Cho Chang

Cho Chang (born c. 1978 or 1979) was a student at Hogwarts who sorted into Ravenclaw House. She was a Seeker for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team and Harry Potter's first girlfriend.

Fourth Year
Harry Potter first met Cho, who was a year above him at Hogwarts, in his third year during a Gryffindor-Ravenclaw Quidditch match, in which Cho and Harry were playing Seeker against each other. He noticed she was very pretty and she made his stomach "feel funny". The only other notable interaction between them that year occurred when Cho wished Harry good luck before the Quidditch match against Slytherin and Harry went bright red.

Fifth Year


During Harry's fourth year, his crush on Cho developed further. They exchanged greetings at the Quidditch World Cup, and he later worked up his courage to ask her to be his date to the Yule Ball. However, Cedric Diggory, one of the other champions of the Triwizard Tournament, had already asked Cho to go with him, and the two soon ended up dating. Nonetheless, Cho was still kind to Harry - for example, she refused to wear one of Draco Malfoy's "Support Cedric Diggory/Potter Stinks" badges, a fact for which Harry was grateful. Cho was Cedric's "hostage" during the Tournament's Second Task; 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.

Sixth Year
"Obviously, she is feeling very sad, because of Cedric dying. Then I expect she's feeling confused because she liked Cedric and now she likes Harry, and she can't work out who she likes best. Then she'll be feeling guilty, thinking it's an insult to Cedric's memory to be kissing Harry at all... And she probably can't work out what her feelings are towards Harry anyway, because he was the one who was with Cedric when Cedric died, so that's all very mixed up and painful."

- Hermione Granger on Cho

At the beginning of Harry's fifth year, Cho surprised him by seeking him out several times and attempting to have a conversation. Unfortunately for Harry, these encounters did not go well. The first time, she found him covered with Stinksap that was accidentally let off by Neville Longbottom's Mimbulus Mimbletonia, and the second time she tried to talk with Harry, she ended up arguing with Ron Weasley about Quidditch teams. On the third try, when she happened to enter the Owlery while Harry was there, she defended Harry 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. She also brought her friend and fellow Ravenclaw Marietta Edgecombe along, despite the other girl's reluctance. Cho joined because she was determined to fight against Voldemort after what happened to Cedric in the previous year. As a D.A. student, however, she had her ups and downs. At first, she got nervous and performed her spells poorly whenever Harry was nearby; later, though, she was able to conjure a corporeal Patronus in the shape of a swan.

Cho initiated a kiss with Harry under some mistletoe shortly before Christmas after a D.A. session, and on Valentine's Day they went on a date in the wizarding village of Hogsmeade. However, Cho's grief over Cedric's death, her ill-founded jealousy over Harry's friendship with Hermione (who, ironically, tried to advise Harry on how to handle girls), and Harry's overall inexperience with girls soured the experience.



When Marietta betrayed the D.A. to Umbridge, she 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 and they cannot be removed. When Harry scorned Marietta for the betrayal and Cho defended her, irate at what she considers Hermione's "horrible trick", Harry and Cho's relationship went downhill.

Seventh Year


Harry caught a glimpse of Cho during the ride to Hogwarts on the Hogwarts Express at the begining of the her seventh year, but she hid back in her compartment with Marietta. Harry later mentioned in a conversation with Ron that the two of them just "fell apart". That year, Harry began dating Ginny Weasley while Cho dated Michael Corner, who ironically had previously dated Ginny.

After Hogwarts
Despite a soured romantic relationship with Harry, Cho demonstrated her loyalty by reuniting with other members of Dumbledore's Army to join the 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. She seemed disappointed when this was fiercely denied by Ginny, which indicates that she has no hard feelings for Harry anymore.

Cho later married a Muggle.

Behind the scenes

 * Cho was portrayed in the fourth and fifth films by Scottish actress Katie Leung, who portrayed her as a Scot, although this is never mentioned in the books.
 * In one scene of Order of the Phoenix, Cho asks Harry if he remembers playing Quidditch against her in "the third year"; her use of the article "the" implies that the pair are in the same year. But in Prisoner of Azkaban, it is established that Cho is a year above Harry.
 * While her blood status is never stated, she claimed to have been a Quidditch fan since she was six, implying that she is not Muggle-born.