Harry Potter: Every Defense Against Dark Arts Professor & Curse Explained

Harry Potter encountered many Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers in his time at Hogwarts. Despite their differences, none lasted more than a year.

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Defense Against the Dark Arts is one of the staple classes Hogwarts students attend throughout the Harry Potter series, and its rotating cast of professors makes it extra intriguing. The class, also known as D.A.D.A., taught students to defend themselves against all kinds of dark magic, including curses, jinxes, and hexes. The curses weren’t just limited to the classroom: the D.A.D.A. teaching position itself seemed cursed. No D.A.D.A. professor lasted in the role for longer than a year.

While the jinxing of the class was rumored by Hogwarts students, it was later confirmed that the teaching position had actually been cursed by Voldemort himself. Voldemort applied to teach the subject not once, but twice. The first attempt occurred right after he graduated Hogwarts when he still went by the name Tom Riddle. The Headmaster at the time, Armando Dippet, turned him down because he was too young. Decades later, he reapplied as Lord Voldemort, and then-Headmaster Albus Dumbledore turned him away. As explained by Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Voldemort cursed the position after that, resulting in the school being unable to “keep a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for longer than a year.”

This curse meant that Hogwarts had seven different D.A.D.A. professors over the course of the seven Harry Potter books and eight movies. They each had their own specific skill sets and secrets, and all seven of them left the position for different reasons. Here is every D.A.D.A. professor throughout the Harry Potter series, including how the curse manifested itself for each of them.

Quirinus Quirrell

Professor Quirinus Quirrell was Harry Potter’s first-ever D.A.D.A. professor, and at first glance, he seemed like a trembling wreck of a man. He was rumored to have had a bad experience with vampires while conducting research outside Hogwarts, explaining why he was so scared all the time. Quirrell actually used his intimidated persona to hide the truth: that Voldemort had latched onto his body and lived on the back of his head, disguised beneath a turban. Quirrell served Voldemort throughout the school year by searching for the Sorcerer’s Stone and drinking unicorn blood to keep himself and Voldemort alive. He attempted to kill Harry but disintegrated beneath his touch thanks to Lily Potter’s protection spell. He is the only one of Harry’s D.A.D.A. teachers to die in the position.

Gilderoy Lockhart

Gilderoy Lockhart was the D.A.D.A. professor during Harry’s second year. Self-absorbed as can be, Lockhart had quite the resume: he has an Order of Merlin, Third Class; is an Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League; and five-time winner of Witch Weekly’s Most Charming Smile award. Despite all these accolades and the many books he’d written about his adventures, Lockhart did not actually accomplish any of his famed exploits himself. He merely took credit for other witches’ and wizards’ work before modifying their memories with Memory Charms. Ironically, he lost his own memory while trying to do the same to Harry and Ron. He used Ron’s broken wand, causing the spell to backfire, leaving him to spend the rest of his days in St. Mungo’s Hospital. J.K. Rowling stated that the reason Dumbledore hired someone so incompetent in the first place was to expose Lockhart’s fallacies.

Remus Lupin

After one D.A.D.A. professor tried to kill him and another tried to erase his memories, Harry needed a kind and competent teacher. That’s what he got in Remus Lupin. As a professor, Lupin gave students practical experience fighting the Dark Arts, having them face dark creatures like Boggarts in a controlled environment. Where he really shone was as a mentor to Harry: he was one of James Potter’s oldest friends and a member of the Marauders, and he showed Harry how to master the Patronus Charm. Despite his strength at teaching, the D.A.D.A. curse still rid Hogwarts of Lupin. He was revealed to be a werewolf, even though the school staff had been helping him take precautions, and he chose to resign. He remained present throughout the rest of the series until his death in the Battle of Hogwarts.

Barty Crouch Jr. (as Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody)

On paper, Alastor Moody was a perfect choice to replace Lupin. A skilled Auror, he could help Hogwarts students defend themselves against the resurgence of dark wizards. His teaching skills were unorthodox: He demonstrated the Unforgivable Curses and even turned Draco Malfoy into a ferret as punishment for attacking Harry. He also established himself as a guide to Harry and helped him face the dangers of the Triwizard Tournament. It seemed like Moody was shaping up to be a positive, if a little intense, figure in Harry’s life, but like D.A.D.A. professors before him, he was not who he seemed. Moody was none other than Death Eater Barty Crouch Jr., who had used the Polyjuice Potion to disguise himself and get Harry into the Triwizard Tournament. Crouch was given the Dementor’s kiss, and the real Moody, who had been imprisoned in an enchanted trunk, never actually taught a D.A.D.A. class.

Dolores Umbridge

Dolores Umbridge may be the most hated Harry Potter character, and with good reason. She always hid her cruelty under the guise that she was doing what was right, resulting in major abuses of power. Umbridge was appointed to the D.A.D.A. teaching post not by Dumbledore, as was customary, but by the Ministry of Magic. She was sent to Hogwarts to monitor the school as well as Dumbledore due to fears that he would try to overthrow Minister Cornelius Fudge. In her time as a professor, she routinely denied the return of Voldemort and stuck to the rigid and completely theoretical Ministry-approved curriculum. Her poor teaching prompted Harry and his friends to form Dumbledore’s Army. Umbridge was later made Hogwarts High Inquisitor, then Headmistress of the school, and she used her power to sadistically punish anyone who stepped out of line. She got in a fight with the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest and was carried away, and after Voldemort’s return became undeniable she was suspended for allegations of abuse.

Severus Snape

Severus Snape wanted to teach D.A.D.A. for years, but Albus Dumbledore denied him the job repeatedly, partly for fear of Snape straying back towards the darkness, and partly to keep him around for longer, given the curse on the position. Snape finally got his wish in Harry’s sixth year, taking over D.A.D.A. while Horace Slughorn took over as Potions Master. Snape’s D.A.D.A. teaching style was similar to how he taught Potions, with a lack of tolerance for mediocrity and a continued dislike for Harry. However, his reverence for the subject showed, and he made a clear effort to prepare students for their N.E.W.T.s and the outside world, teaching them nonverbal magic and focusing on practical learning. After Voldemort took over the Ministry, Snape was appointed Headmaster of Hogwarts, vacating the position but still remaining at the school.

Amycus Carrow

Amycus Carrow would have been Harry’s seventh-year D.A.D.A. teacher had he attended Hogwarts in his final year. Even though Harry didn’t experience Carrow’s teaching, many of his school friends still did, including Neville Longbottom. While Carrow was professor, he changed the name of the class from “Defense Against the Dark Arts” to “The Dark Arts,” the name reflecting the changed content. He and his sister Alecto were in charge of punishment at the school, so he often incorporated that aspect of his role into his teaching. Students in his class were made to practice the Cruciatus curse on students in detention, and if they refused to do so, as Neville did, they were also tortured. Amycus’s fate after the Battle of Hogwarts is unknown, but it’s likely he and Alecto went to Azkaban. Rowling stated that the curse on the D.A.D.A. position in Harry Potter lifted after Voldemort’s death, meaning that future professors teaching the subject would be able to hold the position for longer than a year.

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