Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cho Chang is just one witch in a society on the brink of war. Her parents are worried. Her friend is scared. Cho mourns for living and grieves for the future. The witch isn’t happy about her life right now and she must survive, if not for herself, then for others. She always was a clever girl. Little Ravenclaws and pretty Quidditch Seekers can take action too. Cho shakes off being the romantic write-off of boys and rises as a steadfast and determined individual.

Unspeakables have access to the darkest secrets of the Ministry and of magic itself. A few strategic conversations later, Cho is the newest hire. It helps of course, that she is a brilliant researcher and skilled in magic beyond that average Hogwarts graduate. She begins work immediately, taking in everything she can. She knows time is running short and she needs answers.

Cho gets a small flat in a muggle complex a few streets away from Diagon Alley. Her wards keep her safe and her secrets safer. A few lucky muggleborns escape with her help, fleeing to safer shores. A few months later, Cho must prove her loyalty to the new regime. Magic is Might. Her blood is pure and her magic even purer in its vivisecting execution. She feels chilled to her soul and no evanesco can Vanish this guilt away.

The war is subtler than she expects, less overt than she anticipated. Secret radio broadcasts remind her to keep going, to keep saving who she can. Every conversation could be monitored, doublespeak, hidden meanings. Her work drags her deeper into twisted ingenuity. Lives become numbers and her balance rarely favors those she intended to help. If only life was simpler, if only, if only.

Now each research project comes with another sacrifice, another piece of her sweetness gone. Will she still smile when this is over? Cho rises to each challenge. She has to. No matter the deaths that haunt her, no matter the pain and suffering. She must continue. Cho stumbles, she falls, but she moves past the sorrow. Maybe one day she can pick up all her missing pieces but for today she must simply survive.

Voldemort falls and Cho takes a deep breath. Is this what success feels like? She mingles with the remaining members of Dumbledore’s Army, reveling in the feeling of camaraderie and life. Too many were lost, and too many have died but she is here and Hogwarts is here and perhaps everything will be okay once more.

Yet, the death of one powerful man does not fix the systematic problems of a society. Not everything is okay. Cho doesn’t think there really ever was an okay, just her childish naivety and the illusions of magic. She is alive though, and she will not let her tears go to waste.

Children die so easily. Cho has come to acknowledge this as fact. People die. Everything dies. For all her skill in magic, she cannot bring back the dead and she cannot let herself relax. She is fixated on the pursuit of knowledge and she doesn't know how to stop. Marietta wants her to take a break, to come home at a more reasonable hour, to open up once more. Her parents want her to start a family of her own. Cho can barely manage to feed herself, let alone acknowledge that somewhere along the line of magical research she forgot that some boundaries weren’t meant to be crossed.

For all her intrapersonal emotions, Cho isn’t so great at picking up the suffering of those around her. Perhaps she’s become numb to the pain of others? Everyone seems to be in pain these days. Healing is so much harder than harming. Cho loses her parents first. While pureblooded, her parents were never quite as good at defense as she was. Too trusting, too forgiving, too quick to believe in those who turn over a new leaf. “A lone Death Eater” states the Auror, as if that explains everything. The war was over, so why did her parents have to die? The last thing she said to her mother was that she needed space. Cho has too much space now. She is so cold and so tired.

Marietta goes next. She couldn’t keep being the light in Cho’s life and the darling her parents wanted. She never was as hardy as Cho in weathering harsh words. Marietta’s parents mysteriously die in a freak Floo accident some months after Cho finds Marietta collapsed on the sofa, vials carelessly dropped from her small hands, never to awaken again. Unspeakable Chang was accounted for at the time, however, and her wand is clean of any foul play. What an unfortunate death for such a good family. The Edgecombe line is gone, just like so many other pureblood lines. What the war didn’t cull, the aftershocks do.

Cho is a witch of her own making. She is more than a hero’s love interest, more than a tragic figure. Wit beyond measure, her own greatest treasure. Cho is a witch going places, with tears for futures lost and the grit to keep on going. She doesn’t know how to stop after all.

Chapter Text

Names

Qiū, 秋. A name from her mother, the duality of autumn - life and death.
Zhāng, 張. A name from her father, a third son who carried a third most common name to a new country.
Cho Chang. A name for a schoolgirl full of hopes and dreams.
Chóuchàng, 惆悵, melancholy. A name for what she too often becomes.

Correspondence 

FOR UNSPEAKABLE TOAD’S EYES ONLY 06/04/2000

PROGRESS NOTES: Clinical Interview
Name: Unspeakable Butterfly
DOB: 02/04/1979
DOE: 04/04/2000

REASON FOR REPORT: As agreed upon under Shacklebolt's new requirements, all Unspeakables must have annual check-ins with a medical professional. Unspeakable Butterfly was informed of the nature and purpose of the evaluation and limits of confidentiality proper to the clinical interview and administration of neuropsychological tests. The subject is 21 years old, left-handed, and pure-blood.

