The arm that had stopped him let go and Philip stumbled backwards, tripping over as he did and falling on the stone floor. An eerie mumble echoed from deep within the metal suit. Philip had heard the suits of armour around the Great Hall, twitching or swaying as they revererbated with music at Christmas time but he'd never seen one come to life like this before. Slowly, clanking noisily, the metal monster lifted it's arm. It reached for it's helmet and lifted the visor.

Chapter 37

Knight in Shining Armour

Rangi peered down at his younger brother from between the two sheets of metal,

"I thought it was you running down the corridor." He mused, "What're you doing?"

Philip put his hand over his thundering heart as he gasped for breath. He couldn't believe the words coming out of his brother's mouth,

"What am I doing?" He gasped, "You're the one in the suit – what are you doing."

"Oh this thing?" Rangi smirked, "Pretty awesome disguise, right?"

"Rangi! That is not 'awesome'! You gave me such a fright!" Philip exclaimed but his brother was no longer listening.

"Os, you can come out! It's only Phil!" He called.

A ceramic vase to Philip's left slowly began to rise from the ground so that two legs poked out from beneath it.

"Rangi, can I get out of here?" Echoed a voice from within.

"No way! It could come in useful." Rangi replied frowning.

"But I can't see." Oswin pointed out worriedly as he began to wobble on his unsteady legs.

"Rangi!" Philip exclaimed with exasperation as he stood up, "What is going on here? What are you doing?"

Rangi put on his most serious face and reached out his metal coated hand to rest it gravely upon Philip's shoulder,

"Well, Philip, the thing is that I have been doing some research and I have discovered that the Slytherin's interest is in opening the Chamber of Secrets-"

"I know that!" Philip cried.

"You do?" Rangi asked with surprise, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Listen Rangi," Philip began, ignoring his brother's question, "You were right about the Chamber but what you don't know is that they're doing it tonight – and they have Albus and James."

"What?" Rangi demanded jumping into alert mode again, "Tonight? James? Albus? Why?"

"I don't know why they took James but Malfoy caught myself and Al following him! I was on my way to find you, only I expected you'd be in the tower not a... suit of armour..."

"Right. Well that was the point." Rangi replied, "Only I wasn't trying to surprise you. I was waiting to ambush some Slytherins."

"Uh-huh." Philip acknowledged hesitantly.

"So what now?" Came the muffled voice of Oswin who was trying to wriggle out from beneath the vase without much success.

"Now! We go to the Chamber and save the Potters!" Rangi declared, charging off back down the corridor from where Philip had ran with a loud clanking sound.

"No Rangi wait!" Called Philip hurrying after him accompanied by Oswin who was finally free of the vase, "Shouldn't we come up with a plan?"

Rangi only stopped once he reached the door to the girls' bathroom. Luckily, due to the weight of the armour, Philip and Oswin had no trouble catching up with him.

"Ok, so the plan is we charge in, take them by surprise and then blast our way out with James and Albus in tow, then dash for the Gryffindor tower – got that?" Rangi commanded.

"I don't think it's a good idea to just charge in." Philip warned, "Al and I saw a lot of them heading up here."

"'Course we should 'just charge in'," Rangi rolled his eyes, "It's called the element of surprise. Hmm, it looks like they've locked the door."

"We're going to be seriously outnumbered." Philip continued.

"What's that spell used to unlock doors?" Rangi pondered without hearing a word Philip was saying.

"Alohomora?" Volunteered Oswin.

Philip drew his wand.

"Nah, that doesn't sound right." Dismissed Rangi, "REDUCTO!"

Albus's stomach gave a terrified lurch as James disappeared. He could feel the shifting bodies of the shocked Slytherins around him but could see nothing - the clip of James glancing over and then sliding into the large, dark pipe was playing in his head on repeat.

He hadn't even noticed Scorpius letting go of him or how loose the rope had become.

"What do we do now?" Cyrus Rander was asking from what seemed to be a very far away place.

"Someone has to go in after him." Someone else said.

"Why?"

"Because we don't know what's down there - how's he going to get out?"

"We could just leave him there."

"No we can't, if he gets out he'll tell someone what happened and we'll all be in trouble."

"Change the plans. Let's all go down there tonight."

"No. It's too late. We'll get caught."

"Who cares?"

The voices echoed around Albus but none of them made any sense. He just stood there and wondered where that pitch black tunnel ended. Then he began to wonder why. Why had James gone after that little gold statue? It certainly wasn't a family heirloom no matter what he pretended.

But that was as far as Albus got in his pondering before, with a ferocious bang, the door to the bathroom blast apart.

Shell shocked he stared across the room at the intruders, framed in the doorway. For a long second, all was shocked silence.

"Okay, so you were right," Rangi mumbled, "We're outnumbered."

