Cho Chang

**Cho Chang** (b. 1978/1979) was a witch who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1990-1997 and was sorted into Ravenclaw House. She was a Seeker for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team and a popular student. She was also one year ahead of the famous Harry Potter.

In Cho's fifth year, she began dating Cedric Diggory while he was a Champion in the Triwizard Tournament. Unfortunately, Cedric became one of the first casualties of the Second Wizarding War, when he was murdered by Peter Pettigrew on Lord Voldemort's order in June of 1995. His death greatly upset Cho and made her determined to fight against the recently returned Dark Lord.

In her sixth year, against her parents' wishes, she joined Dumbledore's Army, an organisation taught and led by Harry Potter. In the same year she also began a romantic relationship with Harry. However, Cho's best friend Marietta Edgecombe betrayed the D.A.. After her friend's betrayal, Cho and Harry's relationship fell apart. She remained loyal to her school and to the D.A., returning after she had graduated to participate in the Battle of Hogwarts.

Cho survived the Second Wizarding War and eventually married a Muggle.

## History

### Early Life

Cho was born into a wizarding family, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs Chang between September 1978 and August 1979. She became a great Quidditch fan at the age of six, and cheered for the Tutshill Tornados.

## Involvement

### Fourth Year

During a Gryffindor-Ravenclaw Quidditch match in her fourth year, Cho first met Harry Potter, who was a year below her and a fellow Seeker. Harry noticed she was very pretty and she made his stomach "*feel funny*". Cho's impression of Harry was favourable, and when she later wished Harry good luck before Gryffindor had a Quidditch match against Slytherin, Harry went bright red.

During the match against Ravenclaw, Cho began to tail Harry rather than find the Golden Snitch herself. Harry soon caught on to her strategy and attempted to trick her into thinking he had spotted the Snitch. As he dove, he saw the Snitch for real. Cho then gasped at the sight of a trio of Dementors.

Harry managed to unleash a powerful Patronus Charm as well as snag the Snitch; the dementors were actually: Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, and Marcus Flint in disguise. Ravenclaw did not win the Quidditch Cup that year with Gryffindor winning it instead of Slytherin.

### Fifth Year

On 25 August 1994, Cho went to the Quidditch World Cup Finals, presumably with her family. While there, she exchanged greetings with Harry Potter, who had a crush on Cho by this time, having been developing feelings for her since the previous year when he first saw her during a Quidditch match against the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. He considered her to be very pretty and a good Seeker.

She was friendly towards Harry throughout the year, but probably did not return his romantic feelings. She had already accepted Cedric Diggory's request to be his date to the Yule Ball. Cedric was a year above Cho and a champion in the Triwizard Tournament.

Despite this, Cho refused to treat Harry poorly, as the majority of the school did because the Goblet of Fire had also selected him; she refused to wear one of Draco Malfoy's *Support Cedric Diggory* badges, something Harry was grateful for. He asked Cho to attend the Yule Ball with him, and she let him down kindly, even apologising for being unable to accept his offer; he still spent most of the ball watching Cho, who either soon began or was already dating Cedric. She was the '*thing*' Cedric would miss most and thus became his hostage during the Second Task of the Tournament; he employed the Bubble-Head Charm to save her from Hogwarts' lake.

That June, Cedric was murdered by Peter Pettigrew on Lord Voldemort's orders. Cho was devastated and openly cried at the memorial service at the end of the school year.

### Sixth Year

Cedric's death made Cho believe Harry's claim that Voldemort had returned despite the Ministry of Magic and *Daily Prophet* branding him a liar or insane. She sought Harry out several times and attempted to engage him in conversation, probably motivated by both a desire to learn the circumstances of Cedric's death and a growing fondness for Harry. Unfortunately for Harry, these encounters did not go well. The first time Cho found him covered with Stinksap that was accidentally let off by Neville Longbottom's Mimbulus mimbletonia. The second time, she ended up arguing with Ron Weasley about Quidditch teams. On the third try, when Cho entered the Owlery to send a letter to her mother for her birthday while Harry was there, she defended him from a suspicious Argus Filch.

When invited by Hermione Granger to join Dumbledore's Army, Cho went against the advice of her parents, who wished her to remain on Dolores Umbridge's good side, as her mother worked at the Ministry. She also brought her best friend and fellow Ravenclaw Marietta Edgecombe along, despite the other girl's reluctance to join due to her mum's position at the Ministry as well. Cho joined because she was determined to fight against Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters after what happened to Cedric in the previous year.

