Did we ever see or hear anything of Lockhart's dueling club after the first scene in it?

Question

During chapter 11 of Chamber of Secrets - The Dueling Club - we see Lockhart get obliterated by Snape in a display match at said club. After this chapter, is this club ever mentioned again at any point in the series? In later books, I'm often surprised by how little Harry appears to have learned from it. It's as if he doesn't become competent in combat casting until the third task of the Triwizard Tournament forces him to.

Alex · Accepted Answer

The Dueling Club is mentioned in Chapter Thirty-Four of Goblet of Fire:

“You have been taught how to duel, Harry Potter?” said Voldemort softly, his red eyes glinting through the darkness.
At these words Harry remembered, as though from a former life, the dueling club at Hogwarts he had attended briefly two years ago.... All he had learned there was the Disarming Spell, “Expelliarmus”... and what use would it be to deprive Voldemort of his wand, even if he could, when he was surrounded by Death Eaters, outnumbered by at least thirty to one? He had never learned anything that could possibly fit him for this.

It seems pretty clear from this that the club was disbanded pretty quickly. Probably after the first meeting.

Shreedhar · Answer

Well, its both a yes and a no.
First of all, the Dueling Club was started during the events of the Chamber of Secrets to defend themselves in case anyone came across the apparent heir of Slytherin. As Lockhart puts it,

“Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little Dueling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions — for full details, see my published works. 
 Chamber of Secrets: Chapter Eleven ("The Dueling Club")

After this though, there was no need to continue the club until Dolores Umbridge becomes the DADA teacher at Hogwarts in Order of the Phoenix. During this time, Harry uses the Room of Requirement to train his fellow students to practice spells rather than just read about them.
But this does not mean that the Dueling Club was officially closed. It could have been temporarily suspended by Umbridge. And both the book and the movie (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) showed that the members of Dumbledore's Army did practice dueling at the RoR.

Finally, the Dueling Club is indirectly mentioned only once again in the Epilogue of the Book 7, when Harry reminds Albus about it.

“Bye, Al,” said Harry as his son hugged him. “Don’t forget Hagrid’s invited
you to tea next Friday. Don’t mess with Peeves. Don’t duel anyone till you’ve learned how. And don’t let James wind you up.” 
 Deathly Hallows: Epilogue ("Nineteen Years Later")

Since we haven't seen any Hogwarts subject actually teaching students to duel, Harry could most likely be talking about the Dueling Club itself. Although it is debatable if they actually called it Lockhart's Dueling Club, or simply thr Dueling Club after Lockhart's mishap.

Did we ever see or hear anything of Lockhart's dueling club after the first scene in it?

2 Answers

Well, its both a yes and a no.

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