Once Again Like Once Before| R.J.Lupin

Chapter three: 282

At the sight of the lake, anxiety had bubbled up in her stomach which had her wondering if it was too late to run back and get on the Hogwarts Express head back home. Winona was so anxious about getting on the small boat that she hadn't noticed that most of the kids were on the boats already.

"Hey lass, there's no boats left so you'll have to catch a ride with me if that's alright?" The rough man asked the young witch in a gentle voice, though it still made her flinch due to her scared state.

Anxious, she only gave him a slight nod with her face turned towards the ground as she took slow steps towards the tall man, the other kids were too engrossed with their new surroundings to notice her delaying the disembarking.

The rough man watched as she was hesitating to get on the puny boat that looked like, in her opinion, would break if the wind blew.

"Don't worry, I've gotcha." The tall man said softly as he held out a hand to help the young witch onto the boat.

She eyed his giant hand before placing her hand in his, taking a wobbly step into the boat after deciding that she could trust the gentle tall man.

She slowly lowered herself down onto the seat in front of him, careful not to somehow flip the boat.

When the boat suddenly started to move she scrambled to grip the edge of her seat, whipping her head back and forth.

Winona heard the gentle tall man bark out a laugh behind her, causing her to let out an annoyed huff in response.

"It'll be fine, Lass." The rough man chuckled at the small witch as she rolled her eyes, unable to understand why he found the unfortunate situation humorous.

"Say, what's the name, Lass?" The tall man behind her asks.

Winona internally sighed before slowly turning round in her seat to face the burly man because her Mother always said that it was rude not to look at someone when they were talking to you, ironic.

Like she should be the one to talk, she's the one who can barely even look in my direction. The young witch thought to herself.

"Winona Forelowe." She responded to the burly man after she fully turned around, not bothering to give him a fake smile because he probably couldn't even see her face in the dark anyway.

"Huh...What a familiar name." He mumbled to himself with a stumped expression before quickly shaking his head and offering his hand to her.

"Rubeus Hagrid." He introduced himself as.

She reluctantly removed her hand from her seat, taking his hand and gently shaking it just as he looked away, looking up to the approaching castle.

Winona once again slowly turned in her seat to face the castle before being immediately hit with an overwhelming sense of deja vu.

While she was blinking, trying to place the strange emotions, the young witch hadn't realized the boat had reached the underground harbor and people were already getting out of their boats.

"Up you go Winona," Hagrid said, already out of the boat and reaching down to offer his hand once more.

She latched on his hand and got off of the boat with her face down, keeping a careful eye on her feet.

The young witch followed her group as they finally entered the castle, coming to a stop at the top of a staircase.

Winona listened as Professor McGonagall explained what the first years would expect next and about the different houses and as well as house points, all the while the young witch was still experiencing extreme deja-vu.