A/N: Okay, so I finally updated this fanfic. Yay! I enjoyed writing this chapter a lot, and hope you enjoy reading. There is a scene towards the end that is kinda emotional and then not really "grownup" though, and hope it reads and comes across the way I want it to. I'll be curious to know what y'all think. Again, enjoy!

The crowds were still bustling back and forth as Albus and Ron pushed their way across the street towards the Leaky Cauldron. The bar wasn't much better, and Ron finally spotted the others tucked into the back corner.

"Crazy out there," he muttered as he pushed through the crowd towards Bill, George, and Harry.

Al followed tentatively still a little unsure of himself, and the crowded bar wasn't helping.

"Blimey, Harry," Ron called as he plopped down across from his best friend. "How many of those have you had?"

Albus followed Ron's gaze towards his dad to see him down the last few drops of fire whiskey from his glass. Harry's hair still looked disheveled but his face had relaxed.

"That's his second," Bill answered Ron, before turning his eyes slowly towards Albus. "Sit, Al."

George and Harry glanced at the boy now too, causing Albus to shift on his feet. Harry smiled at his son, throwing an arm around the boy's shoulder. "How did the talk go?" he whispered lowly, as he pulled Al into his side.

Al felt his face heat, but opened his mouth to answer when Ron spoke. "That such a good idea, mate?" Ron inquired, looking pointedly at the two already empty glasses.

Trying to take a step towards the empty seat beside Harry and George, Al found he couldn't move. With Harry's arm still wrapped around his shoulder, he was locked in place and glued to Harry's side.

"Two near death experiences."Harry leveled Ron with his own look, and Al noticed that his dad's eyes were slightly red. "And nearly losing Al." On this note, Harry's arms tightened around Al's shoulders.

"Bloody Hell," Ron grunted, before flagging the waitress. "Another Round! And a butterbeer for the lad."

"Think you can let Al take his seat, Harry?" George asked, as he kicked out the chair between him and Harry.

With a sheepish smile, Harry gave his son another squeeze before releasing him. "Glad you're safe, son," he said lowly again, as Albus climbed up to the hightop.

Al opened his mouth to tell his dad that HE was actually glad that Harry was ALIVE, but the waitress came back dropping the drinks on the table. Without looking up, she hurriedly pulled a pad and pen from her pocket. "The usual, gents?"

When they nodded, she turned her head towards Al. "And for you, hun?"

"Bacon Cheese Burger?" He questioned the lady, not really sure what kinda food they offered.

She smiled and wrote down his order. "Fries okay, or do you want onion rings?" She paused for a second with a warning glance towards George.

"Or do you wanna switch it up like me and get half and half."

"Half and half?" Al questioned.

"Best of both world!" George declared, with a wink towards the waitress which made her slightly blush. "Half fries, half rings."

"Really George Weasley," she muttered with a shake of her head, wrote something on the pad and turned to leave.

Al couldn't help but chuckle as George called his thanks after her retreating form. "You'll love it, Al," he said finally turning back to the boy with another wink.

"Every time, George." Bill cut in across the table.

"When are you just gonna ask her out?"

Ask her out? Al's head snapped up and he looked across the table at Ron, then to the waitress across the bar, and back to Uncle George. "You like her?"

The men chuckled around the table. George opened his mouth to answer when a snapping sound cut him off.

"ALBUS POTTER." Al jumped and blinked as he stared into the face of a very angry Teddy.

Teddy stalked towards the small table with a look of pure outrage. "What the hell, Al? I hand delivered you to the cafe and you peace out?"

By now half way through his third fire whiskey, Harry raised an eyebrow at Teddy. Or attempted to raise an eyebrow, "Why didn't you see him in, Teddy?"

Exasperated, Teddy threw up his hands. "I thought a ten year old could walk across the street in to a cafe. Apparently, I was wrong."

Eyes turned towards Al again, and nervous the lad blurted out the first thing that popped into his mind. "Teddy got me hangover last night!"

"What?" Bill gasped.

"Come again, mate?" Ron, while Harry's mouth worked open and close a few times.

Teddy's eyes turned frigid, and he's hair turned an odd shade of pale yellow. "Really, Al. You wanna go there?" He pursed through tight lips.

"And Al, here I thought you were an outstanding citizen," George faked whispered, as he offered his drink to Al. Wide eyed Al quickly shook his head as he scanned the men's faces at the table.

