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Dumbledore's Army

Defense Against the Dark Arts used to be Harry's favorite, and best, class...that is, until Professor Umbridge took over the job in Harry's fifth year. Instead of learning and practicing new and exciting defensive spells, the class would simply read and take notes from their books. Under normal circumstances, this type of teaching could be tolerated. But with the growing threat of Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters, serious action had to be taken.

After Harry served yet another detention with Umbridge, his hand again dripping with blood, Hermione brought up the idea of forming a secret society and have Harry do the teaching. She further explained that the need for Defense Against the Dark Arts was going to be imperative if Voldemort returned to full power. Harry angrily rejected the idea at first, and in the following days was very reluctant. Yet a part of him actually liked the idea of him being a leader, and so in the end, he agreed.

Hermione arranged for everyone who was interested to meet in the Hog's Head pub on the next Hogsmeade visit. Apparently, the idea was much more popular than Harry expected, as over 30 people showed up, including Harry's crush at the time, Cho Chang. Hermione and Harry in turn explained what the group was about, and Hermione eventually had people sign a piece of parchment to ensure their membership. The group did not know, however, that the parchment was jinxed, so that whoever told Umbridge about the society would have acne in the shape of the word "Sneak" across his/her face.

The group had acquired all of its members, but the toughest part of the plan was to figure out where to meet so that Umbridge would not find out. One night, Dobby turned up in the Gryffindor Common Room, and Harry asked him this question. To his surprise, Dobby had an answer for him. He explained that the Room of Requirement was located on the seventh floor of the castle, opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, and will only appear to those genuinely in need. To enter, one must walk past it's hidden entrance three times while concentrating hard on their need. Due to the magical nature of this room, once opened it would be found to contain everything the seeker required . In Harry's case this meant it was just the right size for a class and came complete with a good supply of quality Defensive books and objects.

With the establishment of a location, the first meeting was finally held. Here the name was selected by Ginny to be Dumbledore's Army. The group was notified of the date of the next meeting by charmed galleons. Hermione had cast a Protean charm on them, so whenever Harry changed the date of one, the dates on all of them would change.

Meetings were normally held once a week, on different days to avoid any suspicion. The group as a whole was improving tremendously. Cho said she was mastering spells she couldn't attempt before, and even produced a decent Patronus. Even Neville was coming along.

Unfortunately, the group was finally found out. Marietta Edgecomb blurted to Umbridge before one of the meetings (and stopped talking once the acne set in), and Harry was eventually caught. Dumbledore lied for Harry, however, and took the heat. He escaped from the school, leaving Professor Umbridge as the new headmistress.

Cho, being Marietta's friend, tried to defend her, telling Harry it was hard for her because her parents work for the Ministry, and she's a "lovely person who had made a mistake." Harry gets angry at this, and it lead to a dispute between the two.

The DA did not continue into Harry's sixth year, though proved very helpful when he and his friends went to the Department of Mysteries at the end of his fifth.


Here is a full list of all of the members of Dumbledore's Army:

Hannah Abbott
Lavender Brown
Katie Bell
Susan Bones
Terry Boot
Cho Chang
Michael Corner
Colin Creevey
Dennis Creevey
Marietta Edgecombe
Justin Finch-Fletchley
Seamus Finnegan
Anthony Goldstein
Hermione Granger
Angelina Johnson
Lee Jordan
Neville Longbottom
Luna Lovegood
Ernie MacMillan
Padma Patil
Parvati Patil
Harry Potter
Zacharius Smith
Alicia Spinnet
Dean Thomas
Fred Weasley
George Weasley
Ginny Weasley
Ron Weasley

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