Rita Skeeter: Reporter for the Daily Prophet Tags: Read 4092 times / 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. Rita Skeeter: Reporter for the Daily Prophet on July 21, 2009, 09:22:59 AM ContentsPage 1234 TitlePrologueChronological EventsChapter ListAlter-Ego Skip to next post Re: Rita Skeeter: Reporter for the Daily Prophet Reply #1 on July 23, 2009, 11:29:56 AM PrologueFull Character Name: Rita SkeeterCharacter Birthday & Age: April 17th 1951, aged 57City & Country of Birth: London, EnglandPureblood, Halfblood or Muggleborn?: Half Blood. Muggle born mother.Alma Mater: Slytherin, HogwartsJob: Reporter, Daily Prophet.Wand: 10 inch alder wood wand with a phoenix feather core. Bought from Ollivander’s on August 26th 1962. The shaft of the wand is spiralled, which showcases Rita’s ability to be quick-witted. It is extremely pliable, and has proven to be very useful at transfiguration spells. The handle of the wand is smooth and highly polished. It is painted acid green, Rita’s favourite colour, which also represents her youth in Slytherin.Physical Description: Rita has tight, stiff blonde curls that are piled on top of her head. She clearly uses some sort of magical product to make them stay so firmly in place. Her hair is starting to go grey, and she is resorting now to colouring it herself to make sure she stays looking as young as possible.Rita’s eyes are brown in colour, but not many people see this colour as she often squints through her rhinestone glasses when she is concentrating on a good story. She has pouty lips that are often pursed when writing an article, and there are obvious lines and wrinkles forming on her face due to the fact that – although she tries her hardest not to – she is constantly ageing.She tends to cake her face in make-up, using a lot of blusher to make her cheek bones stand out more. She applies mascara four or five times a day to keep her lashes looking luscious and irresistible. She has a strong jawline and three gold teeth plastered in amongst the other brilliant white ones.Rita is of average height and build, but she is a curvaceous woman and uses this to her utmost advantage. She dresses in tight-fitting clothes that accentuate all of her features. Her clothes are for the most part in various shades of green, and are often made of silk and trimmed in fur.Rita has been said to have had ‘mannish’ hands, which she begrudges. She would argue that her hands are not mannish, but are strong so that she can grip writing utensils well and tell the world important news. She paints her long fingernails bright red which clashes badly with her clothing.Rita is always seen with her crocodile skin handbag, a roll of blank parchment and her quick-quotes quill in acid green. She is an unregistered animagi, taking the form of a beetle, which means she is able to sneak into the tiniest of places and hear the most juicy of gossip.Personality Description: Anyone who hears the name ‘Rita Skeeter’ will say the same thing – that she’s a cruel woman who twists the words of good, honest people and makes stories that would cause toes to curl. And while that is true, there are many sides to Rita that those people don’t know about...... OK, so maybe not. With Rita, what you see is what you get. This is one book you should almost certainly judge by its cover. Just like her favourite shade of green, the woman is acid. She’s not afraid to speak her mind and tell it like it is [or isn’t]. If there’s dirt there, she’ll dig it up. It doesn’t matter to her how she gets information, as long as she gets it.Rita can talk the hind legs off a thestral. Give her a one-word topic, and she can talk for hours seemingly without taking a breath. This is one of the ways she gets her subjects to cough up the information – she stalks them and talks to them about nothing in particular, and eventually they get so sick of being hounded that they tell her what she wants to hear and she has her story. Sometimes they just slam their door in her face and tell her nothing. In those instances she just writes what she thinks anyway.Her work is her life. Rita couldn’t give two hoots about having fun, going on dates, getting married and having a family. Her quill and her parchment are her family, and that is the way it will stay forever.History: Rita Skeeter was born in London on April 17th 1951. Her mother was a muggleborn witch, and her father a pureblooded wizard. Rita’s mother, Martha, was a journalist for a small newspaper in the muggle world, but also wrote freelance for the wizarding paper, the Daily Prophet. Her father, Gerald Skeeter owned a small bookshop in Diagon Alley. Her parents were in their mid-thirties when Rita was born, and she had no other siblings. Rita was to be their only child. Rita had a relatively normal life when she was growing up. Her family were never wealthy, but lived a comfortable lifestyle, and earned enough money to make sure that Rita never went without. At the age of eleven, Martha and Gerald were ecstatic to find that their only daughter had received her letter summoning her to Hogwarts. Taking her to buy all of her supplies for school was one of the happiest days of their lives, and much as though they were sad to see her go, they waved goodbye at platform nine and three quarters with pride and elation.Martha and Gerald were sure their daughter would follow them, and would be a Ravenclaw. She had the brains and talent to be in that house. They were shocked, however, to