Bathroom scene- A different outcome

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 165159

I'm been thinking, what if Snape HADN'T been lurking nearby  when
Harry used the Sectumsempra on Draco? What if Draco had bled
to death  on that bathroom floor before Harry could find help?
What would this  mean for Harry, and for the story?
 
Draco did use an Unforgivable, and even if Harry's word  wouldn't
be enough, surely a Pensieve could be used to verify  Draco's
attack with a Crucio. So I think Harry would be acquitted of  any
actual crime since he can claim self-defense, even if the spell
he  used was an offensive one. Though he might still be expelled
from Hogwarts, if we go by McGonagall's canon comments.
 
But how would it affect Harry emotionally? Would Harry be able  to
live with the knowledge that he killed someone? Yes, someone who 
did  attack him first, but who he would know full well he could have
stopped with  a defensive spell--or even with an offensive spell 
he knew how to  control--rather than by using an untried curse
labelled "for enemies." I  know police officers who have killed 
in the line of duty often have a hard time dealing with that fact,
no matter how justifiable the act, and even when there was no
other option. And Harry had other options. 
 
And what of the story? Dumbledore said Harry has the ability to
win against Voldemort because he has remained pure at heart. 
Could a Harry who has killed, if unintentionally and regretfully,  still
face down Voldemort? Even if he wasn't expelled from Hogwarts,
could he remain there as if nothing had changed?  (Of course  it 
would also mean Dumbledore would live and Snape would be free
of the UV--I think--but I'm focusing on Harry right now.)
 
Draco deserved a painful comeuppance for trying to cast a 
Crucio (which he did get in canon), but he didn't deserve death.
Harry doesn't think so in canon, and that wouldn't change if Draco
had died from the Sectumsempra. And no matter how much Harry
tried to justify his action in his mind, he'd still know (or believe, if  you
wish), every hour of every day, that it didn't have to end that way,
if only he'd thought before he'd acted. (Again, this is how *Harry* 
would feel, based on his immediate sense of guilt and regret in 
canon, even if others would insist that he was fully justified.)
 
Julie, who can't imagine what Harry's future would be like if  Draco
had died on that floor, and who thinks Snape did Harry his greatest
favor yet when he saved Draco's life. 


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