And leave was exactly what they did. If it had been up to Sirius, they would have been out of there at the crack of dawn, but Remus insisted on waiting until the other two woke up to say goodbye. After all, it would be two weeks until they saw each other again, and although Sirius insisted that he planned on forgetting James's existence these next two weeks, they all knew that if either of them could refrain from making a snowwizard of the other and obsessively talking to it, it would be a miracle.

"Hurry up and wake up, you prat!" Sirius finally declared at ten in the morning, jumping onto James's bed and whacking him with his own pillow. "I want to get out of here already, and you're going to miss your train. I am not going to read all of your whiny letters complaining about how there's nothing to do here without me if you miss it."

"It doesn't leave until eleven!" James groaned, shoving him off and burying his face back in the pillow. "Leaf m'lone."

"See, Remus? There is no use getting through to him. We might as well leave before I suffer anymore heartbreak."

Remus shook his head, grabbing his wand and flicking it in James's direction. The blanket shot from the bed, as well as both pillows. "Potter. Get up and take a shower. Your mother won't appreciate you coming home smelling like that. Peter, you too." He flicked his wand again, the same thing happening to Peter's bed. "Preferably not at the same time, though. I'm all for water conservation, but the nightmares won't be worth it."

Unbelievably, they both obeyed him, James mumbling under his breath as he got up and marched off towards the bathroom. "Really? You listen to him, and not your best friend in the entire world?" Sirius asked as he passed by.

James mumbled again, reaching out and sloppily shoving him before going into the bathroom.

Half an hour later, everything was finally ready, and the four were making their way downstairs. They were all heading to Hogsmeade, but two were staying behind to get last-minute things while the others headed home on the train.

"All right, James, you prick, get over here." Sirius grinned, hugging his friend and clapping him on the back of his jacket. "Now you'd better not get into too much trouble without me. Tell your mum I'll see her over the summer, tell your dad that I'm giving that thing to that guy that I said I would, and…hm, what else? Oh! Don't forget my soup." He pushed him away, giving Peter a quick hug and some farewell words as well before waving as the two made their way towards the steaming engine. "Happy Christmas! No opening my gifts until the twenty-fifth! I'll know if you did!"

"What did you tell his dad you're giving to that guy?" Remus asked with a raise of an eyebrow as Sirius went back towards him, the two waving as the train started moving.

"Hm? No idea what you're talking about, Moony." He smiled innocently, tugging on his arm and pulling him out of the station and back into the little village. "Now what do we need here again?"

"Well, I need a few more quills, a new book, and a hat and gloves, since my old pair don't seem to be cutting it anymore. You, my friend, need to invest in a belt." He grinned, patting Sirius's arse, which was currently precariously lower than it should have been. "I'm tired of seeing that hanging out everywhere you go."

Sirius narrowed his eyes, a slight blush tingeing his cheeks as he shoved Remus's shoulder. "Oh, shove off, Lupin. You know you're just waiting for the day when these babies fail and you get a peak at what everyone's talking about." Satisfied with his comeback, Sirius made an abrupt left turn into the Quidditch shop, making a beeline for the Beater supplies. "Ugh, look at these. Just beautiful." He sighed, picking up a pair of gloves and holding them as if they were baby Jesus himself. "Why is everything I want but can't have so gorgeous?"

"Well, I suppose I do look pretty nice today, don't I?" He pretended to admire himself in a mirror before walking over to him, raising an eyebrow at the gloves. "Didn't you just get a new pair at the beginning of the year?"

"Yeah, but those ones have that pointy thing in the right glove and I can't find it to take it out. But look at these, Remus! These are clearly top of the line. And for that price, they'd better be." He let out a deflated sigh, putting them back down. "Maybe Santa'll get them for me. I've been a good boy."

"I think St. Nick would disagree. Now is there anything else you'd like to admire, or can we get on with our trip? The sooner we get there, the sooner you can introduce yourself to the firewhiskey."

Brightening up considerably at this prospect, Sirius hurried out of the shop and into the street. "How about you go to your precious bookstore and pick out whatever it is you want, and I go get your quills? You get the same ones every time. Shouldn't be too difficult." Without waiting for Remus's reply, Sirius darted into the shop, the door jingling behind him.