find that her first letter home had a return address of ‘Slytherin Common Room’. However, her parents looked on the bright side, and saw that not only did she have intellect, but she also had power. Being in Slytherin showed that she had the determination needed to succeed. During her seven years at Hogwarts, Rita – although clearly being clever – never pushed herself to the limits of her brain. She was always content with doing just the minimum amount of work needed to pass, and spent the majority of her time gossiping. When the opportunity came along for a school newspaper, Rita jumped at the chance to make her mark in the school. She became the Gossip Columnist. The headmaster Albus Dumbledore banned the gossip column after only three weeks. In that three weeks, it seemed Rita had made more enemies than they had ever thought humanly possible.Rita was advised by her parents to keep her head down and do well at school in her last couple of years, but the girl was never one to take rules well. She carried on gossiping about people in school and out, and wrote her own little weekly newspaper that only she read, which always heavily embellished the truth.On leaving Hogwarts, Rita made a beeline straight for the Daily Prophet. By this time her mother had retired from professional writing, and was helping her father run the book shop. Rita applied for an internship at the newspaper which was to last three years. The paper was impressed by her writing skills and the fact that she had written in a school newspaper [she conveniently forgot to tell them that she got her section of the paper banned], and she was hired for the intern position. Three years of making coffee and tea for real live journalists made Rita know that the life of a reporter for the Daily Prophet was totally for her. At the end of the three years, several assistant reporter posts were made available at the paper, and Rita jumped at the chance to finally let her light shine. She followed reporter Bernie Scrumple on his reporting missions for two years and learned a lot from him. Well, she learned a lot about what not to do as a reporter – she would never tell him this, but he wasn’t very good. He was an ageing man, and by the time she had been his assistant for two years, he told the Prophet that it was time for him to retire and go see the world. Rita fought her way to the front of that job queue and almost demanded that she get the job. The authorities looked over some of her work and decided that a fresh intake would be good for the paper. She was hired.Throughout her years at the Daily Prophet, Rita was either loved or hated. She tended to be loved by old busy-body housewives who had nothing better to do but read gossip, and hated by those who were affected by her poisoned penmanship.In 1981, Rita got her big break. The end of the first wizarding war saw Rita sitting in on the trials of the famous death eaters, such as Igor Karkaroff.After the tumult of the wizarding war died down, Rita went back to writing mediocre stories to entertain mediocre people, simply waiting for something bigger and better to come along. None of her superiors batted an eyelid at the fact that her writing was so far from the truth. It pulled in readers, and earned the paper money, and that was all that mattered to them. Rita shot to fame in the school year 1994-1995 when Harry Potter entered/was entered into the famous Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts. He was underage at the time and Rita took on the job of telling his story. Her writing was read all over the world. Although her ‘exclusive’ interview with Harry received many complaints, it was one of the Prophet’s best selling articles of all time, with some people ordering multiple copies of the paper, and witches and wizards from all over the world wanting to read about The-Boy-Who-Lived.During the Christmas period of 1994, Rita’s secret came out. Hermione Granger discovered that Rita Skeeter was an unregistered animagi, taking the form of a beetle, and that was how she was able to get information about people that would have otherwise been private. The leakage of this secret could have been disastrous for Rita, and in some ways it was. Hermione made a deal with Rita that as long as the reporter didn’t fabricate any stories about anyone for one year, the Gryffindor would keep her secret. Rita reluctantly agreed, assuming that one year of boring stories was worth keeping her job for. During this time, the Prophet lost readers and Rita – feeling the flack – started to let herself go a little. Her hair was not as tidy and stiff as normal, her red nail varnish was chipped and rhinestones had fallen out of her glasses.Rita Skeeter was dropped from the Daily Prophet in 1995.Her life changed when the same Hermione Granger asked her to write an article about Harry without using the quick-quotes quill. She wanted everything told exactly as it was, with no frilly bits. Rita originally said no, as she claimed the Prophet wouldn’t buy the story due to the Ministry of Magic having a large hand in that pie. She was shocked, however, to discover that it wasn’t going to be printed in the Daily Prophet, but in the Quibbler. And for free?? The girl wanted her to write this article for free? She had half a mind to laugh, but realised that this could be her chance to show the world that she truly was the best reporter there was out there.She reported the interview, and it was printed in the