entered the house. He grinned wide and hurried off to help his mom cook; he always got a special treat when he helped cook, plus, homework could wait, it was the weekend!

Raivis finished setting out the silverware, three sets, at the table, and made sure he’d gotten glasses out for everyone. The scent of fresh skabu kapostu zupa, or cabbage soup, floating into the dining room and Raivis smiled, know dinner was about ready. Dinner time was his favourite, when his mama and papa sat on either side of him and they all talked about their day. Raivis never told them about his bullies; he liked being happy around them, and didn’t want to dwell on the bad. Instead, he tried to teach them everything he’d learned at school! He was always a good student, and very prideful inside.
“Tetis!” Raivis called, “Dinner is ready!” he hurried down the little hall and slid, arms waving for balance, into the office, which both his parents used. “Come o-on, is time for dinner!” he urged, and saw his tetis, which meant dad, smile and put down a newspaper. His father was an economist, and even though Raivis didn’t understand the job, he knew it meant his papa was smart. He was proud his papa was so smart, Raivis always got help from him on his homework.
The older man stood and and put a hand on Raivis head, ruffling his hair and getting dragged into the dining room, where Raivis’ mama, or māte, was setting out the piragi and soup. Fridays were the best, his māte was prepared the best meals at the end of the week. Raivis scrambled up to his seat, giggling as his parents exchanged a quick kiss before his mom went and brought in the main course. Raivis was pretty happy with his parents…he only had one complaint; they fought, and sometimes it got loud. It scared Raivis when it happened, and even though they never yelled at Raivis, Raivis knew they were strained sometimes. Raivis also knew that his māte had a little drinking problem, which was what they always fought about. She always refuted that Raivis’ tetis smoked too often. Raivis had never seen his māte drunk, but was pretty sure he knew where she hid her alcohol, since he helped in the kitchen and around the house so often.

After their meal had been finished, and the dishes were brought into the kitchen for cleaning(the Galantes' were a neat family, and didn’t like to leave things laying around), Raivis was off to get his homework started, a naturally boring thing, but he did it anyway. He loved getting the best score in class, so homework was less of a boring requirement, but a challenge to get first place, for him. He wasn’t overly competitive about it…but he worked hard, at the least.
Just as Raivis was unzipping his bag and pulling out a little math packet, a loud crash made him jolt and drop his packet; something had been dropped, something glass, and likely now very broken. Raivis, wide eyed, peeked out of his bedroom. “Māte? Tetis?” he called, looking down the hall for where the noise had come from- thunk!! Raivis jumped again as a loud racket came out of the kitchen, followed by the thwack thwack thwack of someone getting beaten with most likely a broom.
“Zuzana!!” Raivis heard his father’s voice yell out, and his mom yelled a few foul words in reply. “Stop, stop! He’s a friend, it’s alright!”
“What kind of friend comes in the kitchen window?!”
“Mine, apparently! He doesn’t understand Vientiesu ways!” *
“Wh-what jibberish are you talking about? He climbed in our window, that’s not even a word!”
“Zuzana, please, calm down ,we can talk, before you clobber him to death!” Thwack thwack thwack, and then the sound of the broom being thrown to the ground.
Raivis only heard mumbling after that, and his mother came just a few minutes and tucked him into bed; Raivis objected a little, but the serious tone and the expression on his mom’s face told him to hush up and sleep. She left and went back to speak with his father, and apparently, the one who’d tried to enter through the window. They spoke in soft voices, Raivis had to strain his ears and only caught a few words, along with the ‘Vientiesu’ his father had used: magic, wand, and wizard. All Raivis could piece together was that this odd friend of his dad maybe wrote children’s books…

_{// *Vientiesu means Muggle in Latvian. Yeah! There's a Latvian word for that! I was pretty proud when I saw that.
...There's also a Latvian word for Hogwarts. |D //}

