HP: At the beginning, I influenced Snape's childhood.

Perhaps due to the lighting, or perhaps due to the warm environment, Snape's face had changed from being pale to looking slightly normal.

When Snape woke up, he opened his eyes to see the dark, tranquil starry sky above the room. Of course, it wasn't real; it was just a clever, unintentional creation of the wind.

His little head turned, surveying his surroundings. He breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing everything unfamiliar. The oppressive atmosphere of Spider's End was driving him almost insane. The complete darkness had numbed him, making him dull, gloomy, and unsmiling, completely devoid of the liveliness and cheerfulness a seven-year-old should have.

Ultimately, Snape knew very well that he shouldn't go with a stranger, but it seemed as if some force was pulling him to catch the origami crane and to go with the gentle stranger.

Thinking of the origami crane, Snape's little hand darted out to grab it, but he grasped at nothing. He looked around anxiously, praying that he hadn't lost the beautiful origami crane.

Upon turning his head and seeing the tranquil blue origami crane, his expression involuntarily relaxed, and even his eyebrows and eyes showed a hint of happiness.

"It can't get any worse," he comforted himself. A hint of embarrassment crossed Snape's face when he saw the coat he was wearing.

Although he knew perfectly well that his clothes were merely worn out, not dirty, he genuinely felt that his clothes had soiled the other man's clothes.

Snape himself didn't know what to call Lin Mo. He thought of him as a gentle and refined person, but he knew he couldn't use any other title. After thinking it over, he decided that calling him "sir" was the most polite.

After adjusting himself, Snape pulled back the covers, shuffled to the bedside, put on the shoes neatly laid out on the floor, and left the room with Lin Mo's clothes in his hand.

However, when he stood up, he no longer felt the pain from his injury, because after he fell asleep, Lin Mo cast a few small healing spells and healed him.

A——L——W——A——Y——S

After settling the children in, Lin Mo quietly left Snape's bedroom. Chang Feng then transmitted the layout of the entire villa into Lin Mo's mind.

Upon entering the first floor, you'll find a very spacious living room with a chandelier hanging directly above. The sofa is dark brown and has a comfortable firmness. Directly opposite is the kitchen, separated from it by a glass door. Outside the glass door is a large rectangular dining table.

On the left side of the first floor, there is a large area consisting of a study and a laboratory, each separated by a wall. To get to any room from the living room, you have to go through a door. There is a door connecting the study and the laboratory, which provides convenience for quickly finding books during experiments.

Upstairs on the right is a large bathroom with a separate shower and toilet. The first room on the left is a storage room, the second is Snape's bedroom, the third is a small study, mainly used for work, and the fourth, and innermost, room is Linmer's bedroom.

Of course, there is also a very large storage room underground, where the environment is designed with different temperatures to suit the storage of potions.

To accommodate future guests, there are several smaller buildings next to the main building of the villa for other uses. There is also a lot of vacant land in the estate, which Changfeng told Lin Mo to develop and utilize as he saw fit.

Lin Mo sat on the sofa, carefully looked at the picture on the blue screen twice, and turned off the screen after confirming that he had memorized it. He picked up a book from the side and started reading, but his mind was wandering elsewhere.

After a long while, Lin Mo heard a sound coming from the second floor, and his alert senses alerted him. He looked in the direction of the sound.

A small, black figure emerged from the house. After looking around, the child finally spotted the figure below who had led him away from Spider's End Alley.

At this moment, Lin Mo turned his attention back to the little boy who was turning his head around with a slight smile. The boy in black also noticed Lin Mo, and their eyes met.

Two pairs of eyes, as bright and deep as black gemstones, were drawn to each other. But what Lin Mo saw in those eyes was doubt, hesitation, worry, inferiority, helplessness, and a little bit of expectation, as well as the look of a drowning person grasping at a straw.

Snape, on the other hand, saw gentleness, calmness, composure, friendliness, and some subtle emotions that he neither understood nor had ever seen before in those eyes.

The eyes are the windows to the soul. In other countries, it is customary to look people directly in the eye when greeting them as a sign of respect. This is also a way of opening one's heart and showing sincerity.

For Snape, who grew up in extremely harsh conditions, reading people's expressions was an instinct, and seeing the emotions in others' eyes was a skill he had developed long ago.