Quibbler. That issue became the best selling issue of all time, and earned the editor, Xenophilius Lovegood a lot of money. She later found that Xenophilius had sold the story to the Prophet, making himself a hefty amount of money. This, of course made Rita chuckle to herself – the same paper that had been all too keen to wash their hands of her, were clamouring to get her story – a story that had already been published and read by millions. The fact that they were still willing to fork out all of that money for the rights to the article made Rita feel more secure about her future as a journalist.In 1997, following the death of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Rita wrote a biography about his life that was turned out onto bookshop shelves within three weeks of his burial, obviously aided by her trusty quick-quotes quill. Later that year she also released a biography on Harry Potter himself and on Severus Snape, both highly fabricated.In the early part of the year 2000, the Daily Prophet sought out Rita Skeeter with its tail firmly between its legs, and asked her to come back to the company. For a few weeks she claimed she was undecided, to keep them on their toes. They offered her more perks of the job and a better salary to try and get her back – numbers of readers had dropped dramatically since she left. She always knew she would go back if they asked her, but she wanted to make them sweat a bit. Eventually they shook hands on the deal, and Rita made her way back to her old place of work, and a brand spanking new office.She has now been back at the Daily Prophet for eight years and couldn’t be happier. Although there aren’t any fantastic stories out there like the Harry Potter story, she is happy with her lot in life. She also still writes articles for Witch Weekly, and the occasional article for the Quibbler.Published WorksArticles:The International Confederation of Wizards' Conference: Albus DumbledoreGringott's Curse BreakersQuidditch World Cup 1994Alastor Moody: Ministry Makes BlundersHarry potter: The Triwizard ChampionRubeus Hagrid: Life as a Half-GiantHermione Granger: Juggling ChampionsHarry Potter is Dangerous!Harry Potter: the truthBooks:Armando Dippet: Master or Moron? [1990]The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore [1997]Harry Potter: The Biography [1998]Snape: Scoundrel or Saint? [1998]Occupation: Rita is a reporter for the Daily Prophet, with occasional money-making articles for the Quibbler. She has been a reporter for the Daily Prophet since she left Hogwarts. She got a three year internship at the paper at the age of seventeen, and then applied for the position of assistant reporter at the age of twenty. She spent two years as the assistant to a reporter, and then applied for his job when he retired. From the age of twenty-two, Rita has been a full-time reporter for the Daily Prophet, apart from the short spell when she was fired from the Prophet, during the Harry Potter saga, in which he was trying to prove that Voldemort was in fact alive. Rita wrote an article on the Voldemort situation from Harry’s point of view for the Quibbler, which turned out to be its best-selling issue. After the wizarding world came to find out that Potter had in fact been telling the truth, and Rita Skeeter had helped him get his story out there, the Prophet deemed her a hero and begged her to come back. Although most of her writing is embellished, the Prophet lost readers when she was fired. She is also a best-selling author, and writes articles for Witch Weekly magazine.Writing Sample:Tap. Tap. Tap.Rita looked up at the large clock on top of Gringott’s in Diagon Alley, squinting through her rhinestone glasses in the afternoon summer sun.Tap. Tap. Tap.She sighed as she watched the minute pointer move every sixty seconds. It was getting closer to 3pm, and her latest story should be emerging from the bank at bang on the hour.Tap. Tap. Tap.Her quick-quotes quill was in her hand, poised ready to do its damage on the fresh piece of parchment she had unrolled thirty minutes before. She had been there, waiting patiently for half an hour now, just in case her subject decided to mix things up a little and go to the bank early. She almost snorted at the thought. That was unlikely – she had been following him for a good few weeks now, and knew his routine off by heart. But he was a young man, and sometimes young men did irrational things.Tap. Tap-”Oi!” came a gruff shout from behind Rita. She turned slowly on her heel, one eyebrow raised as far as it would go without disappearing into her bleach blonde hairline. “Can I help you?” She asked as politely as possible.”Stop tappin’ yer bloody foot!”Rita disregarded the gentleman’s rude comment, and instead let her eyes wander over a small crowd of people who had gathered outside of the bank. It seemed she was not the only one here to greet the young man as he emerged onto the mighty steps of Gringott’s.This was her opportunity, a quick pre-interview interview. She licked her lips, sucked the end of her quick-quotes quill for a moment and flitted over to where the rude man was. “Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet.” She said hurriedly, holding her parchment out in mid-air and letting her quill have its freedom on the blank leaf. The quill scratched away on the parchment as Rita spoke in an excited voice. “Tell me, what do you hope to get out of this visit to see Harry Potter on this, the tenth anniversary of