“See here,” Monty pointed, “and there, we apply charms. Not telling you what charms, course, trade secret.” His oily finger smeared on his nose as he tapped it, glancing to his left at the witch also lying on her back beneath the car. “But they help you change direction in the air, ‘cause unlike an airplane we’ve no wings, but the steering has to work in the air.” He wiped his wand on his overalls and tugged at his beard.

Josie Flint was an old school friend of Theta’s, though if memory served correct, Josie was a smidgen older. He’d always liked her, Josie was muggle born, northern, had a cracking laugh. Unfortunate surname. She’d taken up a bit of journalism along the way, and he kicked himself on forgetting she might be a good contact. Well, that and the fact Josie wasn’t writing regularly at the Prophet or similar. They’d already been along to interview him[1] but the coverage hadn’t always been accurate.

The garage door was closed, given the weather and what they were looking at. It had benefitted from a little magical enhancement since he’d come home, and now accommodated two cars, though that was rather confusing from the outside if a Muggle came past with the door open. Bigger on the inside, something which had strangely pleased Adelia Delacroix when she’d come by one day.

“But you don’t want me to just show you the underside of a car do you, Jo?” Monty asked with a grin. He was always itching to take someone out and see their face as they took off. It was Sunday, and the roads were quieter, but his wife Catherine would be home eventually from visiting Muggle friends. “What do you say, we take it for a spin?”

1.	April 2nd 2010 A Flying Visit

Josie nodded. She wrote things down quickly. She used a pencil and a muggle notebook. Under the car it was a bit difficult. It was held inches from her nose. At least she could write with a pencil upsidedown.
"It is not much of a sales pitch without the grand finale." Josie agreed. She laughed with him. Mr Pepper was always fun. He liked Muggle stuff and did not talk about it in a weird way. She hoped he got his cars made legal. It would be very cool to drive one on the road and then fly it. Muggles had wanted to do that for ages. "Only if I get to drive."

"It is not much of a sales pitch without the grand finale.”

Monty laughed.  For all the ability to put a spin on a story, Josie was straight to the point.  He doubted the witch had the cash to make a purchase, but she could certainly write an article or six and help his campaign.

"Only if I get to drive.”
“Now then,” Monty sucked air through his teeth, “depends if you get air sick on the way up…” He was teasing her and she knew it.  Josie had come round enough times as a teenager to know the score.  “Come on then,” he clapped a hand to her shoulder, not realising he’d left a smear of oil, “let’s take this beauty out.”

They roared out of the driveway a few minutes later, puttering up the road and away from Sandy to find a quiet spot.  It was a dry day, but cold, and Monty had chosen the car with the top on, in an attempt to keep them a bit warmer.  The enchanted heater breathed out warm air which tickled his whiskers.  He changed gear and rounded a bend, checking the rearview mirror.
“So, no Muggles about,” he explained to Josie, flicking a switch on the dashboard, checking the mirror again. “Hold tight!” He revved the engine and flicked another switch. The car began to lift from the ground, and the hedges either side of them began to drop away. “Aha! Write that in your notebook and publish it!”

It was too hard to write in her notebook. Josie's jaw dropped. It was like riding a broom. But more comfortable. Less wobbly. She felt safer in the car. She gripped the door handle and Monty's shoulder.
"Wow!" She said astonished. "It goes up really quick!" Her ears popped. She looked out the window. The road and the hedges were getting smaller and smaller. They looked like toys or a map. The engine roared. Addie and Perm would not believe her if she told them. "So they cannot see us? Are you sure?" She asked Monty. "What about birds? Do they fly into you? Can they hear you?"

Monty always enjoyed the first reactions of his passengers as they shot up in the air. Some were reserved, claiming it was smoother than a broom, and more comfortable, others screeched and begged to go down, and some were like Josie Flint - big children full of wonder and exclamations. But all three began the questions soon enough.

"Stick your head out the window and you'll see the car is invisible." He suggested, veering gently to the left. "Birds don't see us, but they can feel the change in air from our movement, so yes, have to avoid them. Not good for the engine or the paintwork - or the bird of course." He added. "Got charms we can apply for birds though, some that give you a good twenty foot clearance, others just a small one. You see some of our customers like to fly with the eagles - I mean, they do in American." Monty smiled at Josie,

"Can't hear us either, and the emissions are nothing. Runs on magic, not petrol, though we do make a few models that run on both for those with No-Majs or Muggles nearby. Ooh, look, they've got an outdoor swimming pool. What's the point of a swimming pool in Britain when you're a muggle?" Monty pointed down and changed course so Josie could see.

"It is like an invisibility cloak!" Josie said. This was excellent. She wrote down what Monty said. "It is a status thing. Like tennis courts when you do not play tennis." Josie explained. She was Muggle born. It was no surprise. "Do you have many British customers? If it is illegal how do you get round the laws?"

"Exactly like an invisibility cloak!" Monty exclaimed, matching his passenger's enthusiasm. "A few, more by the month. It's only illegal as long as they say it is, I want them to change it, to make it legal. Who wouldn't want to experience this? It's better and safer than flying a broom. You can fit the whole family in."

