~~ Chapter Thirty: The Final Hour, Part III ~~
For almost a full minute, no one spoke. Finally, Snape choked, "Pettigrew?"
Knight nodded. "That's right, Pettigrew. You see, I knew you were starting to suspect that I was connected to Voldemort, Professor Dumbledore, so you left me with no other choice. Polyjuice Potion really is wonderful stuff. So is the Imperius Curse."
"So you used the Imperius Curse on Peter Pettigrew, and then you both drank Polyjuice Potion so everyone would think you were him?" asked Lucius.
"Only in the beginning," Knight said. "It doesn't last very long. It got to be too troublesome to be constantly making it, not to mention I had lost my host, so Voldemort transfigured me into Pettigrew's likeness for the next five years." He then noticed the dumbfounded looks on all of their faces and threw his head back and laughed. "Oh, don't give me those looks. You don't think the real Peter Pettigrew would have betrayed Lily and James Potter, do you?"
"Go to Hell, Knight."
"You first, Malfoy."
Artawny seemed to agree with Knight's statement, and continued to advance toward Snape, Chang, Lucius, and Alina. As the Nundu drew closer, Alina began to hum softly. When that had no effect, she hummed louder. Artawny kept coming.
"What is she doing?" Chang whispered to Lucius.
Never breaking from her melody, Alina said, "Trust me, Minister, you will see."
Artawny stopped. Alina continued to hum.
"What?" Knight said in disbelief. "Artawny! Advance! Kill them!"
Artawny snapped out of the trance Alina's song had put him in. She broke away from humming and turned to random words in the same melody, which was louder and slightly more effective. "Ah na la coo nay lo co mah..."
The Nundu's forward movement stopped again.
"Incredible," said an awestruck Dumbledore. "Are you seeing this, Minerva? ... Minerva?"
Her breathing was coming in short gasps again, and she was losing more strength with every passing second. "Yes, Albus," she said softly.
If the look in Dumbledore's eyes as he glared at Knight had been any angrier, the effect his gaze had would rival that of a Basilisk's. "What have you done to her?" he demanded.
"Me?" Knight said, chuckling. "Technically, I didn't do anything. She's been subjected to the Nundu's Curse, and I am obviously not a Nundu. Artawny is, though, and it was he who inflicted it upon her. The Nundu's Curse kills within an hour. I believe Minerva has forty minutes left." He looked at Artawny, and was very angry to see that Alina had brought him to a stop again. "Artawny! Kill them!"
"We have to silence Knight," Chang realized. "His voice will bring the Nundu out of the trance."
As soon as those words left Chang's lips, a voice from behind them shouted, "Silencius!"
The voice belonged to Hermione Granger. Standing beside her were Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Draco Malfoy. The others were only partly surprised to see them. Given Harry's reputation for thwarting evil and the conviction of Ron, Hermione, and now Draco to support their friend and also contribute to the cause themselves, it was almost a given that they would show up.
Anyway, they didn't have any time to be surprised. Knight's order left him before Hermione cast her silencing charm, and it broke Alina's hold on Artawny again. The Nundu roared and took a swing at them with its large paw. It hit Snape, who in turn crashed into Ron and Hermione. The three of them were cast aside as easily as if they had been pencils. Chang, Draco, and Harry were the next three to be knocked away. Artawny then turned his attention to the last two: Lucius and Alina.
Alina began to sing louder. Artawny slowed down some, but he still kept coming. The Nundu was beginning to build up a tolerance to her enchantment, and that meant she would have to work harder for the same effect. Lucius, meanwhile, had never felt more helpless in his life. He wanted to help, but he didn't know how. He knew almost nothing about Musical Enchantment, so any attempt to help Alina with the Nundu would most likely do more harm than good. Because he didn't no what else to do, he decided to ask. "What can I do to help you?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.
"You're helping me right now, believe it or not," she sang. "Stay right where you are; I'll explain later."