Voldemort’s demise?”Sum up your character in one paragraph: Rita is as acidic as her favourite shade of green. Her quick-witted, sharp tongue is often tipped with poison against those she writes about. She is the kind of woman who will clamber all over your face if she thinks it’ll get her somewhere better. Skip to next post Re: Rita Skeeter: Reporter for the Daily Prophet Reply #2 on July 23, 2009, 11:31:21 AM Chronological EventsKeyEvents pertaining directly to Rita SkeeterRita Skeeter's published worksEvents pertaining to Family/friends of Rita SkeeterPublic events[DP] = Daily Prophet[TQ] = The Quibbler[WW] = Witch Weekly[Book] = Published BookApril 17th, Born in London Albus Dumbledore becomes headmaster of Hogwarts Begins Hogwarts; Slytherin [11]Second Year Third YearFourth YearFifth YearJune 2nd, Martha Skeeter retires from professional writingSixth YearLeaves Hogwarts; Intern at Daily Prophet [17]Lord Voldemort's rise to power Assistant to Bernie Scrumple, Daily Prophet [20]Reporter, Daily Prophet [22] January 30th, Gerald Skeeter turns 60 August 19th, Martha Skeeter turns 60 July 31st, Harry Potter is bornOctober 31st, Defeat of Lord Voldemort; December, Death Eater TrialsDecember, attended trial of Igor KarkaroffMay 13th, Martha and Gerald Skeeter sell their bookshopArmando Dippet: Master or Moron? published [Book]Harry Potter starts Hogwarts; GryffindorPhilosopher's Stone destroyedTom Riddle's diary destroyed; Sirius Black escapes from AzkabanQuidditch World Cup 1994 published [DP]Interview with Tri-Wizard Champion, Harry PotterHarry potter: The Triwizard Champion Published [DP]Hermione Granger: Juggling Champions published [DP]January 4th, Rubeus Hagrid: Life as a Half-Giant published [DP]June 24th, Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory kidnapped during taskJune 24th Cedric Diggory killedAugust, Dementors in muggle EnglandHarry Potter is Dangerous! published [DP]August 12th, attended Harry Potter's disciplinary hearingNovember, Fired from the Daily ProphetFebruary 14th, interview with Harry Potter for The QuibblerHarry Potter: the truth published [TQ]June, Battle of the Department of MysteriesJuly, Second Wizarding War beginsJune, Death and funeral of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian DumbledoreJuly, The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore published [Book]May 2nd Battle of Hogwarts. Voldemort killed by Harry PotterHarry Potter: The Biography published [Book]Snape: Scoundrel or Saint? published [Book]February 2nd, rehired by the Daily Prophet[57]1951195219531954195519561957195819591960196119621963196419651966196719681969197019711972197319741975197619771978197919801981198219831984198519861987198819891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008 Skip to next post Re: Rita Skeeter: Reporter for the Daily Prophet Reply #3 on July 26, 2009, 03:23:38 PM Chapter Listdatearticlereportersblurb10th June, '08If its not too much trouble?William PennyappleRita gets the heel of her shoe stuck in the cobbles of Diagon Alley. Will anyone come to her rescue? [ongoing]12th June, '08The Hogwarts Quidditch Cup of ‘08: In the Stands!generalThe quidditch cup final of Hogwarts, 2008, and Rita turns up to try and get a juicy story for her loyal readers. [ongoing] Skip to next post Re: Rita Skeeter: Reporter for the Daily Prophet Reply #4 on August 02, 2009, 02:22:26 PM Alter-EgoSpecial Ability:Animagus [unregistered]When did your character master this ability? How long have they had it?:Rita mastered this ability during her time shadowing Bernie Scrumple at the Daily Prophet, Rita realised that she was better able to hunt for juicy stories if she was able to get into places she wouldn't normally be allowed. Hence, a beetle became her animagus. She became small and insignificant to the normal wizarding eye. How did they learn or hone this ability?:Rita perfected her skill by practising non-stop until she got it right. Not only did she need to be able to change effectively, she needed to be able to change quickly. To Rita, time is precious and the longer it takes to get a story, the less it gets read. As Rita does not have a very active social life, practising at home on her own in her little flat was never an issue.Describe how the Special Ability influences their life. What do they use it for?:Rita uses her animagus ability to get into the smallest of nooks and crannies to get information for stories. To this day only one person knows about how she digs up all of the dirt, and that person is one Hermione Granger. Hermione uncovered Rita's secret in 1994 during the famous Harry-Potter-Tri-Wizard-Tournament-Saga. Hermione threatened to turn Rita into her superiors if Rita did not agree to stop writing nasty stories for one year. Rita kept her side of the bargain, and so did Hermione. Hence, Rita is an unregistered animagus.Write a description of what happens when your character is exhibiting this Special Ability:Rita Skeeter's animagus form is a beetle. Sepcifically, she is a Rose Chafer beetle which is iridescent green in colour and around 20mm in length. These beetles can be found all over Britain which means she does not stand out anywhere and are capable of very fast flight, meaning that Rita can be where she needs to be in record time. When Rita is in Rose Chafer form, she has a white line next to her mouth, with small spatterings of yellow in the line itself. This is remeniscent of her brilliant white teeth with the few gold ones taking pride of place. Skip to next post
