A/N: I hope you R&R!

Disclaimer: J.K Rolling? Me? Same person? No. Dangit!

Flames and Icicles

Chapter Two

The "Golden Six"

The last week at the Burrow was spent eating huge quantities of home cooked meals, and Hermione was sure that Ron would explode from massive food intake. The Order was still intact and still met at number Twelve Grimmauld place, but Alaster Moody had forbid the kids from staying there. Kreacher had gone to the only blood relatives of the Black's that he thought suitable in evilness. He had no doubt gone to the Malfoy Manor. So, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley arranged for Harry to come and stay with them for most of the summer as well as Hermione.

Dumbledore was rarely seen in the household, but he had made a few stops to talk to Harry about furthering his Occlumency with him and not Snape and private talks with the Weasley adults. Fred and George, when not at their shop, would try to listen in on these conversations with a new invention called the 'Right-O Ears'. It never got old to see Mrs. Weasley chase them with the broom.

It was the day before they were scheduled to venture to Platform ¾ when Dumbledore paid another rare visit to the Burrow.

"Hello Miss Granger, may I have a word with you?" His eyes twinkled behind his half-moon spectacles. Hermione shot Harry and Ron a confused look and followed the Headmaster into the kitchen. Over the sound of many brushes magically cleaning their breakfast dishes, Dumbledore started.

"I received quite an interesting letter a few weeks ago." He paused as Hermione's curiosity ebbed, wondering what it had to do with her. "It contained a secret that has been guarded very closely for a very long time." He motioned for her to sit down at the dinning table and he followed suit in front of her. "I'm coming to you about this because I believe you are the best candidate for the favor I am about to impart on you." He stroked his beard at the second pause, almost driving the brown-eyed girl crazy. "There is always reason behind what I do, and in Dark Times I will do a lot. When term starts tomorrow I will ask you to, instead of going to the Gryffindor Tower after the feast, report to my office with your things for a slightly different instruction."

He stopped again and Hermione took her chance, "What different instruction?" He let off a small smile and waved his hand dismayingly, "Till tomorrow evening."

The older man stood up and pushed his chair in, stepping over a pair of dropped 'Right-O Ears'.

"Quite the charmers, aren't they?" Musing to himself about the quirkiness of the Weasley Twins, the Headmaster made his exit.

"You will stay at school for the holidays." Said Narcissa Malfoy, her pointed nose scrunched like she smelled rotten eggs. Her qualities of quietness and saintly behavior at the absence of her husband had indeed gone with that red letter, wherever it went.

Draco expected nothing else. He had not 'cuddled up' to her or shown that he acknowledged her love, but something had changed in her that made him slighly nervous. She was starting to get colder.

"Ok." He swiftly pecked her cheek and got into the black car and did not even look back as he left through the manor's gates.

It was sunny outside, blindingly so, thought Draco. He was still the pale boy he had always been and his hair was still slicked back in such a fashion that beamed the word 'authority'. He had grown a great few inches in height, and had firmed out his stomach a bit due to late night Quidditch practices in the courtyard. He was clad in a black sweater and matching trousers that seemed to fight with his graying eyes. "Now wonder the women love me…" He smirked at himself.

"Harry, Ron, Ginny! Come on!" Called Hermione standing with Crookshanks in her arms next to the Hogwarts Express. It's crimson paint gleamed in the sunlight and hooted in excitement as the students rushed around to get on the train. Tiny chaos ensued as the Trio plus one boarded the train and began the search for a compartment. They moved silently to the back of the train where they managed to luck up and find former members of the D.A. willing to share with them.

"Hello!" Beamed Neville Longbottom, fellow Gryffindor. Hermione was surprised to see that he had lost his baby fat but as he stood to shake hands with Harry and Ron she noticed that he was a few inches taller too.

"Hello Ginny…hello Ron." The often-strange Luna Lovegood said behind a new edition of the Quibbler, the front page reading: Dementors, Birthday Suits under the Robes. Hermione suppressed a snicker, and saw Ginny do the same.

"So how was your summer, Nev?" Asked Ginny sliding into a seat between him and Harry, across from Hermione, Ron, and to Ron's discomfort- Luna.

