"Miss Rhea, this is a gift from Bidodo. Bidodo made it himself, and I hope you like it," Bidodo said, presenting Rhea with a black Hexagram earring.
"Oh, Bidodo, I love it so much. Thank you," Rhea said, hugging Bidodo. She then produced the gift she had prepared for him: a gorgeous black magical dress robe.
"Bidodo loves Miss Rhea's gift too. Bidodo is so touched," Bidodo squeaked excitedly, tugging at his ears as he spun around. With a snap of his fingers, he instantly changed into the black dress robe.
"Bidodo, after Christmas, I need you to go to Ancient Huaxia to help me establish mutual trade channels. I've already negotiated terms with Zhang Tianyi, a Taoist master from Ancient Huaxia. Once you arrive, go straight to the Longteng Taoist Dojo and look for Wang Meng, Zhang Tianyi's apprentice. Aside from cleaning the house each morning, your main task will be handling business connections for me in Ancient Huaxia. For now, the focus will be trading the Walker family's Demon Fruit and Demon Blood Tree leaves for rare medicinal ingredients we don't have here. I know you can do it, Bidodo," Rhea told him.
"Understood, Miss Rhea. Bidodo can do it," Bidodo replied, giving Rhea a textbook butler's bow before hurrying off to work.
When Snape came out and saw the breakfast Rhea had already prepared, he gave her a look that clearly asked, *What on earth is all this?*
"Teacher, this is Chinese cuisine I learned from Ancient Huaxia. This is soy milk, and I've already cut up these pan-fried dumplings for you. We always need to embrace new things, don't we?" Rhea said to Snape with a grin.
"Hmph," Snape said, offering only a cold grunt. For some reason, he had a lingering suspicion that Rhea's words carried a hidden meaning.
Snape picked up the soy milk and took a tentative sip. It tasted decent enough and wasn't disagreeable. Next, he used a fork to pick up a piece of the pan-fried dumpling; the flavor was quite good. Wondering when exactly he had started appreciating fine food, he gave a self-deprecating smile.
After finishing the meal, Snape pulled out a black-and-gold box without any wrapping and handed it to Rhea. When Rhea opened it, she found a pair of dragon-hide gloves. She guessed he had noticed she never wore gloves, whether she was brewing Potions or handling ingredients. *Ahhhhhhhhh, Teacher is so thoughtful! Ahhhhhhhhh, what else can I do besides love you even more?!*
Since Snape felt slightly unaccustomed to the awkwardness of gift-giving in person, he turned away, sat on the sofa, and began reading the book Rhea had given him. It was a book on modified potions for treating dark magic injuries, and it engrossed him so completely that he missed Rhea's internal monologue entirely. If he had seen what she was thinking, he probably would have run away from her! (Rhea never guarded her mind against Snape; it was like the front door of a home always left wide open for him. Whenever Snape made eye contact with her, he could almost always see whatever was on her mind.)
Rhea writhed and crawled her way over to sit beside Snape, pretending to read along with him while secretly glancing at him, savoring the intimacy of sitting so close. *Is this what it feels like to sit with the person you love?* she thought. *So blissful!* By now, Snape had grown accustomed to this student's bizarre behavior; it wasn't worth making a fuss over when reading was far more important.
Good times always slip away in the blink of an eye. Fawkes brought a message from Dumbledore, asking Snape to come to his office with the password "Pepper Imp."
Since Dumbledore had not called for Rhea, Snape used the Floo network to travel to Hogwarts by himself. Arriving at the door to Dumbledore's office, he gritted his teeth and muttered the words "Pepper Imp." If Rhea had heard that tone of voice, she would undoubtedly have dropped straight to her knees in her heart; she had never possessed any real resistance against the sound of Snape speaking through clenched teeth.