Chapter 23: Hogwarts, of Giant Snakes and Memories. [1]

"Look alive you lot, Dumbledor looks younger than you lot right now and he was my professor at Hogwarts. It's just a few spiders, what are you afraid of, you fight dark wizards for a living, a few spiders can't scare you." Kingsley tried to raise the team's morale.

But seeing that it did not go as he wanted, Rufus snickered, "You better get your balls together before Frost reminds you why he is named so."

The men stood straight and looked sharp as much as they could manage, compared to an annoyed Aster, a horde of spiders was always welcome. With the horde, they could at least have some hope to survive, but with Aster, there was no escape, he would be found and be frozen till his neck and placed in front of the main entrance.

That was an embarrassment no one wanted to live through, the next moment, two figures popped out of a snowflake. A girl and a boy in their late teens, one they knew very well but the other they did not recognize.

Aster and Madoka's default outdoor look from now on. [pic here.]

The team greeted the boy with practiced discipline with Rufus and Kingsley. He just nodded and a smile formed on his handsome face to show that he was pleased with the discipline.

"Everyone, meet Madoka, she is my friend and is stronger than Dumbledore, Grindelwald and Voldemort put together, so don't offend her, she is not patient like I am. You guys cover the forest and take out the stragglers we miss while Rufus and Kingsley join Albus and Amelia to watch over the school. I and Madoka would handle the culling, so don't worry about having to face a lot of spiders, team up and handle the stragglers swiftly." Aster ordered and saw the men comply as he turned towards the forest and smiled.

"Aster, clean the forest of ice. It will reduce the cover for the spiders and raise a barrier like the one we have around the castle. Let's see who kills more." Madoka took her Katana out and smiled brightly as her eyes turned into Sharingan.

Her beautiful eyes looked mesmerizing, Aster just smiled, "sure, if I win, you are going to buy me those energy cores from the Shop Menu."

"You are on, but if you lose, you will be my butler for a week," Madoka smirked provocatively.

"You sure?" Aster asked.

"What, you scared?" Madoka scoffed.

"Nah, just thinking that the stakes are not fair. Add a picture of you in maid uniform and we will call it even, savvy?" Aster asked with an excited smirk.

"You have a maid fetish?" Madoka asked with her face reddening up slightly.

"I don't know, but I will after I win, you still in?" Aster chuckled.

"I am but, I am going to win. Crystal, get us on the opposite sides of the spider nest." Madoka said with excitement in her eyes as her smile grew wider at the thought of Aster fussing around her like a butler.

Both of them vanished and appeared on the two opposite ends of the Acromantula nest, Madoka weaved hand signs and used the Majestic Destroyer Flame at half of her full capacity. The forest before her disappeared into a raging tsunami of flames and a satisfied smirk formed on her face.

The fire cleared away and she saw a sight that made her satisfaction vanish like the flames. She saw pikes of ice standing on the forest ground like a bed of thorns, glistening because of the fire. The charred and skewered remains of the spiders were the only proof of the nest that was once there in this bald patch of the forest.

Aster appeared before her with an annoying smile on that smug face of his, "it appears that I won, so when will Madoka-sama grace this commoner with a glimpse of her beautiful self in a maid uniform?"

"No need to rub it in, don't forget that you still can't beat me in armed or unarmed combat. Humph~" Madoka huffed and looked away as she grumbled about Aster being an idiot, a maid-con pervert."

"So, when do we do this?" Aster chuckled.

"Do it right now, there is no need to gloat over it, enjoy your little victory while you can. Because I will kick your ass till I get bored of it." Madoka hissed.

"Hey, that's unfair, you can't do that! What happened to 'being professional' and the good old 'sportsmanship spirit'." Aster complained.

"I don't do sports nor I am a man, so I could care less for not having a sportsmanship spirit. I will be vindictive and petty and also ruthless, what can you do about it." She smugly asked as the corners of her lips lifted upwards.

"..." Aster.

'I am not provoking this woman again, but I will have the reward, no matter what. I also have my pride as a spirit.' Aster mused to himself as he saw the little snowmen collecting the remains of the Acromatulas.

"Fix this place and let's go and have a look at Hogwarts." Aster tried to change the topic.

"One picture, when we return to the castle. I am not a woman who doesn't keep her words, but if someone else catches wind of this, I will hunt you to the ends of the world, even freezing the planet save your ass then." Madoka huffed as she weaved the signs and used the Deep Forest Emergence jutsu.

Aster nodded and walked behind her but he could have sworn that he saw a tinge of redness on Madoka's cheeks. He shook his head thinking that he might have hallucinated because of some weird plant burned because of Madoka and moved on.

They walked out of the first to see the shocked and relieved faces of the Auror team looking at the pile of corpses that the snowmen were piling up. Albus, Amelia, Rufus and Kingsley were waiting for Aster to come out, while Albus was eager to meet the person who could launch a fire spell on such a scale.

'Birds of a feather flock together, Aster's friend is every bit of a monster Aster is', this thought made the old headmaster calculate his plans carefully, now that the said problem wanted to have a tour of Hogwarts while the Slytherin's heir mess was not yet sorted and they had petrified children at hand.

He perfectly sealed any and all news from leaving the castle, to hide the problem, but now that Aster himself was here, he could not be so sure of his magical capabilities to make sure that ASter does not cause his plans to go down the hill.

"Rufus, you take the team for some refreshments and take the day off. Kingsley, get the remains sorted and deal with them before joining Rufus. Amelia, is your niece here, or is she already home?" Aster asked.

"She is coming tonight, so she should still be here, why?" Amelia asked.

"Don't you 'why' me and get us introduced, you guys can have a chat while Albus here can give us a little tour around the castle." Aster smiled.

"Why? aren't you coming for the Yuletide Ball?" Amelia asked.

"Not unless Madoka comes as my plus one. I am not going to a party alone, too embarrassing even by spirit standards." Aster shrugged, making the old man feel at ease knowing that the figure before him was not far from human feelings and emotions.

The person in question plainly stated, "I am not going to doll myself up."

"Alright, let's talk about that later, now let's have a tour around the castle." Aster chuckled.