Anna Chu

Anna Hua Chu (b. 30 December 1995 - d. April 2013) attended Charmbridge Academy from 2007 to 2012, and lived in Little Wuyi, San Francisco.
== Family ==
Her father is a wizard, while her mother is a Muggle, and most of her wizarding neighbors consider her a mudblood. Annually from 2003 on, her parents enrolled her to take the S.P.A.W.N., and are, according to her, obsessed with how well Anna ranks compared to her peers. On her parents' prompting, she applied at each of the Big Four schools. She is introverted and studious, and had few friends before attending Charmbridge: Muggle families generally didn't want their children to associate with her because of her eccentric abilities, while status-minded wizarding families didn't want their children to associate with her because of her Muggle parentage.
=== Sixth Grade ===
She rode the Charmbridge Academy Bus to the Goblin Market in Chicago toward the end of the summer in 2007, and met her fellow sixth-graders Angelique Devereaux, Alexandra Quick, Darla Dearborn, Constance and Forbearance Pritchard, and David Washington, and wore a red cloak over a red dress, reminding Quick of Little Red Riding Hood. She explained to Dearborn that television is like Wizard Wireless, but with pictures, and mentioned to her fellow classmates a few of the classes they would be taking in their first year. She was envious when she learned that the Pritchards had owned wands since they were eight, and explained to Darla that the Confederation law that prevents minors from owning wands before enrolling in a wizarding school or passing their 12th-grade S.P.A.W.N. does not apply to the individual Territories where the Pritchards, being Ozarkers, live.
At Hoargrim's Wands and Alchemical Supplies, Mr. Finsterholz successfully matched her to a wand on his first attempt. At Grundy's, she and the Pritchards headed straight for the Wizard School Supplies department, after which the three met up with Quick and Washington in the cafeteria. She was present for the fight that broke out between Quick Washington and the Rash brothers, but ducked under the table instead of getting involved. She later advised Quick and Washington not to respond when Tabitha Speaks admonished them for "brawling on the floor...like Muggles," but she defended her classmates by telling Speaks that Benjamin Rash had called them "mudbloods."
Later, at the Familiar Corner, Anna chose a Great Horned Owl whom she named Jingwei as a companion, partly because it would grow to be very large, and partly because of how her mother would react to a large owl. She explained to Quick that Ozarkers have a reputation for being pureblooded and old-fashioned, but that they still aren't as bad as some Chinese wizarding families, including her own. When Quick became interested in a raven as her familiar, Anna advised that the birds have a reputation for being Dark because they are popular with warlocks, but Quick chose the raven anyway. On the bus-ride home, she began reading one of her school books.
==== Fall Semester ====
At Charmbridge, she roomed with Quick in Delta Delta Kappa Tau Hall, with Dearborn and Devereaux as suitemates. At dinner on their first night, Anna explained the ASPEW to Washington, and agreed to check into a student chapter along with him and Quick. She later explained to Quick that mostly Old Colonial families, and New Colonial families trying to imitate Old Colonial families, keep House-elves. At the start-of-term assembly, Anna explained that a student had her mistletoe wand confiscated because mistletoe wands are illegal. After Alex took her S.P.A.W.N. placement exams, Anna was the first to ask about the results, and suggested that Alex might have faired better had she studied.
The next morning, Anna informed Alex that she, Washington, and the Pritchards had been summoned to Dean Grimm's office concerning the fight with Albo and the Rash brothers at Grundy's. She was so terrified by the prospect of disciplinary action that she started crying, and explained to Alex that she'd never been in trouble before, and that her father might make her return to San Francisco. She and the Pritchards were excused without punishment, when Alex and David took responsibility for the fight; they were, however, instructed to be "responsible classmates" in helping Alex and David "learn the ways of the wizarding world." Anna later thanked Alex for her bravery, and offered to tutor David with his wand-handling. Later that day, Anna tried to diffuse another confrontation between Quick and Albo in Practical Magical Exercise. On the way to dinner, Quick told Anna that she could call her "Alex."
