[A/N this chapter will contain scenes of violence and abuse, please don't read this if those particular subjects are sensitive to you, or make you uncomfortable!]

Chapter 28

The sun was peeking through the trees as Adria sat in her dormitory, her book that she was currently reading resting on her knees. She had just gotten back from visiting Nora, but she wanted to give her and Aubrey some space seeing as it would be the first-time Aubrey would be along with her.

Considering James hadn't left her sight.

"I hope you're happy!" Lily shrieked, stomping into the dormitory, her eyes wide, her hair messy, a glare shining in her eyes, "Caden is getting expelled!"

"I know," Adria nodded, looking up from her book, "which is a good thing, merlin, Lily, he forced himself onto Nora!"

"No, he didn't, Addy!" Lily exclaimed, running a hand through her hair, "she made it up, for attention, I don't know, I'm shocked, too, but Caden is innocent in all of this!"

"Innocent?!" Adria gasped, wide eyed, unable to help her mind from thinking of what else Caden had fed to Lily to make him seen as the victim, "if he is the innocent one then why is Nora in hospital?!"

"Because she fell, Adria!" Lily huffed, "she's framing Caden because she hates him!"

"You really think that Nora Robinson, Hufflepuff, Nora Robinson I might add, one of the loveliest girls in this school would really frame someone that she doesn't even want anything to do with?!" Adria shrieked, "he forced himself onto her, Lily, he was trying to kiss her, he kissed her neck, he was whispering awful things to he-"

"Stop it!" Lily screamed, furiously shaking her head, "just stop it!"

Adria expected Lily to walk away, to leave the dormitory, to stay mad, to confront Caden, do anything rather than what she done. But no, instead she sobbed, falling to the floor of the girl's dormitory, the sobs left her lips, meeting the tears that streamed suddenly from her eyes.

Adria pushed herself forward, gripping Lily in her arms, a sigh tumbled from her lips, running her hands through Lily's hair softly, "oh Lils," she whispered, wiping the girls tears as she allowed her to cry into her, "tell me what he told you, Lily."

"He told me that she was making it all up," Lily hiccupped, "and at first I didn't believe him, but he made me, he promised me, he said that she was just an attention seeker."

"Lily," Adria whispered, moving her head to stare at her best friend, "d-does Caden, well, um, does he hit you?"

Adria closed her eyes when Lily's sobs returned, her head falling onto Adria, she already knew the answer to the question she wished she never had to answer, and soon did Adria's eyes glaze with tears, spilling from her silently as she comforted Lily, comforted her best friend that she loved so much.

"Oh Lily," Adria whispered, tightening her grip on her, stroking her hair softly as the two sat on the floor, "oh merlin, Lils, tell me what he done, please, let me help you."

Lily sucked in a breath as she pulled away, furiously wiping her tears, and soon did she nod, pushing herself up and sitting on her bed, whilst Adria followed her lead, "he hadn't always been that way, violent, I mean, he was kind and loving and sweet, I was in his room one day, after the fight with Nora,"

-

"It's alright, Caden," Lily whispered, her hand on his cheek as she stared at him, a small smile lifting her lips as she stared at him, "Nora will understand, she will, she's your best friends!"

Caden's hands clenched, his eyes glaring at the wall in front of him as he sat beside Lily, ignoring her words, ignoring her hand that reached for his, instead, he pulled his away, roughly, shuffling down the sofa more than he had been, "mhmm."

"Let's talk of something else," Lily smiled, softly pressing her lips to his cheek, blinking slightly as she forced her smile to widen, reaching for his hand, she spoke, "what about Potions, how is Slughorn for you? merlin he's working me crazy."

"I don't care about Slughorn, Lily" Caden grumbled, shaking his head with a scoff, "I just lost my best friend, and it was my fault."

"So, you apologise, Caden, what else is there to do?" she asked, shaking her head whilst she ran her hand through her hair, moving behind him and wrapping her arms around his chest, pressing her lips to his neck as she leaned her head on his shoulder, "come on, babe, you can't help what you've said, but you can solve it."

"Can you just stop, Lily, please?" Caden snapped, pushing her away suddenly, grumbling under his breath as she moved herself away from him, her eyebrows furrowed as she stared at him, her eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"What did I do?" she asked, her head titled ever so slightly, her voice barely a whisper, "I'm just trying to help, merlin Caden, stop taking your anger out on me!"

She grumbled under her breath as she pushed herself up, slipping into her shoes that sat at the edge of his bed, "Lily-"

"What, Caden?!" she snapped, "stop feeling so sorry for yourself, for merlin's sake, yes, it's your fault, do you know how humiliated I am? Or how guilty I am? You took me to her sanctuary, her place that she built from scratch, telling me that you all did it one Christmas, that you, her and Aubrey built it together, you lied to me, for what? To make yourself look better?! I'm trying to help you, Caden, I'm trying to be there for you but pushing me away isn't going to help!"

"I-I know Lily," he frowned, standing just like she had done, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry for doing that to you, please just sit down."

"No," she shook her head, biting her lip as she watched him look up, his eyes narrowed ever so slightly, "I'm going to find Adria, and hang out with my friends, something I haven't done in a while, actually, no, maybe I'll go find Nora and tell her how sorry I am!"

