Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory.
In today’s video, we’re going to be discussing Harry Potter,
Draco Malfoy, Severus Snape, and a particularly vicious spell- Sectumsempra.
We all know the scene. Half-Blood Prince, moody lighting, tension in the air, and later-
Draco lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood. What sparked this madness?
In the Half-Blood Prince Harry’s rivalry with Draco Malfoy moves on to the next chapter. Their
previous dynamic, which was fairly infantile and inconsequential suddenly becomes very
real. Not only were the boys now older- but the wizarding world had shifted- it was clear that
darkness was coming. Voldemort was on the rise to power, and this meant that Draco’s father,
a death eater, had certain expectations of his son. It didn’t help that, in just one book prior,
Lucius was imprisoned in Azkaban- something which Draco blamed Harry for. With his father out of the
picture Draco suddenly had to be the man of the house- he needed to be strong- to represent the
house of Malfoy. But in reality, Draco was still just a confused boy who had been indoctrinated in
to a life that was, oddly, unlike him. Before evening arriving at Hogwarts, Draco is given a
task by Voldemort: kill Dumbledore. No pressure. His internal conflict is painfully evident right
from the very beginning. He doesn’t want to do these things- but he feels that he must,
that it is his duty. Kicking things off with a bang- Draco beats up Harry on the
train after arriving at Hogwarts- setting the tone for their relationship moving forward.
Fast forward to later in the book, and one of Draco/Harry’s
classmates, Katie Bell, is subject to some sort of awful unidentified curse:
After some close inspection, it quickly became clear that the culprit was what Katie was holding-
a cursed object called the Opal necklace. It’s later revealed that though Katie was
the victim of the attack, it was never meant for her- it was meant for Dumbledore.You see,
While on her trip to Hogmseade, Katie was actually placed under the Imperius Curse
by the Three Broomsticks innkeeper, Madam Rosmerta. The kicker here is that Osmerta was
actually under the Imperius Curse HERSELF- a curse administered by none other than Draco malfoy.
This brings us to further along in the story, in the Hogwarts great hall,
when Harry is speaking with a now recovered Katie Bell. Suddenly, however, Draco Malfoy enters the
room. Let me preface this by saying that at this stage Harry had already been skeptical of Draco,
who had been skulking around all year and acting particularly arrogant.
Harry uses the Marauders Map to find Draco- who is now alone,
crying in the Boys bathroom. When Harry enters- the two immediately break out in to a duel,
with Harry ultimately winning after using a rather new spell in his arsenal-
Sectumsempra. Though we had been exposed to Sectumsempra in Harry’s potions textbook,
this was the first time that we saw it in action, and boy-oh-boy, did it do some damage.
Sectumsempra is a vicious dark curse that acts like an invisible sword,
causing lacerations, haemorrhaging and cuts upon it’s target.
Often after being struck, the target will lay there motionless as they lose blood.
Unaware of just how dangerous the spell truly is, Harry makes the poor decision of blindly casting
it. Being hit by the curse results in Draco lying there motionless in a pool of his own blood on the
boys bathroom floor, with Harry standing over him, completely unaware of what to do next.
Of course, in the real story Snape shows up and saves Draco. Because
Snape was the inventor of the spell that Harry had used,
he recognized it immediately, and fortunately- he knew the counter spell- Vulnera Sanentur.
But what I want to explore today is- what if Harry’s sectumsempra- the spell that he cast so
ignorantly, ended up in the death of his childhood rival? What if Harry KILLED Draco Malfoy?
I think the first question that needs to be answered is - why did Draco die in this
scenario? And my answer for that is that Snape showed up just a little bit too late.
Untreated, the lacerations from Sectumsempra can quickly cause a victim to bleed out,
and I’m of the impression that if Snape had shown up just a little bit later than he did, that Draco
would have died. I still think that Snape would have shown up- he just would have been too late.
