Hello and welcome to my new and very first fanfiction! The first 3 chapters were written years ago when i wasn't as proficient in English as I am now, so sorry if it sounds awkward or if there are some mistakes in it I didn't recognize on my read through.

As this is my very first story, I would really appreciate some feedback!

Her trunk was nearly completely packed. She took the last pile of books and spare sheets from her otherwise already empty desk when an envelope fell to the floor. One short look on the address was enough to recognize whose letter it was. The handwriting was shaky and a bit messy. She seated herself on her bed and reread the letter for what felt like the hundredth time, again being met by that sick feeling that always started to well up whenever she thought of him.

My lovely Jane,

I'm so sorry for the loss of your parents. I really wish I would have been able to meet them. Or that, at least, I could be with you right now as I should be. I honestly wish I could just pack my stuff and travel to Austria to be with you, even if it's just for a few days. It's been too long since I last could make you smile and actually hear you giggle. But I just can't leave my family and friends right now. I don't know how bad it is where you live or how much news you get about the war that's going to come here, but You-Know-Who and his followers are getting stronger and they've even taken over Hogwarts. Harry, Ron and Hermione are still missing, but I know they'll come back. I'm sorry there's not anything positive I could tell you. Bill and Fleur were definitely right with getting married during such a time because that was the only bright spot we've seen for quite a while. My brother and I are still trying to give people at least a little bit of happiness through our shop, but I have no idea how much longer we can keep that up.

I hope you understand that and that you're willing to wait a little bit longer. Please believe me when I say that there would be nothing I'd love more than spending time with you again. I promise you that I'll visit you as soon as all this is over and then I'll finally take you back home to introduce you to my family.

I love you.

He had forgotten to add his name at the bottom, but the handwriting couldn't be mistaken for somebody else's. Jane wiped a tear from her cheek and put the letter back in the envelope. The letter was dated 13th February 1998 and it was the last one she'd received. At first she had thought that he was too busy or simply had forgotten her, but after the Battle of Hogwarts, she had seen an article in the Daily Prophet listing the names of the fallen witches and wizards. She hadn't expected to see anyone she knew and skimmed over it, not even daring to look too closely, while reading the other headlines, but somehow her eyes still had automatically been drawn to his name while skim scanning the page. At first she had thought her mind had been misleading her, but his name was right there, there at the bottom of the list. She hadn't wanted to believe it, she couldn't believe it. She had even gotten on with her normal life for the first few days but suddenly, while sitting at home drinking tea and rereading the list, truth had hit her and she had realized she'd never see boy she fell in love with again…

She had still gone to university every morning and locked herself in her flat for the rest of the day. It seemed like she had been living in a sort of trance ever since. She couldn't even really cry any more as there weren't any tears left. About a week ago she had decided that it couldn't go on like that forever. He wouldn't have wanted her to live a life like that. Therefore, she had sent a letter to Hogwarts as her parents had always told her to when they were still alive. Her family had had to move to Austria when she was still a baby as they hadn't been safe anymore in Great Britain during the first up-rise of Voldemort, with her father being one of the aurors that put several of his followers into Azkaban. Her father has always been ashamed of the fact that he had to leave his friends behind, but he had known that it was the only way to save his family. He still hadn't stopped fighting Voldemort's followers, though, as there were also some spread across the European mainland, which had cost him not only his life, but the life of his wife as well. That had left Jane on her own for the months.

Before their deaths, she had been educated by her parents at home for seven years. They had even managed to get to some pretty advanced stuff as her das had always wanted her to take her N.E.W.T.s in Hogwarts when she was older. He had even gone so far as to that with Albus Dumbledore, the previous headmaster of Hogwarts, prior to them leaving the country. He had assured her parents that there wouldn't be any problems. However, Jane had decided otherwise as she had wanted to study at a Muggle university in Austria to become a teacher. She liked magic, but she had just never really felt like she belonged to the magical world as she'd lived all her life among Muggles and had had to hide any traces whenever she wasn't at home. There probably was a wizarding community in her country, but her family obviously had to stay incognito. Therefore, Jane had felt more like a muggle than a witch. But now after all that had happened, she had decided that she had to change something in her life.

With her parents' wishes in mind, she had written a letter to Professor Minerva McGonagall, the new Headmistress of Hogwarts. She had asked her if she could do her final year at Hogwarts to do her N.E.W.T.s. She hadn't thought McGonagall would accept. It had been many years since her parents and Dumbledore spoke of the arrangement, so she wasn't sure that McGonagall would know anything of the plans and after all, term was starting in just three short weeks. But two days ago her black owl had come back from Hogwarts with a letter. It was the same acceptance letter magical children usually get when they are eleven years old. Her parents had told her a lot about their time at Hogwarts and had even shown her the acceptance letter they got shortly before their eleventh birthday. The envelope bore the Hogwarts emblem: The letter "H" surrounded by four animals, each displaying one of the four Hogwarts houses. A lion for Gryffindor, a badger for Hufflepuff, an eagle for Ravenclaw and a serpent for Slytherin. Each house represents different values and every first year students is sorted in to one of the houses by an old magic hat. She didn't remember all the stories her parents told her about Hogwarts when she was a child, but she had never forgotten how the sorting works as she had always been wondering which house she would have gotten sorted into if she went to Hogwarts. Trying not to damage this little artefact of her new life too much, she had opened the envelope and read letter it contained, which told her that term would start on the 1st September and provided her with a list of supplies she'd need and a train ticket.

She had immediately quit university and packed everything she owned and thought useful in her trunk. She'd have to get most things in Diagon Alley anyway, like her school robes or books. Her stomach twisted at the thought of Diagon Alley. Tomorrow she'd be standing on the same spot where she'd met him more than a year ago. In front of the same shop window she had been admiring before he'd asked her if she needed anything. She remembered every second of that moment. The embarrassing moment, when she'd realized that she was just looking at his stunning smile, smiling back at him but not saying a single word... She forced her thoughts back to her room, she didn't have time to think about the past now, as her flight would depart in three hours time. So she closed her trunk, took the empty owl cage (she had already send her owl to Hogwarts as she didn't want to have any problems at the airport), grabbed her tickets and left her flat. Leaving it all behind wasn't really hard as she didn't have anything or anything left at "home", but she was still anxious about what awaited her at Hogwarts. Would the other students accept her or would she remain the new girl? What will it be like standing where he stood, walking where he walked, when all she wished for during the last year was to be there with him together? She sighed. "I guess I will find out soon enough."