Lessons

~Driving Lessons~

It didn't matter that the Porsche was basically an engine on wheels and not much else; it could go fast, corner on a knut, and had a bass that could cause heart irregularity, but most importantly it was hers.

Hermione sighed, looking at the little car with pleasure and pride before fear twisted and gripped her stomach. She warily glanced over at the young man next to her. Just as she suspected. His green eyes were alight with an almost feral gleam behind his glasses. He looked at her Porsche like he looked at his Firebolt and that did not bode well. For her or her car.

He was in the driver's seat and leaning over to watch her through the passenger window before she could even properly gather her thoughts, straighten her spine and walk resolutely toward the car. "Well?" he called out to her. "You promised, you can't back out!"

Hermione worried her lip between her teeth and forced herself into the passenger seat before she chickened out and called the whole thing off. "Don't say I never do anything for you," she murmured primly buckling her seat belt. She sat back and turned slightly toward him, expectantly. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Harry frowned and looked around the dashboard as if it would give him the answers to life, the universe and everything. "Keys?"

"Seat belt, Harry," she sighed.

He turned slightly in his seat and looked at the restraint with displeasure. "You can't be-"

"Harry, even wizards can die in car crashes. Your wand won't prevent you from flying through a windscreen at sixty-five miles per hour, bits of your body strewn about the M4-"

"Ok, ok, alright, alright, I get it! I never knew you to be one for dramatics Miss Granger," Harry grumbled snapping the belt in place with a put upon sigh.

"I wasn't being dramatic, I was proving a point," she replied, a disapproving frown pursing her lips. "There's a difference."

Harry grumbled softly under his breath, but Hermione ignored it. "Ok. This is your dashboard. That is your speedometer, your RPM's, you don't really have to pay much attention to that, the temperature gauge for your engine and your gas gauge. F means full, E means empty," she ignored his slightly impatient grunt. "The pedal on the far left is the clutch, the pedal in the middle is the break, the pedal on the right is the accelerator. This," she held up the key which he snatched from her grip, "-hey!"

"Key, ignition, go! This I know all about," he said with a slow grin inserting the key into the ignition and turning the engine over.

The car made an aborted neyah-neyah-neyah noise before Harry released the ignition, his slow grin fading into a confused frown. He tried again with the same results before looking over at Hermione. She looked up from where she had her head in her hand, her elbow resting on her arm wrapped around her body, and stared straight ahead of her. Her hand covered the grin and giggle that threatened to burst out of her. Harry stared at her, his frown deepening into a scowl as he tried turning the engine over once again to the same pathetic noise. Hermione glanced at him and snorted, her giggle escaping before she could lock it behind her hand again. "I'm sorry, it's just too funny," she explained in a strained voice, her lips pursed to keep the giggle inside.

"Are you gonna help or not?" Harry asked with a sulking dejected slump to his shoulders.

"I'm sorry. Yes, I promised. You're not pressing the clutch. Make sure your gear shift is in neutral, press on the clutch then turn the car over," Hermione replied, patting his knee consolingly.

Hermione chose to ignore his grumbling again and felt proud when she only made the barest wince when the car shuddered to life. "Ok, keep your foot on the clutch and shift the car into first. The diagram is on the gear knob."

Harry studied the diagram carefully before taking the stick in hand and moving it into first. A screeching banshee howl of metal on metal startled both of them. Harry fumbled for the shift and shoved the stick back into neutral before glancing hesitantly over at Hermione.

Hermione slowly relaxed from cringing in her seat, releasing tense muscles one by one. He didn't mean it, he didn't know, he didn't mean it, he didn't know, she silently chanted in her brain while she regained control of her breathing. "It's ok," she finally spoke up her voice a bit too calm, a bit too quiet. "You need to keep the clutch all the way to the floor as you shift."

"Oh. Right. Sorry," he murmured sheepishly. "This all looks so easy when you do it."

"I know," she replied with a grin while he tried shifting the car into first again. Carefully mashing the pedal all the way in and shifting the gear, Harry looked over at her with a gleam of triumph in his green eyes. He had finally dominated this Muggle machine and Hermione wouldn't have been surprised if he suddenly broke out into a fit of yelling and chest beating.

"Now release the clutch and gently press on the accelerator, but not too gently or else - slowly Harry! Slowly!"

The car lurched forward for two neck snapping moments before it died completely.

"Well, even if I never learn how to drive I'll at least give Tonks a run for her money at the next Weird Sisters concert," Harry spoke up after a few moments of silence.

Hermione sighed.