"I'm glad you're back," she murmured in his ear. "I missed out on my fun the last two days you were gone." The Ravenclaw witch then settled him in his spot and then snuggled up onto his lap. Whether he wanted to or not, Harry felt some of his anger dissipate. It really is hard to remain furious with a beautiful young lady cuddling into you.
"How bad was it, mate?" Ron asked in a careful voice. "Was it 'orrible?"
"Cause you looked ready to rip someone's head off when you came in," Ernie added. "I was about to go looking for Malfoy." Hermione elbowed her boyfriend for his lack of tact.
"That is the type of comment I would expect from Ronald," she commented in his ear.
Apparently Ron heard her because he said, "Maybe but Daphne cuts me off if I do." Hermione blushed at both the images and getting caught.
"You mean for a comment like that?" the blonde Slytherin purred. That got a laugh out of the whole group. Harry recognized what they were doing. He appreciated everything his friends did to keep him grounded.
After the laughter died down, Harry said, "To answer the question, the last two days were bad. Sirius gave my punishment to Kalina. She made me go shopping for two whole days."
"I noticed the new clothes when you came in," Padma said. She ran her hands up through Harry's hair sending a shiver down his spine. "The haircut is kind of sexy too."
"Shopping doesn't sound too bad," Ernie ventured.
"Two days of shopping with Kalina, Fleur, and sometimes Tonks for baby and maternity clothes the first day and me on the second. I was their bloody Ken doll!" The girls started to giggle while the guys winced in sympathy.
"Is that why you were scowling when you came in?" Daphne asked. "That look was rather Snape-ish." Harry's good mode instantly vanished.
"No, McGonagall told me about that First year witch disappearing and how even though I wasn't even in the bloody school people still want to blame me."
Padma did her best to calm him. "We know. They are idiots and they are scared idiots. Even when Dumbledore told them you left the school before breakfast the Aurors still searched your room. They will probably come talk to you tomorrow but we can prove that you weren't here. Shopping in Muggle London, there were probably dozens of witnesses that saw you there."
"I guess," Harry grumped. He was still furious but Padma was right, it wasn't worth letting the mindless herd see it. He looked over at Hermione.
"So, what did you find out about our newest problem?" he asked.
Hermione's face made a little moue of disappointment. "The library doesn't have much in the way of good information on the Fae of either Court. A lot of it is various myths and legends. Since the Celts consisted of numerous tribes, they gave different names to the creatures and sometimes the names were switched. It makes it very difficult to lock down."
"Tell me what you do know."
Hermione frowned. "Most of the Fairies we are familiar with are known as Wylde Fae. The means they aren't really aligned with either court although they would lean towards one or the other. Most of these are harmless like the fairies used on Christmas trees (which were of course taken from a Druidic tradition) to the more dangerous like banshees. Now from what you said, the basilisk mentioned two types of Unseelie specifically; the Leanan Sidhe and the Bendith.
"According to Tobren's Supernatural Guide, the Bendith were found primarily in western England and Wales. There were some claims that they were actually the blend of fairy and goblin but there is no proof of that. There were known for kidnapping children. Most were never seen again but the legends said the few recovered only ever remembered hearing music. Sometimes the stolen child was replaced with a duplicate called a crimbil for a short time. It was believed this was to give the kidnappers time to make their escape.
"So, that is probably what happened to Melissa Turnings," Ernie added. "I wouldn't be too surprised if it happened to Hildy Grimsly too."
"Then there goes my alibi," Harry said with a frown. "She could have been taken and the replacement - the crimbil - failed because I wasn't here to renew it."
"That does follow logically," Daphne acknowledged with a frown. "Circumstantially, it probably makes you a bigger suspect since you were the only student not in the school this weekend."
"This gets better and better," Harry said with a sigh. "Think I can transfer schools?" he asked somewhat flippantly. "We could all go. I hear the Amazon School of Magic is supposed to be really good and way out in the middle of the rainforest. The Sasquatch School is up somewhere in the British Colombia Rocky Mountains. Probably no fairies or sheep in either of those schools." Harry's friends laughed uncomfortably because they could see he was more than half serious.
"What about the other creature Harry mentioned?" Ron asked.
"The Leanan Sidhe?" Hermione said. "Some legends say it was one powerful Fairy; others say it was a sub-type like banshees or red caps. They are kind of like vampires in they need the blood of their victims, but they don't drink it directly but prepare it in a large cauldron. Then they bath in it to absorb their victim's power and maintain their beauty. I found one source that said they are actually undead and could be stopped by piling stones as a cairn on top of their grave. Most of the legends agree the Leanan Sidhe are attracted to great artists and serve as their muses. They, or she, would inspire their talents to a high point and then leave them causing the artist to die of a broken heart. That's when they take the bodies and use the blood in their ritual."
"So someone like Dean over there would be a prime target?" Ron asked looking over towards their artist friend.
"Or Woodling in Slytherin," Ernie offered. "He does watercolours down by the lake."