AU in which James visits his best friend, Remus Lupin, CEO of a major company, and slowly falls in love with his receptionist.

James Potter was in a good mood. But then again, James was almost always in a good mood.

He was that kind of person.

Besides, he was going to see his old friend Remus Lupin today. Unlike the rest of his old school friends, Remus had actually passed all his exams with flying colours and had gone on to create a major company, Lupin Tech. Every month, James visited him and had lunch with him.

Whistling, James entered the building and waved to the receptionist, Holly.

Holly glared.

Except Holly had dyed her hair. And lost twenty pounds... and apparently, twenty years too.

James peered at possibly-not-Holly. Maybe he needed new glasses... because Remus would have sent him a text telling him about the new receptionist, because Remus was the kind of person that texted all the time.

But... Holly/ Not- Holly had a bun, and Holly hated buns. She said they made her look like her seventy year old neighbour who apparently had definitely stolen Holly's garden's flowers two years ago. (Holly liked to gossip. Secretly, James also liked to gossip.)

Yes, definitely not Holly. Holly was a lot shorter.

'Hi,' James said, crossing to stand in front of not-Holly's desk. Not-Holly had colour coded her pen pot, which James found funny. 'I'm James Potter, and I'm here to see Remus.'

'Do you have an appointment?' Not-Holly asked. Her voice was a lot softer than James had expected.

A strand of her scarlet hair had escaped from her otherwise perfect bun. James wondered if he should point it out. Not-Holly seemed like the kind of person who would care about messy hair.

'No,' James said slowly, noticing as he said so that her lipstick was a bright red that should have clashed with her hair but actually just looked really great. 'Well, I see him every month on the thirteenth, see-'

'Look, I'm sorry,' she said in that sweet voice. 'But if you don't have an appointment I can't let you in.'

'Look-' James glanced down at her name tag. 'Lily. Could you call Remus and tell him James is here?' He asked hopefully.

'I'm really busy, James. So you'll have to wait here to see Mr. Lupin when he comes down-'

There was clattering by the stairs, and a messy-looking Remus appeared, wearing one of his ever-present jumpers (maroon) and tying a scarf around his neck. 'Ah, hello, James,' he said cheerfully. 'I see you've met my receptionist, Lily. Holly decided to retire,' he added as an afterthought.

Lily looked slightly shocked.

'See?' James said happily. 'I'm not a hooligan after all!'

'Next time, would you mind letting James straight in?' Remus asked Lily politely. 'Thank you!'

They left a still slightly disbelieving Lily behind, but James couldn't resist glancing over his shoulder at her.

'Loving the new receptionist,' James said appreciatively. 'Very pretty.'

'You have no shame,' Remus replied dryly.

****

O N E M O N T H L A T E R

'Hello, Lily,' James said, leaning against her desk.

She looked up. Today she was wearing a very pretty blue top and an even prettier smile, but it changed to a scowl when she saw James. 'Ah, the hooligan again,' she said sharply.

'Nice top,' James replied. 'And I'm not a hooligan. I'm just an ordinary guy, seeing my ordinary old school friend.'

Lily scowled again, and James chuckled, tapping his fingers on her desk. 'Ooh, Lily, Lily, Lily. Aren't receptionists supposed to be happy and cheerful all the time? And polite?'

'Aren't you supposed to be upstairs with Remus?' Lily shot back, looking down at her computer in a very obvious attempt to get James to go away.

James didn't move. 'Ah, Lily, but I prefer talking to you! I feel like we're the best of friends already.'

'We've met once,' Lily said scathingly. 'So I feel like we're barely acquaintances.'

'Exactly why we should change that!' James grinned at her, the grin that always, always made women smile.

Lily didn't even look up. James was disappointed.

'So, Lily, what's your favourite colour? Oh, wait, no. Let me guess. Red?'

Despite herself, a small smile was starting to grow on Lily's face. 'No.'

'Purple. Blue. No, green. Yellow? Orange?' James sighed as Lily shook her head. 'Okay, tell me.'

'Lilac.'

'Lilac?' James gaped. 'That- what? That isn't even a colour! That's basically purple! It's cheating. I won't allow it.'

'You won't allow it?' Lily snickered. 'Oh, gosh, if you won't allow it, I need to change my favourite colour immediately!'

James sighed. 'Lilac? Really?'

'James?' He heard, and Remus came rushing down the stairs, hair all over the place.

'Where do you come from always looking so messy?' James wondered aloud, then shook his head. 'Wait, I don't want to know.'

'Ready?' Remus asked, smiling at Lily.

She smiled back, and they left, James looking over his shoulder again to catch a glimpse of Lily. She was already buried back in her work.

****

O N E M O N T H L A T E R

'Lily!' James beamed, entering the building and leaning on her desk. 'How I've missed you, my darling!'

She scrunched up her nose and took a sip of coffee from the mug on her desk, not even looking up from her computer. 'I could be on the phone, you know,' she said, glancing up.

