Dumbledore's Army
Organization - The initial meeting was in the Hog's Head in the village of Hogsmeade [OOTP16].
Location - With Dobby's help, the group met in the Room of Requirement, which was perfect for their needs [OOTP18].
Name - During the first official meeting in the Room of Requirement, the students decided (at Hermione's urging) to choose a name for the group. At first, the Defense Association was chosen, or the D.A. for short. The students then decided to change it to Dumbledore's Army, because of Cornelius Fudge's fear that Dumbledore was using the Hogwarts students to create an army to take on the Ministry of Magic. Everyone in the group signed a list and agreed not to tell anyone about their meetings - and unbeknownst to anyone, Hermione had magically jinxed this magical contract [OOTP18].
Purpose - The group's purpose was to learn Defense Against the Dark Arts, so they could protect themselves and others against Voldemort and his followers - and also for the fifth-year students to pass their Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL [OOTP16, 18].
Members - Twenty-nine students joined the D.A. during Harry's time at Hogwarts, although more undoubtedly joined during the 1997 - 98 school year. The original group included the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team and also the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw fifth-year prefects. None of the group was from Slytherin. The members were Hannah Abbot, Katie Bell, Susan Bones, Terry Boot, Lavender Brown, Cho Chang, Michael Corner, Colin Creevey, Dennis Creevey, Marietta Edgecombe, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Seamus Finnigan (who joined the group in the very last meeting), Anthony Goldstein, Hermione Granger, Angelina Johnson, Lee Jordan, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Ernie Macmillan, Padma Patil, Parvati Patil, Harry Potter, Zacharias Smith, Alicia Spinnet, Dean Thomas, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Ginny Weasley, and Ron Weasley.
Communication - Hermione created fake Galleons and put on a Protean Charm on them. When Harry changed the serial numbers on his Galleon to reflect the date of the next meeting, the Galleons in the other members' pockets would burn warm and let them know [OOTP19].
The D.A. didn't meet during Harry's sixth year [HBP7]. However, when Harry believed Hogwarts was in imminent danger, he asked Hermione to: "Use anyone else who you can rustle up from the D.A. … those contact galleons will still work." Neville and Luna were the only two who kept the D.A. Galleons with them, and they both responded and were in the battle with the Death Eaters at Hogwarts [HBP25].
Betrayal - Marietta Edgecombe, a member of the D.A., told Dolores Umbridge that a secret meeting would take place that night and also revealed the location of the meeting. Because she broke her promise not to tell, Hermione's jinx worked and the word "SNEAK" disfigured her face in ugly purple pustules, and she refused to say anymore. Meanwhile, Dobby had warned the D.A. members in the meeting, and they rushed out. Professor Umbridge and members of the Inquisitorial Squad only caught Harry but entered the Room of Requirement and found the list of students. Harry was brought to the Headmaster's office and was almost expelled, but was rescued by Professor Dumbledore [OOTP27]. After that, Marietta wore a balaclava to hide her face - interestingly, she was still wearing the balaclava on the Hogwarts Express back to London - apparently Madame Pomfrey couldn't heal her face. Her face was still disfigured the next September when she went back to Hogwarts [HBP7].
Final Year - Dumbledore's Army experienced a revival in the 1997-98 school year, following the appointment of Severus Snape as the Headmaster. With Harry off finding Horcruxes, the group was now led by Neville, Luna and Ginny. After spending the year annoying the new regime, things got serious when Neville was expelled near the end of the last term. Being chased by the Carrows, he made it to the Room of Requirement, which he managed to seal against their entry. From then on it became their Headquarters, and even sprouted a new secret passage running to the Hogs Head so that people could get in and out. Neville was joined by a good proportion of the old DA members over the next two weeks, most of whom were on the run. It was here that Harry, Ron and Hermione met up with them after visiting Aberforth in his bar, and the room served as their base as the Battle of Hogwarts began. Even more old DA members arrived to help in the fight, and they all played their part in Voldemort's eventual defeat [DH29-36].
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