NAME: Cho Chang
AGE: 23
OCCUPATION: quidditch presenter/author
FACECLAIM: Zhou Jieqiong
“ And if I go out tonight, dress up my fears You think I’ll look alright with these mascara tears? See I’m gonna draw my lipstick wider than my mouth And if the lights are low they’ll never see me frown .” Fake Happy – Paramore
AFTER THE SECOND WIZARDING WAR…
cho chang felt broken long before the end of the second wizarding war. a part of her shattered at the end of her fifth year with the death of cedric, and more and more of her felt like it was chipping away ever since. after cedric she had tried to cling on to harry, only to have that fall apart as well. by the end of the second wizarding war she felt like she had so many pieces of herself she wasn’t quite sure how to put them all together, no idea where she fit in the wizarding world, if she even still fit in it at all.
she spent the first few months after the war isolated, practically locked in her family house and refusing to come out. they might have let her stay in there forever if she wanted, happy their daughter was finally home and safe and not part of some fight, but ultimately she dragged herself out and tried to look for something to do. the first thing she had considered was quidditch. it was one of the few things she really enjoyed back in hogwarts, and she still had a strong love for it. still, despite spending years as the ravenclaw seeker the idea of having to do try outs and get recruited didn’t feel all that appealing to her. she started presenting, mostly small games. it was just meant to be a short job, the sort of place where you started before going somewhere else, but it all blew up and fast. she wasn’t quite sure what did it, her actual presenting, or her looks, after all, her beauty felt like the first thing people wanted to talk about with her. maybe it should have been uncomfortable, letting herself become famous over such a thing, but it felt like a path, a purpose, and cho grabbed onto it and didn’t let go. maybe this was the ticket she needed to put her pieces back together. once interviews started happening people liked her more. she was straightforward, strong, not afraid to voice opinions but kind enough that they could be pushed aside at times, just the sort of person people loved to root for.
she’s only gotten bigger since then. though talk had started about her as soon as she started presenting bigger games, cho’s real boom happened when she released her book, an autobiography of sorts that was definitely dramatized and the public ate it up. something about a girl rocked by the loss of her love and fighting in a war after his death was just the sort of thing people clung onto, and cho has been able to cultivate that image ever since. she is upfront about her opinions, and always seems to have a fighting spirit to her, which people have come to adore. since then people have been jumping to see what cho will do next. there’s talk that she’ll be presenting the next quidditch world championship, and given the opportunity cho will definitely take it but there’s also ideas of her branching out, becoming an actress in theater, doing broadcasting, maybe even going into music, people just want to see her. in reality, cho would mostly like to stick what she’s doing now, to keep quidditch close and still have the public’s eye and ear, maybe write another book if she can find the inspiration.
most days she’s forgotten about the war, which should feel impossible given that she still talks about it frequently. what started as a way to keep living, to stop herself from sitting in her room shaking became a whole other world that she has absolutely thrown herself in. sometimes she gets wrapped up in it, feeling like the vapid materialistic creature that could only come to exist from celebrities and she can keep herself thinking about what clothes to buy and how to look for photographs. when she talks about the war, and people want to hear about it often, it feels far away and different. just like reading a story. she’s compartmentalized her issues to the point where cho sees them as a piece of work sitting outside of herself. she’s taken her pain and fear and trauma and made it a sort of art form people could fall in love with, so much so that she can almost feel the romance in the tragedy as well. sure, she still has nightmares, she doesn’t feel like she knows how to get close to people anymore, and some days just the wrong mention of death will leave her out of breath and panicking, but if the public can love her then she can be fine with it, or at least that’s what she’s convinced herself is the case.
After the Battle of Hogwarts, Cho became something of a celebrity due to her fierce nature and beauty. The articles written in the paper about her often cause Ginny to roll her eyes.
on days when everything feels like a little too much she disappears into muggle london. it isn’t difficult. it’s not like any of the press would think to find her there, and she enjoys her time in muggle shops exploring that world more than she’d ever admit to and keeps a collection of muggle purchases and money stored away where she hopes no one will be able to find them.
she’s been abusing sleeping draughts for a little while now. she still gets nightmares of the war, of cedric, and they’re the only way she seems able to get a nights rest without waking up screaming. she knows she’s taking more than she’s supposed to, but say the right words, flash a pretty smile, and the healers will always give her what she wants. it’s not smart but cho is beyond trying to be smart, she’s mostly just trying to get by.
if you get underneath the press and her image and every other layer she has created around herself her personality is still similar to what she had been like in hogwarts. she is friendly and well-mannered, and loyal to a fault. she doesn’t tolerate blood purists but beyond that it should be easy to get along with her if it weren’t for the fact that there is quite some digging to do before reaching this version of cho.
CHO CHANG IS TAKEN; PENNED BY MEG
