"Do you want to know what the paper says?"

"Eh?" Amity looked up from the bacon she was frying.

The morning after the gallery showing – which had been nice in that she got to meet new people but, oddly enough, the art didn't do much for her – Amity found herself making breakfast for herself and Severus, who had stayed the night after they came back from Diagon Alley.

"The Daily Prophet," he clarified. "There's something in here about us."

"Hit the highlights," Amity requested as she tended to a skillet of scrambled eggs.

Severus nodded in agreement as he adjusted the paper and began to read. "Hmm, there's the usual about my 'Dark, checkered past.' Skeeter did decide to go with the angle that I was using you for good publicity."

"Is she making you out to be the king of magical roofies or did she ditch that?" Amity asked curiously.

"Likely her editor made her take it out, that opens them up to a libel suit," Severus mused as he continued to glance through the article. "There are a few things in here. Ginny Weasley is apparently a gold-digger, Miss Granger is continuing her parade of famous wizards, and Skeeter's usual line about how Lorena will eventually turn out to be the next Dark Lady."

"Well, from what I hear, you're due," Amity commented lightly. "Two Dark Lords in the past century and not a single Lady. Evil is supposed to be equal opportunity, after all."

"It is mostly about us, though." Severus sighed. "No comment about how gallery charges will benefit local businesses affected by the war or the possible impact of Creevey's pictures which, I admit, were quite good."

"Which you of course didn't tell him," Amity teased as she fetched plates of eggs, bacon, and toast over to the table.

"I attended, woman, you can ask no more of me than that." Severus sounded faintly amused as he added, "Oh, and apparently your dress was the embodiment of a 'scarlet woman' and you were 'draped over me lewdly in a space meant for solemn remembrance.'

"Damn, I'm outright irreverent," Amity commented, unconcerned, as Severus flicked his wand and summoned the mugs of coffee to the table. She sat down, hand skimming across his shoulder as she did, and began to eat. Severus set the paper aside, though kept the story folded up.

"Will you cut that out for me?" Amity requested cheerfully. "First time I've ever been in the paper, let alone for something as fun as generalized public whorishness."

"You intend to frame it and put it on the wall of your store?" Severus asked archly, and Amity smirked, hand coming up to fiddle absently with the pendant of her necklace, which he had noticed that she only took off to get in the shower and then immediately replaced.

"Don't tempt me. I think it would look nice hanging over the knitting supplies, give the old biddies who come in something to gossip about. Honestly I've had three of them offer to set me up with their sons this week, it's getting a bit obnoxious. You need to come around more, scare off the matchmakers."

"Well, far be it from me to interfere with you and your parade of potential soulmates."

Amity aimed a dark look in his general direction. "You're not funny, Severus. You're really not."

"I simply find it amusing… this doesn't concern you at all," Severus commented, rattling the pages of the paper so that she knew what he meant. Amity blinked at him.

"Well, no? From what Lorena's told me most anybody whose opinion I'd gave two whits about knows that the beetle bitch is full of it. Why?" Amity asked blankly. "Were you expecting me to go hide in a corner and cry because of some bad press?"

"No, merely…" Severus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "This is likely only the first of several articles to appear about us. As you know my reputation within the wizarding community is… divisive at best, downright inflammatory at worst. Association with me, being seen with me at public events – such as the anniversary commemorations being planned – will put you in the crosshairs as well."

"And you're worried that it's going to damage my self-image or make me hate you or something?" Amity set down her fork and shook her head, muttering, "Lord, spare me the arrogance of men…"

She shifted in her seat, reaching out, and he offered his hand, knowing well what she wanted. Amity folded her hands over his and began to speak.

"Bad press doesn't concern me. I don't know if I made it clear – if I haven't, let me know, and I can try my hand at draping over you lewdly – but I really like you. I like you staggering amounts, in fact. And if this doesn't work out, well, chances are good I won't be in the wizarding world without Lorena with me to draw fire so who cares what they say about me? If it does and you're stuck with me, then it's something I'd better get used to, huh?" She winked at him. "If you want, you can talk about how I… I dunno, don't keep a clean hours or mistreat my owl or something, and I can start earning some mudslinging on my own without you having to be there at all."

Severus snorted and rolled his eyes. "Perhaps I should invite the staff of the Prophet to come visit. They'd see that both of us really do suffer from the other's personality."

"I'm a god-damned delight, Severus Snape, and don't you say any different," Amity said with faux offense.

"Or what?" he challenged. "Will you take away my baked good privileges?" he asked mockingly, and Amity smirked.

"For a start," she said, and leaned in, following her hand up from his and settling on his shoulder. She put her lips to his ear and whispered, "And I won't do that thing with my tongue you like so much anymore."

Severus found his cheeks going red, remembering exactly how much he'd enjoyed that thing the night before. "Hmm. A press conference might be bit excessive," he relented, sipping his coffee, and Amity sat back, smiling smugly.

"Yeah. I thought so."