A/N-  Here we go, I finally finished the next chapter.  I'm glad everyone seems to like it so far, I've been wanting to do this story for a while.  If Sirius and Rmeus can have children in other people's stories, why can't Peter have a daughter?  We'll find out more details about Peter and Kassia's marriage later on, but for now the focus is going to be on Perdita.  Sirius and Remus will be making an appearance later too.  And no one has guessed what Nil Desperandum means in Latin yet, so the contest is still going.  Whoever guesses correctly will get a free preview of a later chapter as a reward :)  Oh, and I meant to put this in the first chapter, but I'd like to thank my friends Ayla Lupin and Ameena Raynor for all their help with this story, for helping me work out the plot, betaing the chapters, and for just plain putting up with my talking about this idea for so long.  Thanks guys!

And now, to answer the reviews!

Cerridwen- Don't worry, I plan on keeping this story going.  I'm hoping the French I use in the later stories is accurate.  The only French I know comes from an online translation site, so hopefully it will be accurate.  Glad you like it so far though!

Paige- Yeah, I'm finally doing a story that has absolutely nothing to do with my Ariana series, it's a miracle!  Peter's going to have an interesting role later on in the story too, so his brief appearance in the first chapter isn't his only one :)

Sabrina Potter- Hehe, you know me, I love doing weird stuff.  And knowing me, you'll already know there's gonna be a bunch of plots twists and cliffes :)

Ginger Twist- Aww, thank you.  I'm glad you liked it so much.  This chapter isn't quite as emotional, but I still think its good.  Hope you like it!

Spookykat- Thanks, I'm trying very hard to keep my charecters from being mistaken for Mary Sues.  I personally think they are evil, and am trying to keep Perdita as far from perfect as possible.  I hope you like this next chapter too!

Ayla Lupin- I figured Peter needed a family, which makes him betraying the Potters even more interesting, since he had a wife he just abandoned by faking his death.  Of course, you know more about the plot than almost anyone, but I know you still love reading it :)

****************

"Wake up, Boy!" Aunt Petunia shouted, pounding on Harry's bedroom door.  Harry woke with a start.

"Mrrfl?" he asked groggily, rolling over and opening his eyes.

"I said get up!" she shouted through the door. "Get downstairs and start fixing the breakfast!"

            Another lovely day on Privet Drive, Harry thought bitterly.  The last thing he wanted to see in the morning was Dudley chowing down like a pig on breakfast.  Harry sometimes wondered: if Dudley's breakfast weren't on time, would he start eating the table?  That mental picture managed to make Harry smile a bit as he got dressed.  He ran a comb through his hair, not that it ever did any good, then hurried downstairs.  If there was one thing he wasn't willing to do, it was incur the wrath of Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon this early in the morning.  Though, considering everything that had happened to him the previous school year, that might be a welcome change.  He just had a few more days until he would be going to the Weasleys for the rest of the summer, and he was determined not to do anything that would jeopardize this.  Even if he knew full well that there would be no way for the Dursleys to stop him if the Weasleys were coming to get him.

            As usual, the Dursleys basically ignored Harry as he walked around the kitchen, fixing their breakfast.  Dudley was still on his diet, not that it had really been doing him much good.  It seemed like Dudley was still gaining weight, no matter how much Aunt Petunia monitored his diet.  For breakfast today, they were having pineapple slices.  Harry was amazed they actually trusted him with a knife to cut it up.  Lately, they had been treating him as though he really did go to St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys.  In fact, they were going to London today and leaving him at Mrs. Figg's, since they apparently didn't trust him alone in the house all day.  Harry had barely finished eating when they were ordering him around again.

"Get out in the garden and start weeding." Uncle Vernon barked. "You'd better be done by the time we're ready to leave."

"Yes, Uncle Vernon." Harry sighed, already getting up from the table.  Just a few more days, he thought.  Just a few more days.

