Disclaimer: All the previous disclaimers apply.
A/N: I used the information on DirectGov United Kingdom website for the information on acquiring a Provisional Driver's License. I tried to adapt it to what I thought might be the requirements for 1977. I think they were probably the same except for the cost maybe, and I suspect the identity checks probably were not as stringent as now so you might have been able to get your license immediately rather than having to wait two weeks. I'm also not sure how a person gets license plates for their cars in England. Perhaps some of my British readers who were driving during that period could help me with this and thanks in advance for any help you may be able to give me!
Chapter 38
The next morning Hal drove Lily, Severus, and Eileen to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency office in Manchester to get their Provisional Driving License. Severus was thankful his mum had given birth to him in a Muggle hospital so he had a birth certificate and a National Insurance card to use as identification. In addition to their documents and pictures, he took the two £50 notes out of his wallet he'd put aside at Gringotts and gave them to the clerk. Hal was given two red L's to put on his front and back plates, indicating to other drivers he had provisional driver with him. As they came out of the office, Severus admired his license.
"Why don't we have lunch first and driving lessons afterwards," Eileen suggested.
After lunch, Hal drove them to one of the University parking lots. Lily took the wheel first and she managed to pilot the car smoothly halfway around the lot before stalling it. After figuring out what she'd done wrong, she was able to restart the car and drive it around the entire parking lot and stop it.
Severus had a much harder time. He started it with a jerk and stalled it, tried it a second and third time with the same results.
Lily giggled from the backseat. "Sev, you're going to give us all whiplash."
He sat back frowning at the dashboard. "This looks much easier when James Bond does it. He just jumps in his car, starts it, and takes off."
"I think you're trying too hard, Sev." Hal advised and explained, "Try familiarizing yourself with the controls and the steps. It's not so different from learning a new spell, I imagine. You need to learn the words and the wand movements first before you can actually cast the spell."
Following Hal's advice and his analogy of spell casting, Severus familiarized himself with the controls and concentrated on the steps Hal had shown Lily and him. This time he not only got the car started, but was able to drive it smoothly around the parking lot without a hitch.
"You did very well for the first time," Hal said complimenting Severus and Lily. Before they went home again, Hal gave them a short lesson on automobile maintenance. He showed them how to determine when the car needed more petrol, and when it needed more oil. "These are very important things to remember because if you don't, you may find yourself stranded somewhere with a car that won't start. If you forget to check the oil, you could burn up your engine." He warned. "Don't forget to shut off your lights, especially if you use them during the day when it's foggy, because you'll run down the battery otherwise." Hal sighed. "Rose had done that several times and had to call me for a lift." He turned to look at them. "I probably don't have to worry so much about that since you can apparate."
"Even so, I wouldn't want the car to stall in the middle of a bad storm or in winter," Severus said.
They agreed to have a driving lesson each afternoon and went back home because they had their first warding class that evening starting at six. When they arrived at the Ministry, Alice and Frank were already there waiting. The classes were to be held in the rooms used during the day for Auror training located on the Second Level. Missy and Remus soon arrived and Sirius also. Remus noticed Sirius was hanging back and looking uncomfortable. He surmised Sirius wasn't used to being the odd man out and motioned for him to come over.
The class would meet on Tuesdays and Thursday from 6 to 9 pm. They were several other older wizards and witches in the class also.
Marlwick took them through the history of warding and talked about the different kinds of wards from the simple to the very complex ones. He mentioned that Severus' grandfather, Tiberius Prince had been a well-known and respected Wardsmith. Severus had known that as he was the one who had taught his mum how to ward.
After class was over, Sirius pulled Severus aside. "Snape, I just want to warn you that James may try to pull something as far as your early admittance to Potion's College. He was asking his dad if he knew anybody on the board there; his dad said no, but that won't stop them from finding a way to make your life difficult. Old man Potter's still furious at that jinx you cast at James yesterday."
"Thanks for the warning, Black," Severus said nodding.
