Walking into her ancestral home with Draco, Hermione realized a bit belatedly that she'd really enjoyed the evening and as she glanced at the old grandfather clock that had once belonged to her Mother's family, she smiled when she noted it was thirty minutes until midnight.

June 5, 1998 was almost over.

She led Draco through the parlour and into a long hallway, which eventually led to her family library.

When they arrived she waved her wand and started a fire before guiding them both to settle comfortably on the red velvet couch near the hearth.

"Thank you for a wonderful evening." Draco offered sincerely.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. I'll admit, I was a bit worried about venturing into the Muggle world, but…"

"Surprised you, didn't I?"

"Completely." She deadpanned and they both laughed.

Once they'd calmed sufficiently Hermione pulled out a small box from her beaded bag that she'd charmed to match her dress and then handed it over saying sweetly, "Happy Birthday, Draco."

His gaze locked with hers in shock, before glancing down nervously at the small box with a heavy swallow.

To say he was stunned didn't even begin to accurately describe his state of mind at the present moment. He gently took the offering and rolled it within his hands before he lifted his eyes again and noticed that Hermione appeared a bit shy.

"You know, I think we've done this all backwards."

"In what way?"

"Well I'm sure as you know, tradition states that the wizard is the one to plan the outings and offer tokens of affection—yet you've stepped up and made the effort and I've done nothing."

"Not true," she admonished softly, "you've helped me with my research and given me valuable insight, Draco."

He inwardly cringed, thinking about his conversation with Daphne and wondering just how he was going to figure out a way to help Astoria without compromising his fragile burgeoning relationship with Hermione.

"I've enjoyed helping you, in fact—have you given anymore thought to my suggestion from before?"

"You mean about the salamander's blood?"

"Yes."

"I've been doing some research on it, looking over Master Flamel's journals."

"And?"

"As you know the Fire Dwelling Salamander's blood is the one utilized in blood replenishing potions as well as strengthening solutions, and it's believed that this magical salamander has the strongest regenerative properties of all salamanders, but what you said that day to Pernelle got me thinking—what if what's needed isn't strictly just about the potency."

"Then what do you think it has to do with?"

"I think there has to be a perfect balance of potency and regenerative properties. With Fire Dwelling salamanders their potency of regeneration is so strong that the effects have to be diluted by other components lest the potion become unstable, correct?"

"That's true."

"And Wiggenweld, which uses salamander blood has the longest shelf life of about thirty days, give or take, right?"

"Yes, but I don't understand what…" Draco's eyes widened and his face broke out into a pleased grin, then he shook his head in appreciation, "That's inspired! If potency and regeneration concentration are in perfect balance…"

"Then the formula would be stable enough for the panacea to confer everlasting properties, like the elixir of life."

"So you're thinking the Sorcerer's Stone was nearly perfect, but the reason it didn't regenerate the tissue perfectly…"

"Was because the balance was off. Even just an infinitesimal amount would be enough to make it not work properly."

Draco ran both his hands down his face in wonder before he gazed at Hermione with clear appreciation in his grey gaze.

How had he ever thought this witch was anything short of amazing?

Her mind…her intellect, was simply staggering!

He continued to stare at Hermione and smirked slightly when she started to blush that enticing shade of rosy red.

"So where do we begin?" He asked at last.

"I have a couple theories actually."

"Of course you do." He chuckled which caused her to blush even harder, even as she glared at him without any real heat behind her amber gaze.

"Prat."

"Noted, now explain, witch."

"Fine!" She grumbled, but her lips lifted in that moment and Draco was surprised at how easily they could banter given the right opportunity. He'd never been this intellectually stimulated by a witch. Oh, he adored Astoria and loved her witty nature, but she wasn't inclined towards her studies in a way that challenged his mind, even if he'd found every other part of her appealing. "You stated it was about the blood, correct?"

"Yes, I did…and?"

"Draco, do you know the medical purpose for blood beyond what you've always assumed it to be in regards to the Magical one?"

His brow furrowed and he shook his head in the negative admitting reluctantly, "I'm not following."

"In the Muggle world we learn in science classes that our blood, the blood of all species carry different blood cells. Each cell has specific functions but at their very basic level—there are three main components of blood: Red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets."

Draco was taken aback, but eventually he leant forward and asked with interest, "And what do they do?"

