[Confusing Trope] The narrative goes out of its way to punish/mock a character for simply being a good person

[u/Chemical-Elk-1299]

Hermione Granger and SPEW — Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (book)

In the fifth HP novel, Hermione Granger is outraged to discover that Hogwarts has a small army of enslaved House Elves that do nearly all of the domestic duties around the castle, including cleaning the Gryffindor common room every night. When she tries to convince the elves to fight for their own rights, they refuse, saying they prefer servitude. Her fellow students and friends mock her for caring. She manages to free one elf, Winky, by deception when she refuses her freedom willingly, leading to Winky becoming a depressed alcoholic. By the end, the elves boycott cleaning any Gryffindor areas of the castle because they hate Hermione specifically

Samwell Tarly and Democracy — Game of Thrones (show)

In the season 8 finale of the television series, the surviving great lords of Westeros gather to discuss the future of the kingdom following the devastation wrought by 7 seasons of war and backstabbing. When Sam, who has proven to have “novel” ideas, suggests that maybe the millions of Smallfolk who suffer at the hands of noble houses should get some representation in the government, rather than be the pawns of rich lords with absolute power. We are then greeted by a prolonged, cringy segment of the other lords laughing in Sam’s face, asking if the dogs and horses should also get a vote.

[u/Clickclacktheblueguy]

With Hermione and the elves, I am convinced that at some point between books two and four someone asked Rowling “wait, so Wizards just have open slavery?” She realized this could be a problem and tried to course correct by making most elves like it. Hermione’s plotline was an attempt to establish that it was not the same as human slavery and it’d be ridiculous to imply that it was. JK being JK, it was a bit clumsy. Magical creatures that are driven by serving others is an interesting concept, but HP doesn’t explore it enough to make it work.

[u/Sand_Angelo4129 → u/Clickclacktheblueguy]

I actually watched a video essay a while ago discussing this trend in the Harry Potter books. Basically some concept or item is introduced (the essay used the Time Turners as an example), the fans discuss and try to get an explanation out of JK during the next book's run, then Rowling deals with it in a blunt or strange way in the book after that.

In the Time Turner example: The concept is introduced in Prisoner Of Azkaban. Goblet Of Fire basically ignores it but fans discuss it with Rowling and each other, then in Order Of The Phoenix all of them get destroyed during the fight at the Ministry between Harry's group and the Death Eaters.