Artawny was now advancing at the rate of one step every few seconds. Hermione's silencing charm was starting to lose its effect, and traces of Knight's voice could be heard as he desperately yelled at the Nundu. Suddenly, Draco had an idea. "Hey, Harry," he said, "do you remember that time we were dueling last year, and I made that snake come out of my wand, and you got it to back off when it started moving toward Justin Finch-Fletchley?"
Harry cringed. Yes, he remembered the incident - quite well, actually. It took him some time to convince the Hufflepuffs as well as the rest of the school that he wasn't the dreaded Heir of Slytherin. "Well, it's good to know someone doesn't think I was trying to get that snake to attack," he said.
"Do you think you COULD get one to attack? Not someone like Justin, of course, but maybe someone like..."
Harry was beginning to see where Draco was going with this, and a sly grin crossed his face. "Icarus Knight?"
Draco smiled, too. "Yeah. Someone like Icarus Knight."
"It's worth a shot."
Draco pulled his wand out and pointed it at the ground. "Serpensortia!"
A large black serpent shot out from the end of Draco's wand and landed on the floor. It lifted its head, and its pink tongue flicked in and out of its mouth as it took in its surroundings. "Get Knight," was what Harry heard his voice say, but to everyone else in the room, it sounded like, "Haah saflo."
Whatever it was, the snake understood, and it began to slide toward Knight. Knight, however, had broken through the silencing charm and shouted an order at the Nundu. "Artawny! Silence the siren for good!"
Knight's voice caused Artawny to break through Alina's hold on him again, and he snarled and struck at her. Lucius attempted to pull her away before the Nundu's sharp claws made contact with her skin, but was too slow. Artawny didn't penetrate deeply enough to kill, but his strike did leave four long cuts across Alina's chest, and she fell.
Once Alina was put out of comission, Artawny leapt over to the serpent moving toward Knight and sliced the large black snake in half as easily as a hot knife cuts through butter. "Great," Draco muttered. "What do we do now?"
For a moment, it looked like Knight had indeed won. Harry and Draco's serpent had failed. Ron, Hermione, Snape, and Chang were out of ideas. Lucius removed his outer robe and tied it around Alina to stop the bleeding, but it could only delay death unless she received medical attention soon. Minerva was so weak she could barely lift her head by herself. Even the great Dumbledore seemed to have met his match.
Knight looked at Minerva and chuckled. "You were saying?" He then lifted his eyes slightly so they met Dumbledore's, and said, "Even if you could kill me, do you think you would really want to? For all you know, I could be Minerva. How do you know I haven't put her under the Imperius Curse and used Polyjuice Potion, just like I did with Peter Pettigrew?"
"Don't listen to him, Albus," Minerva choked. "He's lying. He's playing with your mind."
"Am I?" Knight said, and then added, "Albus?"
The room was dead quiet. A full minute passed before anyone spoke. The person that broke the silence was Knight. "You can't really trust anyone, can you, Professor Dumbledore?" he asked. "Not even yourself."
***
It was about an hour past sunset on November 3, 1976. Headmaster Albus Dumbledore was walking back to his office after a lengthy discussion about switching spells with the Charms teacher, Filius Flitwick, and the Transfiguration teacher, Minerva McGonagall. He had a great amount of respect for all of his colleagues, but even more so when it came to those two. Flitwick's small stature betrayed his skill - there was none who could outdo him in a wizard's duel. And McGonagall... he didn't even know where to begin with her. He could tell from the moment he met her some forty years ago that she would be a great and powerful witch someday, and she had certainly lived up to his expectations.
"Professor Dumbledore!"
A student's voice from behind brought Dumbledore's mind out of his thoughts. He stopped walking and turned around. A tall girl with gray eyes and light brown hair pulled back into a ponytail had come out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and was jogging toward him. She was wearing the robes of Hufflepuff house and a prefect badge. "Is something wrong, Miss Jorkins?"
"It's Icarus," replied the girl, Bertha Jorkins by name. "He wanted to have a prefect meeting tonight in Professor Mandias's room, and he hasn't shown up. For a while, we thought he was just running late, but..."
"How long have you been waiting?"
"Half an hour, and he wouldn't forget something like this."