Monty took them in a gentle arc around the countryside as he spoke, safely negotiating birds.
"And as for how, well, it's not illegal to ship in the cars, just illegal to ship in the cars with the charms." He winked at the young witch. "Now, you up for a drive?"

"Yes please!" Josie said. When she was in the driving seat she felt powerful and scared. She had driven a car before but not in the air! When she put her foot on the accelerator it went forward. Brakes were just like on the ground too. "But how do you go up and down?" She asked.

"You use the gears!" Monty answered, a massive grin on his face beneath his moustache and beard. He was overjoyed at seeing Josie so caught up in near child-like curiosity and excitement. This was exactly how he'd felt the first time he'd seen and driven a car through the air in America. He was hooked from then on. He hoped Josie would be too, he could do with a few more allies, especially ones who could write a decent story.

"Why don't you try following the river down there, here, you brought a camera didn't you? I'll take a few photos of you driving. Easy now, don't haul the wheel it doesn't need much." He reached out to gently pat on the steering wheel and then dug about for the camera, wriggling back against the passenger door to try and take a good photo.

"Yeah!" Josie said excitedly. She nodded vigorously. She took care of driving. She gave Monty a big grin when he pointed the camera at her. "Here get one of me turning. It will look very exciting." Flying a car was very exciting. But she wanted to make it look so exciting people would be begging to drive. "Wow! How fast does it go? How high?"

There was no end to Josie’s excited exuberance about the cars. Gosh, at this rate maybe he was best hiring her as a new sales person.
“About 4,000 feet in the air[1], and on the ground about ninety without charm, in the air, full throttle, a hundred and twenty, but not recommended. The scenery’s a blur and your reactions have to be quicker. If you want speed, it’s a different model, there’s a team back in America working on one that’ll break records in the air races…” Monty explained, suddenly feeling incredibly homesick for America. Twenty years over there, unable to come home, and now he’d been home a year save for trips back for the business, he felt a yearning for a whole summer there. After the Leaky Cauldron, once he was well enough he’d gone over and spent three weeks hiding in his old life. “You and Theta will have to take a holiday, come see it.” He told Josie. “The motorbike goes a lot faster, once I’ve finished fettling with it.” He was referring to the one in the garage back home. “Mind those seagulls.”

1.	This is about hang-glider height

Josie said the numbers back to herself. She could not write them down. She was driving!
"Air races!" Josie said excitedly. "Boy will we!" Josie would drive in one if they let her. That sounded AWESOME. "You have to take me on the bike." Josie said. "In the summer." She circled the seagulls. This was really really fun. "I do not get it. Why do people think this should be illegal?"

Monty laughed with her at her reaction.
“That’s a deal.” He agreed, patting her left shoulder.

“I do not get it. Why do people think this should be illegal?” Josie asked, seemingly getting the hang of driving in the air.

“Because cars get seen. If people saw us flying brooms they’d think they were unwell or seeing things, because it’s old legend and myth for Muggles. Actual flying cars is a possibility that Muggles might construct with technology. It’s more likely they’ll whip out their pocket telephones and snap photos.” He crossed his ankles in the footwell and relaxed a little. “Do you not remember Harry Potter and Ron Weasley flying Weasley’s father’s car to school once? Obliviators had a field day. We’re such a densely populated island, and the Ministry’s scared. It’s another thing they’ve got to hide. Another potential breach of the statute.” He shook his head, grey curls bouncing.

“That’s why I worked on Edwin Glass first. Level Three, see, they are allll about the statute. Take a left here, otherwise we’ll get too near Cambridge. Follow the river North, we’ll head to Grafham. Fly over the water and marvel at our lack of reflection.”

"Complicated." Josie said. She turned the car where Monty said. She believed him when he said about photos. Josie was Muggleborn. She had a basic mobile phone. Her family used it. But she did not make magic near it. She kept breaking them.

"What about taking the Minister for a drive?" Josie asked. "She will change her mind when she gets to fly. It is amazing!" Josie shuffled her bum on the driver's seat. She was getting used to driving now. "The Ministry have cars. I have seen them." Josie said. "But I do not think they can fly. They are like the Knight Bus. What are your next plans?"

“Complicated.” Josie remarked, and Monty nodded and stroked his beard. The drive was smoothing out the more Josie settled into it, and Monty was pleased she was getting the hang of it.

“They can’t, no,” Pepper agreed with her observations about the Ministry’s fleet of cars. They were to move around traffic in London and mix with the muggle world seamlessly when required. He’d asked Edwin about them years back when he’d just thought he had a long-lost relative in America. “Elegant magic though, disillusionment, I’d love to get a good look at one but they’re not often used to my knowledge.” He could see the sunlight reflecting off the Grafham reservoir[1] up ahead.

“I’d love to get the Minister for a drive, but I’ve not yet found her weakness for an approach,” Monty admitted, taking out a handkerchief and polishing the dashboard a little out of pride. “She’s too conservative about it, not even interested when me, Francis and Gabrielle outran dementors in one of my cars[2]. I’m going to work on building a following, tempt key faces from America over to come and show off over here - not competitors, mind, just stars. Let’s bring her down a bit, check our lack of reflection…” Monty leaned over and gave Josie directions to lower the altitude of the car so they could glide above the water.

1.	Google Maps
2.	22nd May, 2010, Dementors Can’t Drive