Sirius looked embarrassed. "I just want to know, too, if Reg arrived okay yesterday."
"Yes, he did, but I'd wait a couple of weeks and let him get settled in before you visit him." Severus advised. "Give me a fire-call when you're ready."
"Okay, I'll have to choose a time when James isn't around." Sirius replied nodding.
Severus returned to where Lily was waiting with the rest of their friends. Lily raised her eyebrows questioningly at Severus, but he shook his head. They decided to stop at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour for one of his famous ice cream sundaes. As they dug into their sundaes, Remus said, "James contacted me the other day and wants me to tutor him in Defense and Potions. He seems to have realized he's not going to be accepted into the Auror Program with his current grades or if his NEWT scores are crappy."
"Good!" Lily snapped. "Maybe he'll be so busy studying he won't have time to bother us."
Frank made a face. "Maybe he'll be so busy studying he'll drop out of Quidditch
"Monday, Wednesdays, and Friday nights mum's going to be brewing if you're not going to be busy, Remus," Severus said.
"Well, I won't be available until next Wednesday, but I definitely want to come to your mum's lessons."
"I'll let her know then," Severus replied.
He knew Friday night was the full moon so Remus needed to rest for it. In fact, there were actually two full moons this July. Severus made a metal note to himself to brew more Extra-Strength Pain Reliever Potion and take it over to Remus' house before Friday.
"Okay, what did Sirius say to you, Sev," Lily demanded once they gotten home and were alone.
Severus sighed, but knew he'd have to tell Lily the truth. "He warned me that the Potter's might try to pull something as far as my early admittance to the College of Potions. He said James was asking his father if he knew anybody on the Board there, but he doesn't. He said Potter senior is still furious about my jinxing Potter yesterday."
Well, too bad!" Lily snarled. "He deserved it!"
The driving lessons continued for two hours each day. After two weeks of driving around the university parking lot, Hal figured they were skilled enough to be out in traffic. He chose to start them off on their own street as it wasn't all that busy. As they drove, he explained the traffic signs, lights and passing procedures.
In between driving lessons, Severus brewed 16 vials of Extra-Strength Pain Reliever Potion and took it over to Remus who was very grateful for it as there was a rarity of two full moons in July.
In between driving lessons and warding classes, Severus and Lily visited their mansion in Paris. The elves were very happy to meet their new master and mistress. They only stayed Friday through Monday, but took time to visit the Louvre and view some of the famous paintings and sculptures.
"I don't know why some wizards think Muggles don't have any magic," Severus said as they viewed the Mona Lisa. "They have magic it's just a different kind. We certainly don't have any painters the quality of da Vinci or sculptors as brilliant as Michelangelo."
Lily sighed and leaned her head against Severus, content just to enjoy the painting and being alone with her husband. There definitely would be no James Potter popping up here.
The next day they went to see the Eiffel Tower and decided to eat in the second level restaurant. There was a restaurant at the very top, but Severus knew the lift ride would terrify Lily. Severus wore the grey suit he'd worn to Liam's graduation and Lily wore the royal blue silk wrap-around dress and matching heels. She wore the wide-brimmed hat after changing the silk scarf around the center from green to royal blue and carried an ivory leather clutch under her arm.
"You know you look gorgeous and I'd put you up against these high fashion French woman any day," Severus said.
"Thanks, Sev," Lily said blushing. "I've noticed some of the women checking you out."
"Really?" Severus said. He felt uncomfortable about that. "Too bad Potter isn't here. Maybe he'd drop dead of shock."
"No, he'd be convinced they were looking at him, of course."
They returned in time so they didn't miss any of their warding classes, but would be missing them when they visited Witches Moon for two weeks, but Alice promised to take notes
Severus' grandparents were very happy to see them when they arrived at Witches Moon. Lily was amazed how beautiful it looked with all the trees and flowers in full bloom. As they unpacked and put their clothes away, Lily opened the French doors to the balcony and stepped out. She turned as Severus came up behind her. "We should explore. We haven't either been here long enough or the weather's been bad, or the grounds too muddy to do it."
