He glanced furtively round at the portraits, and finding them all asleep, he lifted the cloak from his head so that he could see clearly. Without the cloak obscuring his vision, he could see that the edges of the case appeared to be sealed shut, and short of smashing the case on the ground (which Harry had a strong suspicion would be of no use either), he had no idea how to open it. He cursed in frustration, his voice echoing around the room, and then jumped in alarm at the sound of a snort, and a sleepy, "Is someone there?" Harry threw the cloak back over his head as quickly as he could, nearly knocking the case off its shelf as he did so. He looked nervously over his shoulder and found the portrait of a large round man wearing small round glasses peering down at him.