However, as a D.A. student she had her ups and downs. At first, she got nervous and performed her spells poorly whenever Harry was nearby. This indicated that her romantic feelings for him had grown since the previous year. Later, though, she was able to conjure a corporeal Patronus in the shape of a swan. However, she did have some trouble with a Disarming Charm, saying *Expellimellius* instead of the actual incantation, causing Marietta's sleeve to catch on fire. She also mentioned that she had never been able to stun anything before Harry taught her and commented that he was a good teacher.

Cho initiated a kiss with Harry under some mistletoe shortly before Christmas after a D.A. session. However, she soon ended up in tears, confused and guilty because of her conflicting feelings for Harry and Cedric. This kiss was something that Harry did not enjoy much and described as being "*wet*", because of all the tears and a repeat kiss did not happen. Despite this, she and Harry went on a date in the wizarding village of Hogsmeade on Valentine's Day where the couple sent their time at Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop. The tea shop made Harry uncomfortable, as it reminded him of Umbridge's too pink office.

Cho's continuing grief over Cedric's death, her ill-founded jealousy over Harry's friendship with Hermione Granger (who, ironically, tried to advise Harry on how to handle girls), and Harry's overall inexperience with girls soured the experience. Cho became jealous when Harry mentioned his plans to meet Hermione later in the day, and she tried to gauge Harry's feelings for her by mentioning that Roger Davies had asked her out, but this only bewildered Harry. She ended up in tears after Harry refused to discuss Cedric's death with her.

Later in the year, Cho's friend Marietta betrayed the D.A. to Umbridge, and, as a result, was afflicted by the jinx performed by Hermione on the piece of parchment, signed earlier by all members of the D.A. The hex made purple pustules spell '*SNEAK*' across her face that could not be removed, something Cho considered a '*horrible trick*'. When Harry scorned Marietta for the betrayal and Cho defended her, their relationship went downhill.

## Physical Description

Cho was described to be an extremely pretty girl with long, shiny dark hair, a freckled nose, and being a head shorter than Harry Potter. For her date with Harry, she tied her hair back into a ponytail, to which he described as very pretty. Because of her beauty, she attracted a considerable amount of male attention during her Hogwarts years, most notably: Cedric Diggory, Roger Davies, Michael Corner, and of course Harry.

### Seventh Year

At the beginning of her seventh and final year at Hogwarts, Cho caught a glimpse of Harry on the Hogwarts Express. She did not speak with him, instead hiding back in her compartment with Marietta Edgecombe. Harry commented that she was the only one not staring at him, he also noticed that her friend Marietta still had the word SNEAK written in pimples on her face.

Harry and Cho had almost no interaction for the rest of the year; according to Harry, they simply '*fell apart*', too embarrassed to even look at one another. That year Harry began dating Ginny Weasley, while Cho dated Michael Corner, who coincidentally had previously dated Ginny and had then offered Cho comfort after their sixth year Quidditch House Cup loss.

Cho did not participate in the battle that took place inside the castle after Death Eaters successfully infiltrated the Hogwarts, as she did not keep her D.A. coin on her person at all times. Cho was also present in the courtyard after Albus Dumbledore died. She and the rest of the students raised their wands as a farewell to their former headmaster. It is possible that Cho attended Dumbledore's funeral with her parents, seeing as she was a Dumbledore supporter and was most likely saddened by his death.

### Battle of Hogwarts

When Hogwarts was attacked, Cho demonstrated her loyalty by reuniting with other members of Dumbledore's Army and joining the final battle against Voldemort and the Death Eaters. She appeared amicable and friendly with Harry. She offered to lead him to the Ravenclaw Common Room in search of Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem. However, in an unwarranted act of jealousy, Ginny Weasley recommended Luna Lovegood to accompany Harry in Cho's place.
Cho was present when Lord Voldemort falsely announced that Harry was dead. During the second stage of the battle Cho and the other defenders of Hogwarts were pushed back into the Great Hall. She witnessed Harry Potter's final defeat Lord Voldemort, thus ending the Second Wizarding War. After the battle, Cho reunited with her freinds. She was seen sitting with Katie Bell, Leanne, and Padma Patil in the aftermath of Lord Voldemort's defeat.

### After Hogwarts

After the end of the Second Wizarding War, Cho later married a Muggle individual. She most likely kept her D.A. coin, as a badge of honour, as did other D.A. members. It can be assumed that she attended the 2014 reunion of Dumbledore's Army.

