Terribly sorry guys, haven't updated in days! I had a little writer's block, then not much net access, then all these craptacular things I have to do… But here it is, the next chapter of Matchmaker!

Hermione gaped widely as she ran her fingers through her hair.

'Viktor… he couldn't! How did…'

'Who's there?' a sleepy voice said. It was Lavender, who was rubbing her eyes.

'It's me, Hermione! Quiet, or maybe the whole dormitory will wake up!'

Lavender washed her face, and grabbed a towel. Then she took a good look at Hermione.

'Merlin's beard… look at you! What Charm did you use? Can you teach me? Oh my, Hermione, so this is the benefit of being so smart!'

'What are you talking about? Viktor did the spell! Now my hair looks… different! It's now… not so bushy anymore…'

Hermione's hair was now wavy, with royally curled… curls at the end.

'He did? Merlin, you are so lucky!' Lavender squealed. Apparently, all the Gryffindor girls were interested in what was going on, and it was time for them to wake up anyway, so they all hurried into the bathroom.

'Hermione, is that you?' said Alicia Spinnet, surprised.

'You look real wonderful, Hermione!' Pansy Parkinson said, appearing out of nowhere.

'Why are you here?' Hermione asked.

She shrugged. 'Got invited over by Parvati. Hope you don't mind…'

'No… not at all…' Hermione said, shocked at the massive change. Usually teachers don't let students sleep in another house's dormitory, but with all the inter-house relationships going on, they've decided to encourage it.

'Galloping gargoyles, you're going to Hogsmeade with Blaise today, aren't you? We'll have to get you tidied up, girl!' Parvati said, with several (many…) agreeing Gryffindor girls.

'Aaargh! Leave me alone, I can dress myself up!' Hermione shoo-ed.

The group of Gryffindor and Slytherin girls (except Lavender) walked out of the bathroom, chatting about how exciting it is that Hermione and Blaise have their first official date.

Hermione slammed the door shut. 'Finally, some peace! Come on Lavender, you have to get ready for Hogsmeade too…'

Lavender beamed up, then nodded.

'Wait… how did they know about this?' Hermione said. 'Don't tell me Zabini bragged about it all over the place… I haven't told anyone except Lavender and Viktor! Wait… Lavender…'

'Lavender… did you tell anyone that I'm going to Hogsmeade with Zabini?'

'No, I only knew last night. But someone else was there when you and Blaise were talking!'

'What are you talking about?'

Lavender grabbed a folded piece of paper from her pocket, and started unfolding it. Then she gave it to Hermione to read.

'Oh no, not this again! "The Zabini-Granger News" or whatever it's called…' Hermione said.

'Our favourite couple has finally made up, and now is about to go on their first official date! Watch out for them at Hogsmeade!' Hermione scrunched up the paper before finishing reading the article, and chucked it behind her. 'This is rubbish! If I ever find out who's been publishing those, they are so dead!'

(Slytherin boys' dormitory)

Blaise was still mucking around with his friends, Theodore, Derek and Xerxes. They were playing Exploding Snap. Not that he wasn't ready… he just wasn't putting much effort on improving his appearance. If the cards exploded while he was nearby… well, that's a different story.

'BLAISE!' a girl's voice yelled. It was Daphne Greengrass.

'What? Can't you see I'm doing something here?' he replied.

'You're supposed to be going to Hogsmeade with Hermione, remember?'

Blaise sat with a straighter back, finally paying attention to Daphne.

'How did you know?' he asked.

'Who doesn't know, mate? It was published all over the school early afternoon, a few while after that "assembly" thing...' Derek explained.

'Excuse me?' he said, shocked.

'You're excused. Come on, I'll help you tidy yourself up, come to the Common Room!' Daphne bossed.

Blaise sighed, and hastily followed.

After a short while of silence, Theodore started a conversation.

'I think this is why last year Blaise was campaigning against girls being allowed in boys' dormitory… I do wonder why that is…' he said.

Derek shrugged. 'I think the house-founders believe girls are more trustworthy.'

'I suppose so… knowing that Baddock kid… what's his name… Malcolm Baddock, he probably would be checking out all the girls' panties…'

'Wouldn't you, Theo?' Xerxes joked.

Theodore instantly turned red. 'Shut up, Xerxes, I'm not a pervert…'

'If you don't want to be a pervert, I'll give you the benefit of being a soon-to-be Death Eater!'

Theodore stood up as he heard the remark, and coldly replied.

'I think I'm going to see how Blaise is doing now…' Then he walked away.

'Wonder what's up with him?' Xerxes said after Theodore was out of sight. Derek shrugged, having no idea.

(Back with the Gryffindor girls! First ever Lavender's POV!)

My heart was beating so hard, I'm going to go to Hogsmeade with Blaise!

Well, not exactly…

Hermione wants to go with Krum, but got an offer from Blaise. How perfect is this condition? She said that once this whole Hermione-Blaise thing ends, I should make my move.

'Come on Lavender, Viktor isn't going to wait all day, you know!' Hermione said.

'Alright, I just have to put on this eyeliner…' I said, and then used it as fast as possible.

Hermione sighed, she was ready, but that was because she didn't work on her appearance as much as me. She didn't have to. That Krum boy put a spell on her hair, which usually took up her time to tidy up. 'I'll wait for you outside the Common Room, after this we're going to Viktor's room first.' Then she closed the door.

I brushed my hair for only the fifth time, is that strand messy again? Hermione won't let me use her Sleakeazy Hair Potion, since she said she needs as much of it as she can get. Last year at the Yule Ball, she took at least 2 hours to put it all over her hair. Now her dear Krum has put a simple spell on her, and her hair won't even get tangled! How lucky is she? First she was the one mistaken as Blaise's girlfriend, not me.

