Disclaimer: Same as always; nothing you recognize is mine.
A/N: I can't stop writing Jily fluff. Send help.

Spooked

They were sitting in the Heads' Office, Lily looking over the patrol schedule and James finishing off some Charms homework. It was three weeks into term and they had just began to figure out a routine that worked for the both of them: Wednesday night, after Defense Against the Dark Arts, they sat in the Heads Office and traded off, one doing patrol schedules and the other working on assignments and then, half an hour later, they switched.

Lily glanced at the watch on James' wrist. Five minutes until it was his problem sorting out these schedules. She was just wondering if she could stall for that long and make him fit Macy Adler into the damn schedule since she had Quidditch practice for Ravenclaw every damn night when James loudly scratched something out on his parchment with a strangled growl.

"Charms trouble?" Lily asked with a smirk. She pushed the parchment away from her and looked over at James, silently thanking him for the distraction.

"No, just… I can't concentrate. Need help on patrols?" He asked, nodding his head towards the parchment.

"Um, yeah… I'm having trouble with Macy—"

"Put her on Tuesdays."

"She's got Quidditch everyday."

James barked a laugh. "That's a damn lie. You can't book the pitch everyday. I've tried."

"Well, she's written down," she rooted around to find the note on which Macy had written down her availability and tossed it across the table, "Quidditch practice from 8-10 every night."

James grabbed the note and made a face at it. "A Ravenclaw should be able to lie better than this. Gryffindor has practice 8-10 on Fridays. I'll speak with her."

"Oh, can I come watch?" Lily grinned and leaned forward on both of her arms, her face suddenly quite close to James's. She faltered and leaned back a bit, but continued, smirk still fixed on her face. "James Potter lecturing someone about responsibility sounds like it would be quite the sight."

"Well, I've kept the boys in line all these years," he said, placing a hand to his chest and thrusting his nose in the air.

"Oh Merlin," Lily giggled. "You haven't been doing a great job, there. How many detentions have you lot gotten?"

He waved his hand dismissively. "Numbers aren't important, Evans. Would've been about ten times worse if I just left them to their devices."

"Uh-huh. I believe you. Really."

"Well, have any of us flunked a class?" James asked.

"No, but—"

"Well, there you go. I successfully kept that lot in school."

"That seems more like Remus's job."

"Remus's job is to stay on top of school schoolwork and be healthy," James said quickly, as if it was something he repeated over and over again. He paused and shook his head a little. "My job with Remus is to make him laugh."

Lily smiled warmly. "Remus needs that. And what about Peter and Sirius?"

His hand came up to his chin as he thought. Lily was delighted to see that he was really thinking, really trying to give her a proper answer. "With Peter, it's helping him a bit with schoolwork and keeping his chin up. My job with Sirius is to point his energy in a productive direction from time to time and pay for anything he breaks."

"Do you think about that often? What your… your 'job' is regarding other people?" Lily asked.

James shrugged. "Sometimes. I don't know."

"What's your job with me?" Lily asked quietly. She was surprised to find that she felt nervous, very nervous, and that the energy in the room had intensified. He met her eyes and she felt her face flush. Stupid, she thought. What am I doing that for? Willing herself to act casual, she cleared her throat and leaned back. "A job other than bother me at every turn, that is."

James smirked, but kept staring straight at her. "My job with you, Evans, is not to spook you."

Her brows furrowed. "What? I'm not—I'm not a horse, James." As she said it, she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

"No, not a horse..." he smiled a little, as if laughing at a joke that Lily didn't get, and leaned back in his chair. "You said James."

"Yeah, that's your name," she said, looking back down at the patrols.

"But you said it."

They paused, James staring at Lily and Lily staring at the parchment in front of her. Finally, she cleared her throat and looked up. "You're bad at your job."

"Good," he said and tugged away the patrol schedule.

"Giving up your old job?"

"I think my new job is to spook you as often as I can," he said with a low chuckle. Lily shivered.

"I'm not sure I can sign off on that," Lily said.

He looked back up at her. "Tough."

Lily swallowed hard and tore her eyes away. She made herself busy gathering her books and assignments.

"And where do you think you're going?" James asked, trying to sound confident but Lily could hear a trace of fear, of concern.

"Well, you've succeeded in spooking me. Which means," she grinned, standing up and walking towards the door, "you get to finish the patrol schedule and your assignments all alone. Cheers."

"Evans, don't you dare—"

"Bye, Potter!"