AN: Guys, I was 16 when I wrote the original in 2012. I'm nearing 19 now and I want this to be a project and done hopefully before I get a degree. All other WIP projects (Gusts Come Around and And Start Again) are still in-progress.

I'm formerly known as Tzadikim and this is the reboot featuring: improved grammar and punctuation, consistency in writing, POC Potters and Grangers, different POVs, a linear plot, and hopefully a step up in my writing skills. This has been brought to you by a decision that was made months ago when sleep deprived. New to this? Don't worry! Their names are the same as their canon ones.

Why pick a Rule 63 AU? Because the double-standards regarding gender in this fandom is annoying as hell. I also like canon ships. You can read ahead on my AO3 account, and the link is there on my profile.

Disclaimer: I sound too Yankee-Doodle-Dandy to be JK Rowling.

Title: Come Morning Light

Word Count: 973

Summary: Reboot!The hardest thing to do after a war is to wake up. 101 one-shots in a gender-bended universe of people getting better.

Halley felt something stir against her.

Through the hazy labyrinth of sleep she tried to direct her way out, heavy limbs struggled to move, and stiff muscles protested. One of her hands became tangled in something soft, opening an eye; she was momentarily surprised to see a striking shade of red near her head. He was facing away from her and haphazardly taking up a side of the bed. The other part of his pillow was streaked with dirt and some blood.

Halley then opened both eyes. Am I dreaming? she thought, half-expecting to wake up in the cold tent in a dark forest. Except she was greeted with the familiar red velvet curtains of her bed at Hogwarts. A bed that was also occupied by someone else. Now would be the part of the dream that she would wake up from. She would be back in the tent with tensions high, and not at Hogwarts with her ex-boyfriend being so close.

Except, Halley looked at her shabby robes that were stained and bloodied and torn; and then at his sleeping form in which he was snoring. Her dreams usually involved him awake. She tried to push herself up in a sitting position, but a dull pain in her chest forced her back down. That acted as a wake up call, making her feel aware of her injuries that she'd sustained throughout the year. From her sore leg muscles to the burns from the break-in, Halley could only grimace as she got reacquainted with her very much alive body.

(In the back of her mind, the solid dirt ground of the forest stayed as she felt death surround her and ready to greet her as an old friend.)

The room felt colder and Halley had to curl her hands hard enough to almost draw blood from her palms. Alive, she reminded herself. She pictured Hogwarts untouched by war, the Burrow filled with happy people, and more scenes from her life that brought her life that were filled with her friends. You're alive, Potter. It better stay like that for a while. Halley painfully remembered the rest: the chaos of the final part of the battle, gloating almost recklessly to Riddle about what had gone wrong for him, and crying. She remembered sobbing after everything once the event had settled in her mind.

The faces of the dead were painted on the inside of her eyelids, but Halley wanted to keep her eyes open for now. She needed the dead to stay away.

She pushed her tangled and dirty hair back, wishing greatly for a shower and— when running her tongue over her teeth—a toothbrush. Yes, getting patched up should be the first of her priorities. Although...

Careful not to wake him, Halley reached to turn Gid on his back. His head flopped to one side and his snoring subsided. She had to look closely at his face because she couldn't find her glasses. He appeared unharmed except for a half-healed gash on his cheek. There were specks of dried blood intermingling with his numerous freckles, but Halley couldn't see anymore wounds. Reassured that at least one of them was physically okay, she felt better with the idea of leaving the bed.

Halley pushed the curtains away to find her glasses neatly folded and her wand on the bedside table. She tapped her wand (feeling the jolt that it was her wand and not someone else's) on the glasses to make the grime vanish and put them on.

"Hey," he whispered. "What are you doing up?"

Slowly, Halley turned around and saw that Gid was awake. He was on his side; the sheets kicked to the bottom of the bed and the heavy duvet half off.

"Shower," she said, tasting the bad breath and blood in her mouth.

There was something very strange about imagining an event so many times and then to actually experience it. She would imagine their reunion very differently than the one that had happened last night with her pleading him to stay and the sobbing. In her imagination, they would both be awake and elated and everything would be better. Instead Halley felt tired and unsure with the large expanse of time that was now ahead of her.

"Are you in pain?" he asked.

Halley opened her mouth to automatically say no, but she shook her head side by side. It wasn't much, but she certainly felt the abrasions from the fight.

Gid stood on his knees and searched the pockets in his robe to find a glass vial that was slightly cracked on one facet. "Dittany," he explained. "Always good to have some around. The Carrows…" The rest was left unsaid.

She held her hands out and he applied the purple potion on her bloodied knuckles and small cuts that grazed her palms. His hands were different now, she noticed. They were the same fingers with the wide knuckles with the freckles, but there were scars with his callouses.

"And you? Do you need anything?" Halley asked when he finished. She flexed her fingers, feeling a cramp in her right hand.

"I went to Pomfrey before I checked on you," Gid said. He brushed his shaggy hair out of his eyes and he was staring at her. "That can't be everything, yeah?" His voice was softer.

Halley felt the bruise on her chest. "Nothing too serious." She got out of bed and Conjured a towel with her wand. The magic felt as warm and familiar as it did before. "Right. Shower."

"Mhm." He rearranged himself on the bed and was watching her. "Hey, Halley?"

"Yeah?" She wasn't even halfway to the door.

"Hi," Gid said. His Adam's apple bobbed and he raised his hand in a small wave. "I never did got to greet you, now did I?"