While Alex served her detentions with Ben Journey, Anna visited to talk until she was chased off by teachers, and otherwise spent her evenings studying. A week into Quick's detentions, Anna explained that only the Dean could have Alex taken out of remedial classes, and Alex resolved to talk to Grimm. During a Magical Exercise class, Professor Shirtliffe visited and challenged the class to move an enormous bronze statue; Anna tried to levitate the sculpture, but failed to move it. After Alex used doggerel verse to shrink the statue and being admonished by Shirtliffe for it, Anna suggested that she try to learn proper incantations. Anna waited for Alex to see Dean Grimm about her schedule, and was relieved to learn that Alex had made an appointment with Vice-Dean Price.
Alex later shared her suspicions with Anna that Albo and the Rash brothers had tampered with her Clockworks, and Anna suggested that they had more likely hexed her cleaning supplies. That Monday, Anna promised not to tell anyone else about Alex's appointment with Vice-Dean Price. Anna later learned about Alex's revenge of enchanting Albo and the Rash brothers' Clockworks to attack them and chided Alex for her recklessness; Alex yelled at Anna for doing nothing "when jerks pick on" her, and Anna stiffly replied that she won't spend her sixth year in remedial classes or detentions before climbing silently into bed.
The next morning, Anna still wasn't speaking to Alex. In Magical Exercise, Anna was nearly knocked off her broom by Larry Albo, inciting Alex to hurl a quod at the Rash brothers and chase Albo into a game of chicken that he ultimately lost. Anna made up with Alex after Alex earned detention and a transfiguration jinx for chasing after Albo, and suggested that if Alex wouldn't think about the consequences of her actions, her friends would. She later tried to smooth things over between Alex and David when Washington learned that he'd been banned from Quidditch for Alex's actions.
Over the next few weeks, Anna kept watch on Alex in case she and Albo accidentally came into proximity and turned into rats. She later prevented Alex from attacking Torvald Krogstad with a lunchtray when Krogstad and Stuart Cortlandt conspired to trick Alex and Albo into proximity, and the two were turned into rats; Anna carried both Alex and Albo to a teacher to have them returned to normal. She was later disappointed, though unsurprised, to learn that Alex planned to get revenge on Krogstad and Cortlandt. After Alex was chased by Galen on Halloween, she told Anna her suspicions that Dean Grimm was trying to kill her; Anna found the theory unlikely, but entertained it for Alex's benefit.
==== Bookwyrm ====
As Alex's reputation spread around the school, Anna warned her that "ravens are bad omens in China," but that that the bird is said to have "an evil voice, but a good heart." She also began wearing an ASPEW button at Washington's request, and continued to focus on her studies, earning a reputation as a "wyrm" for her book-learning. She later told Alex that the Dark Convention is a taboo topic, but explained what little she knew of the subject from her father. After Alex was nearly thrown into a balefire by her Clockworks, Anna at last agreed that someone was, in fact, trying to kill Quick, though she still didn't quite accept the theory that Dean Grimm was the perpetrator.
Despite her support of ASPEW, Anna was less enthusiastic about taking part in a hunger-strike proposed by Washington. In Magical Exercise, she grouped with Alex and the Pritchard sisters for an enlarging contest; and told Alex not to joke about starting a "Dark Convention Club" when the Rash brothers mocked her, and held Alex back when Mordecai Rash insulted her father. She later asked Alex why she was so interested in Dark Magic, and learned about Alex's family before Alex revealed her mother's locket. Anna was appalled when Alex suggested that Dean Grim was a Death Eater, and insisted that it didn't make sense for Grimm to try to kill Quick.
After Alex's burn tincture exploded during an Alchemy test, Anna waited in the hospital wing until Quick woke, and the two made up. When Alex was released from the hospital wing, Anna accompanied her to breakfast, and suggested that Alex's potion had been tampered with. On Thanksgiving day, she spent the morning playing Exploding Snaps and Wizard Chess with Alex and David in the sixth grade lounge, then spent the afternoon batting around a worn-out training bludger outside. She later attended the Thanksgiving Feast with them. Before bed that night, Anne confessed that Alex was her best friend.