That was probably reasonable grounds for concern. Icarus Knight, the sixth-year prefect for Gryffindor house, was always on a tight schedule and hated being late. "Do you think something might have happened to him?" Bertha asked.
Dumbledore shook his head. "I don't know, Miss Jorkins. Are the other Gryffindor prefects there?"
She nodded.
"Tell them to meet me at the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. We'll go investigate."
Bertha thanked him and ran back into the DADA classroom. Dumbledore began walking again, but this time, he was heading for the Gryffindor tower. He trusted that Abby Stravinsky, Gryffindor's fifth-year prefect, and Frank Longbottom, the seventh-year prefect, didn't need him to lead them back to their house.
Frank and Abby arrived at the portait of the Fat Lady not long after Dumbledore did. Abby spoke the password. "Concerto Number Three in E flat!"
The portrait swung open, and the three of them went inside. Surprisingly, the room was almost completely empy, save for the five sixth-years sitting in a circle in the middle of the room around something. They were James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Lily Evans. Sirius spotted them first and smiled. "Hi, Professor!" he said cheerfully. "Is something wrong?"
"Icarus Knight appears to have gone missing," Dumbledore said. "Have any of you seen him?"
Peter shifted his weight uneasily.
Dumbledore saw his slight movement, and he instantly knew that Peter knew something. "Come with me, Mr. Pettigrew."
He and Peter walked up the staircase that led to the boys' dormitories until they were out of the sight of the others. "You know something about Knight, don't you?" the headmaster asked.
Peter looked terrified. "Y-yes," he stammered, "b-b-but I c-can't t-tell you."
"And why not?"
Peter just shook his head.
"Peter," Dumbledore said softly, but firmly, "tell me where Knight is."
"I can't tell you, Professor," Peter said.
"If he's in trouble, then I need to know where he is so I can help him. Tell me where he is, Mr. Pettigrew."
Peter clenched his eyes shut and whispered, "He made me promise not to tell, or..."
"Or what?"
"Or he'd kill me."
Dumbledore's eyes flew open with shock. "I swear on my life that if you do not tell me where he is right now, Peter Pettigrew, I will have Professor Danner make enough Veritaserum to make it so your grandchildren won't be able to lie."
Peter covered his face in fear. "Please don't, Professor! I can't!"
Dumbledore realized his threat was out of line, but the situation was so severe that he didn't feel any remorse. "Peter, we can protect you. Just tell me where he is."
"He went into the Forbidden Forest," said Peter. "That's all I know! You hear me, Professor Dumbledore? That's all, I swear!"
But Dumbledore was already gone.
He wandered through the forest for half an hour, looking for Icarus Knight. Finally, he found him, standing alone in a small clearing. A smirk crossed his face when he saw Dumbledore. "Let me guess," Knight said. "Pettigrew told you. I knew I shouldn't have trusted that little rat."
Dumbledore pulled out his wand and pointed it at the sixth-year prefect who had, up until half an hour ago, been a model student. "He said you threatened to kill him," he said. "Now that I have found you out here, I have no reason to doubt what he said. You will be expelled immediately, and I am placing you under arrest."
In an instant, Knight had his wand out, too, and pointed it at the headmaster. "Crucio!"
The Cruciatus Curse was almost impossible to block, but Dumbledore was no ordinary wizard, and he cast a Shield Charm powerful enough to stop one of the three Unforgivable Curses from hitting him. Death threats were one thing. By casting the Cruciatus Curse, even though it didn't hit the target, Knight had sealed his fate: life imprisonment in Azkaban.
Knight didn't expect Dumbledore to block, and Dumbledore took advantage of his surprise. He pointed his wand at the ground near Knight's feet and shouted, "Incendio!"
A ring of fire appeared the student, trapping him in place. "I am placing you under arrest," he said. "First, you threatened a fellow student, and then you attempted to use the Cruciatus Curse. I hope, Mr. Knight, for your sake, that you know a very good lawyer."
"I'm not done yet," Knight said, and pointed his wand at a large boulder at the opposite end of the clearing. "Accio!"