"Well, platelets are what cause clotting of the blood. Back in the Middle Ages and into the late nineteenth century—Royal families in Europe due to interbreeding amongst their own, were afflicted with a blood disease called Hemophilia. I'd imagine it worked similarly to a maledictus curse, accept it was Muggle in origin. If a person with Hemophilia were injured, cut either externally or bled internally, their body didn't produce enough of these platelets to stop the bleeding naturally. It's actually a bit more complex than that, but that is the very basic explanation."

"Okay, sounds horrible…" he offered with a small shudder, "and these white cells?"

"Immune cells. There are many different white cells that allow the body to fight off infections of all kinds."

"Huh, that's…"

"Strange?"

"I was going to say intriguing, but strange works too." He replied, before tilting his head and inquiring, "Red cells?"

"Carry oxygen to the tissues of the body."

Draco sat up and his gaze narrowed in thought, before he postulated, "So it would mean that the Fire Dwelling salamanders have a higher concentration of red cells?"

"Yes, that's what I'm thinking too."

Draco stood up and paced towards the window, his mind going over Severus notes that he'd been researching for the last couple weeks in a desperate attempt to find a way to help Astoria, when a light switched on and his eyes widened in sudden comprehension.

It wasn't about the concentration of blood, but what the blood carried.

Oxygen.

The higher the concentration of oxygen a red cell could carry in theory, the easier it might be to reach this elusive equilibrium.

If the salamanders blood had too many of the other cells, it might effect the end product…

Or…if…

Shite!

"Draco, are you alright?"

He slammed down his Occlumency shields as he felt Hermione walking up behind him. It wouldn't do him any good to get her hopes up if his supposition was incorrect, but if it wasn't?

This could be that silver bullet she'd been talking about from before.

He turned around and replied, "I'm okay. Just seems like such a long shot, as there's hundreds of salamander species out there."

Hermione sighed, her gaze taking in Draco's expression and she felt like something was off, but she couldn't quite pinpoint what that something was.

"I know, but you did mention that Professor Snape had some research, right?"

"He did."

"Do you think you could bring it over this upcoming week?"

"Actually," he prevaricated, "I was planning on studying for my NEWTS this week, but perhaps we can postpone until the following week?"

"Oh Merlin, I do need to get a bit more study time in too. You could come over, if you wanted to?"

"Sure, I'd like that…how about Wednesday?"

"Wednesday works."

He smiled softly and then leant down to kiss Hermione chastely, pleased when she allowed the affection. When he pulled back he reached for her hand and moved back over to the couch, sitting her down and reaching for the small token she'd gifted him with.

"I think I should open this before we get sidetracked again?"

She giggled softly and nodded, "Yes, sorry about that."

"Don't apologize, Hermione. It's not often I'm distracted from gift giving, especially when I'm on the receiving end."

They both shared a genuine laugh before Draco opened the box and his breath caught at what was inside. He lifted up the galleon with a questioning gaze, "A galleon, really?"

She shushed him and then stated, "It's charmed, Draco. I made ones just like these in fifth year as part of Dumbledore's Army. It uses a Protean Charm and I can send messages to you with my own galleon." She then pulled an exact replica from her bag and then took out her wand from somewhere hidden in her dress robes before tapping her galleon with it. He immediately felt his own galleon heat up and when he glanced down at it the words, happy birthday instantly appeared.

He smirked and then queried with all due seriousness, "Is there anything you can't do?"

She blushed again and he chuckled deeply, before thanking her for the thoughtful gift.

He said his farewells and left Hermione's home, heading back to the Manor and eventually found himself in his room fiddling with the galleon with a thoughtful expression.

Hermione was always surprising him with her capacity for kindness and a part of him felt guilty for not sharing his own epiphany with her, but as a Slytherin he could rationalize it because if it ended up leading nowhere then there was no use in raising anyone's expectations.

However, if he was right…

Then there was a good chance he could save Astoria and help Hermione in the process.

It was a win-win, right?

He grabbed a piece of parchment and wrote out a missive, attached it to his owl and watched as it flew out of sight.

Fiddling with his birthday gift again, he couldn't help but smile softly again at how considerate his intended was.

He just didn't know at that precise moment, how important that gift would eventually become.

A quick note to all my readers, I've deleted all my other stories from this platform, but they will be up on AO3 for now. I have been rewriting and re-editing them on AO3, which is a much easier platform to do it on. i may repost here, once I'm satisfied with the final products, and I do apologize but I feel that some of them need fo be re-polished and will be doing that on the other platform. Thank you for reading and I hope to see you on AO3 for now. I will keep this fanfic up for now on here until it's completed.