I ain't settlin' for just getting by

I've had enough so-so for the rest of my life

Tired of shooting too low, so raise the bar high

Just enough ain't enough this time

I ain't settlin' for anything less than everything

-Settlin'; Sugarland

CHAPTER 21

ROSE WEASLEY

Summer finally arrived and I was back at home. Our house was practically overrun with wedding plans, and Dad was a little disgruntled about it. He didn't like being forced to help, and it made me laugh. It became pretty boring after a while though; there was nothing to do really. I found myself wishing the sixth would come quicker so I could see Scorpius. Lily was going too, as Adrian's plus one, and my guess was: Uncle Harry was not happy.

He was fine about them dating, really, which surprised me. I thought he would be like my father when it came to his daughter dating someone, especially when that someone was older, but really he was okay with it. He wasn't too happy about Lily seeing him just by herself until Lily assured him that I was going too, and then he relaxed a little bit – but not much.

Finally the sixth of August came around, and I was beyond excited. Dom and I had gone shopping the week before to buy my dress, and we'd decided on a deep blue silk dress. The bodice hugged my body and emphasised my curves but not too much, and the skirt puffed out slightly before ending just above my knees. We picked out some blue shoes to match and we called it a day.

I went over to the Potters' house to get ready, as Lily and I agreed we would do it there. Dom was also coming over to help us; I'd asked her to. My parents insisted on coming with me to the Potters' house, pretending they wanted to speak with Harry and Ginny.

I made my way into Lily's room with my outfit and knocked on the door.

"Lily, it's me."

"Rose! Come in, I'm just painting my toenails." I opened the door to see Lily sitting on her bed with her tongue sticking out to one side while she concentrated on her nail varnish. She was painting them black. I was setting my stuff down when I heard another knock on the door.

"Lil, Rose, are you in there?" Dom's voice said from the other side of the door.

"Yeah, we are, come in." I said, and the door opened and my best friend walked in, a large bag on her shoulder. Immediately after closing the door, she sat me down and asked me about my hair.

"I think you should have it curled." Dom said, playing with my hair.

"Ooh, yeah, that'd look pretty. But not too springy, have it loosely curled." Lily said, having switched from painting her toenails to painting her fingernails.

"Yeah, that'd look good. What do you think, Rose?"

"Does my opinion count for much?" I joked, and Dom laughed, knowing that I really wasn't much help concerning hair or makeup or anything like that.

She got started on my hair pretty quickly, curling it loosely as we'd agreed. When she'd finished, she looked at me and frowned.

"Would you trust me to cut you a sweep fringe?" She asked, still frowning and playing with my hair.

"Er, sure?" I said it more as a question than an answer, but she took it as me agreeing. Soon enough, she was done with that and led me over to the mirror. The fringe swept across my forehead from the right, stopping and stooping a bit lower when it reached the far left of my head. It looked really good, and Dom looked pleased with herself.

"I like it." Lily said, looking up from her nails, which she was also painting black. She was getting annoyed with them, though, because she kept accidentally smudging them and having to redo them.

"Me too." I smiled up at Dom, who beamed back at me, impressed with her own handiwork.

"Glad you like it, but now we've got to do Lily's hair." Dom said, grabbing Lily and pulling her over to where we were.

"But I haven't finished my nails yet!" Lily cried.

"Rose will do them."

"Yeah, okay, I'll do them." I nodded, taking the polish from her.

Half an hour later, Lily's messy black hair was curled and put up into a loose bun, with bits around her face left out and hanging loosely. I'd finished her nails and had begun painting mine, choosing a nice silvery colour. Dom placed false eyelashes onto Lily's eyes and applied some eyeliner. She added a nude lipgloss to Lily's lips and then Lily went to go get into her dress. Dom then started on my makeup, applying eyeliner to my eyes and making my eyes look smokey. She applied the same nude lipgloss to my lips and then helped me get into my dress without ruining my hair.

I had just about got it on when Lily emerged from her bathroom in her dress. She looked breath–taking. The dress was black and had silver embroidery across her bust, and it had a sweetheart neckline. She wore black peep-toe heels, and a silver chain hung around her neck. She looked so much older than just fourteen, she looked about my age. She was beautiful. I put my shoes on and grabbed my bag.

"Wow, Lil, you look amazing." I breathed, fully taking in how beautiful she was.

"So do you, I love your dress!"

"Hey, don't leave me out here; aren't you going to compliment me on my jeans?" Dom joked. We laughed and headed downstairs. It was 7.40, and Scorpius told me he and Adrian would Floo in and pick us up at 7.45.

"Rose, don't go anywhere yet!" I heard my father shout.

"You too, Lily! Come here." Uncle Harry shouted too, calling us to the kitchen. Mum and Aunt Ginny gasped when they saw us.

"You two look stunning!"

"Absolutely beautiful."

"Couldn't you have worn something with sleeves, Lil?" Harry said.

"That's a bit short, Rosie." Dad commented.

"I don't like it." They said together. My mum and Ginny both rolled their eyes.

"Don't listen to them girls, you look beautiful."

"When are you being picked up?" Ginny asked.

"Rose?" As if on cue, I heard Scorpius' voice coming from the lounge. Lily and I hurried out of the room to meet him and Adrian. Adrian's face broke out into a wide smile when he saw Lily, qhile Scorpius just looked dumbstruck.

"Like it?" I smirked at him.

"Wow. You look even more amazing than usual, and I didn't think that was possible." He grinned back, snaking his arm around my waist. "You ready?"

"Adrian, is it?" I heard Harry's voice from behind me and I groaned.

"Yes, sir. It's lovely to meet you, at last. I've been told many fascinating stories about you and it is an honour to meet you." I saw Scorpius roll his eyes at his best friend and I bit back a laugh.