## Personality

Generally polite, sweet, and well-mannered, Cho was easy to get along with and was a popular student at Hogwarts, with a large group of friends and many boys who admired her for her extreme beauty (including Harry Potter himself).
Having been sorted into Ravenclaw House, Cho was presumably intelligent, enforced by her mastery of all defence magic that Harry taught her, including the Patronus Charm, though she did admit that she was unable to stun anything before Harry taught her. She was also an avid Quidditch fan (having supported the Tutshill Tornados since she was six years old) and a good athlete, playing Seeker for her House's team.
She was also loyal and brave, having been loyal to the Tutshill Tornados for many years as opposed to jumping the bandwagon, joining Dumbledore's Army in defiance with the Ministry both out of support of Harry and in order to avenge the death of her late boyfriend Cedric, sticking up for her friend Marietta when the rest of the group ousted her for her treachery, and returning to Hogwarts in her seventh year in order to fight alongside her comrades and defend the school from Death Eaters.
For the most part, Cho was often found around Hogwarts with a gaggle of girlfriends, though after one of her emotional breakdowns over Cedric's death, they apparently left her during her depression. Despite this, Cho was a very loyal person (perhaps even to a fault); when she and her friend Marietta Edgecombe joined Dumbledore's Army, she insisted on bringing her friend along even when her friend expressed disinterest and cynicism to the club's effects.
Later, even though Marietta eventually sold out the DA to Umbridge and the Ministry of Magic, Cho stood by her and insisted to the accusatory Harry that Marietta was a 'lovely person' who 'just made a mistake'. Her loyalty and courage were shown again when she came back to Hogwarts to fight even after she had graduated, and offered to show Harry up to the Ravenclaw Tower, indicating that she harboured no hard feelings against them despite their previously fallen out romantic relationship.
Cho was perceived by Harry Potter and Ron Weasley to be excessively emotional, though as Hermione stated, much of this characterisation was attributed to her behaviour and actions directly after her boyfriend's death, pushing her way through the trauma and grief that is only observed from the periphery. During her grief, she was prone to many crying spells and a difficult control over her emotions, leading to a prying sort of aggression when she dated Harry to get the details of Cedric's death.
Cho also felt irrational jealousy and paranoia when Harry would bring up Hermione Granger for what Cho saw to be flippant insensitivity from Harry's end. Hermione, for her part, did not seem to blame Cho at all, understanding her grief and depression and stating that it had interfered with many aspects of Cho's life, including Cho's grades and her position on the Quidditch team.
Cho has also said that she and Roger Davies used to date; after Ravenclaw's loss of the House Cup in 1995, Ginny Weasley said that Michael Corner had gone to comfort Cho. Later in life, she married a Muggle.

## Relationships

### Cedric Diggory

In her fifth year, Cho was asked to the Yule Ball by Cedric Diggory, a Hufflepuff student a year above her; the two began dating as late as after this. Because Cho was the person Cedric would miss most, she served as his hostage during the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament. Cho and Cedric also had a date at Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop. Cho was devastated when Cedric was murdered that June.
The following year was very difficult for her; in addition to missing Cedric, she was the subject of gossip regarding her burgeoning romance with Harry Potter, the only witness to Cedric's murder who was widely regarded as being either a liar or a nutter for claiming that Lord Voldemort had returned. Cho's grief and depression led her to almost constantly crying and causing her Quidditch abilities to suffer. This was probably compounded by a lack of closure, as Harry was the only person who knew what had happened to Cedric and did not want to discuss it with Cho.
Given how, in spite of her genuinely intense grief, Cho managed to go on to date others, and eventually married a Muggle after the Second Wizarding War, it can be said that she learned to move on from the pain of losing Cedric.

## Skills & Abilities

* **Flying**: Cho flew excellently, so much so that she was chosen to play the position of Seeker on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. However, Cho's flying skills suffered intensely due to her grief over Cedric's death, to the extent where she was actually afraid she would lose her position on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.
* **Charms**: Cho appeared to be proficient in charm-work, given how in 1996 she learned how to successfully conjure a fully corporeal Patronus in her sixth year, which is a very advanced piece of magic and a sign of superior magical ability and talent. Her Patronus took the form of a swan.
* **Defence Against the Dark Arts**: Considering she trained with the D.A., Cho would have been capable in defensive and offensive magic. However, her track-record with defensive learning spells was uneven, as she struggled to learn the Disarming Charm effectively. She seemed to have improved her abilities based on her fighting in the Battle of Hogwarts against the Death Eaters in 1998, and surviving both the battle and the Second Wizarding War (assuming her survival had not just been owing to simple good luck of course).

