Disclaimer: I don't own any of the nouns within except Astrid McKay and her parents.

A/N: Did you know that MS Word does not believe in the awesome power of the word "neah"? Well, neah to MS Word! No, come back! I have to type my fan fic!

Summary: Astrid McKay is betrothed to Remus Lupin at a young age. Yet can she find love with him? Maybe. And with the Marauders afoot she's bound to find adventure. A/U.

Variable X – Chapter 1, Actions and Reactions

Says she who's heart has never failed her,

Willows whisper on the winds

Says he who's heart is one with her's,

The story now begins

Astrid McKay snuck up the stairs and away from another of her parents' stuffy parties. Sure this was her birthday party, but it was more a business affair. Were any of her friends there, or at least kids her age? No. Only people her parents knew; friends and business associates. The only one she could stand was a man who asked to be addressed as Uncle Ray, and he was halfway through the punchbowl by now. It was for Astrid that he stayed, really, but now he was too busy hitting on the defense expert for her father's business chain, Jessica Lawrence, to notice that Astrid had left.

That was the way that Astrid wanted it, too. She could sneak around unnoticed now, while Ray was busy trying to pick up the lonely widow Jessica (Who happened to be a sort of friend of hers, since she was one of the few honest and un snob-like people involved in Astrid's father's businesses).

She riffled through the draws in her father's study, a place she was not allowed to be. That had never mattered to Astrid; she was always into some trouble or another, and was fairly good at not getting caught. She then moved onto her father's desk.

"Business Affairs, Business Affairs II, Family Affairs/Will... Ha! Like I care. An unmarked draw, hmmn? Well, only way to find out is to open it and see."

Computer paper, formal pictures... blah, blah, blah... Ah, wait! An envelope. It was very thick, as if it held more than one letter. And so it did.

Fifth of July, 1971

I know that this is an unusual arrangement, Astrid being so... well... being so like herself, as it were, but the Lupins have a son my daughter's age and we both need to keep our family lines flowing. He's only one year, maybe two, older than my daughter; a quiet yet determined young man. Despite young Monsieur Lupin having been afflicted with the unfortunate disease of lycanthropy at the tender age of four years, he seems to know what he is doing in regards to the best interests of his family and my own. We've found a place for young Monsieur Lupin to lock himself in during those rare dangerous nights when he is not fully safe to be around. The boy's father, Richard, a very close friend of mine, and his mother, Chandelle, who is very close to Loraine, are the nicest people one could ever meet, and I doubt that a son of theirs could be any different. Yes, once my Astrid and young Monsieur Lupin meet, this betrothal will go over very nicely. My daughter may be only ten years old now, but once she's sixteen and of age to marry... I can already tell she'll be going to Hogwarts like I did. I do hope that she and Remus can get along well enough.

They should meet at Hogwarts; I've no doubt about that. I would rather like for my daughter to be in Ravenclaw, but Remus' House, Gryffindor, should be enough for my daughter. She certainly has an outgoing nature, not all unlike the other Gryffindors.

Though she's cunning, my Astrid, and her being in Slytherin might make things a bit difficult. I don't think Astrid trusts people enough to be in Hufflepuff, having seen some of how my business partners act, although I could always be wrong. Even for a ten-year-old, though, my Astrid is tough. I try to do what's best for my daughter. I can only hope that I'm doing the right thing. I'll tell her of this when she's older. Yes, when Astrid is older she'll understand my reasons for doing this.

Cordially,

David McKay

So I'm tied down already. I can't get out of a betrothal agreement! Goodness sake, I don't even know who this Remus Lupin is! I've met Richard and Emily, yes, and if he's as stuck up as they are I don't think I want to know him. How can father do this to me? I want to be free, to live the writer's life, to fall in love. Can't my father see that?

Doing what's best for me? The man doesn't even know me, hasn't even tried to get to know me! How could father ever know what's best for me? My father, doing what he thinks is best for anyone but himself? Ha! That's laughable. More like doing what's best for business.

