𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲!

Chapter 1

James Potter just likes to think that he's better down on his luck. It happens to everyone at some point, right? Down on your luck sounds better than directionless, on the verge of overdrawing your bank account, jobless, 23-year-old. That's what he tells himself as he shuffles quickly into the little coffee shop on the corner, rubbing his hands together rapidly to warm them up. The little bell chimes, announcing his entrance, and his glasses immediately fog up due to the rapid change in temperature.

The scent of coffee brewing is a welcomed one, and James closes his eyes, inhaling deeply and letting the roasted warm smell comfort him in its familiarity. Gentle music is playing somewhere from the hidden speakers in the shop. 

"Look, I hate to be this person because I love seeing you in here every day I do," the barista began wryly from the other side of the counter, "but I'm afraid Melting Cup Café and Bakery is bleeding you dry money-wise."

"Remus," James opened his eyes and quickly cleared the fog on his glasses with his shirt before putting them back on. He greeted the barista with his best charming smile that never seemed to falter, no matter how down on his luck he was. "You have my usual?"

Remus sighed turning around before placing a large cup on the counter next to the register. Steam was coming off the little hole in the lid and James felt his caffeine headache melt away just looking at it. "That's £4.09," Remus replied flatly, ringing him up.

James began fumbling in his pockets looking for his wallet, checking his jacket pockets first then the pockets in his trousers. "Ah," he says when he finally finds it, pulling it out and paying.

"I almost feel that, ethically, I cannot keep selling you coffee when you have no money and no job," Remus shook his head as James took his first sip.

"I am working on the job part," James grinned. "One of these days I'm going to be a millionaire and buy my own coffee shop and then you won't see me in here anymore at all and wouldn't that be sad?"

"You were on track to being a millionaire at that banking job you had before you quit," Remus' eyes shot up looking at his friend. "I didn't feel bad about selling you coffee every day when you worked there."

"You are lucky we are friends Remus Lupin or otherwise, I might even be angry at you right now for bringing that up," James said warningly as Remus held his hands up in surrender. "I'm gonna sit over there," James nodded at an empty table in the corner.

Actually, the entire café was empty this early in the morning. James always got there a little before opening and because Remus was fond of him, he would let James in early. Remus claimed it was out of the goodness and kindness of his heart but James secretly suspected Remus was lonely opening the shop all by himself. He had been coming to get coffee from this little place on the corner for almost three years now. Two and half of those years, he would come in, order the same double latte every morning, talk to Remus for a few minutes and then head off to his incredibly boring, insanely mundane, soul-killing bank job. Over the years, James and Remus had developed a friendship that both of them thoroughly enjoyed. That friendship bled into after-work dinner and drinks and soon Remus considered James one of his best mates.

James liked Remus. He was dependable, quietly observant, and incredibly intelligent. He was always ready with a quick quip or sharp remark that James found entertaining. James admired Remus' quiet intelligence and the way it seemed to intimidate those around him. Most of all James admired Remus' determination and independence. Remus worked at the café to put himself through school. He was working on his second master's degree and called himself a perpetual student, always voracious for knowledge, to know, to learn. To study things was to understand them. There was a power in that.