9. A Roman Myth

Time passed very quickly until the Christmas break and sooner then I thought I found myself packing my trunk, with the belongings I needed for the break. The train was going to leave tomorrow morning at 10am sharp and I didn't want to be in a hurry. James and Sirius were sitting on a bed talking lively to each other and I could feel at the same time their eyes watching my every move. I was still the most reserved from our little group and Sirius had started to make it as a task to make me more active in everything, like now.

"Remus doesn't your name come from a Roman Myth?" Sirius asked and gets up sitting down on my bed instead.

"Yes it does." I answer quietly and think about the possible reason why my brother and me were called after that Myth.

"Tell me! Please!" Sirius begged looking at me with his puppy eyes. Who could then still say no? I nod and now Peter, who just came out of the bathroom, follows James and the two sit down on the floor in front of Sirius and me.

"Remus and Romulus, as the myth says, were twins. Amulius, who was the brother of their mother Rhea Silvia, made his own sister a priestess, so that she would have no children who could lay claim to his throne. After the birth of her two boys, Remus and Romulus, to remove any threat against himself, he had them thrown in a basket into the Tiber. The twins were not drowned, however. They were rescued and nursed by a she-wolf on the slopes of the Palatine Hill and were later discovered by the shepherd Faustulus and reared by his wife, Acca Larentia. When they grew to manhood, the brothers deposed Amulius and placed their grandfather Numitor on the throne." I stopped for some minutes and looked at the curious faces around me. Everything was for once quiet something that doesn't happen very often when you are around Sirius and James.

"Are you already finished or is there still more to come?" this time it was James who asked curiously. And I sighed telling the end of the myth.

"The brothers then decided to build a city. After quarrelling over the spot, they finally chose the Palatine Hill. Romulus built a wall, over which Remus, to show its inadequacy, scornfully leaped; Romulus or one of his companions thereupon killed Remus, and Romulus became sole ruler of the city. To populate the city, he provided an asylum on the Capitoline Hill for runaway slaves and homicides and procured wives for them by seizing the Sabine women at a festival to which he had invited the neighbouring Sabines. After a series of wars between Romulus and the Sabines, they were finally reconciled, with Romulus as king. According to legend, Romulus was carried up to the heavens by his father, and was later worshipped as the god Quirinus."

They were all still quiet and fascinated by the Myth. I thought for a minute and then remembered that Sirius was also the brightest star in our Universe. "Do you know what else is named after your name Sirius?" I ask and Sirius looks at me bewildered and shakes his head. "OK then let me tell you: Sirius, also Dog Star, brightest star in the sky, situated in the constellation Canis Major. The star was highly venerated by the ancient Egyptians, who regarded it as a token of the rising of the Nile and of a subsequent good harvest. Many Egyptian temples were constructed in such a way that the light of Sirius reached the inner chambers. The hottest part of the summer coincides with the heliacal rising of Sirius, and thus acquired the name dog days."

"How did you find that out?" Sirius asked and I look over to Peter who looks quite confused.

"Sirius that is the most ridiculous question you could have asked him! Think a little and then tell me where we find Remus nearly always when he isn't with us or at class?" James asks and Sirius still looks at me a little bewildered.

"So that is what you do in the library, you read all the time." Sirius answers to James' question and I blush a little.

"Have you got any siblings Remus?" Peter asked still looking quite confused.

"Yes, I have got a seven year older brother and a baby sister. Do any of you three have any siblings?" I ask and I try to get my thoughts of Romulus. I still missed him very much and I didn't even know if he was still alive or at least where he was and that were the reasons why I was so preoccupied, if I was ever going to see him again.

"I have a one year younger sister, she also probably coming next year to Hogwarts." Sirius answered, as for James and Peter, the two shook their heads.

We spent the rest of the afternoon we spent talking and I was quite exhausted as I lay down on the four-poster bed that evening. Falling asleep as soon my head touched the pillow.

"Remus? No get away from me!" Romulus was standing in front of me, in front of the Werewolf. I tried to control the wolf but I had no success. The wolf pounced on to his brother and started to tear him apart. "No! Stop!" I screamed to myself but the wolf didn't stop, it just continued to maul his brother.

I wake up from my nightmare as somebody is shaking me. I flinch and recoil to the touch of the other person. I sit up and pull my legs up to my chest rocking back and forth. I am sobbing and I close my eyes as the person comes closer.

"You don't have to be scared Remus, it's only me Sirius." Sirius whispered. I opened my eyes as he came to sit down next to me and started to comfort me. I was trembling as I was in Sirius' comforting arms and I close my eyes sobbing harder then before.

"Calm down Remus…it was only a nightmare…you don't have to be afraid." Sirius whispered rocking me gently, repeating over and over again that everything was ok.

"Why don't you go back to bed Sirius…I am ok…you don't have to do this…" I sobbed, but he didn't let go instead his grip got stronger.

"I'll wait until you're asleep. That is what friends are for Remus, and if it means to help you fall asleep again. I will do it…I know how vivid nightmares can be. When I was younger I sometimes had some…now and try and sleep." He said comforting me and I eventually fell asleep.