The Harry Potter Compendium
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"Some of the spooky material in this book should be familiar to you. Some of it will almost certainly be breathtakingly new to you. All of it is essential to obtain a thorough understanding of the Dark Arts and of all the other formidable, scary, creepy things which are out there."
—Description of the book on its back cover.[src]

Dark Arts Defense: Basics for Beginners was an introductory level Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook issued by the Ministry of Magic. The book was presented only a theoretical examination of the topic, and lacked practical information on countering Dark Magic, such as how to use defensive spells.

In the 1995–1996 school year, when Dolores Umbridge was the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts class of Hogwarts school, she supplied her fifth year students with a book each, and had them read from it and understand only the theories for their examinations. Although she claimed it was a "carefully-structured, Ministry-approved" guideline to repair the previously unstable curriculum, it was in truth to prevent the students from being trained in combat and become Albus Dumbledore's soldiers to overthrow the Ministry, a paranoid fear stemming from Cornelius Fudge.

Intercepting a Counter Incantation 'On-the-Go' was one of the spell techniques covered by this title.

Behind the scenes[]

Appearances[]


Defense Against the Dark Arts (D.A.D.A.)
TDF-AGTS-P
Professors: Galatea Merrythought · Quirinus Quirrell · Gilderoy Lockhart · Remus Lupin · Barty Crouch Jr. (as Alastor Moody) · Dolores Umbridge · Severus Snape ·
Amycus Carrow (as Dark Arts teacher)
Textbooks: The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection · Break with a Banshee · Gadding with Ghouls · Holidays with Hags · Travels with Trolls ·
Voyages with Vampires · Wanderings with Werewolves · Year with the Yeti · The Essential Defense Against the Dark Arts · Defensive Magical Theory · Dark Arts Defense: Basics for Beginners · Confronting the Faceless
D.A.D.A. at Hogwarts: Classroom 3C · Temporary Classroom · Tower · Professor's Office · Storeroom · Staircase · Lesson Cup · Race Cup · Dumbledore's Army
Spells covered under the subject: Curse of the Bogies · Knockback Jinx · Verdimillious (uno, duo & tria) · Wand-Lighting Charm · Glacius · Patronus Charm · Killing Curse · Cruciatus Curse · Imperius Curse ·
Impediment Jinx · Reductor Curse · Stunning Spell · Shield Charm · Nonverbal spells · Hex-deflection · Hex-Breaker · Hex Zapper
Creatures covered under the subject: Vampire bats · Iguanas · Cornish Pixies · Werewolves · Vampires · Hinkypunks · Boggarts · Red Caps · Kappas · Grindylows · Inferius
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