Your point #2 is what I mean when I reference how Sectumsempra is both thematically *and allegorically* the ideal beat for the Malfoid story. Malfoid is not just some cheap reddit genderbend. She's symbolic of something much bigger. She's a beautiful, spirited young woman with a litany of canonical "bad guy" attributes lifted directly from the original one-dimensional character and preserved in their entirety. The core compelling difference is the fact that she's madly in love with the hero. I've discussed elsewhere how this deepens and enhances both characters tremendously, but the metaphor she represents is that of a woman not transforming herself into a mousy submissive tradwife, *but in retaining herself while overcoming the aspects of her nature that are obstructing her path to true happiness.* The end result is a lively, feisty relationship/marriage driven by the two characters' nigh-unto-obsession with each other. It's fun, it's beautiful, it's pure in every sense. THIS is the chase that women desire and men miss. Sectumsempra fits into this metaphor where Malfoid is seen as an allegory for modern women. She's ragged and broken trying to pursue what she's been told she should want but clearly doesn't. Harry has tried to save her and she won't let him. It's only at the moment that she attempts the unthinkable that Harry finally unleashes something in his own defense that hits her far harder than he meant to. Both of them are shocked, him by the fact that he almost loses her, her by the realization that oh my God, he can and he will actually stop me. Of course her immediate conclusion (this is important) is that he hates her more than she realized, which the reader knows is untrue, and will play out in the rest of the story. So what this scene does is exemplifies the meme: in order to save Western civilization, men are going to have to do things that make women upset. It's not born out of hate (or "misogyny" as they love to snivel), it's the one way left to save something beautiful and precious from itself. You could still have a compelling, memorable story conclusion without Sectumsempra. The plot elements are all still there. Adayasmr's Lumos Lumos trailers envision a final act where Sectumsempra never happens and Dracaena spends the last chapter with Harry, including watching him die in the forest. That's just one example. But for the story to remain an effective allegory, Sectumsempra remains the best plot point for its part of the story.

Returning to the topic of the Malfoid Sectumsempra scene, which has apparently become something of a hot button... First, I will reiterate that my position is unchanged: I believe Sectumsempra is the best plot beat for that point in the story, I have no issue with creators who tell it a different way, and I think that the story can go on even if the scene is changed. I will go into detail momentarily. Second, let's keep this civil people. We're all friends and allies here, unless you're stopping by to sneer about how people interested in Malfoid are troons or pedos or are into abusing women or something. Understand that these characters are precious to people, Malfoid herself in particular, and it's painful to watch them suffer. Have some patience with your fellow yearners who don't quite put it all together. But to paraphrase Gandalf, we are not trying to rob Harry and Malfoid. We are trying to help them. It is 100% correct that the physical impact of Sectumsempra is important to both Harry and Malfoid's development. It's shocking both visually and emotionally. It hurts because we care about the characters and we want them to take the shortest possible route to happily ever after. A scene that hurts is not a bad scene. This is all part of how the Malfoid character switch improves the entire story. Harry Potter is one of the biggest Mary Sue characters ever conceived in popular culture (screen pans to Rey for some reason). When he got one over on Draco, everyone could have a laugh because the not so subtly racist impudent bully got another comeuppance. When it happens with Malfoid it's bittersweet--yes, she's a bitch to him, but from behind the fourth wall we all know it's because she's madly in love with him, and he has feelings for her too. He doesn't WANT to hurt her or embarrass her. That's what Sectumsempra is the pinnacle of. She tries to cast the Crucio curse and she can't. He, reckless as always but not morally in the wrong, defends himself with the magic equivalent of drawing his Glock when he meant to pull out his taser. She falls in a pool of blood. The physical shock is bad enough but the emotional scene is devastating to both of them. She's just figured out how much she can't force herself to hate Harry, and he's just hurt someone whom he cares for deeply enough to reach out to in this dire of a circumstance. He's nearly killed her. No one likes to watch a scene like this. It's devastating for the characters and for the viewer as well. And in the post-Game of Thrones world, most of the time we don't have the same old assurances that our favorite characters are going to make it to the end of the story. It might not be "just a flesh wound." If it hurts, it's a testament to the characters and the world that's been built. Writers don't love doing these things to their characters, but sometimes the story tells you where it needs to go. Sometimes the story tells you a character you love and poured your heart into needs to get badly hurt. Sometimes it tells you that character needs to die. You can give them plot armor, you can treat them all as disposable, and either way your protagonist becomes an unremarkable NPC whose name will be forgotten. Or you can let the story do what it needs to do. So back to how you move forward without this scene resulting in this tragic confrontation. Using Adayasmr's Lumos Lumos short as the basis for any non-Sectumsempra pre-Astronomy Tower confrontations, his take is that it's Harry who can't bring himself to utter the word for the spell meant "for enemies." Instead he walks through Malfoid's blows as she slashes and screams "why?!!!" over and over until he can embrace her and she collapses into his arms. You absolutely can continue the story from here. Going in, you have an exhausted, scared, broken Malfoid, who believes Harry has turned his back on her. She can't understand why he doesn't just unleash hell on her and stop her if he knows what she's been doing--she's a goddamned Death Eater for God's sake, whether she wanted to be or not. There's no shortage of emotional baggage and betrayal going in here, and a short moment of comfort and rekindling of their relationship isn't going to suddenly fix all of her problems. She still needs to get up that tower. She still needs to demonstrate she's willing to carry out the Dark Lord's orders or she and her family will die. And the contingency is still in place for Snape to come in and save her from herself. All of the necessary plot elements are still there, whether she tears herself out of Harry's arms to run off and do what must be done, or whether she tells Harry everything and they come up with a plan to make it look like she's done the deed, or something in between--it's absolutely possible. In many ways it's no less emotionally devastating and potentially could be even moreso. The point is that removing Sectumsempra doesn't give them a premature closure point on their relationship conflict. There are many ways the story *could* go without it. Thematically and even allegorically, I maintain that it is the *ideal* way to tell the story for the same reasons Malfoid improves the whole story. I believed that from the start and as much as I love some of the other takes on this moment I think this is one of those plot points that sticks with you. It wouldn't be so controversial if it were otherwise. I don't see this discussion ending soon so I'm certainly open to discussing this.