Description: If James wants to be anywhere near his 'Lilyflower', it's about time he learned how to behave and value her as a real person. James/Lily, Remus/Sirius, Peter/Mary, 6th year Marauders.

AN: I love Jily. I really, really love Jily. James had to have grown so much to be with Miss Lily Evans, and this is the story of how he took the first steps.

Coccinella Septempunctata

The color of Lily's favorite lipstick, after James' dedicated investigation that involved x-ray charms on her school bag, was called Ladybug Red.

The vibrant shade of L'Oreal's finest lip product framed Lily's mouth perfectly. It made her soft lips pop, so you'd have to watch her mouth when you looked at her and listen to everyone fall from those lips. It was brilliant, really.

"You think everything Lily does is brilliant," Peter laughed, moving his rook to obliterate Remus' last pawn. They'd been engrossed in a chess match or twelve because Peter had decided he wanted to join the wizarding chess club as of three hours ago, when he overheard Mary MacDonald talking about how hot it was when blokes were into strategy games.

If she liked games, Peter would play games.

"This is especially brilliant," James decided before resting his cheek on the couch's armrest. The Gryffindor common room was deserted except for the Marauders, who had elected to skip out on Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff game.

The only team they cared about beating was Slytherin. Third place would be just fine for Seeker Sirius and Chaser James so long as Slytherin was fourth.

"And what makes it so especially brilliant?" Remus asked, always one to humor James' crush. "I don't know much about lipstick, I'll give you that, but is it really any more special than any other color?"

"Yes!" James insisted. "It draws all the attention right to her lips. That woman is playing with my emotions and my arousal."

Sirius snorted, knowing all about James' arousal from having walked in on quite a number of wanking sessions where Lily was the star of James' fantasies. "Or maybe she just likes how it looks on her."

"She's doing it to me on purpose."

Remus' bishop stampeded across the board with a triumphant 'clack'. "Check," he told Peter.

"Goddammit, Moony." Quickly, Peter brought the queen to the king's defense.

"That temptress," James growled. "She's just asking for me to stare at her!"

The animagus on the other side of the couch couldn't much more of this. "Mate," Sirius said seriously. "You know the color of her lipstick but I doubt you could even come close to guessing what career path she wants after Hogwarts."

"You can't even guess what career path you want after Hogwarts!" James defended.

Sirius shrugged. "But I know what Moony wants to do. That's important."

Over from the chess table, the corners of Remus' mouth tugged up. It would be hell trying to get his dream job of researching new defensive spells with his furry little problem, but at least he had his boyfriend there to support him. "Do you know what Lily wants to do?" he asked James before his Sirius-thoughts became too soppy to handle.

"Um." Of course he did. He'd had a crush on Lily Evans since the beginning of third year. Of course James knew what she wanted to do with her life. "She likes helping people, so obviously, she'll be a Healer."

Sirius waved his wand so that a buzzer appeared in front of James, making an obnoxious sound signaling Prongs' failure. "Wrong."

"She wants to be a lawyer or a legislator, someone who can make laws for furthering human rights in the Ministry and in muggle governments," Remus said before maneuvering his own rook to take Peter's queen. "Check."

James sprung on the opportunity to make up for lack of knowledge. "Hey! I'm all for equality. Look at me, I'm Mr. Accepting! I don't make fun of muggleborns like Slytherins do, and two of my best friends are enormous poofs, and yet I love them anyway."

"You love us because we're poofs," Sirius decided.

"If that's what helps Lily see that I'm not a bigot like Snivellus was to her, then sure. I love you because you're as gay as the day is long, Sirius Black."

"Knew it!"

Remus laughed. "Lily overheard you call her a 'Sexy Devil' yesterday and said you wanted to 'show her what a real man was like'. I don't think Sirius and I are going to get you into her good graces when you're comparing her to Satan."

"It's an expression!" James defended.

"It's kinda creepy," Remus shrugged. "Talking about her like that."

