When he heard Matron's voice, Jerry got up, stepped through the piles of presents, and went to the door. He opened it and was surprised by what he saw.
Matron held a large leather suitcase in her right hand and an exquisite gift box the size of her palm in her left.
Jerry took both items and asked, puzzled, "Matron, are these both for me?"
"Yes, Jerry," Matron said with certainty. "I just found them by the front door. Both packages have your name on them, so they must be Christmas presents for you!"
"Did you see who delivered them?" Jerry asked.
Matron shook her head and took two cards from her pocket. "Just these cards with your name on them. There was nothing else."
Jerry took everything from Matron, returned to his room, and set the two mysterious gifts aside.
Only after he had opened all his other presents did Jerry turn his attention to them.
He picked up the suitcase first and gave it a shake. Strangely, it was as light as an empty case, and he heard nothing shifting or knocking around inside.
"Protego!"
The Trace was still in effect, but Jerry took out his spare Ebony Wand anyway. After casting a Shield Charm on himself, he carefully opened the suitcase.
Nothing happened, but the case held a surprise: it had been enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm.
Jerry peered into the dim space inside and decided to take a look.
"Lumos!"
Holding up his Wand, Jerry slowly climbed down the ladder. The moment his feet touched the floor, every light in the room came on, flooding the space with brightness.
The sudden glare made Jerry blink. Once his eyes adjusted, he discovered that this was one freaking enormous walk-in closet!
Jerry wandered around and found that the space covered roughly fifty square meters.
A full-length mirror hung on the wall facing him. The rest of the space was divided into little sections, each packed with clothes of every kind.
Each section bore a label marking a season and type of clothing.
There were thick winter coats and short-sleeved summer shirts, hats for his head and shoes and socks for his feet. Everything he could need was there.
What kind of generous goddess had turned a space expanded by an Undetectable Extension Charm into such a huge walk-in closet? It was extravagant!
Jerry went to a rack, picked out a coat, and tried it on.
It fit perfectly. The cut and size were just right, as though it had been tailored for him.
Jerry looked around at all the clothes and exclaimed again, "There are so many! I'll never wear them all! Not a chance!"
Once he left the lavish closet, though, Jerry developed a headache. The Ministry of Magic had strict rules about the Undetectable Extension Charm: it could not be used for private purposes, only in the production of certain items approved by the relevant Ministry department.
In fact, Hermione's use of the charm to enlarge the inside of her beaded bag had been illegal too.
Jerry's suitcase was nowhere near as dangerous as Newt's, but if the Ministry caught him with it, they would probably send him to the Azkaban talent development center for a couple of years.
Jerry tidied up the Wardrobe Trunk, locked it, and shoved it under his bed. Then he picked up the other gift, full of curiosity and anticipation.
The Wardrobe Trunk had been a huge surprise. What could this gift be?
Jerry opened the exquisite box and found nothing inside but a plain, smooth Ring.
He picked up the Ring and examined it closely.
It was golden, without a trace of impurity, like pure gold. No gemstones adorned its mirror-smooth surface. It was simple and old-fashioned.
Jerry slowly turned the Ring and found a circle of inscriptions on the inside. They were not Runes, but some other mysterious script he had never seen. He tried to decipher them, but they seemed to belong to an ancient, long-lost language he could not understand.
Turning his attention to the outside, Jerry found a symbol resembling that of the Deathly Hallows. It was unlike any version of the symbol he knew, more like a simplified or altered variation.
An extra lightning-bolt shape ran through the symbol, making it look even more mysterious and intricate.
After thinking it over, Jerry decided that if the sender had really wanted to kill him, there was no need to go to the trouble of making a Ring. Avada Kedavra would have been far more efficient.
In the end, he could not resist trying it on.
Jerry had just slipped the Ring onto the middle finger of his left hand and was about to admire the mysterious accessory when it suddenly began to shrink. It tightened around his finger as though some unseen force were pulling at it.
"Hiss!" Jerry sucked in a pained breath and clutched his middle finger with his right hand. Cold sweat streamed down his forehead.
Strangely, though the Ring had sunk deep into Jerry's finger, not a drop of blood came out. The Ring seemed to have absorbed it all.
As it absorbed his blood, the symbol on its surface grew brighter. What had looked like an ordinary mark began to glow red, as though it had come to life.
The red glow intensified, seeming to form some connection with Jerry's life force.
Jerry felt his finger and the Ring fall into a strange harmony, as though a mysterious bond had formed between them.
As the red light grew brighter, the pain in Jerry's finger vanished. He had just breathed a sigh of relief when a tremendous force surged from the Ring on his left hand.
Powerful and mysterious, it tried to drag him into an unknown world.
Only then did Jerry realize that the damned Ring was also a Portkey.
By the time he understood, it was too late.
A wave of dizziness hit Jerry, and the whole world seemed to spin. His vision blurred. Then, with a whoosh, he was pulled into another space.