CURRENT COMPLAINTS: Butterfly reported feeling "too much, and not enough." The subject acknowledged anxiety and regrets loved ones as a result of the war.

RELEVANT MEDICAL HISTORY: Developmental milestones were met early for walking, talking and toilet training. All other medical histories normal.

RELEVANT PSYCHIATRIC HISTORY: At age 15, Butterfly experienced particularly significant suicidal ideation and an attempt that did not lead to hospitalization. Butterfly has not experienced counseling of any kind. The subject noted the deaths of their loved ones as highly trauma first being one Mr. Cedric Diggory at age 15, their parents at age 18, and one Ms. Marietta Edgecombe just 3 months ago. Butterfly has never been prescribed any psychiatric potions.

PSYCHOSOCIAL HISTORY: Butterfly was raised in Dundee, Scotland by their parents as an only child. The patient is living in a flat in muggle London. The subject has some difficulty with daily living activities as up until 3 months ago they cohabitated with Ms. Marietta Edgecombe.

EDUCATIONAL/OCCUPATIONAL HISTORY: Butterfly received Os throughout their schooling. The subject attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was a Prefect from 5th year onwards. They were on their House Quidditch team from 2nd year onwards, serving as Captain their 7th year. Since graduation, Butterfly has worked Department of Mysteries as an Unspeakable.

SUBSTANCE USE: Butterfly first drank alcohol as a teen, and drinks regularly, typically consisting of 2 shots of Firewhisky a night. All other substance use/abuse was denied.

MEDICATION: None.

BEHAVIORAL OBSERVATIONS: Butterfly arrived on time for the appointment and was unaccompanied. The subject presented as a well-groomed individual who was underweight. Gait, posture, and balance appeared normal. The subject's speech was rapid, with low volume and normal prosody. Butterfly was articulate when responding to questions. No semantic substitutions or paraphasia.

Butterfly should be continually observed as their primary research during the reign of Dark Lord has since been deemed excessive and unnecessary. It should be noted that the subject demonstrated interest towards their methods of investigation, particularly vivisection and invasive neurosurgical practices in determining the connection between the soul and magic. Further testing should be concluded on additional days as the subject expressed differing accounts of their actions during the war from the official reports including contradicting timeframes.

ADDITIONAL NOTES: Toad, I strongly suggest that Unspeakable Butterfly takes a paid holiday. They are showing signs of overworking to the point of obsession. I worry that the subject may delve too deeply into their research.
-Raven

FOR UNSPEAKABLE RAVEN'S EYES ONLY 07/04/2000
After examining your report and observing Butterfly in action I am transferring them to a new department.
-Toad

FOR UNSPEAKABLE TOAD'S EYES ONLY 08/04/2000
From further observation, Butterfly showed signs of severe isolation. Should we reconsider altering the rules of silence between Unspeakables and the matters of their research?
-Raven

FOR UNSPEAKABLE RAVEN'S EYES ONLY 09/04/2000
Butterfly seems fine. They are fine in the Hall of Prophecy. Reorganisation can be considered with the next round of evaluations.
-Toad

 

FOR UNSPEAKABLE RAVEN'S EYES ONLY 27/02/2001Butterfly has been transferred to the Space Chamber. Their performance in the Hall of Prophecy was adequate and they have requested to have more active work.
-Toad

FOR UNSPEAKABLE TOAD'S EYES ONLY 04/04/2001
Unspeakable Butterfly didn't show up for their evaluation.
-Raven

FOR UNSPEAKABLE RAVEN'S EYES ONLY 04/04/2001
Try owl, then floo.
-Toad

FOR UNSPEAKABLE TOAD'S EYES ONLY 04/04/2001
They’re gone.
-Raven

FOR UNSPEAKABLE EYES ONLY 06/04/2001
This is a reminder that all Unspeakables must attend their annual medical check-ins, be it with a mediwitch or mediwizard or healer of psychiatric focus. Currently, Unspeakable Butterfly is missing - report any relevant information to Toad.

Bingo Book of Hidden Leaf Village

Name: Qiū, 秋

Known Aliases: Cho

Affiliation: Akatsuki

Bounty: 400,000 Ryo

Threat Assessment: B

Known Abilities: Rumored Bloodline Limit, seals, ninjutsu

Notes: Close with Konan (also of Akatsuki), rarely without another member of the Akatsuki.

She doesn’t know how to stop. That’s how Cho always ends up in these messes.

The melancholy of Zhāng Qiū, or, the witch is non-stop.

Chapter Text

Unspeakable Butterfly is called to speak with Unspeakable Gerbil. Their co-worker is using a shrunken head from a recent experiment as a paperweight, for once fully showing what they do with their research. Butterfly doesn’t trust themself to touch any of the items in the office. Unspeakable Gerbil likes Human Transfiguration. A lot.

Cho’s just doing her job. She tries to help Hogwarts students escape and is still a tertiary member of Dumbledore’s Army. She’s just doing her job. Work is hard to come by and International Borders are closed against emigrants from magical Britain. She’s just doing her job.