"Thankyou." Harry said stiffly. "When can we expect Lily home?"

"The party usually officially ends at about midnight." Scorpius supplied.

"But I will have her back then before if you wish, sir." Adrian inclined his head towards Harry.

"Midnight is fine." Harry said, and I knew he was trying not to smile. My uncle hated being cold towards anyone, but he knew in this case that he should be to frighten Adrian off hurting his daughter in any possible way.

"Of course, sir. Again, it was an honour to meet you."

"A pleasure to meet you too." Harry said, holding out his hand for Adrian to shake. I heard Lily breathe a sigh of relief, but I groaned. Now it was my turn.

"idnight is fine for Rose too, Scorpius."

"As you wish, sir." Scorpius odded towatds my father. Hary nudged my dad and reluctantly he held out his hand for Scorpius to shake. Scorpius accepted it before steping back into thefire with me.

"Malfoy Manor!" He said clearly, and almost immediately we found ourselves in Malfoy Manor.

I stumbled a bit, but Scorpius steadied me. We stepped out of the fireplace and I felt his arm snake back around my waist. I felt the corners of my mouth turn up and I turned around to face him. He smiled too, and then he leant down and kissed me. I loved the way his lips felt soft but firm. I felt his tongue brush my lower lip and I parted my lips to allow it entry. His tongue brushed mine and I let out an involuntary moan.

"Alright, mate." I heard Adrian's voice and jumped, breaking away from Scorpius, who just laughed.

"You scared the life out of me, Zabini!" I said.

"If it helps, Weasley, I wasn't enjoying the view." He joked and stepped out of the fireplace with his arm wrapped around Lily's waist. Then the door opened and I knew who was coming in before they did.

"Now it's your turn for 'meet the parents'." Scorpius whispered into my ear, smirking.

"Yeah but my parents are worse." I grinned, and Scorpius chuckled.

"Mother, Father," He said, once they had fully entered the room, "This is Rose Weasley, my girlfriend." Astoria Malfoy smiled warmly at me.

"It's lovely to finally meet you, Rose. I've heard so much about you from my son." She greeted me, and I heard the sincerity behind her voice.

"She hasn't…" I heard Scorpius mutter under his breath so his mother wouldn't hear, and I fought the urge to laugh.

"Hello, Miss Weasley. Draco Malfoy." Scorpius' father held out his hand for me to shake. He didn't speak coldly to me, just indifferently. "Adrian, nice to see you. Who is this lovely girl?" He smiled at Adrian, and I felt Scorpius stiffen. I noted that Draco hadn't smiled at his son at all.

"Nice to see you too, sir. This is Lily Potter, my girlfriend." Draco held out his hand for Lily to shake, too, but now he seemed less indifferent and more annoyed.

"Ah, so you both have chosen Gryffindors."

"Father..." Scorpius warned, and I felt my face go red.

"Well, girls, I suppose your families aren't too happy that you're here?" Draco asked. He said it politely, but I heard the meaning behind his voice. He was basically saying "Why did you come if no one wanted you to?"

"No, actually sir, my father was fine with it. He approves of your son." I said, stretching the truth slightly. Draco looked thoroughly taken-aback and I heard Scorpius try and turn his laugh into a cough.

"And you, Miss Potter? What of your family?"

"My father was fine with me coming here, also. He told me to say hello to you from him." Draco looked surprised, but I was more surprised of that it was true. Harry had told his daughter to say hello to the Malfoy family for him so he didn't feel rude. Scorpius was less successful turning his laugh into a cough this time, and Draco's eyes flicked sharply towards his son.

"Would you like a cough drop, Scorpius?" He glared.

"No, Father, I'm fine, thankyou." Scorpius said, and I could see him trying his hardest to keep the smirk off his face.

"Very well, we shall leave you four alone for a few minutes before the dinner starts." As soon as the door had closed behind him, Scorpius burst out laughing.

"I am so glad you guys are here. Did you see the look on his face?" He grinned when he could breathe again. I rolled my eyes at him as he continued to laugh at his father's pleasure of having us here.

When the dinner had started, and everyone was seated, Draco stood up and everyone was silent.

"Oh here we go…" I heard Scorpius mutter, and I smirked.

"Friends, we gather to dine together for another year…" He went on and on for a while, about some bullshit that Scorpius kept distracting me from. "And so, I would like to raise a toast, to Scorpius Malfoy and Rose Weasley." Both of our heads snapped up, both of us looking equally as shocked as the other. "May they find happiness together." He raised his glass to us, and everyone followed suit. Scorpius and I just looked at each other, shock cemented firmly into each of our faces.

Eventually, people stood up and mingled, and Scorpius led me to the space in the middle of the room where people were dancing to a slow song. He pulled me close to him and wrapped his arms around my waist as I put mine around his neck. We swayed there in silence until the song was over as I stared into his piercing grey eyes and he into my brown ones.

"I love you, Rose."

"I love you too." I whispered back, finally saying what I'd felt for almost a year. He leaned down and kissed me gently. "Can this moment last forever?" I murmured against his lips.

"I'll try." He breathed back, and I rested my head against his shoulder. This was where I belonged.

I belonged with him.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the end of our story. The epilogue will be up next, but don't expect Scorpius to propose or anything, because it's important that he doesn't for the sequel to work. I won't begin writing that immediately, because I'm working on a Scorlily story. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a strong believer in Scorose, they are brilliant together, but someone recommended to me that I read this Scorlily story and now I love them too. I'm not betraying Scorose or anything;)

I want to thank you all for reading this, you honestly don't realise how much it meant to me to see that you've reviewed, story alerted and favourited this story. I love you all lots and lots and thankyou for making me smile for the past three months.

The epilogue will be up within the next few days, if not later today.

Please review!

thanks guys!

beccasophX