After getting an absolutely fascinating book on the prospects of theoretical physics, four new quills, a hat and a pair of gloves (no belt), the two made their way towards The Three Broomsticks, where Remus had set it up with the barmaid that they'd use the fireplace to go to Diagon Alley, where they'd take a different fireplace to the Floor Stop before embarking upon their journey to Switzerland.

The Floo Stop was almost like the Ministry of Magic, with a vast array of fireplaces and people bustling around everywhere, trying to get to the right fireplace before too late. Remus and Sirius were at fireplace 8F, which was about six away from the end – or, in Sirius's opinion, a death walk away. "Oh, it's not that far," Remus chided, starting the long walk. "Now you're sure you have everything, right? You packed rather lightly…"

Sirius shrugged, looking at his lone suitcase. "Well, I used a shrinking spell, and what could I possibly need anyway? I didn't even bring my Dungbombs, as heartbreaking as that is."

"Oh, however will you live?"

"You're going to have a lot of entertaining to do, Lupin."

"Don't worry. I brought a tennis ball." He smiled, standing in line behind an older couple about to embark upon their own trip.

"Black. Lupin," the man next to the fireplace said gruffly. They shuffled forward, handing him their papers. He glanced at them, giving Remus a weary look, but thankfully handed them back and gave them some powder. Remus said the name of their hotel, threw the powder down, and before they knew it they were spinning away from the Floo Stop and into a wonderful land of chocolate and neutrality.

"Ooooh. Look at it all. It's all so bright and shiny." Sirius squinted in the bright sunlight reflected off of the snow. The snowfall at Hogwarts hadn't been as magnificent as in years past, but Switzerland was a completely different story. Snow covered every available surface, from rooftops to cars to road signs. "This must be hell for albinos."

"And Kingsley. He'd never be able to play hide-and-seek here." Remus shook his head, turning around and heading back into the hotel. They got their key, and were discussing what to do once they had unpacked everything as they made their way upstairs. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm starved. I didn't eat much more than toast this morning, and Floo travelling always does weird things to me… Sirius?" He raised an eyebrow when his friend didn't answer, putting his bag down and turning around. "Did you hear me?"

"Didn't you get a two-bed place, Remus?"

"Well, yes, of course. Why do you –" He frowned when he noticed the predicament, walking over to him and looking around. "I specifically ordered a two-bed room, and they said they gave me one… Well, no worry. I'll just go down and fix it." He smiled, turning back around and heading for the door. "In the meantime, look at that view. It's magnificent."

Downstairs, Remus spent twenty minutes talking to the woman behind the desk in what small bits of her native language he knew, trying to work out an arrangement. Apparently, there had been a small mix-up with the rooms, but they were completely booked due to the upcoming holiday and that was the only room they had available. They had an opening on the twenty-eighth, but that was an entire week away. What were they supposed to do, share a bed?

"Tack, tack," he said at last, forcing a smile and going back up to Sirius. "Well, we have a problem. They're booked until next week." He sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I'll take the chair, if you want. I don't much mind. It looks comfortable enough."

Sirius furrowed his eyebrows, scratching his chin. "Why don't we just share?"

"Share? The bed?"

"Yeah. What's the big deal?" He shrugged, crawling up to the head of the bed and undoing his shoes. "I don't mind."

"You don't?"

He shrugged again, tossing a shoe off the bed. "Not if you don't."

"Oh." He blinked, rather surprised, his curious expression turning into a smile. "Well, thank you. That chair didn't look all that comfortable anyway."

"Don't mention it. Now what sorts of Swiss delicacies are you planning on exposing me to this evening?"

He chuckled, looking at his watch before shrugging. "I heard there's this meat pie, pastetlie, that's rather good. I'm sure you'd like it."

"…meat pie?" He raised an eyebrow, pausing in the tedious removal of his other shoe. "Go on."

"There's a shop right down the road."

"Say no more, Moon-Pie. Ha!" He grinned at his own terrible joke, quickly removing his shoe and digging around in his suitcase until he found his leather boots, pulling them on. Whenever Sirius pulled out these particular shoes, Remus usually didn't remember his name by the time he took them off again.

It was bound to be an interesting night, to say the least.