Author's Note:
This story was written two years ago and originally not for FanFiction, but for then nine-year-old Lizzy, the greatest HP fan I knew. Only now I divided it into chapters to put it up here, and this explains their stongly varying length.
I thank my friends Bernhard and Stephanie for the invention of Witch Shudderstone the Great (originally Hexe Gruselstein) and part of her followers, for another part I thank my sister Mia. The whole Last Stand for Magic thing was a game we played with Lego, I merely translated the German names and gave the Shudderstones (Gruselsteiner) a more serious character.

Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were just beginning to stir their Invisibility Draught when suddenly Hermione Granger came running. Not that they needed any potion of that sort - Harry still had his father's Invisibility Cloak with him - but Professor McGonagall, Captain of the Marauders troop, to which they both belonged, had told them to do it. Every student of the Marauders had been assigned some task for practising, only Hermione - of course her - had been chosen to assist their Captain. So why did she come back so early already?

"What's the matter, Hermione?" Ron wanted to know. "You weren't sacked, were you?"

"Of course not!" Hermione snorted indignantly. "You're only envious you didn't get my job!"

"Indeed", Ron growled. "I'm sure you know what's going on. Not even my parents are ready to tell me. But there are rumours about You-Know-Who attending the Wizard's Council! You-Know-Who! Just imagine! Nobody knows what's going on, if we're returning to school when the term starts, what we are doing in this place, wherever it might be, and so on. It must be something really important! And nobody tells us! Harry and I and some others are better off, at least, belonging to McGonagall's personal staff, but you... I'm sure the teachers told you..."

"Now stop it!" Hermione interrupted him a bit impatiently. "They don't tell me anything just as well. Only hints. And most of them don't make sense, anyhow. By the way, Harry, you can stop stirring now."

Ron muttered something like "Know-It-All" under his breath, but he and Harry left the cauldron to bubbling away. "So why have you come?" Harry asked.

"To tell you something you might be interested in", their friend said. "We'll have a little show this evening. They're going to present the Duellists."

"Wow!" Harry and Ron said together. There had been lots of rumours about that legendary scout troop as well, but nobody had known anything for certain until now, just that only witches and wizards of great willpower and with special duelling talents would be accepted for the hard training that finally would turn out some kind of Aurors, only for other situations. But which threats they were about to face nobody of the Hogwarts students knew. Most guessed that they had to be dreadful indeed.

"Who told you about it?" Harry asked. "McGonagall?"

"You'd never find out", Hermione smiled. "Snape himself."

"Him?" Ron was bewildered. "How did you talk him into that?"

"I didn't. He came to tell Professor McGonagall, and I overheard their conversation and thought you might be interested. I don't know how he knows about it. Probably Dumbledore sent him."

"You know what?" Ron meant. "That's the best thing happening since we arrived five days ago!"