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And it's not just the bad guys (TM) that get what's coming to them from somebody other than their victims...
The twins went around pranking and sometimes seriously hurting random kids at Hogwarts. They usually don't get condemned for their crimes either factually *or* narratively, yet despite this, their victims are eventually avenged, even Montague, because in DH one of the twins gets his ear cut off by Snape (who was among the few people at Hogwats that they were never able to prank) and the other gets killed by some Death Eater or another (whom they'd never pranked in their lives, I'm sure).
Similarly, James and Sirius both get what's coming to them in the form of murder by Voldemort and Bella, respectively. No matter that their "pranks" on other kids at school (such as Snape), including the murder attempt on Snape, are condoned and glorified by the narrative as well as all the teachers. Snape hated James for what he did to him, but was unable to do anything about it, and then a third party went and killed him off in his stead (not that Snape gets to *enjoy* this murder, unlike the "good guys" who always get to enjoy their vengeance in sweet blood-licking detail). He hated Sirius for the murder attempt and the perceived betrayal of Lily, and while he's actively pursuing his revenge he only gets punished (as Sirius slips away in PoA). But when he stops doing anything to try and harm the man, when he restricts himself to taunts and snarks that don't really *hurt* Sirius so much as just irritate him and enrage him... now *then* fate rewards him with his revenge, as Sirius gets killed by Bella. It's funny that Snape should exaggerate his hand in Sirius' murder to Bella in HBP, when you think about how, by refraining from doing anything of the sort that he describes, he may actually have had a hand in it in a narrative meta sense.
And then, of course, we have the house elves. A race of happily enslaved sentient beings who are genetically programed to brutally punish themselves whenever they disobey their masters' orders. That's JKR's vision of the mouth-wateringly "gallant" enslavement of another species: the master's hands are completely clean, while their slave is forced into obeying their orders by means of torture. Thus it's *okay* for Harry to ask Kreacher for a sandwich or ten, at the end of their battle. He deserves them, you see, while Kreacher *deserves* to be driven to either shut up and make some or poke himself with a hot poker.
The twins went around pranking and sometimes seriously hurting random kids at Hogwarts. They usually don't get condemned for their crimes either factually *or* narratively, yet despite this, their victims are eventually avenged, even Montague, because in DH one of the twins gets his ear cut off by Snape (who was among the few people at Hogwats that they were never able to prank) and the other gets killed by some Death Eater or another (whom they'd never pranked in their lives, I'm sure).
Similarly, James and Sirius both get what's coming to them in the form of murder by Voldemort and Bella, respectively. No matter that their "pranks" on other kids at school (such as Snape), including the murder attempt on Snape, are condoned and glorified by the narrative as well as all the teachers. Snape hated James for what he did to him, but was unable to do anything about it, and then a third party went and killed him off in his stead (not that Snape gets to *enjoy* this murder, unlike the "good guys" who always get to enjoy their vengeance in sweet blood-licking detail). He hated Sirius for the murder attempt and the perceived betrayal of Lily, and while he's actively pursuing his revenge he only gets punished (as Sirius slips away in PoA). But when he stops doing anything to try and harm the man, when he restricts himself to taunts and snarks that don't really *hurt* Sirius so much as just irritate him and enrage him... now *then* fate rewards him with his revenge, as Sirius gets killed by Bella. It's funny that Snape should exaggerate his hand in Sirius' murder to Bella in HBP, when you think about how, by refraining from doing anything of the sort that he describes, he may actually have had a hand in it in a narrative meta sense.
And then, of course, we have the house elves. A race of happily enslaved sentient beings who are genetically programed to brutally punish themselves whenever they disobey their masters' orders. That's JKR's vision of the mouth-wateringly "gallant" enslavement of another species: the master's hands are completely clean, while their slave is forced into obeying their orders by means of torture. Thus it's *okay* for Harry to ask Kreacher for a sandwich or ten, at the end of their battle. He deserves them, you see, while Kreacher *deserves* to be driven to either shut up and make some or poke himself with a hot poker.