"Creepy? Merlin, you should hear the stuff Sirius says about you—"

"Hey!" Sirius cut James off with a hand placed firmly over his mouth. "That is different. Remus consents to my bragging and adoration."

"I don't need Lily's 'consent' to give her a compliment," James grumbled, seeing it as him boosting her self-esteem.

"Check mate."

"Fucking fuck."

Sirius rolled his eyes at both Peter and James' naivety. "It's not a compliment if she doesn't want it. Then it's just some twat in glasses sexually harassing her."

"Woah, woah, woah," James stopped him, putting his hands up like Sirius was the morality police. "I'm not grabbing at her like Nott tries to do, or threatening her like Malfoy does."

Before Sirius could properly get an eyeroll in on that, the door to the girl's dorm swung open. "Boys," Marlene McKinnon said calmly. "I've been listening in on your conversation."

"But of course," Sirius grinned. That Marlene was always a wily one, and he could appreciate that. "And can you give a woman's perspective on this?"

"But of course." She sauntered her way over to a nearby armchair. There wasn't a conversation about feminism that Marlene couldn't force her way into. In fact, she'd even been the one who educated Sirius on the matter a few months ago.

James gave them both strange looks. "I'm not some sexist. I just happen to admire the way Lily's deoxyribonucleic acid makes up her appearance. Is there something so wrong about that?"

"Nope," Peter said honestly.

"But," Marlene went on. "There is something wrong with 'loving' her just for that. And yes, she thinks you're in love with her body rather than her mind. Lily talks about it with Dorcas and I all the time, and she's frankly disturbed." Lily had also mentioned she liked James' body, but she'd never seen into his mind like he hadn't seen into hers.

Passed the lust, gossip about one another they heard from friends, and strange corridor encounters that left both of them feeling like idiots, they were perfect strangers.

"Oh. I, uh, didn't know that."

"She's told you like a hundred times," Peter laughed, grabbing his own spot on the couch to join in whatever plan was brewing in Marlene's eyes. That girl always had a plan.

James was flabbergasted. Had all those objections—had they not been flirtatious? Movies had lied to him! Rumors had, too! "Isn't that just playing hard to get? I thought girls liked being called pretty and stuff."

"We do," Marlene nodded mostly because it was true. In her humble opinion, she was way further out of James' league than Lily was. "But if that's all you value us for… It's boring. It's not the kind of relationship Lily wants, anyway."

"I can get to know her mind!" James panicked. "I can, I really can! I'm not just interested in her body! She's smart, and she's got a good sense of humor. She doesn't laugh at pranks, but she laughs at some jokes that I make."

Sirius figured he better encourage this sort of behavior. "Go on."

"And… Lily likes French toast! Cinnamon is one of her favorite flavors aside from chocolate and honey." At least he'd been paying attention to her stomach's activities. "Her favorite kind of cake is lava cake, and one time I heard her say she hated angel cake because it's too sugary."

"She's fantastic at potions, too. She hates when people discriminate based on something someone's born with, and she… Wow. Lily must have felt really betrayed when Snivellus called her a 'mudblood'."

Remus began to clap. "Our little Prongs is all grown up and aware of the circumstances around him! We're so proud of you," he teased.

"No," James stopped him with a hand in the air. "Think about it. She was friends with him for years and really thought he was different, and then, he was a blood purist. Lily must be so angry, and all I ever did to help that was prod her about how Snape has a raging crush on her."

"That you did," Marlene nodded sagely. Maybe Potter could learn. That would make four out of four Marauders opposed to patriarchy and treating women as objects, which was her best record yet.

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter had all been raised the way that boys in the 60's were raised. In media, women were supplementary to male plotlines and rewards for the hero after his journey. Every man was promised a pretty, younger wife, and her cooking and cleaning abilities forever.

"Maybe you should read some Karen DeCrow, or look into poetry of Marge Pierce," Marlene offered. "You'll see a lot of the double-standards that women have to endure in her writing, and how boys like you are taught to reinforce them over the years."