She put the letter back where she found it in the draw, leaving the room silently and slipping into her bedroom. She pulled out her hairclip, letting her thick, shiny ringlets of hair fall down to her back. The brown/red hair fell down in waves, and she pulled out a book to stop from dwelling on her father's audacity. Trigonometry; she hated math, but it served her purposes well enough for the moment. She could get lost in the simplicity of the never-ending equations or expressions and forget all her problems for the moment. It was all the same. There was either an outcome or there wasn't, and she didn't really care either way.

Astrid was the variable x. Her reaction meant everything now. "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." Well, father, I'll meet this Remus Lupin and we'll see how it goes. In time, you'll see how I react.

There was silence, except for the scratch of her pen on paper (and the buzz of talk filtering up from downstairs), for a while, before she was interrupted.

"Whatcha doin' love?"

She jumped slightly. Ray stood leaning in the doorframe, hands in his pockets.

"I'm just reading rereading my math book, actually. So, are you leaving with Ms. Jessica Lawrence tonight?" she teased, then continued on seriously, "She's not a bad catch, you know, except for being a bit paranoid."

Ray was the only party guest I'd actually invited myself. He was a nice enough guy. He hung out at bars, mostly, drowning his sorrows in the bottle, looking for some person, anybody, to fill up the void left when his wife picked up with his three kids and disappeared, never to be seen again. He was a good guy, though, even if I could tell he sometimes thought he wanted me. He was a lonely man.

"Yeah, just thought I'd say happy birthday before I go. You'd better put your hair back up before your father comes. He's looking for you."

"Damn! Thanks, Uncle Ray."

"No problem, kiddo." And like that, he was gone.

I put my hair back carefully into its clip and went back downstairs to rejoin my party. My party. Mine. Huh, didn't look much like it belonged to me.

"Father," I smiled sweetly. "One of the guests said that you were searching for me?"

I wanted to gag, choke on the very air I breathed, but I couldn't. Not in public, where anyone could see. If I wanted to throw up, it could wait. Once, when I was eight years old, I had been very sick. I'd had pneumonia, and couldn't eat for fear of my throat aching. I'd had trouble swallowing even grape juice or water, and the noodles of chicken noodle soup wouldn't even go down. You are not supposed to throw up when you have pneumonia, but I did. My father had forced my mother and I to attend a business dinner with him, I remember clear as day.

"David, can't you see she's sick? She can't even eat!" my mother whispered frantically to my father. He looked at me across the table.

"Eat your food, Astrid," he whispered harshly.

I ate all my food, feeling it burn as it touched my throat, and as I swallowed my throat swelled with pain. I then excused myself, and threw up everything I'd eaten in the Langs' toilet. My throat was raw, and I helped myself to some codeine cough syrup in the cabinet when I was done throwing up the hard prepared meal Mrs. Lang had cooked. I felt a bit bad, as the meal really had tasted well, but It was much better going down than coming up, and I couldn't help it if my body felt like regurgitating everything that went into it as well as to have pneumonia. I came back downstairs.

"Excuse me. Mrs. and Mr. Lang? I'm not feeling very well at all, and was wondering if you might have some aspirin. I wouldn't ask, it's just that my head is pounding and..."

And whatever I was going to say next I have no idea, because at that very moment I fainted. When I woke up my father was looking down at me sternly, and he yelled at me for ruining the business dinner. He was so angry. My mother tried to hold him back, calm him down, but that made him even angrier. He slapped me, and I've hated my father ever since that day. Looking at what he'd done, he walked straight out of the room. My mother tried with false platitudes. "He didn't mean it." "It's all right." "He'll be back in a few minutes to apologize." But we both knew it was too late to apologize, him and I.

Happy freaking birthday to me.

End Chapter 1, Actions and Reactions, of Variable X.