Shane had started for the Hufflepuff rooms as soon as he'd sent his owl to Brendon. All the time he and Brendon had spent sneaking around the castle after curfew when they were kids had given him a decent knowledge of secret passageways, which he was using to his advantage now. He had narrowly avoided a group of house elves when he had climbed out from behind the tapestry on the second floor. Luckily, they'd been facing the other way, and he'd been quiet enough that they hadn't noticed him. He was trying to be as vigilant as possible, but he wanted to get there as fast as he could.
He was wholly unprepared for William Beckett to suddenly appear in front of him, shouting and flailing. He hadn't even fully processed the words William was saying when two house elves turned the corner following William. They looked ready to pounce. He threw a stunner at each of them, but he knew that would only buy them a few seconds.