The next day, when Alex was summoned to Dean Grimm's office, Anna assured her that she wasn't in trouble, and was excited to learn that Grimm had only lifted Albo and Quick's transfiguration jinx. Anna later learned about the restricted books that Bran and Poe were holding for Alex, and implored her to stop pursuing the Dark Convention after reading the books. She was startled to learn that the photograph in Alex's locket was of Abraham Thorn and that Alex believed he was her father, and lamented that she couldn't give Alex more information about the Thorn Circle. She also explained the nature of wizard photographs and portraits after Thorn left the cameo in Alex's locket. Alex swore Anna to secrecy, and eventually instructed Bran and Poe to return the books when Alex had finished with them.
Anna was later startled to learn that the Pritchards were two of ten children. She also helped Alex to realize that she might be able to discover her paternity through the Registrar's Scroll, which should have her name listed under her father's name. Anna studied constantly during the week before Christmas break, and earned a 97.3 grade-point average, which she was convinced would cause her father to send her to a traditional Chinese day-school in San Francisco. The morning before break, Anna gave Alex a wrapped present (a golden charm bracelet with the Chinese symbol for raven) with instructions not to open it until Christmas, and assured Alex that it was okay that Alex hadn't gotten her anything in return. Anna and David both crossed the Invisible Bridge along with Alex in a show of solidarity. Anna bid Alex farewell when the Charmbridge Bus reached Chicago, and took the Wizardrail the rest of the way home to San Francisco.
==== Spring Semester ====
Anna met her classmates again when the Charmbridge Bus stopped in Chicago, and was excited to see the valley near the Invisible Bridge covered with snow. She later learned about the fire at Alex's house during the blizzard, and implored Alex to "try really, really hard not to get in any trouble this semester." At the start-of-term assembly, Anna learned that Governor-General Hucksteen would be attending Charmbridge's 2008 commencement, and explained to Alex that Hucksteen was the man that the Thorn Circle had attempted to assassinate.
Anna was surprised to learn that Alex received no punishment for the curse she wrought over the break; she reassured Alex after Quick retook her S.P.A.W.N. placement exams, and was excited when Alex was moved out of remedial classes into her same schedule. She admitted that her parents threatened to pull her out of Charmbridge if she earned less than Excellents, and patiently tutored Quick in Transfigurations and incantations for Charms. She was pleased to find that Alex was no longer talking about the Thorn Circle, and that she was focusing on her schoolwork.
In February, she took to playing in the snow with Alex and the Pritchards while David let his falcon fly. One afternoon, she was knocked off her feet by a snowball thrown by Albo, who claimed that the group was in danger of being attacked by a hodag in the forest. When Albo dared Alex to stay in the forest overnight, Anna tried unsuccessfully to talk Quick out of the wager, insisting that there are "things out there that are dangerous that Muggles don't know anything about." She later tracked Alex down in the library and demanded to accompany her in the forest, threatening to tell their Hall Monitor if Alex refused.
Though she was catching a cold, she later met Alex in the aviary, and the two headed out into the forest though Anna was afraid. They camped two dozen paces inside the treeline to fulfill Alex's end of the dare, but were ambushed by Albo, Ethan Robinson and Wade White, who petrified Chu, before a creature attacked the group and the five fled. They were caught by Journey returning to the dorms, but he let them go without reporting them; Anna and Alex changed into dry clothes, then headed to the infirmary where Mrs. Murphy tended to Anna's cold and Alex told Anna that she was brave.
On March 22, Anna learned that Alex had turned twelve, and informed Alex that the sixth-grade class would be taking a field trip to Chicago in April for Muggle Awareness Month. Dean Grimm later asked Anna if she had a cold after wishing Alex a happy birthday and making a veiled comment about their night in the woods. In Charms, Anna announced Alex's birthday, and the class sent up a shower of multicolored sparks in celebration; in Transfiguration, she transformed a rat into a cupcake, and Constance Pritchard transformed a quill into a candle.