Dumbledore looked over his shoulder, and saw the huge rock flying at him. He did the only thing he could - duck. The boulder flew harmlessly over him and straight into Icarus Knight.
He looked up, and fear seized his heart as he saw that the boulder had smashed into Knight. He extinguished the flames and ran over to the student. Knight was pinned between the rock and a large tree. Blood poured from several cuts all over his body that he sustained upon impact, and his eyes stared blankly ahead. Dumbledore reached for his bloody wrist and tried to find a pulse. There was none.
Icarus Knight was dead.
***
And for the longest time, he really did think Icarus Knight was dead, but now, that was obviously not the case. So that's why Peter Pettigrew knew where Knight went - because Pettigrew really was Knight. In actuality, Knight's - or rather, Pettigrew's death hadn't really been his fault, but Dumbledore still felt guilty. If he had stunned the young man, or used a sleeping spell or something along that line instead of trying to capture him as was, they might have been able to discover the switch. And who knew what that could have changed? Certainly, Peter Pettigrew would still be alive. So would everyone Knight killed with the Nundu. And so might Lily and James Potter. His heart was heavy with grief. How could he have been such a fool?
"Feeling guilty, Dumbledore?" Knight taunted. "Causing the death of an innocent... that's a big thing, you know."
"You killed him," Dumbledore said. "You killed him the minute you put him under the Imperius Curse."
"Are you sure you're talking to the right person?" Knight asked. "How do you know I'm really me and not, say, Minerva? You were wrong last time."
"Don't believe him, Albus," said Minerva. "He's lying."
Knight laughed. "She's right, you know," he said. "The real Minerva wouldn't do this." He pointed his wand at hear, cleared his throat, and said, "Avada Kedavra."
"NOOOOOO!!!"
For a moment, Dumbledore thought he was the one that yelled. When he realized that it wasn't him, he thought it might have been Minerva, but it wasn't. And it wasn't Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Alina, Lucius, Chang, or Snape, either. It came from the last one any of them ever thought it would.
Artawny.
For almost a full minute, no one spoke. Finally, Snape choked, "Pettigrew?"
Knight nodded. "That's right, Pettigrew. You see, I knew you were starting to suspect that I was connected to Voldemort, Professor Dumbledore, so you left me with no other choice. Polyjuice Potion really is wonderful stuff. So is the Imperius Curse."
"So you used the Imperius Curse on Peter Pettigrew, and then you both drank Polyjuice Potion so everyone would think you were him?" asked Lucius.
"Only in the beginning," Knight said. "It doesn't last very long. It got to be too troublesome to be constantly making it, not to mention I had lost my host, so Voldemort transfigured me into Pettigrew's likeness for the next five years." He then noticed the dumbfounded looks on all of their faces and threw his head back and laughed. "Oh, don't give me those looks. You don't think the real Peter Pettigrew would have betrayed Lily and James Potter, do you?"
"Go to Hell, Knight."
"You first, Malfoy."
Artawny seemed to agree with Knight's statement, and continued to advance toward Snape, Chang, Lucius, and Alina. As the Nundu drew closer, Alina began to hum softly. When that had no effect, she hummed louder. Artawny kept coming.
"What is she doing?" Chang whispered to Lucius.
Never breaking from her melody, Alina said, "Trust me, Minister, you will see."
Artawny stopped. Alina continued to hum.
"What?" Knight said in disbelief. "Artawny! Advance! Kill them!"
Artawny snapped out of the trance Alina's song had put him in. She broke away from humming and turned to random words in the same melody, which was louder and slightly more effective. "Ah na la coo nay lo co mah..."
The Nundu's forward movement stopped again.
"Incredible," said an awestruck Dumbledore. "Are you seeing this, Minerva? ... Minerva?"
Her breathing was coming in short gasps again, and she was losing more strength with every passing second. "Yes, Albus," she said softly.
If the look in Dumbledore's eyes as he glared at Knight had been any angrier, the effect his gaze had would rival that of a Basilisk's. "What have you done to her?" he demanded.