"It was alright, I suppose. Gran and I gave the good ole house a once over…and then a twice over… and that's about it for me. Just cleaned I guess…OH! But I did get this!" He reached under his seat to reveal a flower that glowed a mixture of blue and purple for the petals.

"It's not going to spray us is it?" Said Harry in a worried tone, ready to throw his hands up. Hermione and Ron looked at him confused.

"You two were with the perfects last year…"Muttered Harry, even though his bitterness for being withheld from the position was gone now.

"Oh my gosh! We need to go the perfects compartment!" Hermione jumped up, knocking Crookshanks off of her lap. Ron saw this as an opportunity to get away from the gaze of Luna and rightly agreed with Hermione and had no problem leaving the confined space they shared.

Ginny, presently the youngest Prefect of them, followed Hermione curtly as the ventured down the hall. It would be nice to say that their small talk lasted all they way up to the Prefect's compartment, but that was not what happened.

"Out of my way Mudblood." Sneered the newly arrived Malfoy. Ron balled up his fists and started to move forward, but Ginny was faster and maneuvered in between the boys.

"Honestly Malfoy," She said with rising sarcasm. "Is that all you have?" Ginny smirked at her closet girlfriend, and Hermione picked up on it.

"You would think he'd find another name after…what? 5 years?" She let out a false laugh and started to move around the Slytherin, but was cut off by him grabbing her forearm.

"There are worse things I could do to a muggle-born like you." Ron leaped at the pale boy and this time Ginny let him, but Hermione intervened the redhead.

"He's not worth it."

"He'll never be worth anything!" Seethed Ron, but followed Hermione with Ginny behind.

When out of ear shot Ginny commented to his rude behavior.

"Why the Hell Dumbledore made HIM a prefect is beyond my knowledge." That made Hermione think of her earlier conversation with their Headmaster: "There is always reason behind what I do, and in Dark Times I will do a lot." She guessed she would have to trust him, but just like Ginny she wondered, "What the hell!"

Twenty minutes later Ron, Hermione, and Ginny made their way back to their compartment. The Prefect meeting had been rather uneventful, just giving the newest members recognition and reiterating the rules. The other new Gryffindor Prefect was Colin Creevey, the boy that still had his camera around his neck. Ron had given the boy a suspicious glare when he sat down beside the youngest Weasley and started to talk. Hermione had just laughed. She had been aware of someone looking at her the whole time the new Heads talked, and was surprised to follow the gaze back to Draco Malfoy. As they left he bumped into Ron and told the 'Weasel' to watch his step. Ron, being Ron, lunged at him, but sadly lost his own footing and fell right into Colin, further igniting his camera to take a few unwanted pictures.

Harry and Neville were playing exploding snap when they entered.

"How was the meeting?" Asked Luna as she placed a chocolate frog in her mouth. She took the collector's card of Dumbledore and placed it in her pocket.

"Boring stuff." Muttered Ginny as she plopped down next to Harry. Hermione took the seat next to her, leaving Ron to sit between Luna and Neville.

"Did anything happen?" Asked Harry after his card exploded. "I mean, nothing about Vold-" He stopped as he saw the crinkle in Ron's complexion. "you know who?"

"No, there was no mention of it." Answered Hermione. She slightly wondered if any of the Slytherins in the cabin had any connections with the Dark Lord.

"We ran into Malfoy, the slimy git." Breathed Ginny. Harry looked at Ron who had turned red, but kept quiet, still upset about his fall in front of the said person. Harry noticed the look Hermione gave him and decided not to question it.

Twenty minutes proceeded to pass with small talk consisting of: more detailed summer happenings, the new DADA teachers, their new school books, classes, how well everyone did on their OWLs (Hermione made the highest with a nearly perfect score, Harry and Ron did quite well ranking the highest in Defense Against the Dark Arts portion, and Neville did rather well too, taking the highest in the Herbology part.), and of course, Quidditch. They all respectively left out talk of what had happened the previous year in the Department of Mysteries, and the rise of Voldemort. In a way it was respect for Harry and fear on everyone else's part, but Hermione could feel it. The bubbles of a pushed down question, or thought, waiting to float out or burst under pressure. Until a silence fell upon the new expanded trio. Hermione felt that the 'Golden Trio' would always be, but now she also knew that the Golden Three were now Golden Six. The incident in the Department of Mysteries had shown this. Risking their lives, they had all together gone head on into danger in hopes of saving Sirius. With the bravery and strength of Harry, the loyalty of Ron, the wit of Hermione, the love of Ginny, the quirkiness of Luna, and the innocence and friendliness ways of Neville they had formed a strong unity and Hermione was sure that this year would be spent the most with them. She was okay with that.