Rita Skeeter: Reporter for the Daily Prophet on July 21, 2009, 09:22:59 AM ContentsPage 1234 TitlePrologueChronological EventsChapter ListAlter-Ego Skip to next post
Re: Rita Skeeter: Reporter for the Daily Prophet Reply #1 on July 23, 2009, 11:29:56 AM PrologueFull Character Name: Rita SkeeterCharacter Birthday & Age: April 17th 1951, aged 57City & Country of Birth: London, EnglandPureblood, Halfblood or Muggleborn?: Half Blood. Muggle born mother.Alma Mater: Slytherin, HogwartsJob: Reporter, Daily Prophet.Wand: 10 inch alder wood wand with a phoenix feather core. Bought from Ollivander’s on August 26th 1962. The shaft of the wand is spiralled, which showcases Rita’s ability to be quick-witted. It is extremely pliable, and has proven to be very useful at transfiguration spells. The handle of the wand is smooth and highly polished. It is painted acid green, Rita’s favourite colour, which also represents her youth in Slytherin.Physical Description: Rita has tight, stiff blonde curls that are piled on top of her head. She clearly uses some sort of magical product to make them stay so firmly in place. Her hair is starting to go grey, and she is resorting now to colouring it herself to make sure she stays looking as young as possible.Rita’s eyes are brown in colour, but not many people see this colour as she often squints through her rhinestone glasses when she is concentrating on a good story. She has pouty lips that are often pursed when writing an article, and there are obvious lines and wrinkles forming on her face due to the fact that – although she tries her hardest not to – she is constantly ageing.She tends to cake her face in make-up, using a lot of blusher to make her cheek bones stand out more. She applies mascara four or five times a day to keep her lashes looking luscious and irresistible. She has a strong jawline and three gold teeth plastered in amongst the other brilliant white ones.Rita is of average height and build, but she is a curvaceous woman and uses this to her utmost advantage. She dresses in tight-fitting clothes that accentuate all of her features. Her clothes are for the most part in various shades of green, and are often made of silk and trimmed in fur.Rita has been said to have had ‘mannish’ hands, which she begrudges. She would argue that her hands are not mannish, but are strong so that she can grip writing utensils well and tell the world important news. She paints her long fingernails bright red which clashes badly with her clothing.Rita is always seen with her crocodile skin handbag, a roll of blank parchment and her quick-quotes quill in acid green. She is an unregistered animagi, taking the form of a beetle, which means she is able to sneak into the tiniest of places and hear the most juicy of gossip.Personality Description: Anyone who hears the name ‘Rita Skeeter’ will say the same thing – that she’s a cruel woman who twists the words of good, honest people and makes stories that would cause toes to curl. And while that is true, there are many sides to Rita that those people don’t know about...... OK, so maybe not. With Rita, what you see is what you get. This is one book you should almost certainly judge by its cover. Just like her favourite shade of green, the woman is acid. She’s not afraid to speak her mind and tell it like it is [or isn’t]. If there’s dirt there, she’ll dig it up. It doesn’t matter to her how she gets information, as long as she gets it.Rita can talk the hind legs off a thestral. Give her a one-word topic, and she can talk for hours seemingly without taking a breath. This is one of the ways she gets her subjects to cough up the information – she stalks them and talks to them about nothing in particular, and eventually they get so sick of being hounded that they tell her what she wants to hear and she has her story. Sometimes they just slam their door in her face and tell her nothing. In those instances she just writes what she thinks anyway.Her work is her life. Rita couldn’t give two hoots about having fun, going on dates, getting married and having a family. Her quill and her parchment are her family, and that is the way it will stay forever.History: Rita Skeeter was born in London on April 17th 1951. Her mother was a muggleborn witch, and her father a pureblooded wizard. Rita’s mother, Martha, was a journalist for a small newspaper in the muggle world, but also wrote freelance for the wizarding paper, the Daily Prophet. Her father, Gerald Skeeter owned a small bookshop in Diagon Alley. Her parents were in their mid-thirties when Rita was born, and she had no other siblings. Rita was to be their only child. Rita had a relatively normal life when she was growing up. Her family were never wealthy, but lived a comfortable lifestyle, and earned enough money to make sure that Rita never went without. At the age of eleven, Martha and Gerald were ecstatic to find that their only daughter had received her letter summoning her to Hogwarts. Taking her to buy all of her supplies for school was one of the happiest days of their lives, and much as though they were sad to see her go, they waved goodbye at platform nine and three quarters with pride and elation.Martha and Gerald were sure their daughter would follow them, and would be a Ravenclaw. She had the brains and talent to be in that house. They were shocked, however, to find that her first letter home had a return address of ‘Slytherin Common