In April, Anna was anxious about the field trip, but became temporarily more popular (along with Washington) for her knowledge of Muggle culture. She later admonished Alex and David for advising Dearborn and Devereaux that Muggle girls dressed like Barbie dolls. In the third week of April, Anna headed to Chicago with her class, wearing "a plaid skirt and white shirt that made her look like a Catholic schoolgirl." At the Territorial Headquarters Building, she met Alcina Kennedy and Carlos Black, and though she found Black intimidating, she admitted that Dean Grimm scared her more.
While touring the Juvenile Magical Offenses Division, Anna tried unsuccessfully to stop Alex from venturing off on her own. She was surprised to learn that the Territorial Headquarters employed vampires, but admonished Alex for wandering the Census Office on her own, and tried to reassure her classmates that the elevated train was "just like the Wizardrail." She asked if Alex was alright when Quick was quiet while the class attended a Cubs baseball game at Wrigley Field, and tried to prevent Alex from leaving the group again to use a payphone.
==== A Difficult Journey ====
The next morning, Anna learned that Alex had discovered something at the Census Office, but was unable to learn exactly what. After Alex received a vicious magical whipping across the back of her hands, Anna offered to write Alex's letter of apology to Mr. Bagby, and used an editing ink reversal charm when Alex changed the opening from "Dear Mr. Bagby" to "Dear Creepy Bloodsucker." She later tried to talk Alex out of sneaking into the Registrar's Office to find the Registrar's Scroll, and inadvertently offended Alex by implying that her father hadn't bothered to find her. Anna became upset the next day when Alex ignored her, but the two made up in Magical Exercise, and Anna agreed to help Alex sneak into the Registrar's Office.
Anna helped Alex plan the break-in, which Anna insisted had to happen before Governor-General Hucksteen arrived. She mentioned that a floor-plan of the school would help immensely, inspiring Alex to ask Bran and Poe where the Office was; she later stood guard while Alex snuck into the basement to find a house-elf who could tell her where the Office was located, but was found by Mr. Thiel. She, Thiel, and Journey then found Alex unconscious after Em left her stuck in the basement, and played along with Alex's story that breaking into the Registrar's Office was another dare from Albo.
She was suspicious of Alex's claim that she had been strangled, and even more suspicious of the notion that an elf was the culprit. The following weekend, she woke at three o'clock with Alex, but stayed behind as Quick snuck to the door of the locked Registrar's Office on her own. When Alex returned, Anna felt that it went too easily, and was nervous about the fact that Alex had been seen by Dean Grimm's cat. During the planning of the break-in, Anna suggested that Alex could earn Superior grades if she applied the same level of attention to her schoolwork, and implored Quick to study at least a little for their end-of-year S.P.A.W.N.'s.
Anna later learned that a security team would be preceding Hucksteen's visit, and the break-in plan was moved up. She supplied whisperphones for the operation, and the two snuck out of Delta Delta Kappa Tau; Anna stood guard at the stairs to the administrative wing while Alex headed up to the Registrar's Office. When Alex's end of the whisperphone went silent, Anna rushed to the Office and found Alex and Galen unconscious from a release of Garroting Gas, and used a Bubble-head Charm to pull them from the Office. They were then discovered by Thiel, but managed to disarm and petrify him before running into Journey.
Anna was instructed to return to her dorm, and when she didn't, Journey stupefied her. While she was unconscious, Journey threatened to crush her throat if Deans Price and Grimm didn't drop their wands; when Grimm refused, Journey took Anna as a hostage and fled the school on a flying carpet. Journey left the carpet in the woods near where Anna and Alex had camped, and took Anna deeper into the forest where Anna was tied to a tree and gagged while they waited for Alex. Alex arrived shortly after and traded herself for Anna, while Charlie flew to bring help.