            Actually, he was almost glad to be outside.  So far this summer, he had been given so many chores to do indoors that he had hardly seen the sun at all.  It was nice to breathe fresh air again.  Harry stood outside for a moment, simply letting the sun warm his skin.  It was a perfect day, even if he did have to spend it weeding the garden.  Sighing a bit, Harry knelt down in the garden and began pulling weeds.  What I wouldn't give to see a gnome right now, he thought with a laugh.  That would certainly add some excitement.  After a while, he started to feel like someone was watching him.  He turned towards the hedges and saw a small pair of bright, ocean blue eyes watching him from within the leaves.  They suddenly became very wide and disappeared as the owner turned and ran.  Harry got to his feet, trying to see who it was, but they were gone too quickly.

"That was a bit unnerving." Harry thought to himself.  Who had been watching him?  Though it had spooked him a bit, Harry didn't feel the person was a threat.  It had probably just been a neighborhood kid he hadn't recognized.

"Boy!  We're leaving!" Uncle Vernon roared from the back porch a few hours later.  Harry took that to mean that he was supposed to go over to Mrs. Figg's now.  Sighing, Harry began walking to her house.  He briefly considered not going at all, but figured if he didn't show up, she would tell the Dursleys, and Harry didn't want to imagine what would happen then.  He'd just have to deal with her cabbage-smelling house, and the swarm of cats that lived there. 

            Harry sighed as he walked to Mrs. Figg's house.  He wasn't really looking forward to this.  True, she no longer made him look at the pictures of every cat she had ever owned in her life, but her house still wasn't really the place he wanted to spend his whole afternoon.  He would have rather just stayed alone at the Dursleys' house, but that wasn't an option.  He didn't have anything against Mrs. Figg, he just wasn't very eager to spend the day at her house, where the only company he had was a woman who was probably four times his age.  Of course, he didn't exactly get a choice in the matter.

            When he knocked on the door however, it wasn't old Mrs. Figg that answered.  Instead, Harry was greeted by a small blond haired girl peeking at him from around the corner of the door.  She stared at him curiously, as though she didn't trust him.  He'd never seen her around the neighborhood before.  What was she doing at Mrs. Figg's?

"May I 'elp you?" she asked, in a quiet, almost frightened tone.  Harry noticed right away she had a pronounced French accent, making him even more curious as to who she was and how she knew Mrs. Figg.

"It's all right, Perdita." Mrs. Figg said from behind her.  The door opened all the way, and Harry could see Mrs. Figg standing behind the small girl. "Hello, Harry."

"Er-Hello, Mrs. Figg." Harry said. "My Aunt and Uncle told me to come over here now."

"Yes, they just called me." she smiled. "Come inside dear, I've just made some lemonade."

"Thanks." he said gratefully.  He was very thirsty from weeding the garden. 

            Mrs. Figg disappeared into the kitchen to get the lemonade, leaving Harry alone in the living room.  He looked around and noticed that the blond girl had disappeared.  He shrugged and looked around.  The living room had barely changed at all since the last time he had been there.  It was decorated in a typical grandmotherly style.  Somehow, it always felt like more of a home than the Dursleys' house did.  Pictures hung on every wall, showing various people of all ages.  They were all Muggle photos, of course, but Harry didn't mind.  He'd grown up looking at photos that never moved.

            Harry never got tired of looking at the photos on the wall, for some reason.  Each one showed exactly the sort of family Harry had always wanted as a child.  The older ones showed a young couple, obviously Mrs. Figg and her husband.  Her hair had been a soft auburn color in her youth, though all traces of color had faded to the white color her hair now was.  One picture showed the man in a policeman's uniform, his light brown hair standing out against the picture.  Harry didn't know much about Mrs. Figg, or her life.  All he knew came from these pictures on the wall.  He had never met Mr. Figg, but from the pictures, he looked like a man who would have a deep voice.  He was large and muscular, but his eyes were very friendly looking.  He imagined him as being like Hagrid: big and strong, but as gentle as possible.

            As Harry followed the familiar line of pictures on the wall, a baby appeared, slowly aging through the photos into a smiling girl with reddish blond hair.  She looked very much like Mrs. Figg, and could only have been her daughter.  Mr. Figg seemed to disappear from the pictures as Harry continued along.  He had always wondered what had happened to him.  The girl continued to age however, into a young woman with vibrant eyes that looked full of life.

            One the fireplace, however, was a photo Harry had never seen before.  The woman with the reddish blond hair was again in the picture, with her mother.  Also in the picture was the blond girl who had answered the door.  All three women, Harry noticed, looked very much alike, not unusual since they were related.  But the blond girl...something seemed familiar about her.  He couldn't put his finger on it, but it seemed like he should know her somehow.