Of course, one important thing to mention here is that at this point, Snape was Draco’s sworn
protector. In the beginning of the Half-Blood Prince, Snape enters in to an unbreakable vow
with Draco’s mother, Narcissa- in which he swears to take on Draco’s task (killing
Dumbledore) in the event that he is unable. Snape also agrees to protect Draco from harm
as best he can. An unbreakable vow is a binding magical contract that connects
two parties. The purpose is simple, it is to bind a fellow witch or wizard to a promise.
If you’re unable to honour the promise that you’ve made with the unbreakable vow, you will die.
This raises the question- if Harry had killed Draco, then would the vow have killed Snape?
As far as I’m concerned, Snape would have remained very much alive in the event that Draco died.
I say this because Harry killing Draco, at least from my perspective,
lies reasonably far outside of the scope of his vow. Snape agreed to protect Draco from harm,
sure, but this is certainly an extenuating circumstance.
With Draco dead, and no responsibility for Draco’s death on Snape,
Snape’s vow with Narcissa would have been effectively been nullified.
Furthermore I think that, after arriving at the scene, Snape would have covered up for Harry.
Fully aware of the imminent backlash that would occur after the death of a student,
Snape and Harry would have worked together to create a false narrative that effectively
brought the blame back to Voldemort and the death eaters. Dumbledore, who knows everything,
would of course know the truth- but there would be absolutely no reason for him to oust Harry.
With Draco out of the way, there would no longer be any reason or obligation
for Snape to kill Dumbledore. The only reason that Snape killed Dumbledore was to save Draco’s soul-
and now Draco was dead. However, Dumbledore was still sick- he was cursed, and his death
was imminent. I’m a little conflicted on what would happen at this point, but I think that,
because Dumbledore was so sick, Snape would have still killed him
to prove his loyalty to Voldemort. However, this may have occurred a little later on.
Next- we need to look at Draco’s parents. I think that it would be an understatement to say that
Lucius and Narcissa would be devastated by the loss of their boy. Draco was Lucius’s only son-
the man who was next in line to continue his own bloodline. And Narcissa- well,
all of her bad qualities aside, she was a great mother to Draco- and before his untimely death
she did whatever she could to ensure that he was protected. The pair would be devastated,
and I don’t think that it would take long for their sadness to turn in to anger- to turn
in to a lust for vengeance. If Voldemort had killed Draco he would have been open about it,
and Lucius knew that. Therefore- Lucius would have been able to deduce that someone else killed
his son- Harry Potter. In order to acquire proof for this inference, Lucius would go to Voldemort
and have him perform legilimency on Harry- confirming the murder of his son.
At this stage Lucius and Narcissa would be on the warpath- dead set on killing the boy that took
their son away from them. It wouldn’t take long for them to have a crack at retribution, either,
as after the Death Eaters infiltrate Hogwarts- Narcissa and Lucius would gun straight for Harry.
With Harry cornered, Lucius would have the killing curse on the tip of his tongue- just like in
the film adaptation of the Chamber of Secrets. However, with the curse just about to leave the
tip of his wand, Lucius would be hit by a killing curse himself- a curse belonging to Voldemort.
“I told you to save me the boy” Voldemort would scoff as he stood over the body of Lucius Malfoy,
with Harry and Narcissa looking on- completely in shock.
If there’s one thing that Voldemort is, it’s overconfident,
and he would have never felt that he would need Lucius to kill Harry.
Lucius tried to take what was his to kill, and he would have punished Lucius for that.
Ultimately, Draco dying wouldn’t have much of a bearing on the course of the story.
Dumbledore would have died at a different time, Harry’s crime would have been hidden,
and Draco’s father Lucius would have suffered his fate at the hands of Voldemort.
What would LATER come of Harry when all of the dust settled,
and what killing Draco would do to Harry’s psyche, however, is perhaps another video altogether.
What do you guys think? Did I miss something? Let me know in the comment section below
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Until next time
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live