Hi! This is my very first attempt on a oneshot - and a fic in the HP fandom, so please go easy on me, plus English is not my mothertongue, so any grammar mistakes might come from there. And I know that Wood didn't have a younger sister (of my knowledge)
~ LovingBOBThePacific
A Light That Shines:
"Ollie, why can't I go home, with you?" the little girl in the hospital bed questioned with a little-girl-voice, catching the older boy's attention - a man you could almost call him now at twenty-two years old. The nickname his sister in the hospital bed had given him when she was no more than two, since it was too difficult for her to say Oliver, had stuck with him all those years. Though, it was only adorable when she said it. Oliver looked his younger sister over with a gleam of pride and sadness in his eyes. They looked like one-another – same eye-color, same hair-color, same cheekbones and the same stubbornness.
"Blimey, I've been through many tough fights with this little bugger.." Oliver thought, smiling fondly to himself. Of all the times the two had been fighting, they both had made it all right again half of the times each.
"Ollie! Why are you smiling so goofy?" Annabelle giggled, causing her older brother to laugh as well.
Dramatically throwing his hands in the air, Oliver looked at his sister, the mischief glimpsing in his eyes "Oh, I was just thinking about how many suitors I have to torture when you become older."
Stubbornly, Annabelle crossed her arms, an amusing sight to see for Oliver "I don't like boys. I never will."
Chuckling, Oliver sat down on the edge of the bed, taking her little hand, softly stroking his thumb over it "I see. So you want to become one of those cat-ladies with sixty-seven cats plus the loose when you grow up, I take it then?"
Annabelle's eyes widened, much to Oliver's hidden amusement, knowing he had hit the nail on the head with that comment.
"Yo-You mean like those we've seen in the park?" she asked shocked.
"Hmm, just like those we've seen in the park, Belle" Oliver mused with an innocent smile.
Annabelle then nervously messed with the baby-blue quilt while she replied quietly "I-I guess I could go out with a boy or two anyway..."
At that Oliver laughed, kissing his sister on the forehead "Good girl."
"However, you still hasn't answered my first question" Annabelle accused as she slid farther and farther under the quilt, Oliver, like it was routine, tugged the quilt tighter around the girl.
"And what was the question? I don't remember" Oliver lied, still sitting beside her on the edge of the bed's left side.
Ignorant, Annabelle rolled her eyes "Are you sure you're not more than twenty-two?"
Before Oliver could answer, a female voice said at the door "Well, aren't you sassy – just like your brother!"
The siblings looked up at the girl at the door, Annabelle's eyes sparkling "Katie!"
The older girl chuckled, walking into the room fully "Hello there, Annabelle."
"Katie." Oliver smiled politely at his old flame – the two of them were just good friends now, and earlier Quidditch team-mates at the Gryffindor team. After Oliver had graduated he had been playing for Puddlemere United as a reserve player and hadn't had much contact with his former team-mates until now when he got the message that the Battle of Hogwarts were on its way. In fact, that was where they were going now, right after Oliver had managed to say possibly goodbye forever to his little sister. He thanked Maura, one of the nurses and also a witch, whom had let Annabelle stay there on the hospital where she would be safe.
"Wood, it's time" Katie said simply with a sad smile, her gaze shifting between Annabelle and Oliver.
Realization hit Oliver like a bludger, causing him silently to loose his breath. He had tried to prepare himself for this, but he just guessed that no preparations for a might be 'goodbye forever'.
In despair, Annabelle looked up at her brother "Where are you going, Ollie? What's happening?"
Seeing this as a cue to leave, Katie smiled at Annabelle before turning curtly to Oliver "We'll be waiting downstairs."
Nodding without looking at Katie, he knew when she was out the door.
"Ollie, why won't you tell me anything?!" Annabelle sounded so disconsolate, which Oliver couldn't blame her. He had been holding this a secret for weeks and had in secrecy talked with the nurse of the possibilities of Annabelle staying here while he was gone. What he hadn't thought of was, what if he didn't return?
Fat warm tears were rolling down Annabelle's cheeks – the color of them turning into a pale red.
Oliver stroked his hand over her hair, taking her hand with the other, trying to calm her down "Baby-girl, listen to me-."
"Why do I have to listen, you haven't told me anything!" the girl exclaimed, her body vibrating from her violent sobs.