Unspeakable Butterfly is a newer recruit and must share their lab with others. Some of the research here still has legitimate magical purposes. Others are more racial in nature, meant to advance the might of magic, the reign of Voldemort He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Forced sterilization. War-injury experimentation. Potions testing.

Cho’s just doing her job. She gets a raise for her work with werewolves. She doesn’t think about Professor Lupin. She can’t. She’s just doing her job. Marietta assists with monitoring muggle areas for magic. She’s just doing her job too.

Unspeakable Butterfly has steady hands and clean knifework. They are gifted with new research subjects. After initial trials, Unspeakable Butterfly designs a spell that will monitor sensory information and other vitals of the subject so the vivisection can be conducted with anesthesia.

When she was little, Qiū wanted to be a Quidditch player. Then, she wanted to be a Medi-Witch. After her O.W.L.s, Cho wanted to pursue a Charms Mastery. Now, she just wants to do her job and go back to sleep.

Unspeakable Butterfly is pardoned for their actions under Voldemort's reign.

Like many others, Cho is left feeling lost after the war. What does she do now? Who is she?

Unspeakable Butterfly is perfectly fine, no matter what Unspeakable Raven might think. Personal lives don’t intersect with professional ones. Unspeakable Butterfly is just fine.

Cho is not fine

Cho is brought to the leaders of a suspicious organization. She’s relying on a translation spell and her ability to improvise. She’s clearly an outsider and knows nothing of the laws and culture of the surrounding area. It’s Japan, but not. It’s muggle, but not. There’s no magic, but something else is there, weighing down upon her.

Prospective Akatsuki Member Qiū is tired and done with the weather changes on this continent. Nothing makes sense and everything hurts and she can’t leave because she doesn’t know anything. Apparently Orochimaru, a previous member, recently escaped and has put the Akatsuki in need of a replacement researcher and field medic.

Cho is treated kindly by Konan, observed by Pain, and watched by Itachi. She’s kept close to the trio and the witch isn’t given any free time to escape. Itachi is told to demonstrate some of his skills to the witch. Cho certainly isn’t going to escape now. At least she still has her wand.

Prospective Akatsuki Member Qiū joins Konan on a recruiting trip. They’re followed by Kakuzu and Itachi. Hidan compares them to a band. Apparently, she’s gloomy and could play the bass. Such a far cry from popular sweet Cho, Quidditch star, and Ravenclaw Prefect.

Cho somehow gains Konan’s trust. Perhaps the other woman was simply lonely? Konan co-leads a village and a terrorist organization. Cho should be figuring out ways to exploit her weaknesses and escape. The witch should take advantage of her situation.

Akatsuki Member Qiū claims the ring from Orochimaru, narrowly avoiding death by a giant snake. She’s no longer a prospective member, she’s a full-fledged dangerous criminal.

Cho’s starting to remember what she was before this. What she was before Akatsuki. She knew she was different, she knew she was a witch, she knew bad things had happened. However, she wasn’t prepared for the night terrors, the confusing dreams, the flashbacks to starkly lit laboratories and the screams of children. What has she done?

Akatsuki Member Qiū is a floating member of the group. She’s not the best fighter. She doesn’t have a spy network. She’s not immortal. Qiū is tangible. She’s present and she’s alive, for whatever that means. She doesn’t live for art, for money, or for a god. Qiū isn’t thriving but she’ll get through this. She has to.

Cho doesn’t like fighting. The simple Stunning Spell, Stupefy, used to be one of her weakest spells - the young witch simply lacking the intent to harm others. She brings her intellect, gentleness, and loyalty to Dumbledore’s Army instead.

Akatsuki Member Qiū is in a Bingo Book. According to Kakuzu, she’s actually in 5 Bingo Books. She’s never been this infamous before. Once, the Toad Sage tries to overpower her, thinking her the weak link of the group. She isn’t. Swans bite back.

Cho’s used to being left behind. Her natural gifts and talents can’t hold people close, can’t keep people alive. Cedric dies. Her popularity dies. Marietta stays, bitter and scared, but then she’s gone too. Her parents die. Her research dies.

Qiū fights to live. Cho doesn’t.

Aujourd’hui, Cho est morte.

Chapter Text

Trauma does not excuse one's behavior. The trauma of others does not and will not invalidate your own. Cho finds that these concepts are hard for people to grasp, bitter pills that no one likes to swallow. Dumbledore’s Army found it just to permanently scar and abandon a girl forced to betray them by Veritasium, a literal truth potion, regardless of her overall kind and supportive character. Cho’s tears were seen as a weakness, as a personal failing and her need to talk about Cedric a nonentity, insignificant. For all that the mind mattered in magic, it seemed like the magical world saw little importance in treating trauma.

Abuse is not and will not be excusable. At the same time, a bad childhood does not excuse future actions. A good childhood does not ensure future directions. An individual is a result of many things, some traits innate, others learned. A human is different than the sum of their parts, not greater, nor less. Cho has seen heroes rise and villains fall. She has stood aside, a supporting character in her own life, her narrative arcs circling around the stories of men and prophecized journies. The witch has been complicit in harm, in perpetuating ideas she did not believe in. She has had to choose who lives and who dies, who has a chance to escape and who must suffer.

