When Snape hugged her, a glimmer of life returned to Rhea's eyes. She thought that if Snape were afraid of her, he wouldn't be holding her. Then she heard him speaking to her with an urgency that made her feel both happy and sad.
She was happy because, knowing everything about her, Snape was not only unafraid but genuinely worried about her. She was sad because he still regarded her only as family, as a child.
Still, it wasn't a major problem; there was still hope. Next year she would start growing, and the year after that she would come of age! If worse came to worst, she could just present him with a fait accompli. She was no paragon of virtue, after all—she was a demon. She would just look at it as interest paid in advance on resurrecting Snape's white moonlight and James Potter!
Chapter 106