We Just Got a Letter:
Raivis tiptoed down his hall, sneakily, a guilty expression on his face. He hadn’t meant to do that…oh no, he wasn’t even quite sure how he’d done that. He’d already been in trouble at school for certain ‘things’ that’d been happening lately, and Raivis had just thought someone was after him(as paranoid as that sounded). But at home too…? Raivis knew he didn’t have the strength to carry his bookshelf outside. The thing was as tall as him, and while that wasn’t very tall, it was too big for this little Latvian. Raivis had just woken up, and it’d been moved outside! Raivis could see it from his window. I think I’m going to get grounded…He swallowed and cracked open the front door, peering out at his bookshelf. If I just…push it really hard, maybe I can get it back? Before someone sees…he was about to step out when a hand on his should made Raivis squeal out in shock and spin around.
“It’s a bit early to be going out, isn’t it? Especially in your pajamas,” his dad looked at him curiously, and Raivis slammed the door shut.
“S-sorry! I-it’s a nice morning, ja? V-very nice! Was g-going to appreciate the sunrise!” Raivis laughed in a pitched voice, and his father gave him a bemused look.
“Oh, is it? Maybe I should go out and ‘appreciate the sunrise’ with you, Raiv,” he suggested, picking Raivis up by the waist and scooting him out of the way.
“W-wait, is not that pretty, lets make breakfast!” the boy tried to object, but his dad had already opened the door. The man looked back at Raivis with a raised brow. He scratched the back of his head. “I-I didn’t do it, I s-swear, it’s like magic!” Raivis began explaining quickly, “I woke u-up and blinked a few t-times then it was just…n-not here!” he sniffed his nose, starting to tear up. His dad patted his head quickly and cracked a half grin.
“C-calm down Raiv, it’s not a big deal, we’ll just have to get it back inside,” he said, ushering his boy off to the kitchen, “Why don’t you go get some breakfast, I’ll have this back inside in no time.”
Raivis objected only for a moment, “B-but- yes sir…” he murmured, and delivered himself to the kitchen, but too nervous to actually eat. He waited as his dad got his dresser situated…eleven years old, heading into middle school soon, puberty, all those fun things…Raivis wasn’t sure if this moving, stacking, and simply making things around the house(or, in some cases, at school) disappear was all a part of puberty or what, his parents certainly hadn’t had an explanation for him.
Kicking his feet under the table, Raivis studied the table cloth; the faint remains of some spilled sauce, a little rift in the threading, the ends were a tad frayed…If only the table cloth was more interesting, Raivis would be able to keep himself distracted for too long. He’d been suspended from school for a few days in the previous week, for making a mess of his classroom and scattering a bunch of boxes of coloured pencils and crayons everywhere. Raivis hadn’t done it…But he’d been the only one in the classroom when it’d happened, and naturally, he was blamed. It wasn’t his fault there’d been a spider in his cubby, and given him a bad fright! He was sure, somehow, a classmate had done it to get him in trouble…
Raivis turned his head as he heard a shuffling coming towards him, his dad must have gotten his bookshelf back already-
“GWAAH!” Raivis leaped from his seat and ducked under the table with a scream, as a large barn owl came swooping for him. Raivis was pretty sure he’d scared the owl too, as it let out an equally raucous squawk and dropped something at the floor near him…But, at the moment in time, Raivis was too busy freaking out about an owl being in his home, and seemingly attempting to assassinate him, with it’s vicious, owl talons.
His parents heard the scream and came running into the dining room, his mom reaching him first. She too squawked, oddly similar to the owl, and yelled for her husband to come remove the homicidal avian creature from their home. While waiting for him, she tried to coax her little Raivis out from under the table, while the owl sat atop the wooden furniture, staring at her with an expression of mild displeasure.
Raivis’ father hurried into the dining room and heaved a sigh of relief, having been thinking a murdered had broken in.
“Well it’s not too different from one! Get it out!” she squeaked at him, standing very, very still, so maybe it didn’t see her(because that worked on owls).
“Calm down, it’s just a messenger owl…you remember what we talked about, don’t you?” he murmured, walking up to the table and giving the owl an almost nostalgic look. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen one…up close, that is.”
“T-Tetis…!” Raivis whined from under the table, peering out at his papa. “Is it going to k-kill us?” he asked, hands over his head defensively. He dad laughed a bit, then helped Raivis out, spotting the letting and grabbing that too.
“Ne, don’t be afraid; you either, Zuzana, it won’t hurt you, not unless you’re hiding a mouse under your blouse,” he chuckled, grinning at Raivis. The man went into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl, filled it with water, and set it out for the owl to drink from. It dipped it’s head, taking a few swallows, before flying off(earning a shocked gasp from both Raivis and his mom).
Zuzana looked at her table cloth a little warily, not sure it was safe for them to sit down(what if the owl came back?) there, but did so after Raivis had been persuaded to sit. She looked from her husband, then to the letter in his hand, and to her son. Raivis’ Tetis slid the letter over to his son.
“…Wh-what is it?” Raivis inquired, not daring to touch it.
“A letter…for you, but you’ll probably need to open it, if you’re wanting to know what’s inside,” his father winked at him, and Raivis looked down at the letter. He picked it up, and examined it…the paper was thick, heavier than what he used at school, with a barely there tint of yellow colouring. His name was written in elegant, large red letters across the envelop…He ran his fingers over it for a moment before shakily ripping open the envelop and sliding out it’s contents.

"To Raivis Galante,
a pupil we hope to soon meet,

This is hereby an invitation to attend the Latvijas Skola no Burvība, located north of Rezekne, Latvia. As a budding wizard, your education is of the utmost-” **

“W-Wizard..? What does that mean?” Raivis looked to his parents, his mom nodding at his father expectantly. He sighed a bit, preparing himself to explain to Raivis what he’d had to tell his wife only a few years past, explain that he was a wizard, and that Raivis was too.