She will not forget their faces. She cannot. There are so many faces that they blend together now, swallowing one another in a myriad of emotions, of mistakes. Cho feels like a walking contradiction. Who is she to spout philosophy? Why is her worldview important? Magic is Might. Peace through Pain. Cho has traded one unflexible dogma for another.

She is supposed to be intelligent and wise, is she not?

It is easy to slip back into bad habits. It is like falling into grey, into nothingness. Cho stops feeling too much to instead feel nothing. The witch will never be a killer like Hidan, who kills for his hedonistic god, or Kakuzu, who kills for money and power. She is different than Deidara and his mad bombing sprees, Zetsu with his carnage, and Tobi with his games. Cho does not embody monsters like Orochimaru or Kisame. She is not driven by a philosophy, like Sasori, Itachi, or even Konan.

Cho is not a natural killer. A long time ago, she could barely cast a simple stunning spell, let alone more macabre curses. She knows how to now, an intellectual curiosity turned rote practice under orders. Through it all, her Patronus is still a swan. What does this say about her?

She struggles between her head and her heart. Does she follow her intuition or her logic? Neither are full-proof, and it seems like whatever decision she makes comes with regrets. Even not choosing is a choice, and it comes with consequences as well. If she leaves, where will she go? If she stays, how long will she be able to survive?

So many choices, so little time. Magic gives her some advantage here, but ninjas beat her physically, their years of chakra and strength training easily outpacing her more passive form. The witch did not reveal all her tricks to the Akatsuki, but if Pain could know of her space-time travel before she did, can she really say she has an advantage over them? It would come to trained killers taught under a militaristic government versus a trained researcher from an archaic government.

So many choices.

Chapter Text

Enough prologue, we have a concept of who Cho is by now, yes? She’s a troubled woman in the midst of darkness. This isn't the story of a pure innocent girl falling into darkness with evil being her downfall. Instead, this is a story of an adult who's made decisions, many of which she regrets, but she keeps going. She survives. She learns. She moves on.

Admittedly the witch has a lot of issues. For as much as she likes plans and sorting out to-do lists, she's also impulsive. Cho tends to fly into things heads first without a care for consequences. As a Seeker, this technique was fine. It won Ravenclaw some games and won Cho the admiration of her peers. However, the witch can be permanently affected by decisions she makes now, in a life or death sort of way, as opposed to a teen drama sort of way.

These past 5 years have been a series of struggles for Cho. My, that's a long time to be holding on to stress. No wonder she's exhausted!

Here's what we know. Cho Chang loved some boys. She loved a girl. She lost those she loved, some through war, others from the aftershocks of the war. The witch was left alone and spent too much time trying to evoke some sort of personal meaning by being successful at research, as opposed to, you know, healing, and other nice things. Overworking oneself is not the worst, nor the most unusual coping mechanism as it works for a bit. In fact, it worked quite well for Cho, until it didn't.

Cho makes a few too many mistakes in front of the wrong (or is it right?) people so she’s on track for a government mandated vacation...then she slips and falls into a new world.

She keeps slipping.

Cho will keep on slipping until satisfaction arrives.

Chapter Text

The first thing Cho learns about this new world is violence. A terrifying individual attacks her, for what reason she doesn't know, and so startled and disoriented, the witch can't react in time to save herself. She's a bit ashamed of herself, as what's the point of her night terrors and continued paranoia if she can't handle the unexpected?

She had been going about her business, trying to figure out what was going on, following Unspeakable protocol to stave off the impending anxiety attack. Cho knew she could resist many mental intrusions, from imperio to legilimens. Where was she? When was she? Who was she? Deep breaths. In, and out. In, and out.

The witch had cast tempus but to her confusion, she received a series of floating words declaring her location and time unknown. With this level of ambiguity, the witch couldn’t Apparate or Portkey away. Floos were out of the question too, as she was surrounded by a forest full of flora she didn't recognize.

After she had attempted to identify her mental, physical, and environmental states, the witch determined that it was best to try and adapt to her situation. Clothes were first since she was sweltering in her navy blue woolen work robes. Her heels were replaced with combat boots, her underthings shortened for breathability, and her robes replaced by a simple outfit of brown culottes and an olive oxford shirt. It was a bit masculine for her tastes, but the emphasis was on practicality, not fashion. Thank Morgana for Transfiguration!

By going about her business, Cho meant that she had been examining the location where she awoke, looking for magical residue or other signs of information regarding her situation and compiling a mental list of her observations.

1. Her last location was likely at work, probably the Space Chamber
2. Physically she appeared to be functioning as normal
3. The current date and location were unknown though the sunlight and shadows suggested mid-morning hours
4. She needed information without breaking the International Statute of Secrecy
5. She needed to find shelter, food, and water, though aguamenti could prevent dehydration

Cho is interrupted before she can continue her list by a rude sounding voice. She can’t understand the language but the tone seems aggressive. She responds to where she thinks the voice came from in English but receives no comprehensible response. The witch’s primary language is English, with some ability in Mandarin, Latin, French, and Elder Futhark. That she can’t recognize this language means she’s truly out of her comfort zone.

