It’s with this determination that Sirius attends the Longbottom Christmas event on the 24th, new robes ready and a list Remus gave him of probable attendees. He stays for a full hour, greeting Mrs. Augusta Longbottom, being introduced to more than half of the list, and then looking for Neville in order to give him a gift—when questioned about it, Sirius smiles and shrugs, saying that he had been very good friends with his parents, and that Neville had been born around the same time as his godson. Neville looks up at him with awed eyes, and Sirius wonders if maybe Harry will look at him that way, as well. He promises Neville that he’ll tell him stories of Auror training with Frank some other time, because Christmas is not the time to bring up the war, and even promises to look for some photographs he might have of Neville’s parents.