"I didn't want to reinforce them!" James yelled, springing up with realization.

"Then get to repairing them."

"I will! I never thought of it like this. I never thought about how Lily's probably got the same sleazy compliments I'm giving her from other blokes, I never thought of how fucked up this was! I always knew that sexism was wrong, but this… It's right in front of everyone's eyes and nobody does anything about it! How could people ignore how normal it is for women to be turning into nothing but a walking piece of meat?"

James felt a strange fire in him, the sort that he could just tell Lily felt every day. They'd have that in common, he supposed.

"I've got to go," James said quickly, grabbing his wand off of the coffee table and sprinting off as if he were on a sacred mission. The mission would be without the expectancy of a reward from Lily, too. All he wanted was to set the record straight.

Marlene sighed happily. "My work here is done. Oh, and Peter?"

"Yes?" he perked up immediately.

"You should try poker. It's more luck than strategy, but I'm sure Mary will appreciate the gesture." With a wink, Marlene stood to go back to the other girls waiting at the door of the dorm and listening in. The 'Marauders' (what kind of name was that?) were absolutely ridiculous.

They were, however, a great source of entertainment.

"Do you really think Peter will play poker just to impress me?" Mary giggled, leaning on Dorcas' shoulder.

Bertha Jorkins nodded, eyes alight. "He's totally into you," she gossiped. "I heard he's going to buy you a promise ring."

"Oh, that's not true!"

"Yes it is," Bertha argued.

"Bertha, you're crazy," Florence murmured. When they heard Marlene's steps move closer and closer, they back up to let her in.

"I still don't know why Lily thinks he's hot," Marlene announced to the gaggle of girls. "But this might actually work now that he's realized what an arse he's been to her."

Lucinda shrugged. "Doubt it. Those two will never last, even if he does apologize properly."

XXxxXX

James went as fast as he short legs could carry him. Lily was probably at the Quidditch pitch for the game, and that meant he had no time to lose!

When he saw Frank Longbottom strolling back to the common room, he frowned but didn't stop running. "Frank?"

"Ravenclaw caught the snitch, and it's over!" he called after James as he seemed to run even faster. That Potter was a weird one.

Passing classrooms, staircases, and other confused students, James bolted down the corridors until he found himself in the courtyard.

"Lily!" James yelled when he finally spotted that beautiful crop of red hair and Ladybug Red lips. "Lily, I have something to tell you!"

Frowning, Lily wondered what the hell had gotten into Potter this time. "What is it? Is the dorm on fire or something?"

"No! It's not on fire, but Remus and Sirius are pretty flaming. And I accept them. You should know that."

"I already did know that," Lily reminded him gently. Something about the way he raved made her feel a bit sorry for him. "I'm in your house, remember? And most of your classes, too… Remus and Sirius have friends outside of you—"

"Nonsense, Lily," he laughed.

Crossing her arms, she gave him her best stare-down. This time he wasn't staring at her lips with those dead fish eyes, though. "So," Lily said as she shifted her weight from one foot to another. "What are you doing, then?"

James had almost lost track of that. "I'm apologizing, Lily."

"For what? Oh, Merlin, if you tried to climb in the window to the girl's dorm again—!"

"No!" James insisted. "And that was just to steal homework, not bras!"

"Sure it was," she scoffed.

"Look, that's not the point. The point is that I'm sorry for that, and for calling you all those stupid nicknames, and for being… Well…" Finally, the word came to mind. "A prick. A gigantic, idiotic prick."

"Yeah, you sure were."

"And I am sorry."

"You better be, yeah," Lily said with a little laugh. She opened her mouth to ask what had brought on this great change in James when she heard a bellowing laugh from the other side of the courtyard.

Marcus Nott had a ring on each finger and a stupid smile on his face.

"Bloodtraitor Potter and his mudblood girlfriend," Nott laughed, his gang of Slytherins trailing behind him. Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Snape were all there, the latter looking shamefully at the ground.