"Don't you fucking dare!" Caden shouted, making his way towards her with dark eyes, narrowed in her direction, "if you go to her, Lily, I swear, you'll regret it!"

"Oh will I?" she shouted, her eyes narrowed just like his was, taking a step backwords so that she was against the door, "what are you going to do hi-"

She was cut off suddenly when the pain smacked her cheek, sending her to the ground, the impact shaking her body with pain, she coughed slightly, gasping as she held onto her face, trying to ignore the stinging that ran through her body.

"You hit me," she whispered, her voice slightly shakier as she stood up, a glare thrown his way as she grabbed her things, "how dare you!"

"How dare I?!" he scoffed, "you're my girlfriend, I can do what I want!"

"You can't hit me!" Lily shrieked, throwing her things to the ground and pushing his chest, "you know what, Caden, have a nice life, but you're not my boyfriend anymore!"

Her eyes widened when he grabbed her hair, one hand pushing her against the wall roughly, his eyes narrowed as he stared down at her. She was strong, she was Lily Evans, and she wouldn't go down without a fight, but he was scaring her, and she couldn't help but admit that.

"You can't get away from me, Lily, do you think anyone will believe you?" he asked, kissing her cheek, his lips brushing her jaw as he trailed down her neck, "I'm sorry, baby, I am, I'm just angry."

"That doesn't mean that you can hurt me, Caden," Lily grumbled, squirming to get out of his grip, but ultimately failing when he tightened it.

"I know, it won't happen again," he whispered, loosening his grip on her, he took her head in his hand, passionately pressing his lips to hers.

It infuriated her, angered her to the point of no belief that his lips could still make her go weak at the knees, that his touch could do things to her, that he could, "Please forgive me, baby," he whispered, kissing every inch of her face that he could reach, and another kiss to her lips later, he spoke, "please don't leave me, I need you, I need us."

"Caden-"

"Please, Lily," he whispered, "I don't know what I would do without you, I'd jump off of the astronomy tower if I didn't have you in my arms, please, Lily, please."

A shaky breath tumbled from her lips, his eyes held something unfamiliar to her, but she wrote it off as sincerity, and soon did her hands meet his, intertwining her fingers with his she pressed her lips to his softly, moving her arms to wrap them around his neck.

"I won't leave you, Caden," she mumbled softly, pressing her lips to his forehead before resting her head on his shoulder, her lips leaving soft kisses to the skin of his neck, "I love you too much to leave you."

"I will never hurt you again, Lily, I promise," he spoke, his voice cold as he gripped her tightly, feeling her relax into his grip, "I was just mad, I swear."

She nodded softly, gripping onto him for dear life as she moved once again to connect their lips.

-

"I believed him for a while," Lily whispered, her eyes rid of any emotion that she may once had, frowning as she sat with Adria's hand clasped in hers, "that he would never hurt me, but that didn't last very long."

"Oh, Lily," Adria whispered, wiping furiously at her own tears as she moved to wipe Lily's.

"The thing is, he was always mad, 'I was just mad, is all' but then, he couldn't use that as an excuse anymore, because it was a regular thing, if it was true, if he was always mad then he had anger issues, but he would hurt me for the simplest things. if I didn't take his hand, he would squeeze my leg a little too hard, if my attention was on homework and not him, he would get so angry, he would grab my hair and pull me towards him, but then he would buy me gifts, flowers where a regular occurrence, so was jewellery, and sweets from Honeydukes," Lily frowned, shaking her head, "I didn't want any of it, but I was so scared to leave him, I thought that h-he would kill me."

Adria didn't say anything as she pushed herself forward, tightly hugging Lily, "Lily, we need to go to Dumbledore with this."

"Wha- Adria, I-I can't, what if he hurts me?" Lily asked, the tears still falling down her cheek.

"He's getting expelled, Lily, if we tell Dumbledore this, and Nora presses charges then Caden will go to Azkaban, you'll be safe from him, so will Nora, you'll get to live your life," Adria whispered, stroking Lily's cheek softly, "did he do anything else, Lils?"

"He would always try and guilt me into staying with him," Lily frowned, shaking her head with a sigh, anger bubbling in the pit of her stomach at the boy, "he would say he couldn't live without me, that he would kill himself if I left him, that he would hurt himself or throw himself off of the astronomy tower."

"Oh, bloody hell," Adria huffed, anger swimming in her eyes as she held onto Lily, stroking the girl's hair softly as she spoke, "he won't get away with this, Lily, Nora is out of the hospital tomorrow and you can bet your ass that neither me or James will hold her back if she sees him."

"How do I leave him, Nora?" Lily asked, blinking away the tears, "what do I do?"

"I'll be there, so will the boys, we'll all be there for you, Lily, I promise," Adria sighed softly, "what is Severus saying with all of this?"

"He hates Caden," Lily nodded, clasping her hands together, "told me a few months ago."

"Well I can tell you confidently that it's the only smart thing to come out of his mouth," Adria mumbled, kissing Lily's forehead as she held her best friend tighter.