Productive Plans || Closed
Rita knew she should feel guilty for not putting any effort into The Herald for the past month or so. The thing was basically her baby by this point, catalouging the growth of her writing and journalism skills. As the year began to draw to a close however, it felt almost... dare she say, boring, to write the news. It wasn't that the writing portion of it was boring, or the sleuthing to find out any little bit of information. No, those parts of journalism would always bring her a rush that nothing else in the world had. Not even the most handsome of men could bring an ounce of that excitement to her. No, the problem could only be based on what she was reporting.
Rita also knew that one day she would be famed for being the best reporter to ever write for the Daily Prophet. It was only a matter of sending in her application (which she nearly had perfected now) and finding the perfect pieces to soar her into the circle of elite reporters. With her already extensive knowledge of some of the elite gossip amongst the purebloods in the wizarding world, she already had a few ideas. The main problem being... well, having to stay at Hogwarts year round caused her knowledge to be dusty as far as anything outside of the castle walls were concerned.
She was tired of hearing the same old childish gossip about people whom in two months time, she likely wouldn't speak to again. Most of them had barely any talent and likely wouldn't get very far in the real world. Rita yearned for something that she could really sink her claws into. She wanted to expose someone who put up a perfect front and watched as her words single handedly demolished their life. It may sound sadistic and cruel to some, but to Rita it seemed like possibly the most amusing thing to do. She enjoyed thinking that her words could have such an impact, and she wanted to see for herself if it were possible. She'd had a brief taste of a victory as she watched Gilderoy and his muggleborn witch fall apart from a simple letter. It left her craving more.
The only problem Rita had come up with in her several mental situations she'd drawn up for herself so that she'd be prepared in any situation; was that sleuthing and finding out information in the real world would be much more difficult. Here at Hogwarts, rarely anyone noticed if someone hid behind a pillar or a statue. She could even get away with petty disguises that no one looked twice at. The real world wouldn't quite be so easy to maneuver. With everyone on high alert from the brewing war and general cautiousness, her silly tricks would need to be amped up. Over the years Rita had made sure to keep her Transfiguration, Charms, and Potion marks high enough to continue throughout her NEWT level. As far as she was concerned, they were the only three classes that would help her further herself in her hopes of becoming a reporter. Simply because they would be the classes that would give her information on how to disguise herself. Unfortunately though, she'd been slacking more so this year than any before hand, which meant not only were her marks down, but her memory of all of the tricks she hadn't looked further into, was rusty.
Luckily for Rita though, it was NEWT season and all of the seventh years were now in a frenzy to get as much studying done as possible before the exams would start. This allowed her to browse through the library, a place she never would have expected to visit willingly in her life, to search for something that would give her a head start into the real world.
Today was the third day of which she found herself in the library, looking up any charms and transfiguration spells she could for something that suited her perfectly. It frustrated her how long it was taking to find what she needed, and caused her to wonder how other students could spend every day doing things like this, merely out of choice. It affirmed her belief that all Ravenclaw's were secretly two books away from a trip to St. Mungo's. Still, she went from book to book, until she found a dusty old one that looked as though it hadn't been opened in a few months. Without any enthusiasm she pulled the old, disgusting thing down. She flipped through the pages carelessly until a familiar name caught her eye. The name of her Transfiguration teacher, Minerva McGonagall. Intrigued she scanned the page to see that it was a list of current animagus'.
A light bulb flipped on in Rita's mind as she remembered back to the day in her third year when her professor turned into a cat, back into a human in front of their class. It had grabbed everyone's attention, including Rita's. That was the one lesson she paid very close attention to, from start to end. By the end though, with how much emphasis her professor had lain on needing to register if you were to become one, Rita had been deterred from the idea. Besides, what if she turned into a huge hippogriff? That wouldn't exactly be helpful in sneaking around.
Now however, as she stared at the page of registered animagus, she wondered if there were any out there who'd become one without registering... Thinking quickly to herself, she closed the book and put it back on it's shelf. She didn't want anyone to see her reading about animagus ever again. It would need to be done in private, where no one would suspect anything. While at school she would only read the bits from her text books and any books that could be considered useful to her NEWT's. Even then, no one could see her reading the pages about them. This would have to be the best kept secret in the world. She would breathe a word of it to no one, and leave no hints or clues trailing behind her. Excitement filled her entire being, so much so that if she held her wand she was sure magic would spark from it such as a little child with the inability to control their emotions. She kept a straight face though as she grabbed her bag and headed from the library, no longer needing the books within it.
Now if she could only guarantee that once she'd finished and become an animagus, that she would be something useful...