Cho feels an intense pressure where she stands as if she is trapped and cannot move. Her wand is tucked under her sleeve but she doesn’t want to draw attention to it. The witch still can’t see wherever the voice is coming from, though it sounds like a person is steadily approaching her, eyeing her with an uncomfortable level of curiosity. She would really like to be at work right now, or even better, at home in bed. This steady pressure makes her feel like she’s going to die and isn’t that unfortunate? To die without even understanding why?

Her whole body is still except for minute twitches. As Cho stands there, waiting, being watched, she’s struck by inspiration. Before she’d been moved away from the Room of Discovery the witch had been working on a new spell. While spell creation was risky, the rewards could also be great. Cho had been working on creating a general translation charm as a side project. She hadn't found an existing translation charm for spoken language to English when she'd first considered the concept. She theorized it was because, excluding the few old Pureblood families who emphasized the old languages, immigrant families, or the small number of Ministry Employees who worked in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, Magical Britain was isolationist and disinterested in foreign languages. She hadn't completed her practical application tests yet, but she’d felt confident in her calculations at the time.

No time like the present, right? Perhaps if she can understand and communicate with this stranger, a further conflict could be avoided. Her initial research had involved examining older spells, ones that focused on finding hidden things or that had anything to do with language, written or spoken. She found that aparecium or specialis revelio were both Revealing Charms that could be used to reveal almost all hidden things, including hidden writing. The wand movements for specialis revelio with an additional flick became her basic wand casting configuration after many Arithmancy calculations. The last time Cho had worked on the spell she concluded that explico lingua aparecium , essentially meaning 'I unfold the tongue to appear,' was the best incantation to use. Finally, the intent to understand and share knowledge of a language after hearing it spoken by another was what completed the spell.

Desperation does often spur invention, and Cho decides to cast the spell and hope for the best. It doesn’t matter if she points her wand at the language speaker, rather, the intent and the presence of the fluent speaker would lead the spell. So, with her wand still concealed, Cho casts explico lingua aparecium, her wand movement minimized yet still mimicking specialis revelio with an additional flick. She focuses on the intent to understand and perform the foreign language.

The stranger loses their patience just as the spell takes hold. Or, perhaps the momentary blue shroud of magic that winds around Cho makes the person instinctively move as well. Cho can’t quite tell which is more likely but either way, it seems like the stranger is truly going at her with the intent to kill now. The spell took much more focus than she thought and she’s feeling rather dizzy with this influx of new information, even with Occlumency to help ease the process. As she struggles to move out of the way of thrown weapons she despairs that this is how she’ll die, injured without detailing her successful spell...

...before our lovely protagonist is extinguished, however, a weasel that is also a crow, a cat, and a human saves her. Poor Cho, always playing a damsel as a plot device.

Chapter Text

For the second time in a row Cho awakens to a world she doesn’t know. The violent stranger is gone, but another person appears to be here instead. First impressions are important. Cho knows this and hopes her translation spell has worked both ways.

“Hello… and thank you”

"..." He stares at her. Did her spell not work? Is something wrong? Did she do something culturally unbecoming of a young unmarried female?

“...Hello.” Oh good. He can speak.

Admittedly, she probably hasn't given the best impression to this individual. Cho figures that he’s the one who saved her from the previous altercation. The dark-haired person jumps down from a tree branch to a nearby log. He makes no sound and his graceful movements make Cho stare.

He begins to speak, jolting the witch back into the present. “I have some questions for you.”

So does she, but he’s the local so Cho nods, “Alright then.”

The kinder stranger has many questions, some of which Cho literally has no idea how to answer. She tries to answer in ways that make her seem trustworthy, a person worth protecting as opposed to harming, but this language barrier means some words might not be translating properly. His blank face doesn’t give her much idea about who he is as an individual either. Why did this man save her? What is his aim? Cho has so many questions yet she doesn't know how to go about asking them.

After some time his questions stop. He stares at her as if trying to unearth all of her secrets. Cho glances back at him, also wondering and even a bit suspicious. She knows that he has martial arts training and could easily overpower her. He knows that she is a person of interest to the Akatsuki and more recently, Orochimaru himself. Neither has disclosed these underlying thoughts.

The witch caves to the silence first. Cho doesn’t like the silence that much - it makes her thoughts too loud. She sighs, “Okay, you can call me Cho. I do not know where I am, nor do I know the significance of my attacker.” The man continues to stare at her so she tries again, “This is where you introduce yourself as well...”

Is that a small smile on his face that she sees? Or was just that a trick of the light? “I am Paper Fan.”