"Yes. I'd like to see what the guest cottage looks like and I noticed greenhouses when I was here last time so I'd like to see what's growing inside."
"We'll go after lunch," Lily decided. It was raining right now, but it looked as if it might be over by the time they were done eating.
Once lunch was over with, Severus and Lily went out the door in the conservatory and walked down to the guest cottage. Severus' pendant also opened this door. They walked inside. All the furniture was covered in sheets, but otherwise it was in mint condition. The windows shone brightly and all the woodwork was polished to sheen. They went up the intricately carved staircase to examine the rooms on the second and third floors. The suites were as large and as richly furnished as the suites in the manor house. Severus shook his head. "I can't imagine all this being used.
"Well, you have to remember in the days of the king's or queen's progress, they traveled with their entire court so you would need to be sure you had enough room to house them all. You would have been disgraced if some noblemen and their wives had to camp out in tents because your estate wasn't big enough to house all of them," Lily explained.
"I wonder what my ancestors did about the house elves when the kings or queens came to visit."
"Maybe, they knew magic that could temporarily transform elves into humans," Lily suggested.
"Well, they must have been able to hide them some way or else I wouldn't be standing here now as my ancestor would have been accused of witchcraft, thrown in the Tower of London, and been burnt or beheaded."
They started back downstairs when Lily stopped on the first staircase landing and looked out the large window there. "Oh Sev! Look!" She pointed out the window that faced the back of the cottage.
He looked to where she was pointing and saw a lake. "How did I miss that last winter when I was setting up the wards? I guess I wasn't really looking at anything; I was just concentrating on getting the wards up."
Lily tugged on his arm. "Come on, Sev, let's go down see it."
Lily went out the French doors in the dining room and started to run down the hill towards to the lake. There was also a Victorian gazebo, painted white with a slate roof, sitting up at the top of the hill from the lake.
"Lily, don't run the grass may be slippery because of the rain," Severus called. He caught up to her quickly which was fortunate as she did slip, but he caught her before she could fall. Lily went down to the edge of the lake moving more slowly and gave a cry of delight as she saw a mother duck and her ducklings swimming along in the lake. There were also a couple of swans at the farther end. "Look, Sev aren't they beautiful?" Lily said pointing at the swans. She was standing in the tall cattails that surrounded the bank with her hair blowing around her in the breeze coming off the lake.
"Very," Severus answered, but he wasn't looking at the swans.
"Maybe we could have a picnic here before we leave."
"I think that can be arranged without any problem," Severus replied taking her hand. "Come on, let's go up and take a look at the gazebo."
They examined the gazebo closely, noting the skilled carving on it. "If it rains we could always have our picnic in here." Severus said. "We'd be pretty well protected from the elements."
As they walked back to the house, Lily looked longingly back at the lake. "I almost wish we could live here full-time."
"I know, but I want to keep it the way it is for the time being because it's the only place we, our families, and our friends will really be safe from Riddle if he gets any more powerful."
I know," Lily said frowning. "There have been so many horrible stories in the Prophet lately about people disappearing or being found dead, and what about that Goblin family near Nottingham that was murdered by Death Eaters a few days ago?"
"That's why it's important for all of us to have some sort of plan so if Death Eaters do attack, we'll know straight away what to do and we won't waste any time."
They made their way back to the guest cottage, stopping at the two greenhouses that were nearby. Severus examined the plants growing there. Since he knew the plants in Eileen's magical garden, he noticed some she didn't have and cut slips of them for her and cast a stasis charm on them to keep them fresh. He spent time discussing the Wolfsbane Potion with his grandfather. "I'll be ready to test it by the time school starts again. The problem is I don't know how long it's going to last so I need somewhere safe to observe the entire transformation. I'm going to start with having him take the potion everyday for a week before he's due to transform, but I may find that he needs to start taking it sooner than a week, depending on how long his transformation lasts."