Room’. However, her parents looked on the bright side, and saw that not only did she have intellect, but she also had power. Being in Slytherin showed that she had the determination needed to succeed. During her seven years at Hogwarts, Rita – although clearly being clever – never pushed herself to the limits of her brain. She was always content with doing just the minimum amount of work needed to pass, and spent the majority of her time gossiping. When the opportunity came along for a school newspaper, Rita jumped at the chance to make her mark in the school. She became the Gossip Columnist. The headmaster Albus Dumbledore banned the gossip column after only three weeks. In that three weeks, it seemed Rita had made more enemies than they had ever thought humanly possible.Rita was advised by her parents to keep her head down and do well at school in her last couple of years, but the girl was never one to take rules well. She carried on gossiping about people in school and out, and wrote her own little weekly newspaper that only she read, which always heavily embellished the truth.On leaving Hogwarts, Rita made a beeline straight for the Daily Prophet. By this time her mother had retired from professional writing, and was helping her father run the book shop. Rita applied for an internship at the newspaper which was to last three years. The paper was impressed by her writing skills and the fact that she had written in a school newspaper [she conveniently forgot to tell them that she got her section of the paper banned], and she was hired for the intern position. Three years of making coffee and tea for real live journalists made Rita know that the life of a reporter for the Daily Prophet was totally for her. At the end of the three years, several assistant reporter posts were made available at the paper, and Rita jumped at the chance to finally let her light shine. She followed reporter Bernie Scrumple on his reporting missions for two years and learned a lot from him. Well, she learned a lot about what not to do as a reporter – she would never tell him this, but he wasn’t very good. He was an ageing man, and by the time she had been his assistant for two years, he told the Prophet that it was time for him to retire and go see the world. Rita fought her way to the front of that job queue and almost demanded that she get the job. The authorities looked over some of her work and decided that a fresh intake would be good for the paper. She was hired.Throughout her years at the Daily Prophet, Rita was either loved or hated. She tended to be loved by old busy-body housewives who had nothing better to do but read gossip, and hated by those who were affected by her poisoned penmanship.In 1981, Rita got her big break. The end of the first wizarding war saw Rita sitting in on the trials of the famous death eaters, such as Igor Karkaroff.After the tumult of the wizarding war died down, Rita went back to writing mediocre stories to entertain mediocre people, simply waiting for something bigger and better to come along. None of her superiors batted an eyelid at the fact that her writing was so far from the truth. It pulled in readers, and earned the paper money, and that was all that mattered to them. Rita shot to fame in the school year 1994-1995 when Harry Potter entered/was entered into the famous Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts. He was underage at the time and Rita took on the job of telling his story. Her writing was read all over the world. Although her ‘exclusive’ interview with Harry received many complaints, it was one of the Prophet’s best selling articles of all time, with some people ordering multiple copies of the paper, and witches and wizards from all over the world wanting to read about The-Boy-Who-Lived.During the Christmas period of 1994, Rita’s secret came out. Hermione Granger discovered that Rita Skeeter was an unregistered animagi, taking the form of a beetle, and that was how she was able to get information about people that would have otherwise been private. The leakage of this secret could have been disastrous for Rita, and in some ways it was. Hermione made a deal with Rita that as long as the reporter didn’t fabricate any stories about anyone for one year, the Gryffindor would keep her secret. Rita reluctantly agreed, assuming that one year of boring stories was worth keeping her job for. During this time, the Prophet lost readers and Rita – feeling the flack – started to let herself go a little. Her hair was not as tidy and stiff as normal, her red nail varnish was chipped and rhinestones had fallen out of her glasses.Rita Skeeter was dropped from the Daily Prophet in 1995.Her life changed when the same Hermione Granger asked her to write an article about Harry without using the quick-quotes quill. She wanted everything told exactly as it was, with no frilly bits. Rita originally said no, as she claimed the Prophet wouldn’t buy the story due to the Ministry of Magic having a large hand in that pie. She was shocked, however, to discover that it wasn’t going to be printed in the Daily Prophet, but in the Quibbler. And for free?? The girl wanted her to write this article for free? She had half a mind to laugh, but realised that this could be her chance to show the world that she truly was the best reporter there was out there.She reported the interview, and it was printed in the Quibbler. That issue became the best selling issue of all time, and earned the