// ** Latvijas Skola no Burvība, Latvian School of Magic

I'd also like to note that my computer doesn't agree with certain Latvian letters. Tetis should be Tētis, but the special e character kept crashing my document writer. //

A few years passed and Raivis went on to the Latvian School of Magic…He found the environment much better, for him. While his magic was still hard for him to control, he as least knew what it was. Not to mention…the small, Latvian school was a much nicer school, than his elementary. While he was still a bit taunted from day to day, and wedgies given with a spell were much worse than normal ones, Raivis liked it. The school was underground, something necessary because of it’s close proximities to the Russian border, and because of the Muggle wars that had taken place there. It was warm, and while it wasn’t as good as his mother’s food, the house elves cooked great dishes still. There was a brilliant spell cast upon the roof of the school, and at any time of day or night, one could see straight up into the beautiful Latvian sky. Students were allowed out above grounds, for certain classes, breaks, and weekends, so one didn’t really tire of being stuck underground; in fact, it felt safe. Raivis loved it.
Raivis loved it, that was, until the day his parents showed up, to take him away.
He was not the one to receive the letter, inviting him to Hogwarts, his dad had gotten it first(thanks to a friend he had in the Ministry Sector that helped Hogwarts select the exchange students from each country). With the reputation Hogwarts had…Raivis’ parents had been thrilled their son was chosen, and had come to give him the news.
“Wh-what do you mean…? I-I like this school though!” Raivis objected, in his commons room.
“Raivis, you have to understand, you aren’t able to control your magic well enough to function in Muggle society; think of how a better school could benefit you!” his father urged.
“It’s a great opportunity, you’ll do great! You can still come home for holidays, too,” he mother added.
“But I’m d-doing fine here! I don’t want t-to leave, I’ll control my magic e-eventually!” he objected, his voice distraught. “Y-you can’t make me go…It’s not fair!”
“Raivis, don’t be this way; you’ll make new friends, and Hogwarts has more classes. At least give it a try…it’s only for a year.”
“I don’t want to, th-though…”
The dispute between the two opposing sides went on for a little while longer; but, since Raivis’ parents were the ones in charge, he was being sent to Hogwarts. Raivis had never felt contempt for his parents, not until that day. He was given the letter his dad had received instead(“..would like to formally invite you to join us in an exchange program, to gain a better knowledge of wizards all around the world…”), and read it over and over again, seeing if there was some sort of opt out option. Of course…there wasn’t’.
And so, Raivis was hurdled into the third year of his wizarding education, on a train to a very faraway place, and a very new school. He was not happy about any of this, not at all.


The Sorting:
Raivis sat nervously at the end of a long dining table. He was surrounded by not only many English speaking students, a lot of foreigners as well. The exchange program seemed very successful. He hoped he wasn't the only one who didn't have wonderful English, it'd been a hard language for him to learn, and he knew he spoke it oddly, and with an accent, because of the looks he was given at the train station he'd been at in England when he tried to communicate. He spoke enough they understood him...But Raivis really wished he wasn't at this school.
It was huge. And above ground. Raivis had thought he was going to faint when he was the elaborate, gigantic school looming before him as he approached, sitting in a boat(he'd been mistaken for a first year and pushed along with the rest of them). The lake they crossed itself has horrifying and dark...Something was bound to shoot out, and Raivis felt at his wits end, sitting so straight up in his boat someone would think he was a tiny, trembling mast.
He was glad he didn't stand out, fitting in nicely with the first years as they got to the castle. He hurried and found his seat, which was where he was now.
Names were being called up...They got through the As, the Bs...Es, Fs, and now,
"Galante, Raivis!"
Gulping, as if that intimidating(and singing) hat was going to take Raivis' head as a souvenir, Raivis scuttled up to the stool and sat upon it. His shoulders hunched, he was sure he let out a whimper as the hat was placed on his head. There was silence, the hat didn't speak...his heart pounded in his chest, too much longer and Raivis was going to wet himself.
'Aren't the most courageous of boys, are you?' the hat finally enunciated itself, though Raivis was sure it'd been in his head; it hadn't echoed in this enormous dining hall. He didn't open his mouth, not wanting to embarrass himself in front of the whole student body of the school he so desperately didn't want to attend, and instead, thought.
'...I've never been known for that, no,' Raivis replied. He got a rush when the hat spoke again. It had heard him!
'I am...well aware. Tell me, what house are you wanting to join? But don't tease me and say you don't know what they are...I know you were reading Hogwarts, A History the whole ride here.'
'Ah..I don't really care, honestly. I don't want to be here.'
'Not very ambitious, either.'
'Not for this school, no,' it sounded like the Sorting Hat had...laughed at him?
'You're a clever boy, though you really should speak up more; perhaps we could put you in Ravenclaw?'
'Like I said...er, thought. I don't care.'
'I didn't think you would. You're a very...unimposing boy. You don't want fame, or money...you want to be left alone.'
"HUFFLEPUFF!"




ABOUT ME:
Name: Call me Allen.
Tell us a little about yourself. Even though I call myself Allen, I'm a girl. 17.
I really like Debate. It's my favourite class~
Timezone/Country USE, GMT-8
Anything else?
...I like silver the most~