Bio
Character
Name: Cho Chang
Gender: Female
Date of birth: October 17, 1978
(Cho most likely means "Autumn" in Chinese)
House/Year: Ravenclaw Alumna, 1990-1997
Blood status: Pureblood (though not from a wealthy or British line)
Sexuality: Straight
Physical characteristics: There's something about Cho Chang. Cedric knew it. For as oblivious as he is, even Harry knew it. Ginny and Pansy know it (and hate it). She's certainly a pretty girl, but it's more than just that. It may be that she has an exotic appeal. Reflective of her Chinese heritage, her hair is long, black and shiny, and her almond-shaped eyes are brown (though she wishes they were blue, like Roger's). Though, it may also be that she has a certain charm and childlike appeal to her smile. When she laughs, her smile is genuine and it brightens her entire face.
While she is no longer on a quidditch team, she stays in shape, running in the mornings and working out with a team when she can. Despite this, she is really quite petite, standing a full head shorter than Harry. It's the fault of her short torso, really, because she's all leg, like her mother. She isn't gifted in the curves department, particularly up top, and she tends to be a bit self conscious about it.
Appearance means a lot to her, and she's obsessed with maintaining a near perfect image. Her style, like her personalty, is more poised and elegant than flashy or loud. She loves wearing skirts, but she's just as comfortable wearing shorts and an old quidditch shirt. As long as it's a cute, old shirt.
Distant History:
Mei Lin Chang, Cho's mother (b. September 1959), Ravenclaw: Children's book illustrator. A native of Hong Kong, Mei Lin moved to England when she was ten years old.
Wai Hong Chang, Cho 's father (b. 1956) , Gryffindor: Mr. Chang is a small man, but he makes up for his height with enthusiasm and energy. He loves quidditch, (lame) jokes, and rock & roll (especially Stubby Boardman). He runs a Chinese restaurant in Diagon Alley.
Cho is the only child of Wai Hong and Mei Lin Chang. While her parents weren't particularly wealthy, their respective jobs paid well enough to provide security, providing Cho with a safe and happy childhood. She started attending quidditch matches at an early age--four, to be exact. Her dad needed someone to go with, truth be told, because Mei Lin refused since her husband insisted on dressing in costume (as an Arrow). By the age of six, she'd picked out her favourite team, and the Tutshill Tornados are her favourite team to this day. So, it wasn't a surprise when she finally received her Hogwarts letter. She was ready. Ready to play quidditch!
Her early years at Hogwarts were uneventful. She did well in school, made the quidditch team, rarely got into trouble, and made a lot of friends. For her, those years were pretty charmed, the highlight of them all being the Yule Ball and being asked to it by Cedric Diggory. Looking back on it, it's still the highlight of her school years. For all the pain she's suffered since Cedric's death and the war that followed, Cho would never choose to go back in time to change or obliviate and forget. He was her first love, and when he was around he could really make her smile, whether he was searching the school grounds for a four leaf clover or searching the bottom of the school lake for her. He was definitely the person she would miss the most.
When Cedric died, he wasn't going off to war. He was going off to win a prize--for her--but he never came back. His death shook her to the core, nearly crippling her emotionally (at least at first). However, Cho Chang isn't nearly as frail as she appears. That first year was hard, and she cried. A lot. She rebounded to Harry. That relationship failed. She cried some more.
And then she grew up.
She had to. (There was a war going on.) She couldn't cry forever, so she did the next best thing. She learned to fight back--with Dumbledore's Army.
Recent History:
Cho thought she'd be a Professional Quidditch player when she grew up. Truth be told, she probably could have. Her flying had gotten sloppier after Cedric's death, but the muggleborn register had also dried up the pool of potential athletes. Except her heart wasn't in it anymore. To pursue a career in quidditch, however, seemed selfish. Cho wanted to pursue a career that would be beneficial during the war. She had earned enough NEWTs for the Healer Program, so she enrolled at St. Mungo's. She would never be able to go back and save Cedric's life, but maybe with mediwizard or healer training, she could save someone.