He’s a what? This translation charm is far too literal. Cho figures his name must mean Paper Fan, similar to how Cho’s name can mean Autumn or Butterfly depending on what characters are used and how they are pronounced. Cho has some manners, however, so she responds “Thank you, Paper Fan, for saving me.”

“It was nothing, Butterfly, as I was simply nearby.” Cho doesn’t really believe him since they appear to be in the middle of a forest, but she’ll let it slide for now.

“Again, thank you.” He nods in acquiescence and then starts to walk away. Cho is surprised. He asks her loads of questions and then he just leaves?

Cho starts to head in the same direction as Mr. Paper Fan. “Hey, wait up, where are you going?” Cho hesitates and then also blurts out “Can I come with you?” She really hopes this isn’t some reverse psychology nonsense to get her to follow him, as opposed to him demanding that she does, but she is lost and tired and maybe, even if this Mr. Paper Fan is eerie, at least he’s a living, breathing, likely carbon-based lifeform as herself?

He turns to face her once again and tilts his head as if considering her worth. “Hn.” Mr. Paper Fan elegantly grunts before turning around, body language all but saying “well come on, then.”

Cho has no idea how someone can make a grunt sound posh but she follows, glad that she has some way out of this forest, and even better, a potential source of further information! The witch might be able to check off items 4 and 5 from her list.

Chapter Text

Mr. Paper Fan is not much of a conversationalist. Cho gets the feeling he’s merely putting up with her, letting her ramble on in hopes that she will exhaust herself. She might not be the most athletic but she was a Seeker and she still flies from time to time. What she really needs is knowledge about where and when she is, and how she can return to work.

The weather is an innocuous topic so she questions Mr. Paper Fan about the local weather patterns for a while. He’s slow to respond and fairly monosyllabic in his responses but he’s not completing disregarding her at least. The weather seems rather warm and slightly humid in this area, though Cho’s not sure if this is normal for all surrounding areas or just this section. The witch doesn’t even know what country she’s in!

Mr. Paper Fan gives her a few snippets of information in response to Cho’s badgering. They’re in Grass country. It is currently summer. He’s 17. Feeling a little braver, Cho asks some more personal questions, like Mr. Paper Fan’s hobbies, his dreams, and his family. The cool but relatively calm atmosphere between the pair shift into something harsher when Cho asks about his family. She figures that out that family is a touchy subject quickly and goes silent. There’s something dangerous about this man, something similar yet different to her original attacker. The witch doesn’t like it.

The road feels never-ending, the dirt path well-trodden and worn. It suggests that wherever she is right now is more rural than her downtown home. Cho is glad that she thought to change her outfit into something more practical. She doesn’t know how Mr. Paper Fan would react to her casting a spell.

Casting a spell! Cho suddenly remembers how visible her spell was as it settled around her. A blue mist is not easily hidden in nature. Mr. Paper Fan never asked her about it. Is magic normal here? Did he notice? He must have noticed…

Mr. Paper Fan seems to notice Cho’s most recent spiral of thoughts and coughs, interrupting her.

“Let us take a break.” He sits gracefully on the side of the road as if awaiting her collapse onto the dusty ground as well. Cho sits. As he reaches into his pockets, searching for something, Cho takes the opportunity to look at Paper Fan more closely. She doesn’t see a wand holster, though, with the wide sleeves of the robe she could be mistaken. His robe is something she’s never seen before, especially on a muggle individual, if that is what he is. The high color and long sleeves are dramatic, even impractical in the weather. The red clouds on the heavy black fabric give him a bold if somewhat ridiculous appearance. The farmer’s hat with decorative tassels only furthers the strange look.

Cho’s thoughts are paused when she sees him bring out a scroll. It looks like a series of sinographic characters in a distinctive circular pattern. Paper Fan places his hand upon the circle and then with a dramatic puff of reveals what appears to be a package of rice balls. This can’t be a muggle with this sort of ability, right? Muggle technology certainly hadn’t reached this level of ease the last time she had checked

Before Cho can continue theorizing about the practical uses of what appears to be a runic pattern based in Chinese characters as opposed to Norse characters, Paper Fan hands her one of the rice balls.

“Here. It’s filled with seaweed. It will fill you up for the rest of the journey.” The poison-detecting spell that Cho knows how to cast is nonverbal and subtle. She twists her wrist and respective wand slightly when taking the rice ball, ensuring it is held between her two hands and in direct line with her wand. The rice ball remains the same temperature, reassuring the witch that there shouldn't be any contaminants that could harm her in the food. She thought it was unlikely that Mr. Paper Fan would rescue her only to poison her, but it didn’t hurt to check. She bits into the triangular rice ball, pleasantly surprised by the flavor of the seaweed filling.

“Can many people do what you did here, to get the food?” Cho gestures towards the seemingly empty scroll. If it is something that many people can do, perhaps there is magic here too? Paper Fan raises an eyebrow at her, pausing before he responds.

“Yes, and no.”

Cho thinks that is a very unhelpful answer. “How can some people do that? Why?”

He looks at her, black eyes piercing and suspicious. “It’s chakra.”