"...On sleep medicine."

"What?" Ron gasped again, but didn't get to finish his upcoming lecture before nervous Al blurted out another secret.

"And he slept with his best mate's girl."

Teddy lunged across the table towards Al, but Bill managed to pull him back by the collar of his shirt.

"Enough," Harry stood up and wobbled slightly on his feet. His voice carried across the bar, making some of the patrons stop and stare their way.

"Carry on, carry on," Ron called out towards the bar, as he stood too mumbling about nosy people.

Running his hand through his hair, Harry turned towards his godson. "Is that why you and Roger stopped talk?"

Teddy stopped glaring daggers at Albus and turned towards his godfather, running a hand through his own now dark pink hair. "Sorta?"

"Sorta?" Bill grunted as he finally turned Teddy loose, "that means yes."

"How would YOU know so much about twenty year olds?" Teddy demanded as he whirled towards Bill.

"News flash, jackarse. I was in my twenties once. And had five younger brothers go through that phase. And I knocked some sense into all them." The vein popped out of his neck, as he leaned forward into Teddy's space. "And I'm not above doing the same to you."

Teddy and Bill continued to stare each other down. And Al noticed that only George remained sitted at the table now. The man was gripping the table with both hands till his knuckles turned white.

"I'm gonna kill you, Al." Teddy hissed at his younger brother, before rolling back his shoulder and facing Bill. "What I do-,"

"Four."

"What?" Bill's angry face snapped towards his own brother.

George looked pale, but he licked his lips and continued. "You really only four brothers go through that phase."

The color slowly drained out of Bill's face as he leaned away from Teddy. "Oh, Georgie...,"

"No..," George whispered. "I miss him everyday. Everyday I-," Al had never seen his Uncle look so serious. George's eyes had misted over as he paused, and he took a deep breath dropping his head.

The air around the table seemed to have frozen. And Al couldn't even imagine what it would be like to lose Teddy or James, or even Lilly for that matter. But he knew what almost losing Harry had done to him. He hadn't realize that he was leaning towards his father, till his father's arms dropped around him.

George released his grip on the table and flexed his fingers slowly. He popped his neck back and forth, and finally looked up. The sadness behind his eyes couldn't be hidden.

Done talking about Fred, George turned towards Teddy. "You're all each other has. Don't take that for granted, Teddy."

The anger fizzled out of Teddy starting from his hair as it turned it's normal color, till the redness cooling from his face. And with one glance at Teddy's eyes, Al knew he was forgiven.

"I'm sorry, Teddy." The lad offered anyway, and Harry gave the boy's shoulder a gentle squeeze.

Teddy sighed, and reached across the table open palmed. "Me too, Al. Truce?"

Reaching towards his brother's hand, Al took it and shook it quickly. "Deal."

Teddy's hand clamped down and jerked Al halfway across the table. Causing Harry's empty glass to knock over, and sending a frazzled Harry after it. Ignoring all this, Teddy eyed his younger brother. "But next time James is terrorizing you, don't come looking for me," He warned in a serious voice, but Al didn't miss the amusement in the older man's eyes.

George's laughter boomed out across the table, killing the previous somber moments. And the other men finally relaxed, and began taking their seats once again. "That's the way, Ted," he chocked out, "Right, Ronnie?"

"No comment," Ron grunted, as he fought back a smilie.

"All too true, George." Bill chuckled as he downed the last of his own drink.

Al froze and stared into Teddy's eyes, before jerking his arm backwards. "Don't worry about that."

Which of course set off another set of chuckles, which only intensified when Ron announced. "You come find me, mate, I can definitely relate."

"Everything okay over here?" Al looked up to see the waitress standing there with a plate of delicious smelling food.

George nodded, his easy grin back in place. "Yes, Ma'am," he drawled lazily eying his plate. "Where's my half and half, Jane?"

"I gave you all fries, and the boy all onion rings. You can split it that way," she announced warily.

She turned towards Teddy and raised her eyebrows. "You eating?"

"Get the half fries, half onion rings, Teddy!" George called around a mouth of hamburger, as he snatched some rings off of Al's plate.

The woman shook her head at George. "You love teasing me, huh?"

He only answered with a cheese filled grin, that actually had cheese handing out, making the table laugh again around their own stuffed mouths.

Teddy grinned. "Already ate, but thanks Jane." She nodded and left the table quickly.

