Defence Against the Dark Arts

"Defence Against the Dark Arts Classroom. No cursing allowed."

- Notice outside the classroom.

Defence Against the Dark Arts (sometimes written as DADA) is a mandatory subject taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in which students learn how to magically defend themselves against Dark Creatures and the Dark Arts.

The curriculum of the class varies greatly depending on what the professor at the time deems appropriate; due to the jinx on the teaching post, a great many teachers have been appointed.

The class is mandatory from the first year until the fifth year, with the option of NEWT classes for those who qualify.

Professors

 * Professor Galatea Merrythought (c. 1895 - 1945)
 * Professor Quirinus Quirrell (1991 - 1992)
 * Professor Gilderoy Lockhart (1992 - 1993)
 * Professor Remus Lupin (1993 - 1994)
 * Professor Severus Snape as substitute once per month
 * Professor Alastor Moody (actually Barty Crouch Jr. in disguise) (1994 - 1995)
 * Professor Dolores Umbridge (1995 - 1996)
 * Professor Severus Snape (1996 - 1997)
 * Professor Amycus Carrow (in practice taught "Dark Arts," not defence) (1997 - 1998)
 * Unidentified Professor (1998 - Unknown/Incumbent)

1991-1998 Curriculum
"You have had five teachers in this subject so far, I believe. Naturally, these teachers will all have had their own methods and priorities. Given this confusion I am surprised so many of you scraped an O.W.L. in this subject. I shall be even more surprised if all of you manage to keep up with N.E.W.T. work, which will be much more advanced."

- Professor Snape on the curriculum's instability.

Due to the constant changing of teachers, the curriculum of Defence Against the Dark Arts varies from year to year. Each teacher has their own priorities, their respective efficiencies proportional to their beliefs and methods. Such as Quirinus Quirrell and Dolores Umbridge believing that theories are enough (which is, in fact, more hindering), while the more effective Remus Lupin, "Alastor Moody" and Severus Snape have a more balanced belief in theory and practical defence. Gilderoy Lockhart, fraudulent and incompetent, is one known teacher who has taught nothing to the classes of his respective tenure, aside from nonsensical and unrelated materials. In the 1997-1998 school year, the class was changed to Dark Arts.

"Your previous instruction in this subject has been, disturbingly, uneven. But you will be pleased to know, from now on, you will be following a carefully structured, Ministry-approved course of Defensive magic."

- Dolores Umbridge's excuse of depriving students of practical defence.

During the 1995-1996 school year, the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, had gotten into his head that Headmaster Albus Dumbledore is using the students to create a private army of young wizards to overthrow the Ministry. As such, he implanted Umbridge to become the teacher of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classes, which he believed to be the main source of training (i.e. Defensive spells) for Dumbledore's would-be soldiers, and supplied a syllabus based entirely on theories on avoiding conflicts instead of facing them, all of which is simply reading out of the textbook, believing that this would be sufficient in passing the examinations. This misguided believe deprived the students on any useful lessons as even the theories are inaccurate, thus leading to the formation on Dumbledore's Army, which taught more practical defence that students from all grades found more useful.

First Year

 * Curse of the Bogies (mentioned)
 * Knockback Jinx
 * Verdimillious
 * Wand-Lighting Charm: Lumos
 * Curing werewolf bites
 * Gnomes
 * Doxies
 * Snails

Second Year

 * Cornish Pixies (Experienced first-hand)
 * Various creatures, including Yeties
 * Disarming Charm: Expelliarmus
 * Tongue-Tying Curse
 * Homorphus Charm
 * Gilderoy Lockhart
 * Verdimillious Duo
 * Tickling Charm
 * Fire Crabs

Third Year

 * Boggarts
 * Grindylows
 * Hinkypunks
 * Kappas
 * Red Caps
 * Vampires
 * Werewolves
 * Patronus Charm (taught only to Harry Potter): Expecto Patronum
 * Riddikulus (Expelling boggarts)

Fourth Year

 * Cruciatus Curse: Crucio (witnessed on spider)
 * Hex-deflection
 * Counter-curses
 * Stunning Spell: Stupefy
 * Imperius Curse: Imperio (witnessed on spider, resisting)
 * Killing Curse: Avada Kedavra (witnessed on spider)
 * Erklings

Fifth Year

 * Conflict avoidance
 * Counter-jinxes (Discouraged) and Defensive Charms (Discouraged)
 * Fleeing
 * Iguanas
 * Vampire bats
 * Theory
 * Patronus Charm (taught only to members of Dumbledore's Army): Expecto Patronum

Sixth Year
Members of Dumbledor's Army (1995-1996) learned advanced defence from Harry Potter. Ex, Patronus Charm, Stunning, and Expelliarmus (disarming).
 * Cruciatus Curse
 * Dementors
 * Inferius
 * Nonverbal spells
 * Resisting the Imperius Curse

Known O.W.L.s

 * Anthony Goldstein
 * Barty Crouch Jr.
 * Bill Weasley
 * Dean Thomas
 * Draco Malfoy
 * Ernie Macmillan
 * Fay Dunbar
 * Fred Weasley
 * George Weasley
 * Hannah Abbott
 * Harry Potter
 * Hermione Granger
 * Lavender Brown
 * Lee Jordan
 * Michael Corner
 * Neville Longbottom
 * Nymphadora Tonks
 * Padma Patil
 * Pansy Parkinson
 * Parvati Patil
 * Percy Weasley
 * Ron Weasley
 * Seamus Finnigan
 * Susan Bones
 * Terry Boot

All known Aurors, since it is a compulsory N.E.W.T. level, therefore O.W.L. must have been achieved before that.

