Learn to Love Again | George Weasley

39. Just Like Old Times

The man with long locs made his presence known with a loud "Oi, you lot!" the second he stepped through the door, giving a big wave to the group from across the pub.

A few of the other patrons grumbled and gave the boisterous man dirty looks for his obnoxious entrance, but George instantly felt better now that Lee was there. No one diffused tension quite like him.

George slid out from the booth to allow Katie to sit between him and Alicia while Lee pulled up a chair from a nearby table, thereby making him the head of the table - 'as it should be', he would say.

After about twenty minutes of catching up, everyone seemed to be getting along just fine. While it wasn't like the old days, it certainly wasn't unpleasant. Well, almost everyone was getting along, anyway. Verity had a sour expression on her face nearly every time Alicia opened her mouth and George was beginning to feel frustrated with her. The least she could do was try to be civil.

"I'm getting a drink, anyone want anything?" George asked the group, mostly as a reason to leave the table and avoid looking at Verity.

"Surprise me." Alicia smiled at him, and he nodded in return.

"I'll go with you." Lee stood up from his seat before looking over the remaining girls who all assured him they didn't want anything.

The men made their way over to the bar, waiting for the bartender to come over and take their orders. For it being so close to the holidays, the pub was quite busy, but perhaps the Christmas season did that to those with no one to spend the joyous time with.

"I'm surprised you invited Alicia out, Angie said-"

"No offense Lee, but I don't want to get into all of that."

"Oi, don't get your knickers in a twist. I'm just making conversation."

"Well that's not a conversation I want to have right now." he replied curtly, glancing over to his friend whose expression dropped into a frown as he nodded in return.

Before Lee could come up with a witty remark to change the subject to something more lighthearted, the bartender approached them to take their order.

"I'll just have a firewhisky and whatever your most full-bodied wine is."

"Trying to get Allie drunk?" Lee asked, abandoning his plan to make George feel better as he wiggled his eyebrows at the redhead. But all it earned him was a sharp elbow in the ribs from George.

The typically rowdy man cleared his throat before looking towards the bartender and ordering in a more subdued voice than usual, "Just a Dragon Scale, please."

The elderly wizard behind the bar raised an eyebrow at the men before giving them a nod and turning around to prepare their drinks. George turned to Lee, thinking it might be best to actually explain the situation to him. If anything, he'd be able to clear up any misinformation he had heard from Angelina - whatever he needed to do to get Lee to stop teasing him about Alicia. But before he could, a familiar American accent stopped him.

"George, hey man!"

When he turned to his left, George watched as Dhani pulled out the stool beside him and took a seat, already holding a half drunk pint of beer in his hand. Just my luck, he thought as he let out a sigh.

He'd have to remember to have a discussion with Charlie later about why he chose not to inform him that his friend was in town. Even though there was no way Charlie could have predicted they'd end up at the same pub on the same night, George would have still liked some sort of warning.

"Hi." he responded flatly, not even bothering to introduce him to Lee.

But that didn't hinder his friend's outgoing behavior at all. Leaning back in his seat, Lee extended his arm behind George's back who was now sitting hunched over the bar counter, waiting impatiently for his and Alicia's drinks as he tapped his finger against the wood with his eyes trained on the bartender.