The silence was finally broken no less than 5 minutes after it started, with an unusual starter.

"Voldemort." Luna Lovegood stated. Everyone turned to her. The Ravenclaw girl's eyes shown big and bright, unlike her usually misty pool of gray. Her hair had lightened considerably, hinting that she had been in the sun, and was bundled up in a messy mess on top of her head. The necklace of bottle caps was strung proudly around her neck and her wand was kept over her left ear…you know…for safekeeping. Despite her weird attire, she had the look of seriousness etched on her face. The quirkiness of Luna Lovegood.

"What?" Asked a bewildered Harry. It was clear to see everyone was surprised by her little outburst.

"Voldemort." She stated again. Ron cringed at her side.

"Stop saying that!" He cried.

"But it's his name, I've learned to say it. And plus, He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named is just tiring." She huffed as if exhausted.

Hermione stared blankly at the girl. Harry looked like he was about to smile, but the weight of what the name held kept his lips from turning up. Ginny and Neville glanced at each other oddly. Ron, however, looked at Luna like she was crazy.

"What about him?" Hermione killed the silence.

"I think we should all say his name." She looked at Ron in an off hand way. "Out loud." She stopped and touched her necklace of caps. "There was a man that Father talked to in Sweden, as we looked for the Krumple Horned Snorlack, and the man would not say his name. Don't you get tired of saying He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named, Harry?"

Their heads turned to Harry Potter, and believe it or not Harry managed a small smile. The strength of Harry Potter. "Why yes, Luna." He said gently. "That would be a grand idea." He looked questionably at the group. They looked uneasy, and when he was about to say to forget it a voice sounded.

"Voldemort." Said Ginny. Harry was surprised to hear her first. The fear of the Chamber of Secrets and Ginny having met the Dark Lord in person made the Boy-Who-Lived worried she would not say it. Hermione looked at the younger girl. She knew that fear of a name was silly and if the spirited Luna and Ginny could say it then…

"Voldemort." She gave a slight smile and felt Ginny squeeze her hand. The loving Ginny Weasley.

"Vo-Vold…Voldemort!" Cried Neville in a triumphant tone that almost made them believe that by saying his name he was gone. The innocence of Neville Longbottom. Hermione felt a pang of sympathy for him as she remembered why his parents were in St. Mungos.

Now it was Ron's turn. He was now pale and had been intent on looking at his sneakers. Silence filled the compartment again. Ginny looked at her brother with worried eyes, and Harry looked solemn.

"Hey Ron, it's ok if-" Luna put her hand up to stop the Boy Wonder and looked down at the Redhead. Placing a hand lightly on his shoulder,

"Come now, Ronald. Your closest friends are here and have said his name, and we all care. When Father tells me things that he puts in the Quibbler I always believe them because I know he loves me and would not lie to me-" Hermione almost huffed at this remark, but she had learned to be polite around the younger student and she could tell Luna was serious. "It won't hurt you. Now, repeat after me." She cleared her throat and everyone watched on intently. "Vol…" A barely audible Ronald Weasley echoed this catching them by surprise, excluding Luna who kept on. "...de… He repeated. "…mort…""Mort."

He raised his head and looked at Luna. "Vol-de-mort." He repeated this faster and then turned to Harry.

"Voledmort." His voice dropped down. The cabin was again, quiet.

"Correct, mate." Harry beamed at his best friend. Ginny, Neville, and Hermione heartily agreed to this.

The bubble that had been threatening to burst did in fact- burst. But Hermione believed it was a good one. The spiritual, absentminded Lovegood had made a small breakthrough in saying a name.

"Err, thanks, I guess." Ron said to Luna. She only smiled and put another chocolate frog into her mouth. Neville and Harry started a new game of Exploding Snap, while Ginny and Ron watched on. Hermione, sitting in front of the blond girl did something unexpected of her.

"Luna, may I read some of your Quibbler, please?"

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A/N: R&R!