Chakra? Was she in India? Did this part of the world simply call magic, chakra? The witch didn’t want to be racist, but Paper Fan was not the type of person Cho imagined when she thought of Indian natives. Padma and Parvati Patil had ancestral roots in Maharashtra, India, and this boy looked nothing like them. Cho hoped her translation spell wasn't having difficulty providing accurate translations for the words being exchanged. Having both of them hear but not understand the other could be problematic. Could Paper Fan be referencing Qi, the life force that traditional Chinese medicine centered on?

“It’s chakra.” She repeats what he said, trying to understand what it meant.

“It’s chakra. It’s in all of us, everything. Some can use it like I have here.” Paper Fan must be feeling generous, as he’s just spoken more words than Cho expected.

It seemed like chakra could be compared to qi or even magic. An unexplainable but somewhat measurable force that influenced life and environment. All people and things had the potential to be magical, or chakra-using, but only some could actively wield it.

“Ah! Chakra.”

“Yes, Chakra.”

After that riveting conversation, Paper Fan stands up. It must be time to go. Cho scrambles up to follow after him. She mutters to herself ridiculous tall boys with long legs! She’s pretty sure she said it in English, not whatever language they speak here, but he does pause for a moment, taking the time to look back at her. He tilts his head, staring at her as she hurries to catch up.

“We’ll be in Rain country in two hours at this pace.” Cho can’t tell if he’s mocking her slowness or trying to encourage her. She hopes that she can find a library in this Rain county.

Cho has a lot of questions.

Chapter Text

It’s raining in Rain Country. Cho isn’t sure if she should be glad that the country matches its meteorological forecast or if she’s simply too tired to care. Her boots are muddy and feel heavier with each step. She just wants a nice cup of tea and a hot bath. What’s the chance that Mr. Paper Fan will be able to get her access to either of her creature comforts?

When Cho turns to look at the young man she notices how his posture has changed. He’s less relaxed now, and isn’t that surprising? He already looked stiff and relatively formal, so his current riding dress makes her feel a bit uneasy. What is going on?

“We’re here.”

Mr. Paper Fan’s voice interrupts Cho’s fast-paced thoughts. Are they here already? The witch looks up to where the man’s hand is pointing. There in the midst of the heavy rainfall are skyscrapers and other metal infrastructures. If this world is technologically advanced enough to have architecture on this level, why are the roads still dirt-paved? You’d think someone would’ve thought about concrete or asphalt by now.

The pair walk forward to the metal gates. The walls are high and imposing, the sleek metal making the falling rain seem louder to Cho’s anxious senses. Two guards stand before the pair of travelers, their uniform consisting of large breathing masks and utilitarian neutrals. Surely their outfits are waterproof, though the presence of sandals confuses the witch. Why would they be covered everywhere but on their toes? She likes her feet dry and cozy, not damp and freezing.

Mr. Paper Fan makes a motion for Cho to walk behind him. She complies, knowing little about gate-entering customs in this strange environment. It seems as if the guards know him on sight, for they briefly look him over before opening the gates, motioning the pair to enter.

Inside the walls, the city is a comforting shade of grey. It’s bleak, yes, and the level of industrialization is overwhelming, but for a moment Cho can pretend that she’s back home, walking to and from her Apparition point rather than wandering cluelessly in a strange land.

“Let’s go.”

Cho’s moment of tranquility is interrupted by Mr. Paper Fan, his tall frame already walking off in the distance. The witch has short legs and it frustrates her how easily the man can wander away from her. He’s her only hope right now, Circe blast it!

To her pleasure, he leads her to a tea shop. She can smell the comforting aromas from outside, the delicate incense of cured Camellia sinensis still present despite the lingering traces of petrichor. Her joy is apparently obvious, as Mr. Paper Fan remarks “You enjoy tea?”

Does she enjoy tea? Of course, she enjoys tea! She is British, for Merlin’s sake, and she’s also Chinese and Korean. Teatime is sacred. He smiles at her minor indignation.

“Come, let me show you some of my favorites.”

Maybe she’s too easily bribed by the thought of warm tea but Cho lets herself feel a bit more comfortable around the man. Anyone who enjoys tea enough to purposefully seek it out after a journey has to be somewhat alright… right? The witch certainly hopes so.

The green tea is balanced and smooth, a perfect balm to her stressful day. The accompanying snacks sate Cho’s hunger, her rumbling tummy silenced as she continues to sip and nibble in silence. Mr. Paper Fan eats so elegantly that she feels almost ashamed of herself. His manners don’t stop her from continuing to imbibe the delicious treats, however. Too bad this peace can’t last. Mr. Paper Fan breaks the companionable silence first.

“So, what now?”

“Well, what do you think?”

“You don’t know anything about survival, your hands are too soft to have worked hard ever in your life, yet you lack those manners of a lady--

Cho loves to be deemed less-than. Please, Mr. Paper Fan, please continue, the witch surely wants to hear more about her flaws.

“--and yet you have a powerful Bloodline that seems to draw all sorts of attention.”