Behind the scenes

 * Sixth years are supposed to be given demonstrations on what illegal curses look like; it was only in the 1994-1995 school year that this was changed to the fourth year.
 * Tom Riddle twice applied for the Defence Against the Dark Arts position, the first time shortly after graduation from Hogwarts when he was turned down by Headmaster Armando Dippet, who claimed he was too young but invited him to re-apply a few years later. Many years later, after becoming steeped in the Dark Arts and starting to use the title "Lord Voldemort", he visited the school and applied again, this time to Dumbledore. He was refused again. According to Albus Dumbledore, after the second refusal, no Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher held the post for more than one school year. Dumbledore believed that this was due to Voldemort placing a curse on the position, a belief that was popularly spread throughout the school.
 * When J. K. Rowling was asked for the reason Dumbledore would not give Severus Snape the Defence Against the Dark Arts job, the author responded that Dumbledore believed that teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts would bring out Snape's worst side, though Dumbledore finally relented in Harry's sixth year.
 * JK Rowling has also revealed that after Amycus Carrow was the Dark Arts teacher, a permanent teacher took the post because Voldemort's curse over the job was lifted.
 * Whilst it is known that Dumbledore did not wish Professor Snape to teach DADA for fear of relapsing into his Death Eater ways it is also possible that (since the subject had been jinxed) he was also thinking of Snape's physical well-being (not least of all because of how much of importance he could have been, and was, in the long run). Despite Dumbledore's fear, however, Snape did not truly return to his old ways when granted the position he sought for, though he did teach the lessons with a sense of passion for the Dark Arts.
 * Each Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher attacked (or attempted to attack) Harry. Quirrell tried to strangle Harry and jinxed his broom during a Quidditch game, Lockhart attempted to erase his memories, Lupin went after him as a werewolf (although he alone out of all the others would never have attacked Harry had he been in his human form), Barty Crouch Jr. (disguised as Moody) attempted to kill him, Umbridge physically assaulted him (and had previously sent Dementors to attack him, though this was before she taught the subject), and Snape attacked Harry in retaliation for the latter trying to curse him during the Battle of the Astronomy Tower. Ironically, Amycus Carrow, who taught Dark Arts instead of Defence Against the Dark Arts, was attacked by Harry Potter after the former had insulted Minerva McGonagall.
 * Dolores Umbridge was the only female Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in the series besides Galatea Merrythought (the latter of whom was not actually seen throughout the series, only mentioned).
 * The six professors of this subject who taught Harry each had a dark secret that he didn't learn until near the end of their respective school years:
 * Quirrell was serving Voldemort and was possessed by him.
 * Lockhart was a cowardly fraud who covertly stole the achievements of others.
 * Lupin was a werewolf.
 * Moody was actually Barty Crouch Jr., an escaped Death Eater.
 * Umbridge was the one who sent the Dementors that attacked Harry and Dudley.
 * Snape was the one who had reported the prophecy to Voldemort and was the Half-Blood Prince.
 * During his tenure as Potions master, Severus Snape only accepted students who achieved an Outstanding on their OWLs into his NEWT-level Potions classes. However, when Snape became the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in the 1996–1997 school year, students who achieved Exceeds Expectations were still allowed to take the NEWT-level DADA classes
 * The only book to have twice been assigned for this subject is The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection.
 * Most of the Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers in Harry's six years at Hogwarts followed a similar pattern: each (with the exception of Quirrell and Snape) was an entirely new teacher; each was chosen out of necessity, due to the loss of the previous instructor and the absence of other applicants; each meets Harry before he arrives at Hogwarts in the respective year (with the exception of Mad-Eye Moody, who was only mentioned in passing, although Harry had unknowingly encountered Barty Crouch Jr at the Quidditch World Cup); and each physically (or magically) attacks Harry during school term, either intentionally or accidentally, as in the case of Remus Lupin.
 * In Order of the Phoenix, when discussing who their new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher would be, Harry said that the teachers didn't have much luck: "One sacked, one dead, one lost his memory and one was locked in a trunk for nine months," referring to Lupin, Quirrel, Lockhart, and Moody, respectively; this isn't true, however, because Lupin resigned rather than was fired.
 * Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle are two known students who failed their O.W.L.s in Defence Against the Dark Arts, to which the following year's respective teacher, Snape, gave them both detentions for.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
 * LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
 * Pottermore

Notes and references
Verteidigung gegen die dunklen Künste Defensa contra las Artes Oscuras Défense contre les forces du Mal Difesa contro le Arte Oscure Verweer tegen de Zwarte Kunsten Obrona przed czarną magią Защита от тёмных искусств