"Okay, Harry… the key to being a good driver is to always keep an eye on what's going on around you."

Harry nodded, looking at the car Jack was leaning against with a mixture of excitement and nervousness.

"Okay."

"And knowing where the brake pedal is," Jack added.

He opened the driver's side door, and gestured for Harry to come look inside.

"Point out the gas pedal."

Harry pointed. He'd actually been paying attention while Jack had been driving the day before – and while Jack had driven him and Sirius out to the huge airfield they were now parked in the middle of – so he was pretty clear on making the car go and stop. And probably could figure out how to do all the rest, too, if he had some practice.

"Good."

"So the other one makes it stop?" Sirius asked, interested, as he looked into the car as well.

Jack nodded.

"Right side is go, left side is stop."

"Uncle Vernon's car has three pedals, Jack," Harry said.

"That's because he has a different transmission. This is an automatic. It'll shift through the gears on its own. A car like your uncle's has to be done manually."

"So they make them differently back home?" Harry asked, wondering how much different it was.

Jack shook his head.

"Sam's car has a manual transmission," he said. "But it'll be easier, I think, to start you on this one."

"Looks fairly easy," Sirius observed, looking onto the car again. "Not at all like flying…"

Jack shrugged.

"It's not hard once you get the hang of it. Any idiot can drive. What's hard is being a good driver."

Harry nodded.

"And a good driver keeps an eye on what's going on around him."

Jack smiled.

"Exactly. Ready to give it a try?"

The boy's grin was more than answer enough, and Jack handed him the keys.

"Where do I sit?" Sirius asked.

"In the back seat," Jack told him. "If you want to give it a try later, you can."

It'd be just as easy to teach one as both, right?

Sirius opened the back door and slid in behind the driver's seat, but Jack motioned him over to the spot behind the passenger side.

"That way you can watch what Harry's doing," he explained as Sirius moved over.

"Buckle up," Harry told his godfather, sliding in behind the steering wheel and reaching for his own seatbelt.

"What?"

"Put your seatbelt on," Jack said. "In case we crash, it'll keep you from flying out the front windshield."

Sirius frowned, looking around. He'd worn his seatbelt on the way to the airfield, but there had been several other cars out on the road with them, then. Right now, he couldn't see the need for the safety.

"There's nothing out here to crash in to…"

"It's a habit you want to get into," Jack said. "And the law, here. Which means you do it or we don't go anywhere."

"Put it on, Sirius," Harry told him, grinning. His green eyes were lit with excitement, although there was a slight trembling in his hand as Jack gave him the keys.

"Don't be nervous," Jack told him, slapping his shoulder, reassuringly. "You're going to do fine. There's nothing out here for you to run into."

Sirius hit the back of the driver's seat, grinning as well with his own excitement as he clicked his seatbelt into place.

"Let's go, Harry. It can't be any harder than flying, right?"

OOOOOOOOO

"I'm really sorry, Jack…"

Jack shook his head, and winced at the stab of pain that seared through his skull.

"Don't be. It was an accident, that's all."

Of course, now he could barely see out of his right eye, which was swelling at a furious rate, and blackening just as beautifully – if you were in to such things.

"I didn't realize it wouldn't stop so quickly…"

"It's okay, Sirius."

"Wow… that looks like it hurts…"

Jack scowled at the new voice and looked over to the speaker. Sure enough, Janet Fraiser was walking his way with a medical bag in one hand and her cell phone in the other. Obviously the guys at the academy had decided to call in Jack's regular doctor when the Colonel had refused to be seen by one of the medical officers on staff, and Janet had just pulled up in her privately owned vehicle - which told him she'd had the day off, most likely.

"It's nothing," he told her, ignoring the look Harry was giving him. "Just a scratch…"

"They said you broke the windshield."

"It was my fault," Sirius said.

"It's no big deal," Jack repeated, pulling his head away when Janet leaned over to get a better look at his eye. "It was an accident."

Fraiser took his chin in her hand, holding him still.

"General Hammond sent me to check on you, so you need to let me see it."

Jack's scowl deepened.

"It's fine."

"He hit the windshield," Harry said, concerned.

"Why weren't you wearing your seatbelt?" she asked.

"I wasn't even in the car."

"What?"

"I kind of hit him with the car," Sirius said, looking just a little guilty, now.

"You hit him?" Janet echoed.

"Yes."

She looked at Jack.

"I thought you were giving driving lessons today…?"

"I was. Am."

"It's best if you do it from inside the car…"

"I thought I could do it on my own," Sirius told her as she pulled an alcohol soaked pad out of her first aid kit and started cleaning drying and clotted blood in the area around the cut over Jack's eye. Predictably, he tried to jerk away again, but she had a firm grip on him.

"Didn't do so great, huh?"

"I thought I was in reverse…"

"The R is for reverse, not the D," Jack told him. Again.

"Not for run," Harry told him. Again.

"Well, they should just put reverse on the stupid thing," Sirius said, a little defensively. "That D could stand for anything…"

"It's okay, Sirius," Jack told him. "You're a beginner. These things happen."

"Harry didn't run you over…"

"Well, the day isn't finished, yet," Jack said, giving Harry a reassuring wink that didn't really work for him with the bruised eye.

"Yes, it is," Janet said. "You're coming with me to get stitched up, and Sam is on her way to collect these two. She'll keep them company until you're medically cleared to go home. But no more driving until tomorrow."

"It's fine, doc," Jack protested. "I can-"

"Colonel, don't argue with me. I've already called Sam. She's on her way."

Sirius grinned. All of the sudden he didn't feel quite as guilty as he had.

"I'm sure Sam can think of something we can do to keep out of trouble."