 Wait, what did he say?

“A Bloodline?”

“Yes, a Bloodline. A Kekkei Genkai? A family skill passed down through genetic lines.” Might he be talking about magic? Magic which she used in front of him without consideration of the consequences?

“Ah. Yes. My Bloodline, yes. Both my mother and father also held similar strengths to my own.” Fake it ‘till you make it, Cho, fake it ‘till you make it.

Mr. Paper Fan looks at her dubiously but continues. “And so, my employers have expressed an interest in you.”

Cho looks at the man in shock. She’s barely been here a day if that and yet his employers, who she clearly hasn’t seen, know enough about her that they want him to recruit her? It’s like she’s been hit by a confundus as nothing is making sense about her situation once again. Did he know that she liked jasmine green tea and brought her here to lower her guard? Did she have any secrets about herself or does he already know everything about her?

“Weasel, you’re overwhelming her.” Cho looks up to see a beautiful blue-haired woman behind Mr. Paper Fan. She gulps. What is going on with these beautiful and terrifying people?

“I’m sorry for his behavior, he’s a bit young still, you see.” The witch is too awestruck to speak and merely nods her head in response to this beautiful amber-eyed woman.

“I’m Small South, and welcome to Rain Country, Qiū.”

Alright, Cho definitely needs to work on her translation spell. Cho could mean all sorts of things, like Autumn or Butterfly, but here Ms. Small South is using her birth name, a name that few people know of and even fewer use. Weasel and Small South, who must have actual names to remember them by - not just this transliteration, know too much about her. 

Cho finds her voice but she’s still terribly confused and stumbling around these social conventions with nothing but her mild charisma and tendency to survive.

“...Thank you for your kindness, Ms. Small South.” The woman laughs, her voice a smooth alto to Cho's own soprano. 

"I'll let you return to your tea, Ms. Qiū." The red-and-black cloaked woman departs, leaving Cho bewildered and Weasel looking bemused, if not slightly abashed. 

The day has been a whirlwind of emotional highs and lows for Cho. Violence, confusion, subtle words, and discrete body language have plagued her ever since she first awoke. She's tired, and the witch would strongly consider groveling to Harry Potter in exchange for being relieved of this mess. He's a savior of the people, so can't he just fix this for her? Mr. Paper Fan lead her to a small housing complex where he then directed her to a room. Her room, for however long he and his mysterious employers (perhaps Ms. Small South?) demand Cho to stay. 

The witch lays down on the futon, her body fatigued but her mind too busy to sleep. Cho has no idea what comes next. Eventually, her anxious mind stills and she drifts to sleep, dreaming of black swans and lakes of knives.  

Chapter Text

It's been a while. Let's recap. Cho Chang is was is an Unspeakable. She's found herself in a completely new location, and her translation spell is a bit wonky. She's followed a teenager to a city village and has been introduced to one of the leader's of the cult group said teen is part of. 

What's next for Cho?

Absolute absurdity. 

An outline for your reading pleasure, as the author has been staring at it for many years and an outline is better than abandoning a story.

So, things happen.

1. Cho meets our favorite rouge ninjas 
   • I had intended to have some fun character interactions
2. Cho goes on missions with said rouge ninjas
   • I had intended to do some world building as well as how Cho adapts to the world
3. Cho gets in the bingo book on accident
   • Wacky hijinks
4. Cho gets summons on accident.
   • Congratulations you're a swan. It is a lovely morning in the village, and you are a horrible cousin of geese
5. Cho gets in some fights
   • I dreaded writing this because action is hard
6. Cho doesn't deal with her trauma
   • No ninja or witch ever seems to deal with their trauma
7. Cho gets dragged into 4th war nonsense
   • Gal pals with Konan. Secret plots!
8. Cho does not get dead but does get some infinite moon nonsense.
   • Her and illusionary Marietta have some hurt/comfort
9. Cho gets to live and so does Konan and they revolutionize Rain again
   • Tobi is dead all hail the Angel & her Consort
10. That's it let Cho have nice things and be valued and value herself and yeah just good things. 
    • This is a very bare bones outline. I originally started this concept because I wanted to read more lady-centric fanfiction, as well as explore some side characters. In my first attempt to write "Satisfaction" I found myself without a plot and got lost in the stages of canon. In this second revived attempt I tried to develop more of a narrative voice, but lost motivation.

Basic story summary: Cho was an Unspeakable and did some bad things under orders. She lands in the Naruto world and gets caught up in Akatuski nonsense. Along the way she starts to pick up new skills and begins to accept herself and feel less trapped in the past. She does influence some things, such as more Akatsuki members living, and other magic interventions, but she isn't the savior or ninja-witch-jesus of the elemental nations. Some bad things happen and she has a lot of regrets but in the end, Cho has big hopes for the future and making a difference in Rain. 

Overall I wanted to post this chapter because abandoned fics make me sad. I like knowing how things might end, so hopefully this eases some basic questions. Feel free to adapt and move on with this story if you desire, please just let me know if you do so I can read it!