"Me?" Knight said, chuckling. "Technically, I didn't do anything. She's been subjected to the Nundu's Curse, and I am obviously not a Nundu. Artawny is, though, and it was he who inflicted it upon her. The Nundu's Curse kills within an hour. I believe Minerva has forty minutes left." He looked at Artawny, and was very angry to see that Alina had brought him to a stop again. "Artawny! Kill them!"
"We have to silence Knight," Chang realized. "His voice will bring the Nundu out of the trance."
As soon as those words left Chang's lips, a voice from behind them shouted, "Silencius!"
The voice belonged to Hermione Granger. Standing beside her were Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Draco Malfoy. The others were only partly surprised to see them. Given Harry's reputation for thwarting evil and the conviction of Ron, Hermione, and now Draco to support their friend and also contribute to the cause themselves, it was almost a given that they would show up.
Anyway, they didn't have any time to be surprised. Knight's order left him before Hermione cast her silencing charm, and it broke Alina's hold on Artawny again. The Nundu roared and took a swing at them with its large paw. It hit Snape, who in turn crashed into Ron and Hermione. The three of them were cast aside as easily as if they had been pencils. Chang, Draco, and Harry were the next three to be knocked away. Artawny then turned his attention to the last two: Lucius and Alina.
Alina began to sing louder. Artawny slowed down some, but he still kept coming. The Nundu was beginning to build up a tolerance to her enchantment, and that meant she would have to work harder for the same effect. Lucius, meanwhile, had never felt more helpless in his life. He wanted to help, but he didn't know how. He knew almost nothing about Musical Enchantment, so any attempt to help Alina with the Nundu would most likely do more harm than good. Because he didn't no what else to do, he decided to ask. "What can I do to help you?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.
"You're helping me right now, believe it or not," she sang. "Stay right where you are; I'll explain later."
Artawny was now advancing at the rate of one step every few seconds. Hermione's silencing charm was starting to lose its effect, and traces of Knight's voice could be heard as he desperately yelled at the Nundu. Suddenly, Draco had an idea. "Hey, Harry," he said, "do you remember that time we were dueling last year, and I made that snake come out of my wand, and you got it to back off when it started moving toward Justin Finch-Fletchley?"
Harry cringed. Yes, he remembered the incident - quite well, actually. It took him some time to convince the Hufflepuffs as well as the rest of the school that he wasn't the dreaded Heir of Slytherin. "Well, it's good to know someone doesn't think I was trying to get that snake to attack," he said.
"Do you think you COULD get one to attack? Not someone like Justin, of course, but maybe someone like..."
Harry was beginning to see where Draco was going with this, and a sly grin crossed his face. "Icarus Knight?"
Draco smiled, too. "Yeah. Someone like Icarus Knight."
"It's worth a shot."
Draco pulled his wand out and pointed it at the ground. "Serpensortia!"
A large black serpent shot out from the end of Draco's wand and landed on the floor. It lifted its head, and its pink tongue flicked in and out of its mouth as it took in its surroundings. "Get Knight," was what Harry heard his voice say, but to everyone else in the room, it sounded like, "Haah saflo."
Whatever it was, the snake understood, and it began to slide toward Knight. Knight, however, had broken through the silencing charm and shouted an order at the Nundu. "Artawny! Silence the siren for good!"
Knight's voice caused Artawny to break through Alina's hold on him again, and he snarled and struck at her. Lucius attempted to pull her away before the Nundu's sharp claws made contact with her skin, but was too slow. Artawny didn't penetrate deeply enough to kill, but his strike did leave four long cuts across Alina's chest, and she fell.
Once Alina was put out of comission, Artawny leapt over to the serpent moving toward Knight and sliced the large black snake in half as easily as a hot knife cuts through butter. "Great," Draco muttered. "What do we do now?"
For a moment, it looked like Knight had indeed won. Harry and Draco's serpent had failed. Ron, Hermione, Snape, and Chang were out of ideas. Lucius removed his outer robe and tied it around Alina to stop the bleeding, but it could only delay death unless she received medical attention soon. Minerva was so weak she could barely lift her head by herself. Even the great Dumbledore seemed to have met his match.