"I see your problem, Severus," Tiberius replied. "I believe St. Mungo's has secure rooms where their patients who suffer from Lycanthropy go to transform if they happened to be hospitalized during the full moon. I'm sure they would allow you to use one as they are as interested in the Wolfsbane Potion as you are."
"That's an idea if I don't find another option at Hogwarts because you see the person in question is a student. Right now he goes to transform in a small house built for him by Dumbledore that's between the Forbidden Forrest and Hogsmeade. Dumbledore's put it about that it's haunted by evil spirits and he's planted a Whomping Willow out in front of it to keep people away."
"Hmm …I seem to recall that the Dungeons go quite far under the lake and there are many rooms that haven't been used in centuries. Perhaps Dumbledore can spell some type of secure room, using one of them. That way you can safely observe this young man without leaving Hogwarts or putting yourself at risk."
"That's a good idea," Severus said, nodding. "I'll fire-call him as we get back."
"Audra and I are really proud of you and Lily for taking on such a challenge."
"Well, it's a challenge we're determined to solve," Severus answered.
They spent the rest of the time exploring the forests around the Manor and cataloguing the herbs, magical plants, and other ingredients, such as different types of moss that could be used in potions. Severus harvested some more of the Midnight Mussel to take back with him as that was one of the main ingredients in his version of the Wolfsbane Potion. They also had their picnic down by the lake before they left. They promised they would return for a few days during the holidays.
They easily caught up in their Warding class because Alice and Missy had taken excellent notes and Severus and Lily had read ahead.
Sirius stopped Severus after class. "I wonder if it would be all right if I visited Reg. I've been wondering how he's doing."
"Why don't I check with the Evans and let you know."
Sirius agreed. "I'll wait for your call."
Severus checked with Rose. "Why don't you invite Sirius to come over for dinner tomorrow evening at six, Sev?" She suggested.
Severus nodded and when he spoke to Sirius he extended the invitation. "What are you going to tell Potter?"
"Nothing. James went with his parents to the south of France. That's where they vacation every year for two weeks."
"I'll come through to Potter Mansion about 5:45 and we can floo directly to the Evans."
The next evening Severus and Sirius arrived at the Evans for dinner. Eileen and Lily were already there. Regulus came out of the kitchen when he heard the floo. He was wearing one of Hal's aprons, had smudges of flour on his face, in his hair and on his shirt.
"You look a sight," Sirius commented with a smirk.
Reg looked down at himself, smiled, and shrugged. "Mrs. Evans is teaching me how to cook. She says all young men, whether their Muggles or Wizards, should know how to cook so when their out on their own, they won't starve to death."
"How's that going?" Sirius asked in disbelief.
"Well, I helped make dinner tonight so you can judge for yourself, Siri."
Dinner was a roast turkey, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, carrots in butter sauce, seasoned and roasted onions, and homemade rolls. An English Summer Pudding with a mixture of blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries topped with a custard sauce rounded out the dinner.
"Okay, Reg, it was all great so what did you make?" Sirius asked, wiping his mouth.
"I made the sweet potato casserole and the seasoned and roasted onions with help from Mrs. Evans, that is."
"Hmm … keep up the lessons and you may end up the first wizarding chef and you can open a restaurant in Diagon Alley. Merlin knows, there aren't that many good places to eat there now," Sirius joked.
"You know, Siri, that's not a bad idea."
After Sirius had flooed back to Potter Manor, Eileen, Severus and Lily left, too.
Severus and Lily continued with their driving lessons. By now, Hal had them driving in Manchester in the five o'clock traffic. "I need to show you how to change a flat tire when we get back home although you can probably do it with you wands."
"Not if it happens on the M-1 Motorway," Severus joked.
"Speaking of which. We'll be taking a short drive to Rotherham tomorrow. One of you can drive down, we'll have lunch and then the other can drive back."
"But dad, I thought Provisional drivers weren't allowed to drive on the M-1," Lily said.
