Hey guys. Once again, sorry it took me so long. A lot of crap has been going on lately. But hopefully I have gotten stuff straightened out for now. I know it's been said, but I promise I will really, really try to update more often. Thanks for your patience.

Also, a lot of people, those close to me and not, have believed that this story is a so-called "self insert." This is absolutely NOT true. Kat is not me. Yes, we sort of have the same name, and she has many qualities that I myself possess. But she is really a mix of several people I know, and, personally, I think she's too cool to be me. So. I repeat. Kat is NOT ME. THIS IS NOT A SELF-INSERT. Thank you.

One more thing, and this is IMPORTANT. I am adding a second genre to this story. A Foreign Exchange will now be drama/spiritual. DUNDUNDUN! Oh no! Christian, what? Bible, what? If you're a big Satanist, you should probably not continue to read this story. It you're not a Satanist (or even if you are, I don't know) please PLEASE don't be turned off by the spiritual genre thing. I really didn't even want that up there, I'm just scared that the story will be removed for "improper genre" or something. It really is a drama though, and I hope you continue to read. I swear I will do all I can to make sure this is not a corny story, because I have read "Harry gets saved and becomes a Christian" stories, and I was like, "are you serious." So, I promise this will NOT be a cheesy, televangelist, Benny Hinn story (I'm saving that for a different story, and it's going to be hilarious.) Thank you.


Chapter Eight

It took Harry a second to get his bearings. He was breathing heavily, and clutching something very tightly. He looked and saw that it was Kat's hand. Her other hand was running through his hair.

"It's okay. It was just a nightmare," Kat soothed. Harry calmed down a bit, and realized his face was wet with tears. He hastily wiped them away, and let go of Kat's hand. He looked around at the clock. It was two in the morning.

"I'm sorry if I woke you up," he choked.

"I wasn't asleep," Kat said, leaning back away from the bed. "Are you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." Harry was still out of it.

"Okay. I'm going downstairs; do you need anything? Water or something?"

"No. I can't go back to sleep," Harry replied, sitting up. "I'll come too." Kat helped him up and they quietly made their way down the stairs. When they got to the kitchen Kat hopped up on the counter and ate some left over popcorn out of a bowl. Harry poured himself a glass of water and sat at the kitchen table. There was silence for a few minutes. Harry was the first to speak.

"What were you doing up?" he asked.

"I just couldn't sleep; it happens," Kat replied. "I was just reading."

"What were you reading?"

"Bible." She said it nonchalantly, like it was the most normal thing in the world. "Oh," was all Harry said, before looking down at his glass.

"Do you get nightmares a lot?" Kat asked him. He nodded. "Pretty much every night."

Kat looked at Harry with pity. "That sucks," she said. "Yeah," he replied. He could still feel Sirius' finger fall onto his face. Could still hear Voldemort laughing.

"I never really get nightmares," Kat said. "I mean, I get really weird dreams all the time, and some of them are quite disturbing, but I've never really had a nightmare."

You're lucky, Harry thought. He looked up in alarm as Kat asked him, "What were you dreaming about?"

"I don't want to talk about it." His voice was sharp. Kat's eyes widened slightly, but she had a calm, gentle look on her face. "That's fine," she said, with a voice that matched her face. "Well, I should stop eating this before I get fat." She set the popcorn down and hopped off the counter. "Good night, Harry, I hope you feel better in the morning." She was headed toward the door. Something seized at Harry's insides. "Wait," he called.

Kat turned around, her face etched with concern. Harry didn't know what to say. He didn't really know why he had called her back. He just knew he didn't want to be alone. "Will you stay down here for a little while?" he asked. Kat nodded at once and sat down at the table next to him. She then got back up, went to the counter, picked up the bowl of popcorn, and then sat back down at the table. She looked disdainfully at the popcorn for a minute, then grabbed a handful and shoved it into her mouth. Harry grabbed a handful too. When the bowl was almost finished, he had decided to tell her about his nightmare. He knew he couldn't give anything away about his being a wizard, but he had to talk to somebody. And even though he hadn't even known Kat a week, he felt at ease talking to her.

"I was dreaming about my godfather," he began. Kat looked at him but didn't say anything, so he continued. "His name was Sirius Black. We were pretty close."

"What happened?" Kat asked.

Harry took a deep breath. He hadn't actually said the words yet. He hadn't wanted to admit it to himself. "He died. About a month ago."

There was a sickening silence. "I'm sorry," Kat said.

"It's okay," Harry replied. "It's just…hard. I kind of…feel responsible, and I was dreaming that he…he was blaming me." He expected Kat to tell him it wasn't his fault, that he shouldn't blame himself, but she didn't. To his surprise, she put her arm around him and laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm really sorry, Harry," she said.

He was to shocked to say anything. He had never been shown affection like this from anyone. First he wakes up to her holding his hand, now this?

"How did he die?" Kat asked. Harry didn't know what to say. He couldn't tell her the whole story, obviously, but he wanted to be as truthful as possible. He wanted to tell her.

"He was murdered." Kat lifted her head up and looked at Harry in horror. "That's awful!" she exclaimed. "But…why do you think it's your fault?"

"I don't…I guess…" Harry was having a hard time trying to find the right words. "He was… at that place because of me. Because he thought I was in trouble. If I hadn't have gone, if I had listened to people, if I could have stopped being a stupid, angry little boy, he would still be alive…" Harry finished his rant, and looked down, ashamed of himself. Kat probably didn't understand a word of what he just said. "I'm sorry I went on like that," he mumbled.

"Oh, I rant all the time, don't worry about it." Kat sighed. "Well, I don't know the whole story, so I'm not gonna pass any judgment, but, I can say that thinking about the 'what ifs' is gonna drive you crazy. The best thing you can do right now is believe that he's somewhere better."

Harry looked at her strange. "Where would he be?" he asked.

"Heaven," Kat replied. She looked at the clock. It was three thirty. "Oh wow. That's late. We should really try to get some sleep."

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "Thanks for listening to me."

"Oh, no problem. You talk to me whenever you need to."

They tiptoed back up the stairs. Kat gave Harry a hug, which he somewhat awkwardly returned. "Goodnight," she whispered. She went into her room and quietly closed the door.

Harry flopped down on his bed. His body wanted to go back to sleep, but his mind protested. He made a little list in his head of all the things he knew about Kat. She liked Disney. She liked animals; he had seen that from the way she clung to Hedwig. She was obviously a Christian, though he wasn't really sure what that meant, since he had never actually hung out with one. And, she was a really good listener. He drifted off to sleep with the load on his chest lighter, and he didn't have any more nightmares that night.