Draco supposed that his obligations as a pureblood to sire children had been more deeply ingrained in him than he had originally thought. With so much inter-marrying between the noble and pureblood houses, the lines were no longer as strong and healthy as they had once been, and families that once had five or six children were only producing one or two – like Draco's family. His mother and father had tried so many times for siblings for him, but – Draco was dimly aware – his mother had suffered miscarriage after miscarriage, until eventually it would have been dangerous to try for any more children. The old houses, he realised in a flash of clarity, really were dying out – no wonder they were so threatened by the rising numbers of mixed bloods and Muggleborns – as the purebloods" numbers dwindled, the others" numbers were rising.