"You got it bad," Teddy announced as he swiped some fries from Ron's plate.

"For fried food, maybe." George grinned again though, as he swapped a few of his fries for some more of Al's onion rings.

Teddy shook his head and turned back towards Bill, who was now getting the details about how Ron and Harry's work meeting had went, over an almost raw looking hamburger.

"They had our arses on a silver platter," Al heard his dad drawl lazily, and almost wanted to laugh about how non-worked up Harry sounded.

Turning his attention back to his Uncle, Al reached for a fry.

"Me and Fred use to do this all the time." George whispered softly. Al quickly glanced around the table, but the other men were still engrossed in their previous conversations.

Taking a deep breath, he faced his uncle again. "What? Keep kids from running away from their families?"

A small smile played on George's lips. "Share fries and rings."

A lump formed in Albus's throat, but he still managed to ask a question that had been plaguing his mind. "What was Uncle Fred like?"

George smiled fully then and regarded his young nephew. "You really wanna know?"

Al nodded as he laid his burger back on his plate.

George grinned slyly then and reached for Al's butter beer. Tipping his own fire whiskey into Al's cup quickly, allowing only a small splash to hit the boy's drink. "He was kindhearted and spirited, but also a bit reckless. And a lot of fun."

Al didn't look away from his cup though. He had never tried alcohol before, and even though he knew his mother would kill him, he was curious.

George pulled the cup back again, and Albus reluctantly let it go. "That was for Fred. And since we always did everything together," George tipped another small sip of whiskey into Al's. "For me."

Mouth hanging open this time, he quickly scanned the table for witnesses before his eyes swung back to his Uncle and his now spiked butterbeer.

"Drink up, lad," he whispered with a grin at Al's shocked face, pushing the drink back towards Albus. "Fred would turn over in his grave if I wasn't the first one to introduce ya to whiskey. Especially after today."

Taking a deep breath and then a pull from his drink, Al sputtered when the nasty mixture hit his tongue. It tasted awful, like burnt toast, and it stung his mouth. Al fought back a gag and ended up coughing, spewing the entire sip back into his cup. "So nasty!"

George chuckled out rightly then, "Fred was also mischievous and a bit of an instigator."

"You tricked me."

George shook his head with a goofy grin. "Nah, mate, Fred did."

"Let that be a lesson to you," Al jerked his head up to see all the men staring at him again. Centering his focus on his dad, the boy froze. How much trouble could one day hold? Then man just smiled and shook his head mumbling about Weasleys.

Ron continued. "Never trust a George and Fred trick. Or George acting on Fred's behalf."

"You'd know Ron," Bill cut in again, and the table set about bickering remember the best and worse Fred and Goerge tricks.

George slapped Al's back playful, and the boy couldn't help grin back up at his Uncle. "Nasty, huh?"

"The grossest thing ever," Al confirmed with a grave nod, pushing the butterbeer away with his knuckles. "I never, ever, wanna another."

Leaning across the table towards the two, Harry couldn't help grin at his son and friend. "Welcome to guy's night, Al. Though if I was you, I'd wait till I was at least eighteen before I tried that again." Harry cocked a goofy eyebrow and leaned back. "Oh...and don't mentions this to your mum."

Blinking Al nodded, "Uh..don't worry, Dad. That taste did me in."

Laughing, Harry nodded and turned back to his hamburger.

"But no promises about telling my mum," It was Al's turn to level Uncle George with a look.

"Shite, lad," The mumbled came, but was quickly chased by a grin and an approving nod.

"Unless, you walk yourself over there to the bar and ask that pretty waitress out." George's face whitened slightly, but the challenged stood.

"If Fred dared you, would you do it?" Al whispered lowly.

The knuckles gripped the table again, but didn't turn white this time. George leveled the kid with a look and returned a whisper. "Glad you didn't run off - at least too far - today, lad."

Then stood and announced to the table, "Al needs a new drink, and I'm getting a date."

Again, the table sputtered, laughed, and catcalled, but George made his way towards the bar.

Al looked after him for a moment, but then turned to his Dad. "I'm glad I'm here."

Harry looked down at his son and smiled, and squeezed the lad's shoulder. "Been wanting to hear you say that all evening, Al. And me too."

A/N: The scenes with George were the ones I was iffy about. Did they read okay?
And what did you think of this chapter in general? I'm planning on having one (maybe two) more chapters before officially wrapping this up.