Anna was returned safely to Charmbridge after the exchange, and visited Alex with Washington, Dearborn, Devereaux and the Pritchards after Quick recovered from her altercation with Journey. She stayed with Alex after the others left, and claimed that Journey never intended to hurt her in his pursuit of Alex. She left for dinner after Dean Grimm arrived in the hospital wing. Later, she was present with Krogstad and Cortlandt when Alex received an invitation to join the Mors Mortis Society, and was with Alex when Quick received a summons to Dean Grimm's office on the day before commencement.
After commencement, she found Alex with the burned remains of Hucksteen's business card. On the last day of the term, Anna found Alex reading about demons and other Dark creatures on the school grounds, and assured her that she had no worries about Alex becoming a Dark Wizard. She rode the Charmbridge Bus home with her classmates, and bid farewell to Alex in Chicago before taking the Wizardrail back to San Francisco.
==== Class Schedule====
* Basic Charms (Mr. Newton)
* Basic Transfiguration (Mr. Hobbes)
* Basic Alchemy (Mr. Grue)
* Magical Theory (Ms. Shirtliffe)
* Wizard Social Studies (Mrs. Middle)
* Practical Magical Exercise (Ms. Shirtliffe)
=== Seventh Grade ===
Anna spent the summer studying magic ideograms and old scrolls. She met Alex again on the Charmbridge Bus ride to the Goblin Market in August 2008, and was impressed that the Pritchard sisters had spent the summer cutting wandwood. She also explained to Washington that his cellphone wouldn't work at Charmbridge. She accompanied her classmates to the Chicago branch of Gringotts and Hoargrim's before heading to Boxley's Books. She chose Geomancy as her seventh-grade elective, explaining to Alex that she'd rather take Practical Magical Exercise, but her father wanted her to take Geomancy or Arithmancy.
When the group tried to enter Grundy's, she and Alex ran into an invisible barrier and realized that they had been magically Barred for the fight the previous August. When Albo, Robinson and White laughed at them from inside the store, Anna suggested to Alex that they simply ignore Albo this year. After having the Bar lifted by a manager, Anna bought her school supplies, then headed to the Familiars and Pets Department to buy owl-treats for Jingwei. In the cafeteria, she and Alex led their group to a table far away Albo, Robinson, White and the Rash brothers. She explained to Washington that a particular cluster of a half-dozen were Blacksburg Magery Institute Stormcrows, and later agreed with Alex that Martin was a jerk for publicly snubbing Dearborn.
Anna became embroiled in a conflict with Tomo Matsuzaka early in the year, due to the rivalry between Chinese and Japanese wizarding families in California. The two girls exchanged insults and curses, and were sent to the Dean's Office after getting in a fight. This led to both Anna and Alexandra being compelled to join the Junior Regimental Officer Corps. Anna hated JROC, and was consistently the slowest and weakest of the "new wands," and repeatedly picked on by Maximilian King.
When Alexandra became involved in the Mors Mortis Society, she kept it secret from Anna. Alexandra also did not initially reveal to Anna the secret of her brother. Although Anna was hurt by this, the two friends reconciled. It was Alexandra who finally forced Anna and Tomo to end their feud.
Anna helped cover for Alexandra when she traveled to the Lands Below with Maximilian, and was later questioned by the Wizard Justice Department after Alexandra disappeared. At the end of seventh grade, Anna returned to her home in San Francisco, promising to stay in touch with Alexandra over the summer.
==== Class Schedule ====
* Charms I
* Transfiguration I
* Alchemy I
* Magical Theory I (Anna was in the same Magical Theory class as Constance Pritchard, a higher level than the one Alexandra took)
* Wizarding Social Studies
In her first semester, Anna initially chose Geomancy as an elective, but this was changed to Practical Magical Exercise when she was forced to join the JROC. In her second semester, she took Geomancy.
== Appearances ==
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Category:Females
Category:Half-bloods
Category:Junior Regimental Officers
Category:Charmbridge class of 2014
Category:Little Wuyi residents
Category:Alexandra Committee
Category:LGBT
Category:Deceased