Dumbledore's Army
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| Harry Potter association | |
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| Dumbledore's Army | |
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| Headquarters | The Room of Requirement |
| Current head | Harry Potter / Hermione Granger (deputy) / Ron Weasley (deputy) |
| Intentions | To learn and practice magical methods of self-defence ("Defence Against Dark Arts") |
| Enemies | The Ministry of Magic, the Inquisitorial Squad, Dolores Umbridge, Lord Voldemort, and the Death Eaters |
| First appearance | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix |
Dumbledore's Army (The D.A.) is a magical self-defence organisation founded in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth book in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.
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[edit] Main objective
In her Defence Against the Dark Arts classes, Hogwarts professor and High Inquisitor Dolores Umbridge only taught theory, abstaining from any practical application, because Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge erroneously feared that Albus Dumbledore was preparing to mobilise a student army against the Ministry of Magic to overthrow him. This new teaching approach was widely unpopular among the student body, especially fifth-years, who were soon to sit through their O.W.L. examinations which involved practical tests. Also, Harry Potter complained that lacking practical experience made them more vulnerable against the newly-reborn Voldemort. However, his view was at odds with the Ministry of Magic's official stance that Voldemort had not returned. This prompted Hermione Granger to suggest founding a student group where Harry (who had accumulated much expertise on the subject, due in part to his practice for the Triwizard Tournament) would teach practical Defence Against the Dark Arts.
Hermione and Ron recruited "a couple" of students (which turned out to be 25) from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw Houses (deliberately excluding Slytherin), including all fifth-year Prefects in those Houses. These students met with Harry, Ron, and Hermione at The Hog's Head pub in Hogsmeade, to discuss founding the group. When Umbridge learned about the meeting via a spy named Willy Widdershins, she banned all student organisations not approved by her. Knowing Umbridge had discovered the group's existence, Harry secretly taught students in the Room of Requirement, meeting once a week for several months. Members communicated by using magical gold coins (fake Galleons) created by Hermione and styled after the Dark Marks used by Death Eaters. The organisation called themselves the Defence Association (courtesy of Cho Chang), or D.A., for short; however, they eventually changed the name to "Dumbledore's Army" (as suggested by Ginny Weasley), mostly to ridicule Umbridge's aforementioned political motivations and to mock Fudge's paranoia over Dumbledore's supposed coup. It is also implied that this was to show their loyalty for Dumbledore. When Dumbledore learned the group's name, it is suggested that he was deeply touched.
Harry's godfather Sirius Black and Sirius' friend Remus Lupin had given Harry excellent textbooks as Christmas presents, which he then lent to his friends to study.
[edit] Downfall
In the end, Cho Chang's friend Marietta Edgecombe betrayed the group to Umbridge. This activated a curse Hermione placed on all D.A. members to swear them to secrecy and resulted in incurable pimples spelling the word "sneak" across Marietta's face when she exposed them. To prevent Harry's expulsion from school, Albus Dumbledore, with assistance from Kingsley Shacklebolt (an Auror loyal to the Order of the Phoenix), frames himself for organising the group, claiming he was building a student army to overthrow the Ministry. During a confrontation with Ministry officials as they are about to arrest him, Dumbledore escapes, overpowering Dolores Umbridge, Cornelius Fudge, and an Auror named Dawlish(Percy Weasley was not attacked because he was delivering an owl for Fudge at the time). He told Harry, Marietta, and Professor Minerva McGonagall (who were present in his office) that "Fudge will soon wish he had never dislodged me from Hogwarts". The meaning behind this statement is not entirely understood, though Fudge was sacked the following year when the truth about Voldemort's resurrection was revealed to the general public, as well as Fudge's overall poor handling of the situation.However, in the movie adaptation of the film,it is Cho Chang who betrays the group leading to her breakup with Harry, rather than in the books where they breakup due to Chang's jealously of Hermione and constant emotional grief between the death of Cedric Diggory and her feelings for Harry combined.
[edit] Aftermath
Though the D.A. disbanded following these events, the students learned an impressive amount of defensive magic, apparently even by Ministry of Magic standards. Six D.A. members (Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood) were involved in an altercation against Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries. Only Harry and Neville were left standing by the end. Neville might have been driven insane had Order of the Phoenix members not arrived, while Harry was spared because the Death Eaters wanted to protect the prophecy globe he held. Despite their efforts, the prophecy was destroyed without any Death Eaters learning its contents. None of the D.A. members suffered permanent injuries, though Order member Sirius Black was killed in action. Over the summer, Fred and George Weasley used what they learned from Harry to devise a Shield Hat. The Ministry of Magic ordered five hundred hats from them, indicating that some Ministry employees were unable to perform a simple Shield charm.
D.A. members Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot used what they learned to jinx Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle when they ambushed Harry on the Hogwarts Express at the end of the year. The three Slytherins resembled ". . . gigantic slugs squeezed into Hogwarts uniforms,", indicating the spells the D.A. had learned were powerful and effective, and that mixing several curses, hexes, and jinxes has a deforming, if temporary, effect upon the target.
The D.A., no longer meets in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince because they have a teacher (Severus Snape) who teaches real defensive magic, though Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom would have liked to have continued the meetings. When Hogwarts was invaded by Death Eaters, it was Luna and Neville who answered Harry's D.A. distress call to assist him, Dumbledore, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny.
[edit] Members
- Harry Potter (D.A. leader/teacher)-- served in battle
- Ron Weasley (co-founder/adjutant) -- served in battle
- Hermione Granger (co-founder/adjutant) -- served in battle
- Hannah Abbott
- Lavender Brown
- Katie Bell
- Susan Bones
- Terry Boot
- Cho Chang (came up with abbreviation "D.A."; wanted it to stand for "Defence Association")
- Michael Corner
- Colin Creevey
- Dennis Creevey
- Marietta Edgecombe (betrayed the D.A., triggering Hermione's hex)
- Justin Finch-Fletchley
- Seamus Finnigan (attended the last meeting, but didn't sign the parchment)
- Anthony Goldstein
- Angelina Johnson (her suggestion for the group name was "The Anti-Umbridge League")
- Lee Jordan
- Neville Longbottom -- served in battle
- Luna Lovegood -- served in battle
- Ernie Macmillan
- Padma Patil
- Parvati Patil
- Zacharias Smith
- Alicia Spinnet
- Dean Thomas
- Fred Weasley (suggested name "Ministry of Magic are Morons Group")
- George Weasley
- Ginny Weasley (conceived the idea of having "D.A." stand for "Dumbledore's Army") -- served in battle
