Severus shifted in his seat.  This tale was taking far longer than he would have originally expected.  Harry seemed interested though, so why stop?  Besides, he hadn’t even gotten to how he and Lily started dating.

“One of the benefits of being a professor is the summer holidays.  I had nothing obligatory for three months.  I chose to spend much of my free time with you and your mother.  That was how I got pulled into going to your cousin’s birthday.” Severus explained.

“Your godfather was busy much of the time doing things for the Auror’s Office.  I was grateful for this.  It meant I did not have to constantly defend myself.  In a way, I also was thankful for Lupin’s unemployment.  I know that is a… horrible thing to say.”  Severus said at Harry’s judgmental look.  “Remus’ misfortune meant he was often free to babysit.  He was also one of the few people your mother trusted with your care.”

“I don’t remember exactly how the topic came up, but some point early in the summer your mother inquired if I had given anymore thought about learning to drive.  I had not.  My family had never owned a car and we had managed just fine.  Spending more time with Lily and you made me see the advantages of at least knowing how to operate a car, even if I did not own one myself.  I told Lily this, she made it her mission teach me.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Is this truly necessary?” Severus asked as he and Lily stood on opposite sides of her ‘well loved’ Cooper Mini.

“Yes,” Lily insisted climbing in.

Severus sighed resigned to his fate and climbed in, or at least tried to.  The seat was pulled so far forward his knee hit the steering wheel before he was halfway in.

“Bugger,” he growled.

“Opps,” Lily said diving over the space between seats.  She grabbed the bar to push the seat back.  “Try it again,” she called sitting back up.

Severus climbed in, this time devoid of any further pain.

“Welcome to your first driving lesson.  We’re going to work on getting used to the car today.  First thing you need to do is adjust your seat and mirrors.  You need to sit far enough back so your legs aren’t cramped under the wheel, but not so far back it’s a stretch to floor the pedals.”  Lily instructed.

Severus pushed the chair as far back as it could go before pulling it forward again.  He spent several moments getting into comfortable spot.

“If you need to there is a knob on the side of the seat to raise and lower it.”  Lily told him.

Severus found the knob and turned it down a few times.  The wheel was now much more comfortably off his lap.

“Now mirrors,” Lily said happily.  “You need to see out of the back.”

Severus adjusted it accordingly.

“The side mirrors are a bit trickier.  You should be able to see a small bit of the side of the car and the lane beside you.  You’ll need to be about to see this with only a brief glance to the mirrors.”  Lily told him.

Severus adjusted the mirrors with Lily’s aid.

“Put your feet near the pedals.  You’re only going to use your right to drive.”  Lily told him.

This part was taking far longer than Severus expected.  He thought he’d be out on the road by now.

“The pedal on the right is the petrol, the left the break.”  Lily explained.  Pointing at the wheel, “You see the lever here.”

Severus nodded dutifully.  

“That’s for your turn lights.  When preparing to go right push it down, when going left, push it up. Next is the gear box.  ‘D’ is for drive. ‘R” is for reverse.  The lower gears we don’t have to worry about right now.”  Lily explained, she then pulled out a set of keys.  He would get to drive.  Finally!  Lily placed them in the ignition.

“Turn the key one place,” Lily instructed.

Severus did as he was told.  Nothing remarkable happened.

“Turn it to the second one,” Lily told him.

This time the radio came to life.  “This is just the battery.  Now turn to the third place to start the engine.  There is a thing by your knee.  It’s the emergency brake.  Pull it toward you.”

Severus gladly did as he was told.  

“Good,” Lily said when the car shifted.

“Now put your foot on the break and put the car in reverse.”

Severus complied instantly.

“Look over your shoulder and watch for other cars or kids coming.”  Lily instructed.

Severus turned his head to follow her instructions, but couldn’t help asking, “Why not use the mirror?”

Lily shrugged.  “That’s what they tell you to do.  Look over your shoulder I mean.  You get a better view or something.”

Severus was halfway out of the drive when Lily spoke next.

“Turn the wheel to the right,” she said.

Severus did as he was told, the car continued to roll back, but slightly to the left.

“Turn it harder,” Lily instructed.

Severus did so.  They were out on the street, mostly facing straight.

“Okay, put it in ‘Drive’ now and press down lightly on the petrol.”

Severus looked down to the shifter and complied.  The car lurched forward.  The wizard let up on the gas and the car rocked back slightly.

“You only need to press lightly on the petrol, the speed limit is 20 mph. in the neighborhood.” Lily told him.

Severus nodded reapplied his foot to the gas pedal.  The car sprang forward once more, but much more evenly.

“Lightly push down on the breaks,” Lily instructed as they approached the ‘Stop’ sign.

Severus applied the brakes, but too heavily, and they both jolted forward in their seats.  The seat belts tightened uncomfortably across their chests.

“That was good,” Lily said tugging unsuccessfully at the constraining belt.

“Was it?” Severus asked rubbing slightly at where the belt crossed him.

Lily let out a small laugh.  “Yeah, first time I did that I didn’t stop until we were halfway through the intersection.  Although, it was a bit smoother of a stop.”

Severus snorted with amusement.  “Yes, well we all know you’ve always had trouble putting on the breaks.”

Lily glared half-heartedly.  “Take the next right.”

Severus turned the wheel as directed.