Knight looked at Minerva and chuckled. "You were saying?" He then lifted his eyes slightly so they met Dumbledore's, and said, "Even if you could kill me, do you think you would really want to? For all you know, I could be Minerva. How do you know I haven't put her under the Imperius Curse and used Polyjuice Potion, just like I did with Peter Pettigrew?"
"Don't listen to him, Albus," Minerva choked. "He's lying. He's playing with your mind."
"Am I?" Knight said, and then added, "Albus?"
The room was dead quiet. A full minute passed before anyone spoke. The person that broke the silence was Knight. "You can't really trust anyone, can you, Professor Dumbledore?" he asked. "Not even yourself."
***
It was about an hour past sunset on November 3, 1976. Headmaster Albus Dumbledore was walking back to his office after a lengthy discussion about switching spells with the Charms teacher, Filius Flitwick, and the Transfiguration teacher, Minerva McGonagall. He had a great amount of respect for all of his colleagues, but even more so when it came to those two. Flitwick's small stature betrayed his skill - there was none who could outdo him in a wizard's duel. And McGonagall... he didn't even know where to begin with her. He could tell from the moment he met her some forty years ago that she would be a great and powerful witch someday, and she had certainly lived up to his expectations.
"Professor Dumbledore!"
A student's voice from behind brought Dumbledore's mind out of his thoughts. He stopped walking and turned around. A tall girl with gray eyes and light brown hair pulled back into a ponytail had come out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and was jogging toward him. She was wearing the robes of Hufflepuff house and a prefect badge. "Is something wrong, Miss Jorkins?"
"It's Icarus," replied the girl, Bertha Jorkins by name. "He wanted to have a prefect meeting tonight in Professor Mandias's room, and he hasn't shown up. For a while, we thought he was just running late, but..."
"How long have you been waiting?"
"Half an hour, and he wouldn't forget something like this."
That was probably reasonable grounds for concern. Icarus Knight, the sixth-year prefect for Gryffindor house, was always on a tight schedule and hated being late. "Do you think something might have happened to him?" Bertha asked.
Dumbledore shook his head. "I don't know, Miss Jorkins. Are the other Gryffindor prefects there?"
She nodded.
"Tell them to meet me at the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. We'll go investigate."
Bertha thanked him and ran back into the DADA classroom. Dumbledore began walking again, but this time, he was heading for the Gryffindor tower. He trusted that Abby Stravinsky, Gryffindor's fifth-year prefect, and Frank Longbottom, the seventh-year prefect, didn't need him to lead them back to their house.
Frank and Abby arrived at the portait of the Fat Lady not long after Dumbledore did. Abby spoke the password. "Concerto Number Three in E flat!"
The portrait swung open, and the three of them went inside. Surprisingly, the room was almost completely empy, save for the five sixth-years sitting in a circle in the middle of the room around something. They were James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Lily Evans. Sirius spotted them first and smiled. "Hi, Professor!" he said cheerfully. "Is something wrong?"
"Icarus Knight appears to have gone missing," Dumbledore said. "Have any of you seen him?"
Peter shifted his weight uneasily.
Dumbledore saw his slight movement, and he instantly knew that Peter knew something. "Come with me, Mr. Pettigrew."
He and Peter walked up the staircase that led to the boys' dormitories until they were out of the sight of the others. "You know something about Knight, don't you?" the headmaster asked.
Peter looked terrified. "Y-yes," he stammered, "b-b-but I c-can't t-tell you."
"And why not?"
Peter just shook his head.
"Peter," Dumbledore said softly, but firmly, "tell me where Knight is."
"I can't tell you, Professor," Peter said.
"If he's in trouble, then I need to know where he is so I can help him. Tell me where he is, Mr. Pettigrew."
Peter clenched his eyes shut and whispered, "He made me promise not to tell, or..."
"Or what?"
"Or he'd kill me."
