Harry didn't get a chance to choose because Hermione had suddenly tumbled out of the chair and onto the floor with a loud thud. She stood up looking extremely disoriented and mumbled something about Dumbledore stealing her roast beef.
"Hermione? Do you need a doctor?" asked Ron, looking worried.
She stared at him for a few minutes and said, "No thanks, I've already eaten."
"Er … OK," said Ron, too tired and annoyed to question her further.
Hermione then turned and began banging on every few feet of bare wall in the room and pressing her ear to it as if listening for someone to knock back. By now, Harry's eyes had grown tired from the countless times he had widened them in shock. Hermione was acting incredibly strange; she was acting … well … stupid. Ron was apparently just as fed up as Harry because he kept making impatient noises next to him every time Hermione knocked on a different wall.
Finally, Hermione ceased her knocking and looked back around at them with a look of panic on her face.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" she exclaimed as she ran over to a very large closet. She opened it and disappeared into it for a second, then emerged holding what appeared to be three large, brown potato sacks and matching brown hats that had something written on them. She handed one of the potato sacks to each of them and said, "Since we aren't Slytherins, we're supposed to wear these if we want to get in."
She handed them the hats as well and they turned out to have the word "LOSER" stamped onto them in big brightly colored letters. Harry and Ron looked horrified and on the verge of laughter all at the same time.
"You want us to wear these?" asked Harry, dumbstruck. "You can't be serious ... "
Hermione rolled her eyes impatiently. "I never said that I was Sirius, you idiot, my name is Hermione! Her-my-oh-nee! Jeez, didn't I just tell Ron that? Now put those on and hurry up!"
Ron grabbed Harry just before he had a chance to strangle Hermione out of annoyance. Luckily she hadn't seen because she had been in the midst of pulling on her own potato sack and loser hat and had resumed her wall banging.
"C'mon," Ron said grumpily. "Let's just humor her and maybe she'll let us go."
Harry eventually agreed and they were soon dressed in what greatly resembled homeless wear. Hermione had been banging continuously when finally she knocked on a hollow sounding wall. A small wooden block in the middle of the wall slid open to reveal a pair of eyes. The pair of eyes surveyed Hermione for a while and then spoke. "Password?" came a low, booming voice.
At that moment Hermione had passed out and slouched against the door. Her cheek was pressed so hard against the wall that the whole wall vibrated when she snored and made a horrible machine gun noise. The voice upon hearing the snores spoke again. "Password denied!" it yelled, and the block closed with a snap.
Harry, looking frustrated, looked around where he stood and saw a high heel on the floor. Not even wanting to know why the high heel was there, he picked it up and chucked it at Hermione. She woke with a start and a loud grunt as her arm smacked into the wall to try to balance herself. As a result, the wooden block opened again and the eyes reappeared. "Passw … oh it's you again. What is it?!"
Hermione, regaining her composure shouted loudly, "Voldemort loves Harry!"
"What?!" Harry yelled as the box closed again and the wall swung open like a door. Ron laughed so hard that milk came shooting out of his nose.
"What the … " said Ron, wiping his nose.
"Come on!" yelled Hermione as she beckoned them into the dark corridor. They reluctantly walked into a dark hallway that seemed to lead to another door that was surrounded by light.
As soon as they walked inside, the voice that had spoken to them before gave a warning. "Beware!" called the voice. "For once you go in, you never leave the same!"
Harry and Ron exchanged looks of horror again and then squinted hard, trying to make out the owner of the voice.
The voice was quiet for a while and then it started to make ghostly noises.
"Ooooooh … Beeeewaaaaaaaare!!"
"Er … r...right," said Harry to the unknown voice. Hermione had kept walking and apparently decided to ignore the voice. Harry and Ron quickly followed her.
As they grew closer to the door, they could hear music growing louder and louder. It was dance music. They were now right up against the door and they were surrounded by darkness only broken by the crack of light under the door.
"Alright you two get ready to go crazy!" said Hermione clutching the doorknob, her voice full of anticipation.
"I think we've already gone crazy," whispered Harry to Ron, who was tugging at his loser suit as the door opened and they were bathed in a bright light.