"Here you go, dear." Mrs. Figg said, walking back into the living room, drawing Harry out of his thoughts.  She set a plate of cookies and a pitcher of lemonade on the coffee table.  He sat down on the couch, only just realizing how hungry and thirsty he was.  A few of Mrs. Figg's cats were in the corner eating out of a large food dish, though some were still gathering around his feet, begging for crumbs.  Harry sat down on the couch and gratefully drank the lemonade.

"Perdita, you don't have to be shy.  Come on out." Mrs. Figg called.  Harry looked up and saw the blond girl standing silently in the doorway of the living room.  Slowly, she walked over to the couch and sat opposite of Harry, keeping her eyes down as she reached for a cookie.

"Harry, this is my granddaughter, Perdita." Mrs. Figg said warmly. "Perdita, this is Harry.  He lives a few houses away, and he'll be staying with us today."

" 'ello." the little girl said quietly. 

            There was something familiar about this girl, he thought again, but he couldn't figure out what. That was when he realized it, staring at her.  Her eyes.  Those were the same blue eyes that had been watching him earlier.  At least, he thought that was why she seemed familiar.  Those were definitely the eyes he had seen though.  They lapsed into silence as Mrs. Figg turned on the television.  Perdita sat on the opposite side of the couch, staring at the screen.  Her grandmother sat in a rocking chair nearby, stroking one of her cats. 

            Harry looked over at Perdita, though she didn't notice right away.  She had shoulder length, blond hair and pretty blue eyes.  Her skin was a creamy white, which went nicely with her hair.  She seemed to sense him looking at her and looked away so she couldn't see him watching her anymore, blushing slightly.  Harry smiled a bit.  Perdita reminded him a lot of Ginny, the first time he had met her.  He smiled, thinking of Ginny.  He really missed her, Hermione, and Ron.  At least he would be seeing them again soon.  Just a few more days, he thought happily.

            But while Ginny had eventually gotten over her shyness around Harry, Perdita seemed to be a different story.  He had hardly heard her say more than a few words at a time.  Harry happily watched the television; Mrs. Figg allowed him to do what he liked, knowing how awful the Dursleys were.  He was rarely able to watch what he wanted.  He stroked a few of the cats that swarmed around him on the couch.  After a while, however, Perdita took a book from one of the shelves and quickly left the room.  Mrs. Figg looked up from her book in time to see Perdita walk out, heading for the back garden.  She finally spoke to Harry, breaking the silence.

"You'll have to excuse Perdita." she said to him, drawing his attention from the TV. "She's been going through a rough time lately.  Though she's always been rather shy."

"Really, it's no problem." Harry smiled. 

            However, after a few more minutes of watching the television, Harry decided he'd go outside.  He found her sitting outside on a small bench in the garden, absorbed in her book.  For a moment, she looked like a blond Hermione, reading some book or other that she'd gotten from the library.  Harry felt another twinge of longing to see his friends, and escape the Dursleys.  He shook his head, pushing the thoughts aside.  It wouldn't be much longer, he told himself.  Meanwhile, at least he had someone to talk to, who didn't glare at the sight of him like the Dursleys did.

"Do you like to read?" Harry asked, walking up behind Perdita.  Perdita gave a startled gasp and turned to look at him, blushing slightly at her outburst.  She hadn't heard him come outside.

"Sorry, what did you say?" she asked quietly.

"I just asked if you liked to read." Harry smiled, sitting down on the bench with her.

"Oh.  Oui, I do." she replied, smiling shyly. "I read all the time."

"You sound like a friend of mine." Harry grinned, thinking of Hermione. "So...your grandmother told me you've been going through a tough time lately.  Care to talk about it?"

"I do not want to bore you." she said, turning her head away so he couldn't see the tears forming in her eyes.

"I don't mind at all.  It's nice to have someone around here to talk to for once."

"What about your cousin?" she asked.

"Dudley?" Harry snorted. "I don't think Dudley is capable of conversation of any kind.  He mostly just sleeps and eats, when he isn't beating me up."

