♣ Elsa Dietrich watched, from her dorm window, the raw lights of dawn seep from the depths of the world. It rose over the distant mountains in a sweep of pearly, opalescent gray, luminous even while it was dim, like a sort of wedding satin beaded with the texture of clouds. A tiny smile tugged on her lips as she thought of this, and she ran her fingers through her dark chocolate locks wearily. What time was it? She gave a yawn, halfheartedly, and checked her watch on her wrist; the hands read five thirty. Well, it was better sleep than she'd gotten before, at least, and for that, she could be grateful.

♣ "Elsa, Elsa dear, look at me sweetheart. Now, you'll be a good girl again this year for daddy, won't you? A good girl, yes, that's right. Mmhm, I thought so, that's my Elsa! Such a good girl you always are, my little liebe."

♣ Elsa remembered that moment very clearly, very suddenly, as if she could see her father in front of her; Cornelius had knelt down, just barely brushing the tips of his fingers along her cheekbone. She'd been frightened because in all the books she'd read, that movement was what a lover did. But no, this was only fatherly care; he simply smiled gently at her and said those prodding, persuasive words, the words that she'd played over in her head. Such a good girl always are, my little liebe. What was liebe? Though Elsa had been born in Germany, she couldn't speak German. She did know that her father often spoke it to the servants of the house, though, and had begun wondering if he would ever teach her German. Perhaps the day would come when she'd actually asked him that question.

♣ Now, as that memory resurfaced, she sighed softly; the movement broke the seal of her previously pursed lips, and she swung her legs over the side of her bed, turning away from the window, and touched the cold floor with a shiver. She didn't know why, but she'd never liked the cold, and this cold floor didn't help anything either. With another shiver, she tugged some clothes over her head; a long sleeved gray knit shirt that clung nicely onto her slender, thin frame, black jeans, and converse. She ran a brush through her hair, making soft disaproving noises as she did so, and then pinned back the sides with a black butterfly clip she'd gotten from Elli. Then she was out of the room quickly.

♣ Since this was the day they were supposed to go to Hogsmeade, Elsa thought it was fine if she wasn't wearing her school uniform for the time being. In fact, if it wasn't, she was going to be pretty upset, because she didn't want to wear the school uniform when it was this cold. With a growl and a muttered profanity under her breath, she tugged the sleeves over her cold fingers and then continued down the hall. She wondered, briefly, if the library would have anything on Germanic words. Would it? She never thought she'd been looking up the meaning of a German word at school, though, and she hadn't cared to ask her father what "liebe" had meaned. She'd just assumed that, with the way he said it, it had to be something good... Why the hell would her father call her something back, anyway? And he hadn't even blinked when he said it, so there.

♣ She made her way into the library silently, brushing back already-stray strands of chocolate and caramel hair and closing the door behind her. Silently, she made her way into one of the sections, grabbed a few of the books, and then took them to a table, where she promptly continued to rummage through them. She'd never been a good researcher; more, you told her what to read, and she did, so she knew what you wanted now. That's just how things went for her, and that's how she'd always been. German words? Well, no surprise, they were hard to find in a wizarding school's library.

♣ Elsa's fingers ran lightly across the page, scanning, never ceasing. She was on a mission, and she wasn't planning on getting up any time soon. See, Elsa had always been a rather determined child, and that'd made for an ambitious teen. Her father had always told her ambition was a good thing, as long as she kept her heart and head in the right place, and so she hadn't thought to really stifle it at all. But now, now she was happy that she hadn't gotten read of her ambition, or that someone had weeded it out of her, because otherwise she would have likely given up a long, long time ago.

♣ But Elsa didn't like the prospect of giving up, either, so maybe it would have been harder than she thought to get rid of her determination. She saw giving up as a sort of weakness, you see, and she didn't like being percieved or just being plain weak at all, because being weak or vulnerable gave room to pain and hurt. Elsa, who'd experienced quite enough of that in her life now, thank you very much, wasn't too keen on experiencing that either, so she was sure that maybe someone wouldn't have been able to get rid of her ambition and determination as quickly as she'd thought or as they'd hoped. Which, of course, you know, is bittersweet in its prospects.