But it was partly my fault… if I was the one who gave the parchment to him, he'll yell out "Brown, I'll reply your parchment later!" and everyone will think we're going out! But wait… people won't be as enthusiastic, since everyone thinks I'm just a giggling airhead or something, not an emotionless bookworm! See, I'm already thinking about consequences, who's the airhead now?

I finally decided I look presentable enough, so I walked out of the bathroom.

'Hey Lav, looking good!' Parvati complimented. I slightly smiled.

'Thanks, Parv. Are you going anywhere?'

'Nah… gonna stay behind and do my Transfiguration homework. I got detention 2 days ago so I didn't have time to…'

'Right… Well, bye Parv! Good luck!' I said, then waved and strolled outside the Common Room.

'Finally! Let's go get Viktor!' Hermione commanded, and then we walked over to the direction of the Headmaster's Office.

'Hermione…' I started, then trailed off.

'What?' she asked, as we walked.

'What does Blaise think about me?'

'I don't know… we're not that close, I don't even call Zabini by his first name unless in front of other people. I'll try to remember to ask next time…'

'I see…' I said. Then I ran out of things to say. The rest of the walk was complete silence except for the occasional "hi!" and "good-luck!", and they were all for Hermione. She replied with a fake smile, and waved to all these people she had never seen before. But the journey was quiet between the two of us…

'Well, we're here!' she said after the quite long walk. We came upon a wall.

'Hermione, this is a wall…' I said.

'Fizzy Flies!' she announced, then the wall slid back. Oh, another one of Hogwart's secret room or of the sort.

'Hem-eye-renny! I mean, Herm-eye-ah-nee! You're here! And you brought a friend too!'

I cowered slightly, and blushed. 'Hi…' I squeaked out. But his attention was on Hermione now. Suddenly, I heard someone else say "Fizzy Flies".

'Hermione, someone else is coming here…'

'That's odd… who else knows the password?' Hermione pondered for a moment.'Zabini!' she said. My heart pounded, Blaise is going to be here!

Then he came in… only it wasn't Zabini, it was Malfoy, the git.

'Malfoy, what are you doing here? Don't tell me Zabini brought you along… again!'

'Nope, he's still getting fixed up by Greengrass in the Common Room. I came here on my own accord. Hey Granger, what charm did you use on your hair? Hairus Perfectio?' he teased.

'Just because Viktor can cast a spell like that doesn't mean you shou–'

'Oh, so "Viktor" did it, did he? That's just marvellous, since I was sick of that bushy buck-toothed girl I've known for over 4 years!'

'You leave Hermione alone!' Krum said, almost threatening. Malfoy should've known better, but I think something's wrong today…

'Oh yeah? Make me!' Malfoy said, grinning widely.

Krum almost punched him in the face, but Hermione stopped him from doing so.

'Wait, Malfoy would've known better than to intimidate anyone he can't handle! Are you someone else who drank a Polyjuice Potion or something?' she asked.

'No, I'm not, Mudblood.' Malfoy haughtily replied. Krum was turning red from anger.

'Then why the hell are you here?' Hermione asked suspiciously, as if thinking "If it's Malfoy, it can't be good".

'Because I know I have a piece of information that both you and Zabini want! I was looking for one of youse, and since you're not in your Common Room, I thought you might be visiting your little "friend here...' he said.

'And what might this be?'

'The publisher, creator and writer of "Zabini-Granger News", which are all the same person…' the blonde boy casually replied.

'You do? Who is it?' Hermione asked enthusiastically.

'I'm not telling… yet. I'll make a deal with you and Zabini at some point… that is, if your Vicky didn't beat me into a pulp yet…' he continued, glancing at Krum.

'Bye Vicky, Mudblood and… Airhead Brown…' Malfoy said, apparently he thought of an insult for each of us. How dare he!

'That vos Malfoy you spoke about?' Krum said.

Hermione nodded, then he continued.

'You're right. He vos very annoying!'

'Yeah… for the past however many years I've been in Hogwarts…' Hermione told him.

Then another shout of Fizzy Flies was heard, and the wall slid to the side once more.

Then HE came in. Blaise looked more radiant than ever… I almost sighed and fainted, like what people do when they see someone so handsome, they can't believe their eyes.

'Zabini, how did you know I was bringing Viktor with us?'

'Instict, hey, you brought a Griffy friend along as well…'

He walked over, and saw Hermione, then wolf-whistled. 'Nice hair, Granger. What Charm did you use? Or was it a potion?'

Hermione blushed. 'Why does everyone think I was the one who cast the spell? Viktor did it!'

Then Krum blushed, and Zabini just said 'Good on you, Krum.' He also has more sense than Malfoy, isn't he great?

'Yeah.. I don't even know what spell you used!' Hermione thanked… sort of.

'Vell… it is a spell from vere I come from. It is quite hard to master, but I did it for you, Herr-myron-ee!'

Hermione blushed at the statement. Blaise rolled his eyes (how cute!) and announced.

'Look here, lovebirds. Probably Brown and I want to get a move on this, so let's get going to Hogsmeade, shall we?'

He said my name! I can't help but to have a wide grin on my face. I tried to say "just call me Lav" but no sound would come out, damn!

'Right… off to Hosmeade we go!' Hermione said as we all walked out of Krum's room.

Sorry guys, for such the long update! Haven't got much computer access, but I went to Mum's office in the University (she's still studying) and found a scanner! My homepage has a drawing of Godric Gryffindor in his youth. (Psst! Secret told to only those who read my ramblings: I'm going to write a Romance/Tragedy story on the Four Founders on who I've taken an interest on. Sorry, it's not funny, but it'll be real good. It took up a little bit of Matchmaker writing time though, sorry!)