Syag, you write: “lebidik yankel – I am able to accept those two points as being true simultaneously. I am not sure I agree with you that he harmed me, NOT Hashem. Maybe he ALSO harmed me, maybe he used his bechira to harm me, but Hashem would have protected me if it wasn’t good for me.”
That seems to be a contradiction; if it can be true that Hashem controls all yet also true that humans can ultimately determine another’s harm or good, then there is no need to add that Hashem would have protected you.
Let me put it in a silly way; there is a pair of glasses where each glass shows something else. From the view of glass one, your friend has caused you harm, entirely on his own. (And darn needs mechila!) From the glass two pane, we see that ain od milvado.
And these two views are correct. Both, not either-or.