"They aren't allowed to drive alone, but they are with a fully licensed driver." Hal chuckled. "I may end up teaching Reg how to drive when he turns seventeen. He seems really interested in our transportation."
"Well, Sirius has always been interested in Muggle sports cars and motorbikes so I would expect Reg to be also," Lily replied.
"On Hal's advice, Severus had opened up an account with £500 at The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC in Manchester. It was also the Evans' bank. The next time he went to Gringotts he requested to have the Goblins transfer enough gold to his Muggle bank account so it would equal £200,500.00. The next day Hal drove Rose, Petunia, Severus, Lily and Eileen to the Aston-Martin dealership in Wilmslow, Cheshire. Severus immediately saw the car he wanted to purchase. It was a sleek, black V-8 Vantage 2-seater convertible. Lily decided on 4-seat, dark blue coupe. The salesman, after verifying with Severus' bank that the funds were in his account and looking a bit dazed at having sold two expensive cars in one morning, promised to have them delivered later that afternoon. He would also take care of registering the cars with DVLA. Severus could not wait until the cars arrived. He, Lily, his mum, Reg, and all the Evans were waiting outside when the cars did arrive.
"Wow, this looks really dangerous, Sev." Reg said admiring Severus' car. "Siri's always been fond of Muggle motorbikes, but they're nothing compared to this beauty."
"Let's take a look at its engine, shall we?" Hal said. "That's where the real power is."
"Men!" Lily muttered to her mum, Tuney and Eileen. She promised herself she would learn to take care of her own car.
The next evening Hal drove Severus, Lily, Alice, Frank, Remus, and Missy to the cinema. They were going to see the new James Bond movie, 'The Spy Who Loved Me.' While Severus, Lily and Missy had all been to the cinema before, Alice, Frank and Remus sat transfixed by what was occurring on the big screen.
"If Muggles can do that on a huge scale like that, how come they can't make their pictures move and stuff?" Frank asked softly so the other people in the ice cream shop couldn't hear them.
"Because they don't have magic, Frank," Alice said. "Watching that was amazing and in some ways Muggles are much more advanced than us. I mean Muggles have even gone to the moon and back."
"Can you believe school starts up in just three weeks?" Missy asked. "We should be getting our Hogwarts Letter later this week or next."
At the end their Warding class on Thursday, Mr. Marlwick had some unexpected news."For those in the class who are not attending Hogwarts, another Certified Wardsmith will be taking over the class. For those of you attending Hogwarts, I have accepted the position as your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. I will also be offering classes in Warding for any of you wishing to become certified."
"I wonder what happened to Professor Gorshawk?" Alice mused as they walked out of class.
"I didn't see anything in the Prophet about him dying over the summer or anything," Frank added.
Remus shrugged. "Maybe, he figured since he was still alive at the end of the year, he'd go while the going was good. Not push his luck."
"Well, this guy seems pretty good," Severus said. "And I'm glad he's going to continue teaching Warding."
Severus and Lily were sitting at the kitchen table with Eileen eating breakfast when an owl flew in with the Daily Prophet. Severus got up to get some Knuts out of the cupboard to put in the pouch on the owl's legs and Lily took the paper, unrolled it then gave a gasp of horror, turned white, and dropped the paper.
"Lily, what is it?" Eileen said. She grabbed up the paper to see a headline that screamed, 'Muggle Family of Five Murdered by Death Eaters near Shrewsbury.' "Oh dear Merlin!"
Severus came over and put his arms around Lily. He glanced at the headline. "It's okay, Lily."
"Sev, Shrewsbury's not that far from here," Lily said. "Death Eater's have never attacked this far up North before. They've always centered their attacks around London."
"I know." He looked up at his mum. "We need to have a meeting tonight. I'll start sending the owls out."
A/N: Many of women in this time period were housewives. Even after the so-called Women's Movement started in the U.S. in 1973, many women preferred not to pursue any kind of career and to stay at home and there's nothing wrong with that at all.