"Do you want to get this or should I?" James asked Lily, shoulders tense.

"What?"

James shrugged to hide that he was shaking with anger and clarified. "You can yell at them if you want, or I can yell at them if you want. I don't want you to think I'm, like, coming to your rescue or anything. Because you're really good at yelling."

"What Alice Paul speeches have you been reading?" Lily chuckled, impressed by this unexpected change of heart. "I think I'll leave this to you."

After James cleared his throat, he nodded and turned to the pack of snakes.

"Hey, dumbarses," James yelled. "Who do you think you are?"

"Lucius Malfoy," the stuck-up blonde one answered.

From beside him, Narcissa held her boyfriend's arm. "Let's just go," she murmured.

"Not now, Cissy. I'm showing your sweet cousin's friends who they're dealing with."

"Yeah," Crabbe nodded in blind obedience.

"I know who I'm dealing with," James answered confidently. "A bunch of purist, racist, sexist, homophobic sacks of shit who have nothing better to do than be bigoted and have sticks up their arses all day. Not even the pleasurable kind. In fact, I don't think you've ever seen any pleasure aside from the sort you get with your cousins."

Lily laughed. She genuinely, truthfully laughed and it was music to James' ears.

"So why don't you move along before I have to hex you halfway into next year," he finished.

That, apparently, wasn't the sort of way that the Slytherins were used to being talked to.

"You obtuse, crude, impudent little—"

James cut Nott off as usual. "I really don't care to listen to you in the slightest, but I must inform you that Lily is unfortunately not my girlfriend, either. She's a friend I've gotten to know better over the year, much better than before. Now that you've have your arses sufficiently kicked and your facts corrected, would you kindly fuck off?"

"Gryffindorks," Goyle hissed as he pulled out his wand.

The poor imbecile never saw it coming. One step forward and he was doomed to a world of tomato sauce.

Yes, tomato sauce all over those nice, clean robes of his and all of his friends.

"I told you learning that spell would come in handy," Sirius laughed from atop his broom, a fountain of red sauce streaming from the tip of his wand to completely soak the screeching Slytherins. Narcissa had never felt so unclean in her entire life.

"Yeah, yeah," Remus laughed as he sent his own ribbons of crimson down from his broom.

Lily was never one for pranks, but this was well-deserved in her opinion. As the Slytherins scattered like spiders under a faucet of water. "Wonderful timing, you two."

Just as they ran towards the Eastern exit, the final motion of the Ladybug Red Prank of 1976 was completed by a Mssr. Peter Pettigrew.

From his wand flew a thousand charmed black buttons. That bit had been Remus' idea, but Peter's execution was flawless. They'd charmed the buttons that they'd ripped from some old shirts to stick to whatever they came in contact with, namely some Slytherin clothing and skin.

"They sort of look like—" Lily started.

"Ladybugs," James finished with a smile. "They're pretty cool bugs, yeah. Too good for the likes of Malfoy for sure."

Lily soon had a smile of her own. "They're my favorite insect, actually."

"Ah, I'm more of a fan of millipedes. Something about having that many legs just tickles me," he elaborated. "But I can appreciate a good Ladybug."

Remus, Sirius, and Peter all exchanged knowing looks once the Slytherins had retreated to the dungeons. Their little fawn was taking his first uneasy steps into romance. It was beautiful in a teenaged and slightly awkward way.

Peter pulled out his broom and rode off with the other two Marauders, far enough for there to be some privacy for James and Lily, yet near enough to get a bird's eye view.

"So," Lily said, breaking the silence that had set in after the screams of their classmates faded. "This is the bit where you take me out for coffee, yeah?"

James whirled around to face her, eyes wide. "You would want to?"

"I don't know what's gotten into you, but I like it, Potter. So, coffee?"

"Yeah," he nodded, smile threatening to crack his face. "So much coffee."

With a nod, Lily walked off. James would catch on that she meant for him to follow her in a couple of seconds, and when he did, he could have sworn he heard his friends laughing.