Teeny drabble, written for Jilytober on Tumblr. I almost wrote something horrible and tragic, but then I decided not to. :D Sister piece thingy to 'Copilot'.
And All The Sky's Alight With Color
It's a beautiful day, and Lily Potter is teaching Harry how to drive. Everything about this is thoroughly illegal, of course, because Harry has only just turned fourteen. Indeed, he's barely tall enough to reach the pedals of Lily's now-antique 1969 Ford Cortina, which James and Sirius have been maintaining with various enchantments since roughly 1980 - and Lily is pretty sure that most of those enchantments would make the car itself illegal if anyone were to inspect it…well, closely, anyway.
Lily smirks to herself. There's no way in hell anyone at the Ministry of Magic is clever enough to work out what James and Sirius have done with this car over the years. And, truly, they've done a marvelous job, having used Sirius's motorbike as a testing ground for all the enchantments they've put on the Cortina - because now, with over two hundred thousand miles on it, this car can not only fly; it can also fly invisibly. Not only that, but it can also drive like a completely normal car, except James and Sirius have charmed it to oil and fuel itself in a pinch. But as far as anyone else is concerned, the Cortina is just a vintage car that's been restored.
Lily loves this car. This was the car she'd learned to drive in, also at the very illegal age of fourteen, with her father in the passenger seat. This was the car she and James had taken into the Scottish Highlands during the summer of '78, right before all hell had broken loose during the war, and this was the car they'd lived out of for a week after Voldemort had blasted their house to a crater in Godric's Hollow that fateful Halloween night. And even though they'd never had a second child, Lily still keeps Harry's baby seat tucked away in the boot.
Except, now, he's in the driver's seat. And Lily is as happy as a pig in shit.
RRRRRRR-rrrrrr-rrrrrrRRRRRRRrrrrr-ptt ptt ptt.
The engine sputters and stalls as Harry tries and fails to shift gears. He sets his jaw in frustration, the muscle in his cheek twitching exactly the way James' does when James grits his teeth. Harry pushes the brakes and brings the car to a stop; then, in a very un-James-like manner, he glances about the parking lot, straightens up in the car seat, and puts his hand back on the gear shifter. His arm wobbles a bit as he pushes the shifter forward.
"Not yet," Lily says patiently, putting her hand over Harry's to stop him. "Remember, put the clutch in first and give her a little rev. There you go. Now let the clutch out - there you go - not too fast now, gently does it."
Something deep inside the transmission lurches as Harry locks the car into first gear. After a moment, the car bounds forward; startled, Harry moves to hit the brake, but accidentally pushes the clutch pedal instead. With a yelp, Harry shoves them into second gear, and - much to his apparent horror - they speed up, hurtling towards a tree at what feels like eighty kilometers per hour. Eyes wide, Harry swerves hard to the right, and they miss the tree by about a meter.
Lily lets loose a quick cheer, but then catches herself. She swallows her laughter and puts a hand on Harry's shoulder, steadying him."It's okay," she says calmly, although she can't stop grinning."That shift into second was a bit unexpected, but you handled it all right. Nice job avoiding that tree. Try to relax."
"You don't even seem worried," Harry grits out. "You're worse than Dad."
Lily laughs. "Oh? Well, that's high praise."
"Mum," Harry groans.
"Don't worry, I've still got my foot on the emergency brake over on this side. I'll stop us if anything dangerous happens."
"Yeah, well, you drive like Dad flies," Harry says, and Lily struggles not to cackle with glee. She clears her throat.
"Guilty as charged," she admits. "Easy now around that corner, though."
The car swerves again, and Harry swears as their tires scrape the curb of the parking lot.
"That wasn't too bad, actually," Lily says cheerfully. "Just look at the point on the road where you want the car to go. The car will follow your eyes. And we're still in second gear, but you're doing fine. Downshift when you're ready."
Harry swallows and clutches the wheel, refusing to take his eyes off the pavement. Trees and parked cars roll smoothly past the window.
"There," Lily says. "I think you're getting the hang of it."
There's a short pause. Then: "Can I take us on the road?"
"Absolutely not. You're still stalling on the startup, and I won't have you doing that at a traffic light where you could get rear-ended. We're not going on the road until you can handle this car in fourth gear, in this lot, without crashing or stalling."
"Mum, this lot is tiny."
"That's what I mean. If you can control the car at high speed in this lot without crashing or stalling, it'll mean you've got the timing and reflexes to handle anything that comes up on the road."
Harry looks skeptical, but doesn't take his eyes off the pavement. He steers the car around another turn, a bit less jerkily this time. "Oh, so that's what you did, then. Obviously."
Lily leans back in her seat, stretching like a cat. "Oh, yes. This car is nimble enough, trust me."
Excitement flickers across Harry's face, and Lily notices him forcing back a grin. So that'll be something he and James play with when I'm not home, then, she thinks. Well, that's all fine. James handles the car well enough, and if anything he's a bit more cautious behind the wheel than she is; the car isn't a broomstick, so James doesn't push his luck quite as much when he's driving it. But he'll know how to let Harry test himself without getting into a wreck.
"Hey," Harry says, snapping Lily out of her reverie. "I'm, er, going to try shifting a few more times. How do I - what's the timing again?"
"Clutch pedal in," Lily coos. The car screeches. "Oops, not the brake. Ah, there we go. All right, push the clutch in. There you go - wait for it - okay, now move the shifter…good…all right…now let it back out…"
They continue for another two hours. Harry learns quickly, managing to start the car without stalling several times by the end of it. Lily is enthralled. By the time they're ready to drive back home, the sun is setting. All the sky's alight with color.
x.x.x.x.x.x
"Hey," James said, sauntering onto the drive as Lily parked the car in front of their house. "How'd it go?"
"Pretty well," Lily replies. She flashes Harry a grin, but Harry shrugs modestly and pulls the latch to open the car door. Hiding what looks like a grin, he gives both his parents a quick glance and then turns to go inside. James sees Harry's expression and raises an eyebrow.
"I'm going to take that to mean he drives like you," James says.
"Nah." Lily watches her son's retreating back. "He drives like you."
"I think he's leaving us alone."
Lily blinks. "You didn't tell him about that road trip we took when we were eighteen, did you?"
"Well, I told him how you got a pile of parking tickets, how you steered with your knees, and how you tried and failed to teach me how to drive in that field next to the A82." James rests his elbows on the sill of the passenger's window and leans forward to whisper in Lily's ear. "But I didn't tell him anything else." He kisses her jaw, and she shivers.
"So," he says after a moment. "Want to go for a spin?"
Lily blushes, but then she catches herself and smirks. She sweeps her hair out of her face and steps out of the passenger seat, holding the door open for James. "Sure. Where to?"
James grins and gets in the car. "Anywhere you want to go."