Rita Skeeter

Rita Skeeter is a reporter for the Daily Prophet and a correspondent for the Witch Weekly, who specialises in yellow journalism, for which she is armed with such magical devices as the Quick-Quotes Quill, which automatically misquotes an interviewed person while he or she speaks. Rita is an unregistered Animagus, capable of transforming into a beetle to spy on unsuspecting victims for her stories. As a reporter who fabricated information in order to write an appealing story, she was an antagonist to Harry and his friends throughout Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
It has been speculated that the fraught relationship between Rowling and the press was the inspiration for the author to develop the character. However, Rowling noted in 2000 that the character actually predates her rise to fame: "People have asked me whether Rita Skeeter was invented [to reflect Harry Potter's popularity], but in fact she was always planned."[18] Rita was intended to be in Philosopher's Stone, as Rowling revealed in an interview: "you know when Harry walks into the Leaky Cauldron for the first time and everyone says, "Mr Potter you're back!", I wanted to put a journalist in there. She wasn't called Rita then but she was a woman. And then I thought, as I looked at the plot overall, I thought, that's not really where she fits best, she fits best in Four when Harry's supposed to come to terms with his fame."[19]
Harry first encounters Rita when she interviews the Triwizard Tournament contestants for an article in The Daily Prophet. The article is said to be a highly falsified story of Harry himself, which causes a great deal of annoyance for him. Rita then interviews Hagrid; rather than talking to him about the creatures in his care, in which he had been led to believe she would be interested, she asks for (negative) information about Harry, and is disappointed when no negative information is conveyed. During the Yule Ball, she overhears Hagrid telling Madame Maxime that he is half-giant. Skeeter prints a story about it and includes Draco Malfoy's hippogriff incident, during which Draco was "wounded." In the article, Hagrid is portrayed as dangerous, prompting letters from parents frightened by the idea of having a "ferocious" giant teach their children.
During the situations where Rita overhears information, the book subtly refers to her presence; Viktor Krum mentions that Hermione has a water beetle in her hair, while during the talk between Madam Maxime and Hagrid, Harry notices a beetle on a nearby statue. When Skeeter encounters Harry, Ron, and Hermione in Hogsmeade, Hermione insults her. Skeeter, in revenge, then writes a nasty story about Hermione based on false rumours provided by Pansy Parkinson, making her out to be an ugly but skilled witch who uses love potions to "satisfy her taste for celebrity wizards," including Harry and Krum. Rita's last defaming article states that Harry is "disturbed and dangerous," and uses comments from Draco and his Slytherin cronies as its basis. Ultimately, Hermione discovers the means by which Skeeter spies on others and forces her to "keep her quill to herself for a full year", threatening to report her to the authorities as an illegal Animagus.
In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Hermione blackmails Skeeter, using the above threat, to interview Harry about Lord Voldemort returning and to submit the true story to The Quibbler. Rita later makes a brief cameo in Half-Blood Prince, where Harry is infuriated to notice her clutching a notebook at Dumbledore's funeral. Although Rita does not make a physical appearance in Deathly Hallows, she is mentioned on numerous occasions throughout the novel, generally in a negative light in relation to her unauthorised biography of Dumbledore entitled "The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore". The book depicts the former headmaster in an extremely negative light. Harry, who on the basis of the previous experiences with Skeeter assumes all she wrote about Dumbledore to be a vicious lie, is shocked to discover that some of her statements are rooted in truth, and throughout the book struggles to reconcile with his late teacher.
When asked on a web chat if Rita was still reporting, Rowling answered; "Naturally, what could stop Rita? I imagine she immediately dashed off a biography of Harry after he defeated Voldemort. One quarter truth to three quarters rubbish", along with "Snape: Scoundrel or Saint?"[11]