Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Driving Lessons

"Why are we doing this again?"

"Because, Lily said it would be useful to blend in with muggles. We can't ride our brooms everywhere."

"Apparition, mate."

"Because we can just pop into existence in front of a muggle."

"Floo Powder?"

"I'm pretty sure there isn't a fireplace everywhere we need to go."

"Why can't we just ride our brooms everywhere?"

"Muggles will see!"

"I hate you."

"Shut up and tell me what this sign means."

James Potter leaned over in his mercilessly cramped desk and shoved his packet of paper under Sirius Black's nose. He gestured to a triangular sign with his pencil, a curious muggle writing device that he secretly found more convenient then quills - the only downside to them was that they didn't have a candy counterpart.

"How should I know what it means?" Sirius asked incredulously, shoving James's paper back onto his desk. "You dragged me to these classes!"

It was true. At first when Lily suggested it, James thought the two of them would do it together. But then she announced that she'd already received her Driver's License when she was sixteen, which was apparently the traditional age. So, aged eighteen, fresh out Hogwarts, and engaged, James dragged Sirius to the week long required course, where they'd practically slept through every textbook reading and depressing video on drinking/doing drugs/talking/being drowsy while driving. Except for the times when Sirius would lean forward in his seat and quietly say the spell that would fix the problem the video posed, causing James to snicker quietly, earning dirty looks from a brunette girl beside Sirius, who's own eyes were brimming with tears from the sadness of the videos.

A few memory spells and some magically-forged paperwork later and they were able to take their official test not even two weeks after the initial course, which was where they were now. Technically, they shouldn't have been talking. Maybe that was why the sixteen-year-olds were throwing them irritated looks.

"But didn't you have to take a class in order to drive your motorbike?" James asked.

"Of course not! I just.. hopped on and figured out how to do it," Sirius said, circling a random answer for question twelve.

"So you are illegally driving."

"Prongs, I'm insulted by your surprised tone. I feel as though you should have expected nothing less."

James rolled his eyes. At that moment, though, a sharp bing! rang out, and the muggles around them all stood, taking their test papers with them, and walked to the front of the room to hand them in. James looked at his own paper, most of the questions unanswered, and starting circling randomly. A quick look to his right confirmed his suspicion that Sirius was doing the same.

James and Sirius hastily joined the crowd of teenagers at the back before the instructor noticed their wrongdoings. They shuffled forward and handed in their tests, and took their seats once again at the back of the room while the teacher graded.

After about fifteen minutes of silence passed by several games of hangman, the instructor cleared his throat, and the two of them looked to the front of the room.

"Eh, Potter and Black? You two passed. You can go through that door, and wait for your driving instructor," the man said lazily.

James's eyes widened. They had actually passed? He and Sirius exchanged surprised but happy looks. They slapped hands and swaggered through the door the man had gestured to.

"Are you two my drivers?" Asked a perky, short blond woman with a clipboard. James and Sirius exchanged a look.

"Yep, we sure are," James spoke first.

"Excellent!" The woman said. "Let's head on out, shall we?"

James and Sirius followed her confidently. If the written test had been easy enough to just answer randomly, driving had to be just as easy, right?

"BRAKE, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BRAKE!"

"FUCK, PRONGS, THAT'S A TREE!"

"WATCH OUT!"

"WERE YOU AIMING FOR THAT CHILD?"

"RED MEANS 'STOP', NOT 'DRIVE INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC'!"

"YOU'RE GOING TO KILL US!"

"WILL THE TWO OF YOU STOP! YELLING!" James finally roared, his knuckles white with the intensity with which he was holding the steering wheel (at 2 and 10 o'clock positions, he would proudly add).

"Pull over," Miranda, their driving instructor, commanded.

James pouted but obediently drove off the side of the road and broke harshly, causing them all to be thrust forward in their seat.

Miranda frowned. "Not the best way to go about it, but it's the best you've done so far."

James scowled.

Ever since he and Sirius played a quick game of cloak-wand-stone to determine who would drive first, things had just steadily gone down hill from there. How the hell did the muggles control all the buttons, levers, steering wheel, brakes, and all the while making sure they were staying on the left side of the road and that no idiots were walking in front of them just for the hell of it? He had run over curbs, potholes, and squirrels, much to the annoyance of Miranda, who was no longer happy or bubbly. A permanent scowl was etched on her face, one arm on the door handle as though wondering if it would be safer to just jump out of the car instead of dying in the inevitable fiery crash James would lead them into. Her leg was also getting a workout from all of the times she's had to slam on the second set of breaks on her side of the car.

"Do I get to drive now?" Sirius asked cheerfully from the back seat. James slapped his hand to his face, Miranda mirroring his own actions. She checked her watch.