If that's the case, how could he not see the sincerity in Lin Mo's eyes? For a moment, they seemed to connect on a spiritual level. At the same time, their eye contact greatly reduced Snape's worries.

He took a few steps down the stairs. Lin Mo watched his every move, her smile deepening.

If it weren't for Lin Mo's inherent integrity and temperament, as well as his handsome, resolute, yet gentle face that made people feel naturally close to him, anyone else would look like someone who had successfully abducted a child.

Seeing the child finally reach the first floor, Lin Mo noticed the look in Snape's eyes and smiled slightly at him: "Sit down, make yourself at home."

The low voice echoed in the large living room. Snape swore he had never heard such a pleasant voice before. It wasn't strange at all, but rather reassuring, relaxing, and intimate.

The little boy didn't have much time to marvel at Lin Mo's voice. He obediently sat down on the nearby sofa, nodded slightly to Lin Mo, and said, "Hello, sir."

Lin Mo was slightly taken aback. Although he admitted that he had a calm personality, he hadn't said that he liked people calling him "big brother".

The word "sir"... is too heavy, too distant, too detached. Lin Mo has encountered this word quite a bit.

For him, this title is treated differently than in Western countries; it is a title of respect.

It seems to be ingrained in his DNA; the word "Mr." always reminds him of the shining stars of some countries during dark times. Lin Mo believes that the word "Mr." alone is a great respect for a person, and he cannot bear it, nor is he qualified to do so.

The word "先生" (xiānsheng) is too distant, yet it seems to evoke the teacher-student relationship, and it can also be used to address teachers.

Lin Mo was not satisfied. He had to admit his greed. He wanted the little boy in front of him, the god in his memory, to treat him as a familiar person. Only in this way could Snape's lack of companionship disappear.

Lin Mo had to admit that he had been selfish. He had actually tried to change the painful childhood of the child in front of him. It was to protect the person he admired, but it was also a way to make up for his own childhood.

Seeing the child in front of him, Lin Mo subconsciously superimposed that frail and small figure on himself about twenty years ago. It was a longing for the past, but also a feeling of heartache for Severus.

The figure in my memory, clad in a black robe, lingers between black and white. Not everything in the world is black and white; he exists in the gray area, blurring the lines between right and wrong, good and evil. It is a respect for Snape's solitary struggle, and also an admiration for the person who guided me through life.

"Perhaps... I can call you Severus?" Lin Mo asked tentatively, a gesture that Snape found hard to believe, given his humble attitude.

"Of course, sir." The little boy did not hesitate. Well, he admitted that he wanted to get closer to the tall young man in front of him, but he still politely and humbly called him "sir."

"Let me introduce myself, my name is Merlin. Well... Severus, I think if you don't find me unapproachable, you can actually call me Merlin." Merlin thought for a moment, still feeling that calling him by his name would be more acceptable.

"Of course not... Mo." Snape was a little awkward, feeling somewhat embarrassed to call the person who saved him by his name.

Lin Mo ignored the child's awkwardness, adhering to the principle that things would get better with time, and didn't pay too much attention to it, because he saw Snape holding his clothes.

As if by telepathy or empathy, Lin Mo instantly understood what the little boy meant. It was a deep-seated inferiority complex, a feeling that Lin Mo was all too familiar with.

"Severus, the clothes you're carrying..." Lin Mo paused, noticing Snape's embarrassed blush at his earlier words, and continued, "Put them on the sofa. You can go upstairs to the bathroom on the right and take a shower. There are some clean clothes in your closet."

How could he not know what Snape was thinking? How could he be afraid of getting his clothes dirty?

Lin Mo didn't want to reopen the little boy's wounds. He wanted to ease Snape's feelings of inferiority in a gentle way, so he didn't pretend not to know and ask questions.

The little boy paused for a moment, then nodded obediently, put the clothes on the sofa, stood up, bowed slightly to Lin Mo, said thank you, and quickly ran upstairs.

Lin Mo looked at the small, black figure from behind, his eyes filled with longing and heartache.

Just like myself back then… Lin Mo thought. I just hope you'll have a better life in the future, and never end up like me… sinking into darkness.