'Yes, but you aren't.' James grinned his James Potter grin again, and this time she saw it. A slight blush appeared on her cheeks.

'So, Lily, Lily, Lily, I've been thinking. Why is your desk so organised?'

'That's what you've been thinking about? Why my desk is organised?' Lily shook her head, sending her red hair tumbling around her shoulders. It was down today, in loose waves, and she had pretty black glasses on that made her look much younger.

'Yes,' James said, smiling again. 'Why would I not be? Anyway, Lily, don't dodge the question.'

'Because I like things to be neat,' she replied, pulling on a strand of her scarlet curls. 'Unlike your hair, may I point out.'

'There's nothing wrong with my hair!' James protested.

'Does it ever lie flat?' Lily asked curiously. 'Or does it always stick up like that?'

He pressed down on it with his hand self-consciously. 'Don't judge the hair, Lily. We can't all have hair like yours.'

She shook her head again, and James sighed. Her hair moving like that was endlessly distracting. 'Besides, I do brush it,' he added.

'Oh, you do?' She raised an eyebrow, and James' heart leapt. Was she... Flirting?

No, she couldn't be. But James turned on the Potter smile again, just in case. 'I do,' he said vehemently. 'It just doesn't seem to do anything.'

Laughing, she grabbed a pen and jotted down a note, glancing at her computer screen. 'Remus is coming down,' Lily informed him, looking at him again.

'Oh, but I was enjoying talking to you!' James protested, and Lily snickered.

'You sound like a little kid.'

'I am a little kid,' James responded, as Remus made his way down the stairs in typical Remus fashion- tripping.

'Ready?' He asked.

Again, as they left, James sneaked a glance over his shoulder, but Lily's head was already down over her work.

******

O N E  M O N T H  L A T E R

James was seriously considering upping his monthly visits to twice a month, maybe even once a week.

Every time he came he convinced himself that this time maybe she wouldn't be here. Maybe she wouldn't be as pretty as before, or maybe she wouldn't be as funny or as smart or as nice.

Each time he was proven wrong.

Each time he missed her when he left.

'Lily!' James yelled as he ran into the entrance room. 'My favourite person in the entire world!'

She looked up, a small smile on her face. 'James- the loudest person to ever enter this room!'

'Not true.' James pulled one of the waiting chairs from across the room so he sitting across from her. She raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. 'I'm pretty sure Sirius has visited here before.'

'Sirius?' Lily smirked. 'The black haired one? Remus' boyfriend?'

James stared at her for a second before erupting in laughter. She blushed, but steadfastly held his gaze. 'Oh, Lily, you've just made my day. Remus and Sirius aren't dating, love, but-' he snickered. 'Oh, Remus will be mortified when I tell him, and Sirius will probably be pleased.'

Lily blushed down to the roots of her hair. 'James, bearing in mind I'm an employee here, and if you tell Remus anything bad about me he might fire me-'

'You thinking him and Sirius are dating isn't bad,' James protested. 'In fact, it's fantastic. Lily, I could kiss you.'

She laughed. 'We've only met about four times, James, hold your horses.'

'Hold your horses?' James grinned. 'Wow. I didn't even know people said that anymore.'

'I didn't know people could exist as annoying as you,' Lily retorted, but she was struggling to hold in a laugh, James could tell. 'What exactly are you doing with that chair, by the way? I thought they were nailed to the floor.'

James flexed his arms. 'I work out. Plus, I'm secretly Hulk.'

'If you didn't know Remus, I would call security on you for harassment and damage of property,' Lily told him cheerfully. 'Also lying. There's no way you work out.'

'No way I work out?' James gaped. 'You just haven't seen me topless, Lily.'

'You're disgusting,' she said, wrinkling her nose at him. 'Ah, Remus is here, thank God. I was wondering how much more of you I could stand.'

'I missed you too, Lily!' James said, stepping towards the door and a waiting Remus.

'Bye, James- wait! Don't you dare leave that chair there. James!'

This time, she was looking after him when he turned around. She was just glaring furiously, her cheeks as scarlet as her hair.

James waved and blew her a kiss, his mouth curving into a grin.

Part 1- Word Count- 1717

Okay so this is the final Jily one shot in the advent calendar... ah! I feel sad and relieved at the same time.

Sad, because I honestly feel like ige learnt a lot from this, and that I've learnt a lot about you guys! Once u published a chapter, I would look forwards to the new comments that would be on it, and you all always wrote such lovely things! 💞

Relieved, because holy fuck, it's a lot of work. I thought I was well prepared- I was. Until I didn't write anything for a week, and became crazily behind schedule.

Whoops.

But I think I'll do this again next year, and I definitely think after this I'll update this book more (yay!) so look forwards to that.

I love you all, and thank you so much for being awesome and commenting and voting so much. It makes my day, every day 💞

(Maybe next year some of you guys would like to join me in making a little advent calendar of your own? It doesn't have to be just one book, it could be an advent calendar of updating one book per day. If so, message me, because that would be awesome!)

Thank you again, I love you all so so much! 💞