7. Harry Potter - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter and his meddling friends have got a lot to answer for when it comes to making already terrible situations far, far worse, but perhaps none so much as in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, in which Harry and his accomplices manage to thwart the evil Lord Voldemort by giving him exactly what he wants - by accident. In this scenario, Harry is merely saved by the fact that his mother watches over him using some mysterious power of love or something. Not the song. You'll see what I mean. The climax of J.K. Rowling's novel (and the subsequent movie adaptation) ends with Harry, Ron and Hermione going through a series of challenges so that they can stop Snape, who they believe is trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone, which grants immortal life to whoever gets it or, uh, something along those lines. Wrong, guys: it's poor Professor Quirrell you're actually after, who has Voldemort growing on the back of his head (if you haven't seen the movie, this description must sound insane). Anyway, when they reach Quirrell, Harry notices the Mirror of Erised, which shows whoever looks at it their deepest desires. Quirrell, annoyed that he can't find the Philosopher's Stone, positions Harry in front of it, who notices in his reflection that the stone is now in his pocket. Quirrell tries to grab it, but dies because he can't touch Harry due to a spell made out of love that his mother, like, put on him as baby. Still, the fact that Harry gets involved in all this means that Quirrell has a chance of getting the stone in the first place. Why did he bother showing up? The stone is totally unattainable until Harry came to find him. Quirrell would have just stared at the Mirror of Erised forever until, like, Dumbledore showed up to magic him to death or something. Harry arrives, and wham - Voldemort has an actual shot at getting the stone and restoring himself to full power. Just... stay in your dorm, Harry, okay? There's a curfew at Hogwarts for a reason, you know.