## Possessions

* **Wand**: Cho's wand was of unknown length, wood and core material. Like most wizards and witches in Great Britain, she most likely purchased it at the age of eleven from Garrick Ollivander before beginning her education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1990.
* **Dress robes**: Cho wore silver East Asian-style robes to the Yule Ball in 1994, which she attended with Cedric Diggory.

"*It means they're not real fans, they're just jumping on the bandwagon —*"
— Ron regarding Cho's badge[src]

* **Tornados badge**: Cho Chang was a great fan of the Tornados Quidditch team and showed her support by owning and wearing one of their badges.
* **Comet 260**: Cho owned this model of broom and used it while on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. She was seen riding it in her match against Harry Potter in 1994.

## Etymology

* Cho is a common Sinitic and Korean name. Chang is a Chinese family name, depending on the character meaning 'prosperous' [昌], 'common' [常], 'bright' [昶], 'to sing/chant' [唱] or 'unhindered' [暢]. In Chinese, *chóu chàng* [惆悵] means 'melancholy'. This may allude to Cho's fragile emotional state following Cedric Diggory's murder.
* In the Chinese translations of the *Harry Potter* series, the name 'Cho Chang' is translated into 張秋 'Zhāng Qiū' (pronounced 'Jah-ng Chee-oh'; in most Eastern languages, the surname precedes the given name), with 'Zhāng' being a common Chinese surname and the official pinyin transcription of 'Chang', and 'Qiū' meaning 'autumn'. 'Cho Chang' is one possible direct romanisation of 張秋 in Hong Kong, due to its dual Cantonese and British influence (for more on this, see Hong Kong name). Cho Chang is portrayed in the films by Katie Leung, who is of Hong Kong descent and a fluent Cantonese speaker.

## Trivia

* Over 3,000 girls turned up to audition for the role of Cho Chang.
* Cho was portrayed in the fourth, fifth, and sixth films and the two-part film adaptation of *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* by Scottish actress Katie Leung, who portrayed her as a Scot, although this is never mentioned in the books (although it would appear to have been the filmmakers' intent, since during auditions, the casting director specifically asked if any of the auditionees for the role were from Scotland). Katie speaks with a pronounced Glaswegian accent.
* In the film adaptation of *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*, the character of Marietta Edgecombe does not appear, and instead it is Cho who betrays the D.A. under the influence of Veritaserum. This is also the reason for her break-up with Harry in the film, instead of her continuing grief over Cedric Diggory, jealousy of Hermione Granger, and defence of Marietta, as in the book. Harry, Ron, and Hermione don't know this until it is confirmed by Professor Snape.
* In the films, Cho is in the same year as Harry which was first brought up in the film adaptation of *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* (similar changes were made for Romilda Vane and Katie Bell in the film adaptation of *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince*). This explains why she is still at Hogwarts in *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2*. In the books she is a year older than Harry and graduated at the end of the *Half-Blood Prince*.
* Also in the film adaptation of *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*, it was mentioned that Cho's mother worked for the Ministry, whereas in the book it was Marietta's mother that worked for the Ministry. This change was due to Marietta's removal from the film.
* In the film adaptation of *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* Cho appears in several scenes and has no speaking lines in this film.
* Cho's known Quidditch record against Gryffindor is 0-3. This includes two straight defeats playing head to head against Ginny Weasley.
* Cho Chang is well known for being Harry Potter's first crush, first kiss, and first girlfriend in the Harry Potter books and films.
* Ironically, Ginny's first boyfriend, Michael Corner, and Harry's first girlfriend, Cho, begin dating in 1997.
* Katie recently portrayed Cho again, for one of Jessie Cave's Pindippy videos.
* In *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2*, Cho appears as one of the many students of Hogwarts suffering under the Death Eater regime run by Snape and the Carrows. When Harry returns, it seems that all hard feelings about her betrayal of Dumbledore's Army have been forgotten (or forgiven) when she is one of the many people to embrace him. She is also one of the many who stand up for Harry against Pansy Parkinson's claim that they should grab him after Voldemort's ultimatum and is seen with Neville and Seamus receiving instructions from Professor McGonagall to blow up the bridge. Finally, she is seen by Harry recovering from the battle in the Great Hall. They smile at each other.