editor, Xenophilius Lovegood a lot of money. She later found that Xenophilius had sold the story to the Prophet, making himself a hefty amount of money. This, of course made Rita chuckle to herself – the same paper that had been all too keen to wash their hands of her, were clamouring to get her story – a story that had already been published and read by millions. The fact that they were still willing to fork out all of that money for the rights to the article made Rita feel more secure about her future as a journalist.In 1997, following the death of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Rita wrote a biography about his life that was turned out onto bookshop shelves within three weeks of his burial, obviously aided by her trusty quick-quotes quill. Later that year she also released a biography on Harry Potter himself and on Severus Snape, both highly fabricated.In the early part of the year 2000, the Daily Prophet sought out Rita Skeeter with its tail firmly between its legs, and asked her to come back to the company. For a few weeks she claimed she was undecided, to keep them on their toes. They offered her more perks of the job and a better salary to try and get her back – numbers of readers had dropped dramatically since she left. She always knew she would go back if they asked her, but she wanted to make them sweat a bit. Eventually they shook hands on the deal, and Rita made her way back to her old place of work, and a brand spanking new office.She has now been back at the Daily Prophet for eight years and couldn’t be happier. Although there aren’t any fantastic stories out there like the Harry Potter story, she is happy with her lot in life. She also still writes articles for Witch Weekly, and the occasional article for the Quibbler.Published WorksArticles:The International Confederation of Wizards' Conference: Albus DumbledoreGringott's Curse BreakersQuidditch World Cup 1994Alastor Moody: Ministry Makes BlundersHarry potter: The Triwizard ChampionRubeus Hagrid: Life as a Half-GiantHermione Granger: Juggling ChampionsHarry Potter is Dangerous!Harry Potter: the truthBooks:Armando Dippet: Master or Moron? [1990]The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore [1997]Harry Potter: The Biography [1998]Snape: Scoundrel or Saint? [1998]Occupation: Rita is a reporter for the Daily Prophet, with occasional money-making articles for the Quibbler. She has been a reporter for the Daily Prophet since she left Hogwarts. She got a three year internship at the paper at the age of seventeen, and then applied for the position of assistant reporter at the age of twenty. She spent two years as the assistant to a reporter, and then applied for his job when he retired. From the age of twenty-two, Rita has been a full-time reporter for the Daily Prophet, apart from the short spell when she was fired from the Prophet, during the Harry Potter saga, in which he was trying to prove that Voldemort was in fact alive. Rita wrote an article on the Voldemort situation from Harry’s point of view for the Quibbler, which turned out to be its best-selling issue. After the wizarding world came to find out that Potter had in fact been telling the truth, and Rita Skeeter had helped him get his story out there, the Prophet deemed her a hero and begged her to come back. Although most of her writing is embellished, the Prophet lost readers when she was fired. She is also a best-selling author, and writes articles for Witch Weekly magazine.Writing Sample:Tap. Tap. Tap.Rita looked up at the large clock on top of Gringott’s in Diagon Alley, squinting through her rhinestone glasses in the afternoon summer sun.Tap. Tap. Tap.She sighed as she watched the minute pointer move every sixty seconds. It was getting closer to 3pm, and her latest story should be emerging from the bank at bang on the hour.Tap. Tap. Tap.Her quick-quotes quill was in her hand, poised ready to do its damage on the fresh piece of parchment she had unrolled thirty minutes before. She had been there, waiting patiently for half an hour now, just in case her subject decided to mix things up a little and go to the bank early. She almost snorted at the thought. That was unlikely – she had been following him for a good few weeks now, and knew his routine off by heart. But he was a young man, and sometimes young men did irrational things.Tap. Tap-”Oi!” came a gruff shout from behind Rita. She turned slowly on her heel, one eyebrow raised as far as it would go without disappearing into her bleach blonde hairline. “Can I help you?” She asked as politely as possible.”Stop tappin’ yer bloody foot!”Rita disregarded the gentleman’s rude comment, and instead let her eyes wander over a small crowd of people who had gathered outside of the bank. It seemed she was not the only one here to greet the young man as he emerged onto the mighty steps of Gringott’s.This was her opportunity, a quick pre-interview interview. She licked her lips, sucked the end of her quick-quotes quill for a moment and flitted over to where the rude man was. “Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet.” She said hurriedly, holding her parchment out in mid-air and letting her quill have its freedom on the blank leaf. The quill scratched away on the parchment as Rita spoke in an excited voice. “Tell me, what do you hope to get out of this visit to see Harry Potter on this, the tenth anniversary of Voldemort’s demise?”Sum up your character in one paragraph: Rita is as acidic as her favourite shade of green. Her quick-witted, sharp tongue is often tipped with poison against those she writes about. She is the kind of woman who will clamber all over your face if she thinks it’ll get her somewhere better. Skip to next post