A deep growling seemed to emit from the angry gang of Slytherins. Lysander stepped forward furiously.

Rangi cut him off before he could speak, "I'm here for my Quidditch players."

"I'm afraid I can't help you then, we already lost one." Lysander replied taking a deep breath and trying to appear calm.

"What? You sent him into the Chamber?" Rangi demanded but to Albus's horror he started laughing, "You idiot! There's no monster down there!"

"I know." Lysander glared, "I'm not looking for a monster. And I didn't 'send' him in. He volunteered so to speak."

A couple of the Slytherins chuckled at this. Albus did not. He could feel the tension that so often filled a space when the two Quidditch Captains came face to face. He did not like where this was going.

"So what's the point of all this then? All you wanted was to find the Chamber?" Demanded Rangi.

"Not find it Pai." Spat Lysander, "Take it back! It's our Chamber."

Rangi laughed again, "'Yours'? Really because it seems it's our man who's checking it out."

Albus could see that Lysander was becoming riled. Meanwhile Rangi was simply becoming more jovial, something that Albus didn't find as satisfying as he should have. The tension in the room was at breaking point and he was scared, not just for James who could have already been hurt but for himself and for his friends.

Philip was standing by his brother's side looking frightened while Oswin, looking equally anxious completed the trio of would-be rescuers.

"I'll admit it Flint, when I heard you were planning on leaving a legacy behind at this school I was expecting something better." Rangi taunted.

Lysander gritted his teeth and said nothing in response.

"And now that you've completed your 'master plan', James Potter is down there admiring it instead of you." Rangi smiled savagely, "We both know that if you weren't such a coward, you'd have been the first one down."

At this, Lysander finally lost it. His wand in hand, he hurled a curse across the room at his tormentor. The rest of the Slytherins took this as their cue and started pulling out their wands too. Rangi was quick, he dodged Lysander's spell and ducked out of the doorway, Philip and Oswin on his heels.

Lysander charged after them, followed by the Slytherins.

"Brady, Malfoy – you guard the Chamber!" Commanded Wright as he too charged out of the room.

Albus blinked suddenly, seeing his chance. He dashed for the exit but Paul caught his arm and held him tight.

"You're staying with us." Scorpius said, glaring at Albus.

Philip legged it down the corridor, Rangi thumping and clanking in his armour close behind him. He could hear Lysander charging furiously behind them and Oswin's fearful gasps of breath. Daring a quick look over his shoulder, Philip could see that there were at least ten Slytherins following them.

"Oswin - common room. Get backup!" Called Rangi.

Oswin nodded and broke off at the next turn. The Slytherins kept following the two brothers as they ran.

There had been many times when Philip had been grateful for his talent at sprinting but not one of them compared to this. He gulped as he skipped around a corner.

In the next corridor, Molly and her boyfriend, Leopold, appeared, strolling towards them. When they heard the thunderous footfalls, the couple looked up with alarm on their faces.

"Turn!" Shouted Rangi as the unlikely groups met, "RUN!"

Molly and Leopold did as they were told and turned and ran along with the Pais. The Slytherins came round the corner, Lysander still in the lead. Molly looked around and Philip watched her eyes grow round,

"Bloody Hell Rangi!" She gasped, "What-did-you-do-this-time?"

Nobody answered, everybody just ran. They reached the marble staircase that led to the Entrance Hall. Rangi began bounding down the steps two at a time.

"Where are we going?" Cried Philip.

"No idea-" Admitted Rangi without stopping. On the bottom step, Molly missed her footing and fell, ripping the knee of her jeans. Philip stopped to turn back. He could see the Slytherins, they had reached the top of the stairs. Molly rolled over, looking up at them with her wand out. She fired a hex at Rander who was the first on the stairs. His legs locked together and he tumbled down the stairs with a loud, angry cry.

Leopold reached Molly's side and pulled her to her feet. By now, the Slytherins had started firing spells down from the steps and Rangi and Leopold were firing back. Philip had only a few curses at his disposal but he picked one and joined in the fighting.

His first few attacks missed but his next was on target, hitting one of Tyne's friends who was on the landing. He had to dodge away to avoid the onslaught of retaliation spells. He soon found himself ducking behind the same pedestal as he had been hiding behind just a little earlier, poking his head out to aim another curse at another of their attackers. He could now see t clearly he extent of the battle that was now underway.

They were still vastly outnumbered and the Slytherins had the advantage of height while the Gryffindors were trapped in the Hall below. Fortunately, all four had good aim and the sixth years knew a wide range of spells, then there was the added advantage of Rangi's armour which seemed to be deflecting some of the curses aimed at him. Philip knew they were doing well but he wasn't sure how long they could hold out before Oswin's 'backup' arrived.

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Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Threw in a bit of comic relief, provided by the one-and-only Rangi Pai :)