Character name: Rita Skeeter
Age & Birthday:Â 29 & November 17th
Gender & Pronouns: Cis-female & She/Her
Occupation: Journalist for The Daily Prophet
Blood status: Pureblood
Previous house: Slytherin
Affiliation: Death Eater
Face claim:Â Brenda Song
The Skeeter family was large long before the youngest, Rita, came along. She hadnât been planned, and at the time her parents got the news, she hadnât been wanted. Of course once she arrived, she was cherished as much as any of their other kids, but the two were stretched thin and couldnât devote the same type of time and energy to her as they could have before. Both of her parents were magical, and while it certainly helped them juggle everything at home, Rita often found herself in the care of her older siblings. Curious since the day she was born, she wanted to learn everything she could, and she was always asking questions and getting into things she shouldnât have been. Rita grew up longing for the sole attention of her parents, even if for only a couple of minutes out of the day, but it was increasingly difficult to come by as they all grew older. Between her siblingâs rehearsals, sports games, dance recitals, spelling bees, awards and the like, Rita felt like she was falling between the cracks. After all, she wasnât particularly good at anything.
But what she could do was rush to tell her parents everything before the others even had a chance - good or bad. She tattled, took the joy out of their accomplishments, and spoiled many plans and parties, all to her siblingâs dismay. But to her, it was worth it. Because she finally got at least a portion of the attention that she had always craved, even if it was always fleeting. As she got older, her stories got more fantastical, and more and more loosely based on the actual facts, but as long as they garnered her attention it was worth it. From her parents, from her friends, from the other kids in the neighborhood - she didnât care. In fact, she would tell anyone who would listen, as her tales had started to come under scrutiny in her own home before she was even ten years old.
When she went off to Hogwarts, she was sorted into Slytherin, which was no surprise to anyone but her parents. While her more outspoken brothers had deemed her a âpathological liarâ and a âsociopathâ, her mother still favored âcurious, with an active imaginationâ. Rita kept obsessive journals, writing down everything she heard, whether she was supposed to have heard it or not. It was in her third year that she bought her first quick quotes quill, scared of missing anything that might be going on underneath her nose. She was actually rather adept at her studies, and most of her professors thought she could easily pursue any number of career paths, but her old habits had only grown with her time at the school and she knew without a doubt that she wanted to write - journalism, eventually, but well-paying writing jobs at the Prophet were scarce so when she graduated she went on to start a book. But even she hadnât predicted how well Armando Dippet: Master or Moron? was going to sell, and she soon found her name in magical bookstores across the nation. She remembered it clearly, the first day sheâd seen it in the window at Flourish and Blottâs, alongside her own reflection, a wide smile across her features.
With her new reputation, she marched into the offices of the Prophet with renewed confidence, all but demanding a job, which she was, miraculously, given. It wasnât landing her on the front pages yet, and she couldnât help but feel a bit dismayed about the meaningless stories she was sent to cover, determined to sniff out a scoop whether she was assigned to it or not. The climb has been slower than she wanted, especially after the change of power at the Ministry, but nothing was about to stop her from achieving the notoriety sheâs always dreamed of. Nothing except maybe Ludovic Bagman.
Rita had met him at a game she was sent to cover - she was one of the only writers on staff that had a deep understanding of Quidditch, even if sheâd never had any real skill to speak of on a broomstick herself. From the moment they were introduced, she was infatuated. And somehow, miraculously, Ludo seemed to feel the same. It was a whirlwind romance, drawn to each otherâs fame and the lifestyle it could allow - but it wasnât destined to last. Rita thought it was a blissful eight years together, but in truth they had more faults than either wanted to admit. The wedding kept getting pushed back until they were in a better place, determined they could make it work, but when Rita came home to find him in bed with another woman, it had to end.
It rocked her world, bringing back all her old insecurities she had struggled throughout her schooling to grow out of and as she disappeared from the public eye she vowed to never let herself be put in that situation again. She would become a force of nature, and Merlin help anyone who tried to cross her. She grew bitter and jaded, caring about nothing but work and getting everything she had ever wanted - no matter what. Maybe her brothers had been right when they called her a sociopath. Maybe she had been denying her true nature her whole life. But that was over. She couldnât help who she was, and being angry and selfish was easier than facing any of the problems life had dumped in her lap. She was reborn, reinvented, and she would take no prisoners. She got in touch with a contact, taking the Dark Mark and aligning herself with the Dark Lord. She respected the way he handled his business, modelling her own behaviour after his, albeit her means were a little subtler, less violent, but just as underhanded.
Rita Skeeter had wasted enough of her time worrying about people who werenât her - and that was coming to an end.
Played by: Charlie
Time Zone: EST
