Cho Chang

**Cho Chang** (born 14 May, 1979) was a Scottish half-blood witch who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1 September, 1990 to June of 1997. She was a Seeker for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team and a popular student. In Cho's fifth year, she began dating Cedric Diggory while he was a Champion in the Triwizard Tournament. Cedric became one of the first casualties of the Second Wizarding War. 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.

## Biography

### Early life

Cho Chang was born on 14 May, 1979, in Linlithgow, West Lothian, Scotland. Her father was an English wizard and her mother was a Scottish witch. She became a great Quidditch fan at the age of six, and cheered for the Tutshill Tornados, which her father had supported in his childhood, too. Mrs. Chang worked for the Ministry of Magic, and Mr. Chang stayed at home. He was the grandson of Gyeong Chang, who was son of the first members of the Chang family to settle in Britain. Gyeong Chang had been an Auror, and thus the Chang family had a long history of serving the British Ministry of Magic.

### Hogwarts years

On 1 September, 1990, at the age of eleven, Cho began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was Sorted into Ravenclaw house. She soon tried out for her house Quidditch team in her third year, and attained the position of Seeker. She became friends with fellow Ravenclaw Marietta Edgecombe. She owned a Comet 260 broomstick.

#### Fourth year (1993-1994)

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 (1994-1995)

**Harry Potter**: "*I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to go to the ball with me...*"
**Cho**: "*Oh. Harry, I'm sorry but someone's already asked me. And well, I've, I've said I'll go with him.*"
— Harry asks Cho to the Yule Ball
On 25 August 1994, Cho went to the Quidditch World Cup Finals, presumably with her family. While there, she exchanged greetings with Harry Potter, whom 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 soon began 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 (1995-1996)

**Harry Potter**: "*Look, let's not talk about Cedric right now... let's talk about something else.*"
**Cho**: "*I thought, I thought you'd u-u-understand! I need to talk about it! Surely you n-need to talk about it too! I mean, you saw it happen, d-didn't you?*"
— Cho's need for closure in regards to Cedric's death
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 mom'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.

#### Seventh year (1996-1997)

**Ron Weasley**: "*Michael — but — But you were going out with him!*"
**Ginny Weasley**: "*Not anymore. He didn't like Gryffindor beating Ravenclaw at Quidditch and got really sulky, so I ditched him and he ran off to comfort Cho instead.*"
— Harry, Ron, and Ginny discussing Cho dating Michael Corner
At the beginning of her seventh and final 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.

### After Hogwarts (1997-)

**Cho**: "*If you'd like to see what the diadem's supposed to look like, I could take you up to our common room and show you, Harry. Ravenclaw's wearing it in her statue.*"
**Ginny Weasley** : "*No, Luna will take Harry, won't you, Luna?*"
— Cho offers to help Harry during the Battle of Hogwarts
Cho demonstrated her loyalty by reuniting with other members of Dumbledore's Army to join the final battle against Voldemort and the Death Eaters when they attacked Hogwarts. She appeared amicable and friendly with Harry, offering 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 fought in the Battle of Hogwarts and survived the war, reuniting with Katie Bell, Leanne, and Padma Patil in the aftermath of Lord Voldemort's defeat.

## Physical Appearance

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. 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.

## Personality and Traits

**Ron Weasley**: "*You're well out of it, mate. I mean, she's quite good-looking and all that, but you want someone a bit more cheerful.*"
**Harry Potter**: "*She's probably cheerful enough with someone else.*"
— Ron Weasley and Harry Potter discussing Cho
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, and also the irrational jealousy and paranoia that ensued 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.

## Magical Abilities and Skills

* **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 was shown to be highly proficient in charm-work. 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 proficient in defensive and offensive magic, her skills furthered by the fact she fought in and survived the Battle of Hogwarts, showing that she was a highly skilled and accomplished duellist, to have survived such a bloody conflict. However, her track-record with defensive learning spells was uneven, as she struggled to learn the Disarming Charm effectively. Given that she later survived the Second Wizarding War,​​​​ though, it is likely that her fighting abilities had improved since then (assuming her survival had not just been owing to simple good luck of course).

## 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, *chóuchàng* [惆悵] means “melancholy”. This may allude to Cho's fragile emotional state following Cedric Diggory's murder. It is, however, unlikely since 惆 is not a surname.