Chapter One- The Introduction

She had been in tears, when it ended, nearly four years ago. She sat in the Hogwarts Express with the train heading the wrong way- towards the Muggle world and away from her home, Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was one of the saddest days of her life, surrounded by her closest Ravenclaw friends, all laughing, and reminiscing, and crying along with her. Overcome with emotion, she wandered up and down the hallway of the train, peering in to each separate compartment to watch over her fellow Hogwarts alumni and students who would be returning come next fall. She sat in a forlorn state, depressed beyond all means, when the train finally came to a halt.

She tried to cheer herself up. "Harry bought me that beautiful owl," she told herself, referring to a beautiful brown and white spotted owl he had bought for her for Christmas. They had been dating, then. Her chocolate eyes welled up with tears at the thought that she would not see Harry on a daily basis again. "Oh, we've broken up," she tried to scold herself for her pathetic behavior.

She gave another stab at brightening her mood. "You-Know-Who has fallen from power," she gave herself a watery grin, but she knew that this wouldn't cheer her mood. Harry had toiled forever and had finally found Lord Voldemort and destroyed him. 'Hopefully,' she added as a side note in her mind.

And soon they were getting off of the train, exiting through Platform Nine-and-three-quarters. She clung for as long as she could on to her best friends, the ones she might have never seen again, before giving a somewhat cheerful wave in Harry's direction. Her mother gave her an impatient look, and she walked towards her, lower lip trembling dangerously. She sobbed during the entire car ride home.

Now look at the girl.

Cho Chang was an Auror; her ex-boyfriend's contagious interest in the career had gotten to her. Aurors were usually stand-alone agents, preferring to work by themselves on missions than work side-by-side. She never really came in contact with any other Aurors, and if she did, she didn't know their true profession. It wasn't exactly the best thing to go about and tell people that you were an Auror and went around catching dark wizards and witches when the person you were talking to might betray you at one point. Cho usually lied and told others that she was a lesser-known dressmaker. (She did indeed, at times, make her own dresses when she knew that her envisioned dress was very specific and only she could bring it to life.)

She lived alone in a London apartment only two blocks down from the Leaky Cauldron Pub, right within running distance of the Wizarding world. Cho had always lived in between the worlds, somewhat, with her father being a wizard and her mother being a Muggle. She had two bank accounts in her name- number 694 at Gringotts and another one at HSBC UK where she kept her Muggle money. This she could attain through converting several Galleons to pounds at Gringotts (which was a long and terribly boring service) or through having several "odds-and-ends" jobs around London.

Cho wasn't frightened or confused by Muggle affairs, being half-blooded. Nor was she confused by Wizarding affairs. She always had considered herself a witch first and foremost, however. An Animagus was her second identity, and she was able to transform in to a rat at will. Now, with the ability to turn in to a rat, she might sound a bit sneaky or dishonest. This wasn't true at all. She actually found her Animagus ability quite useful as an Auror, able to sneak about and do all sorts of clever things rats can do that many other animals couldn't.

Currently, our heroine was in her Animagus form, as a rat. She was scuttling along some pipe in a London sewer, feeling incredibly disgusted with herself along with afraid for her life. She was fleeing some mission-gone-wrong, only the second time it had happened to her. A certain witch had found out the 'pleasures' of the Cruciatus Curse, and had gone a little cuckoo in the London Underground. Cho had some issues handling it, with all the people about, but thought that she had gotten it under control. Thinking it a fine idea to just creep underground the way home as a rat, she had Animagusized herself out, scuttling along the pipes along the wall. Now thoroughly regretting her once-brilliant idea, she was relieved when she finally made it in to her apartment building, transforming in the dumpster area. Her clothes were grimy and disgusting (not to mention her hair!) and Cho just wanted to take a shower.

Smiling weakly at the befuddled doorman (she always looked well-dressed!); Cho ascended three flights of stairs up to her door and unlocked it with an "alohomora." Feeling too disgusting to do anything else, she bee-lined to a marble bathroom. Her apartment wasn't huge, but it fit her interests nicely. It was the perfect size for two or three people, in her opinion, although she lived in it alone. She showered quickly, heaving a sigh of relief when she finally scrubbed some shampoo in to her atrocious hair.

Thirty minutes later, everything was as Cho wished it to be. Her disgusting clothes were in her washer, a kettle was on the stove, she was curled up on a plush sofa reading the Daily Prophet, Gavyn, her owl, perched on the armrest beside her. A distinct whistling came from the kitchen, and she got up to fetch the tea off the stove. She poured herself a cup, generously helping herself to some honey, and imbibed the tea. She was an English girl at heart, she decided, as she rummaged around in a drawer for some biscuits.

Tossing a biscuit to Gavyn (who caught it midair); Cho sat once more on her sofa, flipping through the pages of the newspaper. She sighed drowsily, deciding to head off for bed. Dumping her mug in to the kitchen sink, she quickly brushed her teeth before settling down beneath her fluffed covers. Her last couple of thoughts before finally drifting to bed was that she should write a letter to Marietta.