♣ Now, while on the subject of Elsa's quirks; this girl had never been one to ask for help. She never wanted to ask for help because, again, it was shown as a weakness, and then the whole chain reaction of either being hurt or taken advantage of happened. She'd seen it in her mother, asking for help through the guys she slept with. All of her life she'd seen it through her mother, so she'd decided (determinedly, mind you,) that she was not going to end up like her mother. No sir, not her. She, raised by her father, would come up like a good girl, and maybe if people didn't find her cynical and dry sense of humor too dry or too cynical, she could even find true love. Now wouldn't that have been wonderful?

♣ So, even as Elsa sat at the table, thumbing through more and more books, she found that she really, really was just about to throw the book across the room. Of course, she wouldn't actually throw the book across the room. That would just be vile of her. But she couldn't find the damn word, and she wasn't quite surprised at that, either. A German dictionary, in the wizarding library? Extremely unlikely and, if there had ever been one, it was probably removed to make space for a book that might have actually been worth something. Elsa couldn't argue with the logical voice that was chastising her in her mind, especially when they pointed out that, since Roman Coldrain had just walked in and he was top of the class, and she hadn't been paying attention when he walked in and should be grateful they pointed him out, she should ask him for help. If anyone knew about the library, it would probably be Roman.

♣ Elsa had to swallow her pride. It was big, but she pretty much had to shove it down her own throat and force herself to stand up, carrying the book close to her chest as she crossed the room and made her way over to Roman. Hesitating for only a moment, she debated on turning back around and marching right off; but then, she realized, she'd look like an idiot, so she'd have to make up something-- something like, "Oh, Roman, you've got some grass on your back." Yeah, something keen like that. All of this slipped through her mind in a matter of a second before she stifled it and then, dislodging one hand from her book, she tapped on his shoulder very lightly, petitely, biting her bottom lip.

♣ "Hey, uh, Roman?" she asked, forcing to keep her tone light. This isn't the end of the world, she told herself firmly. Not the end of the world, just the post-apocalypse stage. Pushing those thoughts to the back of her head, she tucked more stray hair behind her ear and finally looked at him. "I was wondering if you could help me? I can't seem to find something... I mean, I'm sure that a wizarding library wouldn't have it, but if there's chances that it would, then I'd like to know." She said this very plaintively, nodding lightly at the end of her words, as if to accentuate them.

♣ Elsa's pretty pink lips twisted into a light grimace. Yes, she was quite aware that Roman was a charmer. Not that she cared, mind you, to find that this gaggle of girls were hanging on him like leeches. She just disliked it, one reason being because it was more time she had to spend working on something that might have been done so much faster. Elsa was the kind of person who liked to get things done when you could get things done, instead of finding some sort of reason to stop along the way and take a little detour. If that made sense. She just found it more logical and easier to simply get done what you needed to get done.

♣ And, her annoyance with those girls wasn't jealousy. Her, jealous of girls around Roman? Please. It wasn't like she didn't care about Roman, because he had always been nice to her and he was in her house and everything. But she didn't... Well, you know, she didn't like him. Not like that. But just because she didn't think of him in that way didn't mean that she wasn't annoyed by the interruption those girls were causing. Because Elsa, impatient and sardonic Elsa, just wanted to get this all over with, as mentioned before. She hated it, but she did want this to be over with. Again, not because she didn't like Roman or anything, don't get that idea. Just because she didn't like asking for help, and again, the instinctive urge to just get things done with.

♣ She was relieved to see that Roman wasn't annoyed with her for interrupting whatever he had been doing, looking for books, reading, researching. She let out a silent breath of relief. She and Roman weren't best friends or anything, mind you, but again, it was that house-mate sort of relationship that kept them on friendly terms. And, he didn't hate her yet because he hadn't had the chance to see her dry, cynical self. Yet, of course. Fortunately, in this situation, Elsa didn't think they'd reach that point. Because she'd try to behave, just like her father had asked her too, just like her father wanted her to. Always the good little Elsa, isn't she?

♣ "Well, see, I wanted to find the meaning of this German word," she began, feeling slightly awkward. She wasn't used to asking for help, remember, so she was unpracticed and rough in the art of explaining. "I don't expect a wizarding library to have a German dictionary or anything, but I figured I'd take a look, at least a thorough one, just to be sure." She let out a soft sigh, pausing. Elsa saw Roman as one of those people who might enjoy a challenge, so she supposed it was good of her to ask him to help. Or, rather, good for her. Because anyone else might laugh and scoff at her for being daft. They might even question why she was in Ravenclaw in the first place. And then she would have said something witty and snarky, and that would have put them in their place, yes it would have.