Poetic justice

[Matt]

No: HPFGUIDX 138136

--- Amiable Dorsai wrote:
> This is a theme Rowling likes, apparently--Voldy made Harry 
> the "Chosen One" by his own choice, that Halloween night.  
> Lockhart destroyed himself with his own favorite spell.  
> James' and Sirius' feud with Snape arguably led to their 
> dooms.... Any further examples? I can think of a few more, 
> but I'd like some other opinions.

Lockhart's pretty darn good, but I'm game for a few.  I'll start, in
roughly chronological order, and let others fill out the list:

* Voldemort's rebounded killing curse (can anyone say "hoist with his
own petard"?)
* Pettigrew ratting out the Potters and then being forced to live as a
rat for 12 years
* In the zoo scene in PS/SS, when Dudley asks Vernon to wake up the
snake.  It does, eventually, wake up....
* Dudley's tail.  Enough said.
* Harry's wand twinned to Voldemort's 
* Malfoy tries to get Harry in trouble for flying and instead gets him
put on the Gryffindor quidditch team
* The mountain troll is knocked out by its own club (and Hermione
saved by the same spell she could do so much better than Ron -- in class)
* Dumbledore's trick with the Mirror of Erised -- only the person who
wants to locate the stone can find it
* The whole idea of Lucius Malfoy destroying one of Voldemort's
horcruxes in an effort to wreak havoc on Hogwarts
* Nosy photographer Colin Creevey getting a look at something he
shouldn't and getting petrified (I guess the same could be said for
Mrs. Norris)
* Master potionmaker Hermione messing up her own Polyjuice
* Lockhart, braggart outside and coward inside, getting called on to
save Ginny
* Harry actually saving Ginny, after she has been pining after him all
year
* Harry freeing Dobby after Dobby has spent the book trying to "save"
Harry
* Widebody Aunt Marge getting "blown up"
* Pettigrew detected by the Marauder's Map (poetic justice only if you
think he played a real part in enchanting it)
[OK, I'm sure someone can do better on PA]
* Paranoiac Moody actually getting kidnapped and no one noticing ("Boy
Who Cried Wolf" type of poetic justice)
* Weasley twins gambling and winning, only to get swindled
* Barty Crouch Sr. imprisons Jr. for years under Imperius curse, then
has the curse turned on him.
* Peter, getting the job most of Voldemort's followers would "give
their right hand for"
* Voldemort in the graveyard scene thwarted by the ghosts of his victims
* Harry giving Weasley twins the Triwizard winnings
* Dumbledore, trying to protect Harry by keeping him in the dark, but
instead alienating him and putting him into danger 
* Umbridge banning the Quibbler interview, ensuring that everyone
wants to read it
* Marietta (Hermione's jinx)
* The Room of Requirement coughing up the DA roster
* Umbridge, thwarted by her own disrespect for magical creatures
* Kreacher, the favorite punching bag of the Order generally and
Sirius specifically, becoming the agent of tragedy
* Also, the fact that the Malfoys trick Harry using Sirius's house-elf
after Harry tricked the Malfoys out of their house-elf

I'll let someone else pick up with HBP.

-- Matt