Dumbledore's Army

Dumbledore's Army, often abbreviated to the D.A., was a secret student organization founded at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the autumn of 1995. The group was the brainchild of Hermione Granger, who proposed its creation in response to the Ministry of Magic's interference at Hogwarts. The newly appointed Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Dolores Umbridge, refused to teach practical defensive magic, instead focusing on a useless, theory-only curriculum. The D.A.'s primary purpose was to provide a means for students to learn practical defensive spells and prepare themselves for the potential return of Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Harry Potter, having significant experience in facing Dark Magic, was reluctantly persuaded to become the group's teacher. The initial recruitment meeting was held at the Hog's Head inn in Hogsmeade. While Hermione Granger suggested the name “The Defence Association,” from which the D.A. acronym was derived, Ginny Weasley proposed “Dumbledore's Army.” This name was chosen to mock the Ministry's paranoia that Albus Dumbledore was secretly training a private army to overthrow them.

The D.A. held its meetings in the Room of Requirement, a secret, unplottable room on the seventh floor of Hogwarts that could transform to meet the user's needs. For the D.A., it provided a spacious training area complete with practice dummies and defensive spell books. Under Harry Potter's tutelage, the members practiced a wide range of essential defensive and duelling spells, including:

• The Disarming Charm (Expelliarmus)
• The Stunning Spell (Stupefy)
• The Impediment Jinx (Impedimenta)
• The Shield Charm (Protego)
• The Reductor Curse (Reducto)
• The Body-Bind Curse (Petrificus Totalus)
• The Patronus Charm (Expecto Patronum)

To communicate meeting times securely, Hermione Granger created a set of enchanted, fake Galleons. Instead of serial numbers, the coins had numbers that would change to show the date and time of the next meeting. When the numbers changed, the coin would grow hot, alerting the owner.

A total of twenty-eight students signed the enchanted parchment to join the D.A. The known members were:

• Harry Potter (Leader/Teacher)
• Hermione Granger (Founder)
• Ron Weasley (Founder)
• Angelina Johnson
• Anthony Goldstein
• Alicia Spinnet
• Cho Chang
• Colin Creevey
• Dean Thomas
• Dennis Creevey
• Ernie Macmillan
• Fred Weasley
• George Weasley
• Ginny Weasley
• Hannah Abbott
• Justin Finch-Fletchley
• Katie Bell
• Lavender Brown
• Lee Jordan
• Luna Lovegood
• Marietta Edgecombe
• Michael Corner
• Neville Longbottom
• Padma Patil
• Parvati Patil
• Seamus Finnigan (Joined later in the year)
• Susan Bones
• Terry Boot
• Zacharias Smith

In the spring of 1996, the D.A. was betrayed to Dolores Umbridge by member Marietta Edgecombe, whose mother worked at the Ministry of Magic. Unbeknownst to the members, Hermione Granger had jinxed the sign-up sheet; upon her betrayal, Marietta broke out in a rash of purple pustules across her face that spelled the word “SNEAK”. When Umbridge and the Inquisitorial Squad cornered Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore took responsibility for the organization to protect Harry and the students. He magically incapacitated his would-be-arrestors—including the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge—and fled Hogwarts with his phoenix, Fawkes. Following this event, the D.A. was officially disbanded. However, a core group of its members (Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley, and Luna Lovegood) later fought together at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries.

During the 1997-1998 school year, with Hogwarts under the control of Lord Voldemort and the Death Eater professors, Alecto Carrow and Amycus Carrow, the D.A. was secretly reformed. Led by Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley, and Luna Lovegood, it functioned as a resistance movement within the school. They provided support for tormented students and committed acts of rebellion, such as graffitiing “Dumbledore's Army, still recruiting” on the castle walls. The Room of Requirement once again served as their headquarters and eventually as a sanctuary for students hiding from the Carrows. When Harry Potter returned to Hogwarts, Neville used the D.A.'s enchanted Galleons to summon the group's members, as well as members of the Order of the Phoenix, to fight in the Battle of Hogwarts. The training they had received two years prior proved invaluable, as the D.A. formed the backbone of the student forces who bravely fought to defend the school.

Dumbledore's Army was a pivotal organization in the Second Wizarding War. It was a powerful symbol of student defiance against the tyranny of both the Ministry of Magic and Lord Voldemort. The practical skills learned in their secret sessions equipped a generation of young witches and wizards with the ability to defend themselves and others, directly contributing to the war effort. The strong bonds of friendship and loyalty forged within the D.A. were essential for the morale and ultimate victory of the anti-Voldemort forces.

• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the D.A. is betrayed by Cho Chang under the influence of Veritaserum administered by Dolores Umbridge, a significant deviation from the books where Marietta Edgecombe is the willing informant. (film)
• The film also omits the “The Defence Association” name, referring to the group exclusively as “Dumbledore's Army”. (film)