A/N: A big shout out to my royal (you know why, A.) beta MrBenzedrine who made the science bits less geeky and more comprehendable. Also special thanks to Slytherinvillian7, Sam Wallflower, Sazzzzzle, and pgoodrichboggs, who made me smile and laugh with their PMs/reviews.

Disclaimer: Sadly not mine…

"Mathilda told me that they try to marry Pansy off to some French pureblood." It was a habit for Narcissa to share the social information about Draco's friends from school. Whether he was interested in listening to her or not.

"Did she really use these words?" Pansy had been Draco's first girlfriend and he still cared for her – sometimes.

"Of course not, that wouldn't be sensible, would it? She said, I quote: 'We encouraged Pansy very much to expand those business arrangements with the Fourasse family with more personal engagements'." Narcissa gave her best impression of a concerned pureblood wife with the quote.

She failed miserably, because everybody who knew Narcissa could confirm that she and Lucius had a relationship where equality was quite important. The only opportunity when she had not been able to convince Lucius had ended quite disastrous with ugly marks on Lucius and the whole family's minds, and an uninvited houseguest with a rotten pet snake.

"That is even worse, if you ask me, Mother," Draco commented. "They are so eager for Pansy to marry, I wonder when they'll put a marriage advertisement in the Prophet."

"Speaking of eager to marry…" Narcissa started.

'I should have seen that coming, shouldn't I? Must be Slytherin rule 19: Create a false sense of security for your victim by conversing over slightly related topics. Then take your ax and hit in your centre of interest.' Draco thought, disgruntled.

"I couldn't help to observe that all went well with Astoria yesterday. You kissed her, didn't you?"

'Ah, that's rule 5: State obvious facts to get your victim present you further information.'

"Yes, I kissed her, Mother. You saw that yourself, but…"

"And then you disappeared from the party. You didn't follow her home, Draco? Because, as I warned you, an heir conceived out of wedlock isn't easy to explain," his Father emphasised.

"No, I didn't follow her. But aren't you speaking from experience, Father?"

Lucius nearly choked on his tea at that, causing his wife to give him a hefty pat between the shoulder blades.

Oh, how long Draco had waited to present his Father this knowledge. 'Tactic 2: Collected touchy information make effective distractions when dropped at the right moment.'

"How do you know?" The elder Malfoy still coughed a little.

Draco smirked. "Well, I simply listened to you and did some math; I was born in June, but you two announced your engagement on New Year's Eve. Let me guess-cozy alcove on Grandmother's birthday in September?"

He had rendered his Father speechless.

"No, actually; the piano in the music room on Halloween. You were a bit impatient to be born." Narcissa stated without even cocking an eyebrow. That caused wrinkles.

Now it was Draco's turn to be speechless and a tad disgusted. 'Ewww… Never going to play that piano again.'

"Now, back to the matter at hand. I invited Astoria over for tea next Friday. You should come, too, since you finish work early on Fridays."

'Rule Number 1: Slytherins always get what they want.'

"Mother…." Draco tried to answer back, desperate, but his Mother wouldn't listen.

"Alright. -She is going to arrive at 5 p.m. You know Astoria is fairly intelligent, so impress her. You could tell her about that fascinating project you helped the Granger girl with. Perhaps you can deepen your understanding of that by Friday, yes?"

"I will do that, Mother," obeyed Draco. 'Definitely deepening. Starting tomorrow,' he thought while he couldn't get the sight of soft lips licking strawberry-juice and bottomless brown eyes out of his head.

-DHDHDHDHDHDHDH-

On Monday, Hermione was deep in thought at her personal desk in the Ministry's library, scribbling furiously on parchment, when someone laid a hand on her arm. She looked up, surprised when she saw the handsome face of Draco Malfoy.

'Not only his face is handsome, remember? His shoulder and chest were very promising. Wondering about the rest…'

"Hi." She said.

"Hi yourself. Have you been here all night? Your hair looks like it."

"I simply forego your hair-insult, Mr. Stumbling-over-heels, and indulge you: No, I haven't been here all night. Ginny had Harry carry me out of here when I didn't show up for dinner at the Burrow."

"Potter's wife hasn't even given birth and is already a Mother hen, isn't she?"