As a pureblood, Cho wasn't in any immediate danger. However, she used her connections at St. Mungo's to get medical supplies, which she smuggled into Hogwarts (with the help of the Weasley twins, who she remembered used to smuggle in joke shop products by mail order). She was still dating Michael Corner during this time, so she was worried about him and in as much contact as possible. Because she was with the first group of non-students to respond to Neville's galleon during the last battle, it seems likely that she was familiar with the Hogshead passage.
After the war, she decided to combine her current career with her first love--quidditch--and is now pursuing a career in Sports Healing.
Current employment status: Staff Healer for Puddlemere United. She also writes a monthly column in Quidditch Illustrated that's geered towards children, and she helps out at her mother's shop when she cans. She doesn't get to do that as often as she'd like. Cho likes to shop, but she's not likely to throw her money away on cheap items. She appreciates quality over quantity.
Personality:
Cho is a girl full of contradiction. Although soft spoken and quick to blush, she is not shy. In fact, she is a true social butterfly-sociable, friendly and perfectly pleasant. Most of the time. She's easily swayed by her emotions, which are rooted in a strong sense of duty and justice, and she forgives as easily as she hates. She's fiercely loyal, as demonstrated by her impassioned plea for Marietta's honor. Her fiery temper surfaces when she's defending someone she loves. She wasn't afraid to stand up to Filch when he was rounding on Harry, and she wouldn't back down now. Still, she's not one to start a brawl without provocation or draw attention to herself. That's not to say she doesn't like attention. She does. (No matter how much she protests or blushes.) There's a reason she's drawn to high profile blokes like Cedric and Harry, after all.
She's aware she was one of Hogwarts prettiest and most popular girls. It's a title she feels unworthy of on most days, and yet she also gains a lot of her self-worth from that same knowledge. As a result, she's spent most of her life being exactly what everyone wants her to be, and she forgets--or doesn't know--what she really likes. Now that she's away from Hogwarts and there's less pressure to be "cool", she's beginning to discover more about herself. For one, she loves to dance outside in the rain (when no one is watching)--barefoot with mud wedged between her toes and her hair wild and tangled. Still, she finds it difficult to stop caring about what's accepted and that's not going to change completely overnight. For Cho, it's a complicated, social balancing act. Motivated by a desire to be well loved, she'll be friendly to nearly anyone, and yet still feel the need to hide her more embarrassing hobbies and friends.She can also be critical of other people (though never to their faces), especially to those that don't seem to care about appearances or those that try just a little too hard. (The best flatmate for Cho would be someone stubborn/persistant enough to encourage her not care what other people think.)
And yet, Cho Chang is an Open Book, not that she means to be, of course, but everyone knows her story. Maybe it's because she's often in the public eye, or maybe it's because she wears her heart on her sleeve. She didn't talk a lot about her feelings when Cedric died--save to a few close friends--but she didn't need to. Aside from the (silent) tears, both her schoolwork and quidditch suffered that year, saying more than she ever could.
As a flatmate, Cho would be mostly pleasant. She cleans up after herself--at least at first glance. If you look in her closet, you'll see it's a disaster. Stay out of her desk drawers and under her bed, too. They're a mess. Everything visible is tidy, though. Don't worry--she'd be respectful of common areas. Again, it's all about appearances. Since her dad is a good cook, Cho has learned some of the basics from him. While not a culinary expert, she can manage not to burn toast. While she does spend a great deal of time reading, she is quite chatty, so if her flatmates need a lot of alone time, they might find her kind of pesky. She can be really silly, especially late at night when she's tired, but usually only around close friends. She's an extrovert, though not an extreme one. If she considers the flatmate a close friend, she'll want to talk about feelings a lot, and she relies on emotion rather than logic in arguments. Her feelings do get hurt quite often, but she gets over things easily, too.
She doesn't like know-it-alls.
Oh, and she likes just a little coffee with her cream.