“Slow down,” Lily cried, but it was too late.  There was the solid impact of hitting the post box.

Severus let out a low moan.  “Lily! Are you alright?”  He demanded instantly.

Lily nodded.  “I’m fine.  Not so sure about the car.”  Lily undid her belt and got out to inspect the damage.

Severus sat in the car embarrassed.  Lily returned a moment later.

“How bad is it?”  Severus asked softly.

Lily shrugged.  “Not too bad.  You dented the bumper, took some paint off the post box.”

Severus hummed in acknowledgement.

“Sev,” Lily called him back for she knew he was lost in his own thoughts.  “Sev, the damage isn’t too bad.  I’ll do a quick Repairo when we get home and all will be forgotten.  Now you know you need to slow down when you take corners.”

Severus nodded.

“You want to go back?” Lily asked her friend.

“Not yet,” Severus said finally sounding as if her were all there once more.

“Okay, you need to back up to get us off the curb.” Lily told him.

Severus looked down to the gearbox once more and put the engine in reverse.

“Put on your indicator,” Lily told him.

Severus frowned slightly, but did as he was told.  When they were back on the street once more Lily told him to go to the next left turn.  This went much smoother.  They continued to tour the neighborhood for the better part of the next hour.  Lily noticed that Severus either took his corners too close or not close enough depending on the side.  Although, this was improving every lap around the neighborhood.  They would work on getting to the streets soon, but first she wanted him a bit more comfortable with stopping.  These were still rather unpleasant, but were always by the sign.  Still she was sure with another hour or so that would be sorted.

“Let’s go home, Sev.” Lily said as they rounded the corner onto her street once more.

Severus nodded.  He steered the car into her driveway with little difficulty, though perhaps a bit fast.  Lupin stood in the doorway, Harry balanced on his hip to greet them.

“How did it go?” Lupin asked cheerily.

“Ouch,” Harry said pointing to the spot on the bumper.  

“I know.  Severus had a bit of an accident.  It’ll be alright in just a minute.”  Lily reassured Harry standing at the front of the car her wand pointed at the dented bumper.

“That good huh?”  Remus asked spotting the ding.

“Sev had a minor disagreement with a post box.” Lily explained.  “But we sorted that out.  But other than that, it was fine.  Nothing out of the ordinary for a new driver.”  Lily said putting her wand away once more.

Severus had said nothing so far, just stood by slightly uncomfortably.

Harry tugged on Severus pants leg.  The older wizard scooped the toddler up, “S’okay Sev’us,” Harry reassured throwing his arms around Severus’ neck.

“Really Sev,” Lily said spotting her friend’s discomfort.  “You’ll do better next time.  Now come on.  Let’s have some lunch.”

“There’s soup on the stove,” Remus called after Lily.

Severus hesitated a moment, but moved to follow.

“Did Lily tell you about James’ one and only driving lesson?” Lupin asked when Severus reached him.

Severus shook his head.

“It was horrible.  He smashed into a car, nearly took the bumper clean off.”  Remus explained, his voice light.  Severus could tell Lupin was trying to hold back his laughter.  Severus failed to see the humor, until Lupin continued.  “Here’s the thing.  The car was parked.”

“Lily tells me there is a learning curve.”  Severus said mildly, though, he did feel a bit better.  Trust the werewolf to do what Lily had failed to do for the last hour.  There were worst first lessons.

“Did Potter fail to try again?”  Severus asked curiously.  He wouldn’t have been surprised after such a failure the Pure Blood wizard decided a task such as driving was beneath him.

Remus shook his head.  “Lily refused to take him back out.  Seems he wasn’t sorry enough about banging up her car.  I believe he said, ‘It’s not like I set a broom’s tail on fire.’  Lily refused to teach him if he wasn’t going to take it seriously.”

Severus stood there shocked.  He would never have belittled Lily’s feelings even if it was over something as silly as her car.

“Yeah, he was in trouble for it for a while.  He decided it was just easier to Apparate anyway.”  Remus explained.  “Personally, I like a good drive through the country to clear the mind.  You don’t get that popping from one place to another.”

“Is that not what brooms were invented for?” Severus asked mildly.

“But you have to be high up for that.  Also requires a broom.”  Remus replied.

Confused, Severus said, “And a drive requires a car.”

“I have one of them.  At least for the moment.  It was my dad’s.  It’s a bit bigger then Lily’s.  It’s not working right now though.  It needs a new clutch.”  Remus told him.

“Clutch?  What is a clutch?”  Severus asked.

“Don’t worry.  You didn’t forget something from your lesson.  Lily’s car doesn’t have one.  It’s an automatic, mine is manual.”  Remus explained.

“I see,” Severus said clearly still lost.

“Like I said, don’t worry about it.  Just focus on learning to use Lily’s car and you’ll be fine.”  Remus soothed.

Severus nodded.

“You lot coming?” Lily called from the door.

“We are,” Severus called back instantly.  Turning back to the werewolf he said, “Thank you, Lupin.  This has been most illuminating.”

“It was no trouble Severus.  If you ever need any help don’t be afraid to ask.  I owe you more than I could ever hope to repay.”

“It’s really no trouble,” Severus dismissed.

The two entered the house talking quietly of Lupin’s own early driving lessons with his father.  Lily watched them almost certain they had entered something approximating friendship.