"Fine," she answered curtly. "You may take us back to the office," she added, making it painfully obvious that neither of them will pass. Which seemed unfair for Sirius, if it weren't for the fact that he caused his door to fly open while James was taking his first successful turn, and it had almost been taken clean off by the light pole.

"Jolly good," Sirius said hopping out of the car and exchanging places with James, who caught his eye and raised his eyebrow. Sirius merely grinned and shook his head.

Sirius slipped into the front seat, turning the keys and causing the car to roar into life once more. Miranda tightened her grip on the handle. Sirius surreptitiously locked the doors. He clipped his seat belt into place and adjusted the mirrors, being a couple inches taller than James.

He switched gears smoothly, switching on the turn signal and waited patiently for a break in traffic so he could slip through. Seeing a chance, he pressed on the gas lightly and used perfect technique to squeeze through.

The look of astonishment on both James and Miranda's faces was almost comical.

"What?" Sirius asked, easily turning onto the road that would lead them back to the DMV. Neither of them answered. "Would you mind if I turn on the radio? The sound of your shocked silences it kind of distracting," he asked cheekily. Miranda reddened, but Sirius ignored this and flipped on the radio, a popular muggle song filling the car with it's chorus.

Sirius hummed along as he stopped just before a stop sign, first checking right, then left, and continuing on. A few minutes later he was pulling into a parking space flanked on both sides right in the middle. Everyone got out of the car, Sirius sighed contentedly and slammed the door shut, and looked at Miranda with what could only be described as self-satisfaction.

Miranda cleared her throat and shuffled through the notes on her clipboard.

"Well, I'm sorry to tell the both of you, but you both failed," she announced.

Sirius's jaw dropped. "But I drove perfectly!" he protested.

"Even so, you were a distraction while your partner was driving, which is an automatic failure," Miranda said, her eyes steely.

James snorted and laughed into the back of his hand.

"I wish the both of you luck on your next attempt," she said curtly, turning towards the front door.

James looked at Sirius and flicked his head to the said, gesturing to the blonde, and unspoken agreement between them.

Sirius slipped his wand out from his coat sleeve, made sure no one was watching, and pointed it at Miranda's back. "Obliviate."

Miranda stiffened, then turned around, her eyes cloudy with a dreamy look on her face. "Hmm... what are you boys still standing there for? Take these papers to the main desk, and they'll set you up with your licenses." She handed them her entire clipboard, then walked over to a bench and lay down on it, staring at the clouds. James raised his eyebrow in concern, but shrugged it off. She'll be fine.

"Let's go, mate!" Sirius said, slinging his arm around James's shoulders.

They handed the clipboard to the large man sitting at the desk. He glanced at the paper and then silently pointed them to a line of people waiting to get their picture taken. Sirius grinned and walked to the end, dragging James along with him.

"Lily! We got 'em! We can drive!" James called excitedly as soon as he and Sirius stepped into their flat (after apparating, of course).

"Really?" Came Lily's voice from the small kitchen. "That's excellent! Let me see, come in here!"

James joined her, finding her sitting on top of the counter beside a hot pan of cookies, using her wand to cool them off. James pulled out his newly acquired license and and held it out proudly.

"I'm so proud of you," Lily said, smiling and kissing him sweetly. Sirius came into the kitchen, taking a cookie off the pan and swallowing half of it in one bite.

"And... you went with him?" Lily asked, frowning just enough for James to notice.

"Yep!" Sirius said too cheerfully. "I got my license too, see?" he showed her his own, the picture (which he insisted on retaking seven times) showed him smirking arrogantly at the camera. Lily glanced at it, looking a little confused.

"All right then. James," she said, turning to look at him, "why don't you owl Remus? I'm pretty sure he and Peter were holding a bet on the outcome."

"Sure!'' James said, still high off of relief and accomplishment. He kissed Lily once more then went to their room to tell their friends of his news.

Lily turned to Sirius. "When were you going to tell him that Lottie made you get a license for that bloody bike of yours months ago?"

Sirius smirked, shrugging. "I didn't feel the need to divulge such information."

"What did his face look like when he realized you could actually drive well?"

"Lilyflower, it was priceless."

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed! It's really helped clear my writer's block! You can expect the next chapter of Lily's the Man soon.

The reason for this fic is that I'm doing my driving test tomorrow, and I'm terrified. Good luck to me, I suppose?

This story is dedicated to my best friend, Emi, or Icey Mesovskaya. Did you like how I subtly put Lottie in there? (;

And for all of you reading Lily's The Man, yes, it's the same Lottie. Oops! Did I just give away a small spoiler? Now really, didn't you see it coming?

Please drop a review if you can! ^_^

Until next time,

~Smile.