12Disclaimer- I own none of these wonderful characters though I would really like to own Remus… please J.K?
Authoress's Note- As you may or may not have noticed from my Authoress's page, I've recently been rereading Goblet of Fire for the umpteenth time and it hit me, wouldn't it be fun to write a fic about Rita Skeeter? I've been searching fanfiction and there are barely any to speak of! I was planning on attempting this after Summer with the Arrogant Prat is finished, but the idea just has been itching at me every since it hit me and at school today, a wave of plot ideas hit me and I just had to give in and write some! I hope you all like it as much as you like all my other fanfiction! –crosses fingers- E.D.J.
"Skeeter!" barked a loud voice and a blonde bespectacled girl quickly glanced up from her shabby desk, farthest away from the window. "In my office! Now!"
Clearly, Rita's boss was in no mood for complete sentences.
"Yes, Mr. Harding?" she asked wearily, standing uncertainly in the doorway of her boss's office. Charles Harding, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Prophet, was not a man you wanted to cross. One wrong move and you were fired on the spot. Well, in Rita's case, she had to have at least eight or nine wrong moves tallied up, but Mr. Harding still kept her around. Rita was too afraid to ask why. Mr. Harding wasn't too keen on asking questions either and if you annoyed him or worse, offended him, you'd soon find your name and picture plastered across the front page of the Prophet under the title "Suspected Death Eater."
"Skeeter, sit down," growled Mr. Harding and Rita realized she had been daydreaming. She sat quickly, watching as her boss plucked a sheet of parchment out of a large stack and stuck his feet up on the mahogany desk. Rita winced at the sight of his shoe soles, but kept her face blank.
"What is this, Skeeter?" asked Mr. Harding, waving the sheet of parchment under her nose.
Rita glanced at it and felt a sinking feeling. She recognized the handwriting. "I believe that would be my article on the new Mrs. Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess-Remover, sir."
"Of course it is! Any idiot can see that!" he snapped. "But where's the pizzazz, the spark that's going to keep people reading? This…" He held up the parchment, "is pure rubbish." He tore the parchment in half and then set it alight with his wand.
Rita barely blinked. "What'd you expect? You gave me cleaning products for Merlin's sake," she muttered under her breath.
"You say something, Skeeter?" barked Mr. Harding, his bushy gray eyebrows snapping together.
"No, sir," she stammered, sweeping the ashes of her article into the wastebasket. "I promise I'll do better next time, sir. If you just give me one more chance…"
Mr. Harding sighed and rubbed his forehead. His voice was much softer this time. "Rita, I've given you chances before because I think you've got something. However, time and time again, you've managed to prove me wrong. You need to write something that will intrigue the readers. Thus far, your reports have completely lacked that. I'm sorry, Rita."
Rita sat stoic, hardly believing her ears. "You're going to fire me because I couldn't make cleaning products sell?" she asked fiercely, gripping her chairs, knuckles white.
He stared at her, his gaze stony. "No. I'm going to fire you if you mess this next one up. You've got the spark, Rita, I can feel it. You have three weeks to come up with something mind-blowing, write it, and hand it in to me. Choose any topic you like, get a photographer to help you, justs make sure it's good or…" He drew a finger across his throat.
"Thank you, sir," Rita mumbled, standing up.
"Remember what I said, Skeeter!" Mr. Harding bellowed as she strode back to ther grim desk. "I've fired thousands of little wannabes like you and I won't hesitate to do it again!"
Wannabe? Rita bristled. Was he challenging her? Well a challenge it was and she'd meet it or else end up working as a cashier at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor.
No, she thought, gritting her teeth. She woul dnot do that again. Three years were bad enough.
In case anyone's wondering, this is set twenty years before "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." Rita's Quick-Quotes Quill mentions she is forty-three in 1994, so ta da! She is twenty-three and it is 1974, in the midst of Voldemort's attacks. Let me know what you think! E.D.J.