Brown orbs meeting brown orbs, Oliver said "Shhh, Belle. Look, what I can tell you is that I'm going somewhere with Katie, Angelina and the others from my old team and many others to hopefully beat some very bad people up so they won't harm other people anymore. Do you understand that?"
Annabelle looked thoughtful before she looked at her brother, nodding hesitantly. The look on her face caused Oliver to smile. He still had a lot of Quidditch on his mind, but since this little jewel came into his life only five years ago, she had been on his mind much more than Quidditch had ever done.
"And while I'm gone, Maura has been so kind to say that she gladly would let you stay here until I come back" Oliver continued, the last four words gnawing in the back of his mind. The thought, which he threw away as soon as the thought of if he didn't return came into his mind – shortly said, it came out as fast as it came in.
Annabelle seemed a bit calmer now but still seemed nervous so Oliver squeezed her hand softly, wiping away her tears with his thumb.
"When will you be back?"
Oliver smiled at her innocent question. He was glad that he had gone out of this as he did, and he was glad that his sister didn't seem to know how important this 'beating' was. He couldn't bear the thought of Annabelle going around with those thoughts inside her pretty little head.
"If I'm lucky, hopefully by dawn" Oliver said truly, though he doubted that it all would be over by dawn, but he hoped it would. So he could go home – so everyone could go home and live their lives. Oliver wasn't stupid – he knew that lives would be taken and that some never would see a new tomorrow.
"Would you give the bad people a punch for me too?" Annabelle asked like in almost a pout.
Oliver laughed, kissing her hand "'Course I will pumpkin, but now I think it's time for you to close your eyes and sleep a little, don't you?"
Annabelle sighed and yawned, not feeling like putting up a fight as she had done the previous nights "If you say so, Ollie."
He smiled, crouching down next to the bed, running his right hand through her brown hair, almost whispering "Promise me one thing, Belle."
"What Ollie?"
"No matter what tomorrow brings, promise me that you'll love with your heart and think with your mind. Choose between right and wrong. Promise me that you'll be the same happy little sister I'm so incredibly proud of." Oliver looked her directly in the eyes, seeing the confusion and shock in her eyes.
"I promise, Ollie" she then replied with a serious face.
Oliver desperately glimpsed the tears in his eyes away as he smiled "One more question. What is the Gryffindor motto?"
Without flinching for a second, Annabelle smiled her heartwarming smile and looked her only brother deeply in the eyes, repeating the words she had heard him say for the past five years "Their daring, nerve and chivalry set Gryffindors apart."
Oliver smiled proudly, pressing a last kiss on his sister's forehead, whispering "Big girl. Now sleep. I'll go outside for a bit, okay?"
"Okay..." Annabelle replied sleepily, barely catching his words, but he didn't get to go farther than the door before she spoke "Ollie?"
Oliver turned "Yes, Belle?"
"Remember to punch the bad people for me" she begged.
Fondly Oliver smiled reassuringly "I will. Now close your small eyelids for me, okay?"
He barely saw her nod before he had gone outside the door and closed it silently behind him, but her call for him brought him back at the door.
"Ollie?" Annabelle called.
Oliver looked at her curiously "Yeah?"
"I love you."
Once again, all the air in his lungs flew out of him like he had been kicked square in the stomach. Oliver bravely held the new-coming tears back as he smiled, though it seemed more like a grimace to him. He croaked "I love you too, Annabelle."
He then closed the door when he saw she had closed her eyes, and went down the halls, sent a curt nod to Maura who smiled encouragingly at him as he walked by. He met up with his Gryffindor team-mates in the waiting-room. He greeted them all with either a hug or a firm handshake before they began to make their way towards the large glass doors.
Oliver felt a nudge to his right side, looking to find that the nudging person was Angelina Johnson.
"Hey Angie" Oliver greeted quietly with a small smile.
"You know you can drop out if you want, Ollie" she told him quietly, but directly "Nobody would blame you, Oliver. You have Annabelle who needs her big brother more than anything else."
"Jesus. She doesn't waste her time, but that's just Angie" Oliver thought before he became serious again. He could drop out as Angelina said, but-.
"No" he insisted "I do this so Annabelle can grow up in safety and in peace. A better world" Oliver continued as the doors went up and the chilly wind hit their faces.