Re: Rita Skeeter: Reporter for the Daily Prophet Reply #2 on July 23, 2009, 11:31:21 AM Chronological EventsKeyEvents pertaining directly to Rita SkeeterRita Skeeter's published worksEvents pertaining to Family/friends of Rita SkeeterPublic events[DP] = Daily Prophet[TQ] = The Quibbler[WW] = Witch Weekly[Book] = Published BookApril 17th, Born in London Albus Dumbledore becomes headmaster of Hogwarts Begins Hogwarts; Slytherin [11]Second Year Third YearFourth YearFifth YearJune 2nd, Martha Skeeter retires from professional writingSixth YearLeaves Hogwarts; Intern at Daily Prophet [17]Lord Voldemort's rise to power Assistant to Bernie Scrumple, Daily Prophet [20]Reporter, Daily Prophet [22] January 30th, Gerald Skeeter turns 60 August 19th, Martha Skeeter turns 60 July 31st, Harry Potter is bornOctober 31st, Defeat of Lord Voldemort; December, Death Eater TrialsDecember, attended trial of Igor KarkaroffMay 13th, Martha and Gerald Skeeter sell their bookshopArmando Dippet: Master or Moron? published [Book]Harry Potter starts Hogwarts; GryffindorPhilosopher's Stone destroyedTom Riddle's diary destroyed; Sirius Black escapes from AzkabanQuidditch World Cup 1994 published [DP]Interview with Tri-Wizard Champion, Harry PotterHarry potter: The Triwizard Champion Published [DP]Hermione Granger: Juggling Champions published [DP]January 4th, Rubeus Hagrid: Life as a Half-Giant published [DP]June 24th, Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory kidnapped during taskJune 24th Cedric Diggory killedAugust, Dementors in muggle EnglandHarry Potter is Dangerous! published [DP]August 12th, attended Harry Potter's disciplinary hearingNovember, Fired from the Daily ProphetFebruary 14th, interview with Harry Potter for The QuibblerHarry Potter: the truth published [TQ]June, Battle of the Department of MysteriesJuly, Second Wizarding War beginsJune, Death and funeral of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian DumbledoreJuly, The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore published [Book]May 2nd Battle of Hogwarts. Voldemort killed by Harry PotterHarry Potter: The Biography published [Book]Snape: Scoundrel or Saint? published [Book]February 2nd, rehired by the Daily Prophet[57]1951195219531954195519561957195819591960196119621963196419651966196719681969197019711972197319741975197619771978197919801981198219831984198519861987198819891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008 Skip to next post
Re: Rita Skeeter: Reporter for the Daily Prophet Reply #3 on July 26, 2009, 03:23:38 PM Chapter Listdatearticlereportersblurb10th June, '08If its not too much trouble?William PennyappleRita gets the heel of her shoe stuck in the cobbles of Diagon Alley. Will anyone come to her rescue? [ongoing]12th June, '08The Hogwarts Quidditch Cup of ‘08: In the Stands!generalThe quidditch cup final of Hogwarts, 2008, and Rita turns up to try and get a juicy story for her loyal readers. [ongoing] Skip to next post
Re: Rita Skeeter: Reporter for the Daily Prophet Reply #4 on August 02, 2009, 02:22:26 PM Alter-EgoSpecial Ability:Animagus [unregistered]When did your character master this ability? How long have they had it?:Rita mastered this ability during her time shadowing Bernie Scrumple at the Daily Prophet, Rita realised that she was better able to hunt for juicy stories if she was able to get into places she wouldn't normally be allowed. Hence, a beetle became her animagus. She became small and insignificant to the normal wizarding eye. How did they learn or hone this ability?:Rita perfected her skill by practising non-stop until she got it right. Not only did she need to be able to change effectively, she needed to be able to change quickly. To Rita, time is precious and the longer it takes to get a story, the less it gets read. As Rita does not have a very active social life, practising at home on her own in her little flat was never an issue.Describe how the Special Ability influences their life. What do they use it for?:Rita uses her animagus ability to get into the smallest of nooks and crannies to get information for stories. To this day only one person knows about how she digs up all of the dirt, and that person is one Hermione Granger. Hermione uncovered Rita's secret in 1994 during the famous Harry-Potter-Tri-Wizard-Tournament-Saga. Hermione threatened to turn Rita into her superiors if Rita did not agree to stop writing nasty stories for one year. Rita kept her side of the bargain, and so did Hermione. Hence, Rita is an unregistered animagus.Write a description of what happens when your character is exhibiting this Special Ability:Rita Skeeter's animagus form is a beetle. Sepcifically, she is a Rose Chafer beetle which is iridescent green in colour and around 20mm in length. These beetles can be found all over Britain which means she does not stand out anywhere and are capable of very fast flight, meaning that Rita can be where she needs to be in record time. When Rita is in Rose Chafer form, she has a white line next to her mouth, with small spatterings of yellow in the line itself. This is remeniscent of her brilliant white teeth with the few gold ones taking pride of place. Skip to next post
Rita Skeeter: Reporter for the Daily Prophet