Dumbledore's eyes flew open with shock. "I swear on my life that if you do not tell me where he is right now, Peter Pettigrew, I will have Professor Danner make enough Veritaserum to make it so your grandchildren won't be able to lie."
Peter covered his face in fear. "Please don't, Professor! I can't!"
Dumbledore realized his threat was out of line, but the situation was so severe that he didn't feel any remorse. "Peter, we can protect you. Just tell me where he is."
"He went into the Forbidden Forest," said Peter. "That's all I know! You hear me, Professor Dumbledore? That's all, I swear!"
But Dumbledore was already gone.
He wandered through the forest for half an hour, looking for Icarus Knight. Finally, he found him, standing alone in a small clearing. A smirk crossed his face when he saw Dumbledore. "Let me guess," Knight said. "Pettigrew told you. I knew I shouldn't have trusted that little rat."
Dumbledore pulled out his wand and pointed it at the sixth-year prefect who had, up until half an hour ago, been a model student. "He said you threatened to kill him," he said. "Now that I have found you out here, I have no reason to doubt what he said. You will be expelled immediately, and I am placing you under arrest."
In an instant, Knight had his wand out, too, and pointed it at the headmaster. "Crucio!"
The Cruciatus Curse was almost impossible to block, but Dumbledore was no ordinary wizard, and he cast a Shield Charm powerful enough to stop one of the three Unforgivable Curses from hitting him. Death threats were one thing. By casting the Cruciatus Curse, even though it didn't hit the target, Knight had sealed his fate: life imprisonment in Azkaban.
Knight didn't expect Dumbledore to block, and Dumbledore took advantage of his surprise. He pointed his wand at the ground near Knight's feet and shouted, "Incendio!"
A ring of fire appeared the student, trapping him in place. "I am placing you under arrest," he said. "First, you threatened a fellow student, and then you attempted to use the Cruciatus Curse. I hope, Mr. Knight, for your sake, that you know a very good lawyer."
"I'm not done yet," Knight said, and pointed his wand at a large boulder at the opposite end of the clearing. "Accio!"
Dumbledore looked over his shoulder, and saw the huge rock flying at him. He did the only thing he could - duck. The boulder flew harmlessly over him and straight into Icarus Knight.
He looked up, and fear seized his heart as he saw that the boulder had smashed into Knight. He extinguished the flames and ran over to the student. Knight was pinned between the rock and a large tree. Blood poured from several cuts all over his body that he sustained upon impact, and his eyes stared blankly ahead. Dumbledore reached for his bloody wrist and tried to find a pulse. There was none.
Icarus Knight was dead.
***
And for the longest time, he really did think Icarus Knight was dead, but now, that was obviously not the case. So that's why Peter Pettigrew knew where Knight went - because Pettigrew really was Knight. In actuality, Knight's - or rather, Pettigrew's death hadn't really been his fault, but Dumbledore still felt guilty. If he had stunned the young man, or used a sleeping spell or something along that line instead of trying to capture him as was, they might have been able to discover the switch. And who knew what that could have changed? Certainly, Peter Pettigrew would still be alive. So would everyone Knight killed with the Nundu. And so might Lily and James Potter. His heart was heavy with grief. How could he have been such a fool?
"Feeling guilty, Dumbledore?" Knight taunted. "Causing the death of an innocent... that's a big thing, you know."
"You killed him," Dumbledore said. "You killed him the minute you put him under the Imperius Curse."
"Are you sure you're talking to the right person?" Knight asked. "How do you know I'm really me and not, say, Minerva? You were wrong last time."
"Don't believe him, Albus," said Minerva. "He's lying."
Knight laughed. "She's right, you know," he said. "The real Minerva wouldn't do this." He pointed his wand at hear, cleared his throat, and said, "Avada Kedavra."
"NOOOOOO!!!"
For a moment, Dumbledore thought he was the one that yelled. When he realized that it wasn't him, he thought it might have been Minerva, but it wasn't. And it wasn't Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Alina, Lucius, Chang, or Snape, either. It came from the last one any of them ever thought it would.
Artawny.