Jerry kicked hard with his webbed feet. Every stroke sent a fresh stab of pain through both sides of his neck. The lake water, once pleasantly cool, grew colder by the moment. It all warned him to hurry: the gillyweed's magic was fading.
Just as the gillyweed's effects were about to wear off, Jerry burst through the surface. Fresh, cool air greeted him, brushing gently against his water-soaked face.
He gulped it down as though he were breathing for the first time in his life. With Hermione and Gabrielle held on either side of him, he swam for shore as fast as he could.
As soon as they reached the bank, Hermione and Gabrielle coughed up lake water and slowly came to, blinking in the bright light. Jerry entrusted them to Madam Pomfrey, quickly cast a Bubble-Head Charm on himself, and hurried straight back into the Black Lake.
Harry and the others, whom Jerry had left behind, watched him pass them going the other way. They were baffled. All the hostages had been rescued and their task was done, so why was Jerry returning to the lake?
With a large, transparent bubble around his head, Jerry swam straight toward a thick patch of weeds on the lakebed.
On his way back after completing the task, Jerry had noticed something wrong in that area. Once he reached shore, he had scanned the crowd and failed to spot Pheobe. His heart had tightened. She had to be in trouble.
Sure enough, when Jerry reached the area, he found Pheobe surrounded by Grindylows—at least fifty of them.
"Jerry?!" Pheobe, who was also using a Bubble-Head Charm to breathe underwater, looked at him with a flash of surprise and hope.
"Stay where you are! Hold on to the weeds and don't move! I'll deal