Neville Longbottom?! But wasn't that the name of Frank and Alice's baby boy? Remus fought against keeping his brows wrinkled if that was going to give him away as someone who knew the Longbottoms. He could still remember the baby crying for his mother in his crib when he and some of his friends told Augusta Longbottom of what had happened to brave Frank and Alice.
And now he was...what, five years his senior? Impossible. The baby had just about learned to crawl the last he saw him!
At that moment, Remus became aware of the shift of time in this New York, as well, as if Lily herself was not evidence enough but...it was so convenient! In fact, Death Eaters could just come strutting in and declare that they were, say, Harry Potter from 15 years forward and demand to see their mother so they could kill her. There was no saying that this Neville Longbottom really was the future of the baby Neville Longbottom!
Still, Sirius had mentioned his name in his...story about Voldemort's death. But Remus knew better than to be unguarded. He would take it slow and coax everything out of this Neville in time. "Oh...Evans," he said with a small laughter as he placed his right hand on his side, the movement reassuring him that his wand was safely strapped to his elbow and all he needed was to twist his wrist to send it slipping to his hand. "Yes, Lily Evans and I, we are both from Gryffindor. Griffins of a feather flock together as they say." He shrugged, hoping to rid himself of Lily's acquaintance if that would keep her safe.
Oh God, Remus was not good at this! Why oh why didn't he even think to transfigure the scarf into one of silver and green? Now he had to act like the real Gryffindor that he was! And he couldn't use Snape's name. He wondered if there was a particular Gryffindor person he didn't like very much...
Oh. There was now. Kind of.
He tossed his hand to the old Muggle hunched beneath the wall of bottles, imagining himself to be Sirius. "No occasion, really. Got a flat." He looked at Neville with confidence. "Housewarming."
He couldn't help but stare at Neville, though...where was that sense of familiarity coming from?