"Yes, Ginny can be quite scary sometimes… Why are you here?"

"Because the Gryffindor-Princess left Malfoy Manor in a mystery-induced hurry, not without serving two Slytherins a brilliant excuse. You got me interested."

'Likewise…. And I like being called 'princess'….'

"Oh. Oooh, yes, it is quite overwhelming, really. Though, you have to judge yourself. Ron and Harry usually get bored easily by what I consider 'overwhelming', but as it concerns your family…."

"Spill it, Granger. I am all ears." 'He really looks interested. That's rare.'

"You remember that you told me about the Statute of Secrecy and how your family limited their marriages to purebloods after that?" Hermione started.

"Mh, yes, of course."

"Well, it's not only that. They married and procreated in a very limited circle; the Fawleys, the Carrows, the Selwyns, the Blacks… do these names ring a bell?" She observed Malfoy's expressions, expectant, while pointing on the names on the family tree she had scribbled on a parchment from memory.

"Holy hippogriff! They all belong to the Sacred Twenty-Eight! Every single one!" Draco gasped.

'He really is intelligent. Makes him even more attractive.'

"100 points to Slytherin. But that took me only some minutes to confirm. What I haven't been able to grasp yet is the mechanism behind that."

"Why should there be a specific reason behind that? After all, that is a pretty exclusive group of wizarding families." One could nearly hear Malfoy thinking about that.

Hermione giggled now, exhilarated at the joy of sharing her discoveries. "Exactly. The question is, why did the restraint start in the 17th century, when the Sacred Twenty-Eight were firstly mentioned by Salazar Slytherin himself in the 11th century? And, the more important mystery is, why did the limitation last so long?"

"Okay, I am with you so far." Draco's nose scrunched cutely with concentration. 'Thanks heaven, finally a man who can concentrate on what I say.' "But why should the limitation be ended at some point?"

"That is the actual reason I had to study these." Hermione kindly answered, gesturing over to the pile of books which were named 'Advanced Genetics' or 'Challenge Evolution`. "Your family should have destroyed itself with that."

"That's not a very polite thing to say. I know, you have had some unfriendly meetings with my extended family, but…"

"I didn't mean it like that." She opened `Challenge Evolution' and pointed out some charts.

"Every population carries traits that prove themselves as disastrous when expressed. Normally, the genetic mixture balances that out in a big population. When a small population, such as the Sacred Twenty-Eight, simply breeds within its limitations, those bad traits become a problem. They reduce the fitness of each member and it gets worse with time, because the negative characteristics increase dramatically. That means most individuals carry the problematic characteristics after some time. It is called inbreed-depression. And after such a long time - three centuries - there should be so many destructive traits in the population that it can't survive."

Malfoy breathed in sharply. "Okay. Overall you say that there is something, something having to do with limited partners and… genes…. that should have extinguished the Sacred Twenty-Eight-families, but somehow it didn't… right?"

Hermione nodded enthusiastically. "Right a 100%. To research that in an adequate way, I have to get access to the family archives, and that could prove itself as a difficulty, considering I am no member of those families." Her face saddened a bit, not because she didn't belong to said pureblood families, but because those sources of ancient knowledge were closed for her. But Malfoy smirked at his perfect opportunity.

"Nothing easier than that. I will settle than for you. Nott, for example, still owes me. The others won't be a problem, either. Hmph!"

Hermione had impulsively thrown her arms around the taller man, encircling her arms around his neck, laughing relieved. "Oh, thank you, Malfoy!"

"Wait until you hear my price." He whispered lowly in her ear, sending shivers down her spine.

'Merlin. With this tone and that to win? Everything.'

He leaned back and smiled mischievously at her. "Before you gain access to the Malfoy archives, you have to endure dinner with me. Is Wednesday okay?"

Hermione stood on her tiptoes, leaning in and whispered back conspiratorially "Knowledge is power. That is how we defeated Riddle. And I am willing to submit to that power if the situation calls for it."

She pecked him softly on the cheek.

"Thanks again, Malfoy. Wednesday is great. Owl me a time and place." Then Hermione stepped back from the bewildered man, turned around and left the library, an elated swing in her steps.

'Gryffindor's pants, what to wear for a date with Draco Malfoy? Ginny. I need Ginny.'