" 'ow mean of 'im." Perdita said, a note of anger in her voice.

"Yeah, well, he's so fat he can hardly ever catch me.  He certainly tries though." he said.

"Why would 'e be so mean to you?" Perdita asked. "You 'ave never done anything to 'im, 'ave you?"

"No, he just...doesn't like me." Harry shrugged. "His parents, my Aunt and Uncle, don't like me either.  They didn't like my parents, so they don't like me."

"That is not a very good reason." Perdita said sympathetically.

"In Dursley land it is." Harry thought.  Out loud, he said. "So, Perdita, what are your parents like?"

"They were really wonderful people." she said quietly. "I never knew my father; 'e died before I was born.  But my mother said 'e was a wonderful man."

"What's your mum like?" Harry asked, glad that she seemed to be coming out of her shell now.

"She is dead." Perdita whimpered slightly, tears starting to blur her vision. "She died just a few weeks ago."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Harry said sympathetically.  She was starting to cry harder now.  Not knowing what else to do, Harry put his arm around her shoulders. "What happened?"

"I do not know." she replied. "I just came 'ome and found she 'ad been attacked.  Someone murdered 'er and I don't know why."

"It's okay." Harry said soothingly.

"Sh-She died in my arms." she sobbed. "She was murdered, just like my father."

"Your father was murdered too?' Harry asked, shocked.  Perdita nodded.

"You 'ave no idea what it's like." she whimpered softly. "Losing them both like that."

"Actually, I do." he said gently. "Both my parents were murdered, too.  That's why I have to live with my Aunt and Uncle."

"When did they die?" she asked, looking up at him.

"When I was barely a year old." he replied. "I can't remember them at all."

"I am sorry.  And here I am, crying my eyes out." she said, wiping away her tears.

"No, it's okay.  I've had fourteen years to get used to it.  You just lost your mother a few weeks ago." Harry said.

"I guess we 'ave a lot in common, don't we?" she managed to smile, brushing off the last of her tears.

"I guess so." Harry smiled, glad she wasn't crying anymore.  After a moment, he broke the silence once again. "So, you were the one watching me through the bushes earlier, weren't you."

            Perdita promptly blushed brightly.

"I...I didn't mean to spy." she said, thoroughly embarrassed. "I was just walking around, and I saw you.  I was trying to work up the nerve to introduce myself."

"Work up the nerve?  I'm not that scary, am I?" Harry grinned.  Perdita laughed slightly.

"No, I am just very shy." she replied. "I always 'ave been.  But when I saw that you 'ad seen me, I got nervous again and came back here."

"I'm not sure how the Dursleys would have taken you talking to me anyway.  Their goal in life is to keep me as miserable as possible." Harry shrugged. "Dudley especially.  He could pound me flat, he's twice my size, but like I said before, he can't catch me."

" 'e sounds like a git."

"He is." he grinned. "But I only have to spend a few more days there."

" 'ow come?" Perdita asked curiously.

"I'm leaving to spend the rest of the summer with a friend from school." Harry replied. "Another friend of ours is going to be there too."

"Well, that will be nice." she smiled. "Do you 'ave many friends?"

"Not really.  Well, at school I do, just not around here.  But I have two best friends."

"What are their names?"

"Ron and Hermione."

"I like that name, 'ermione." Perdita smiled. "It is pretty.  Prettier than Perdita."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that." Harry smiled. "I think it's nice."

"Well, nothing is worse than Parkin." Perdita said, her shy smile returning.

"Who's Parkin?" Harry asked curiously.

"Parkin is my middle name." she told him. "After my father, in a way."

"That's nice." Harry said. "My middle name is from my father too."

"Neat.  What is your-" she began, but she was cut off by her grandmother calling out to them.

"Harry!" she called. "Your Aunt and Uncle just called.  You can go home now."

"Oh goody." Harry said sarcastically. "Maybe I'll see you again next summer?"

"That would be great." she said honestly. "Then you would not 'ave to spend so much time around your cousin."

"It would make a nice change of pace." he grinned. "I'd better get going though, before Aunt Petunia throws a fit."

"Oui, that sounds scary." Perdita laughed. "See you next summer, 'arry."

"Bye, Perdita!" he called, as he hurried from the backyard.