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

Still carrying the lingering influence of grading assignments, Snape looked at Lin Mo. Lin Mo was startled by Snape's gaze. With the keen insight of a student, he could only wish the young wizard a pleasant last moment of happiness.

Hearing Snape's words, Lin Mo secretly pursed his lips, then replied to Snape, "As you can see, that utterly terrible Defense Against the Dark Arts class is finally over."

"Oh? Is that so?" Snape looked Lin Mo up and down, denying Lin Mo's words. "But why did your poor professor see Mr. Lin in such a good mood after Defense Against the Dark Arts class?"

Lin Mo followed Snape's gaze and looked down at his chest, from the tips of his shoes to his chest. After thinking for a moment about his behavior after class, he realized that it seemed to be true.

But Lin Mo knew in his heart that he was happy not because he had attended Lockhart's stupid class, but because he no longer had to attend Lockhart's class.

Although the potions master's way of speaking was truly unappealing, Lin Mo preferred to immerse himself in the ocean of knowledge while enjoying the venom, rather than learning from Lockhart's unproductive and speechless instruction.

That's what he thought, but Lin Mo couldn't answer Snape like that. Now, feeling more pitiful than the self-proclaimed pitiful professor in front of him, Lin Mo could only say ambiguously, "Sir, I'm not happy because of Lockhart's class."

"...Actually, I saw the teacher outside during class," Lin Mo said directly. "The teacher saw it too. Lockhart's teaching is a complete waste of time. I was only happy because I was glad that the agreement I made with the teacher beforehand would probably be effective."

Snape raised an eyebrow, a faint, not-so-happy smile playing on his lips. "Since Mr. Lin dislikes Lockhart so much, why does he know so much about Lockhart's past?"

"He even knows what color Lockhart likes," Snape said slowly, each syllable deliberate, adding a touch of sarcasm.

Lin Mo felt somewhat helpless. He knew that this issue would definitely be brought up and severely criticized by his own dean.

"I'm sorry, Hermione," Lin Mo thought to himself as he explained to Snape, "Sir, it really wasn't something I specifically looked into. Hermione and I were chatting before class and she mentioned Lockhart, so I just overheard it."

Hermione: You really will be grateful.

"So Mr. Lin means that Miss Granger only said a few things, and Mr. Lin was able to remember them?" Snape narrowed his eyes, his tone unchanged.

"Not entirely, I overheard some of the discussions at Flourish and Blotts that day." Lin Mo apologized to Hermione again in his heart, trying his best to salvage the situation.

"Should I praise Mr. Lin for being smart and having a good memory?" Snape said, but in his heart he was thinking about what useless things this little troll talked about every day. Maybe he had been corrupted by some stupid lions.

"That's not necessary." Lin Mo chuckled twice. He wasn't stupid; he understood what Snape meant.

"By the way," Lin Mo began, changing the subject while achieving his goal, "as you can see, Lockhart's teaching is really useless, but Headmaster Dumbledore's decision cannot be changed."

"So please, sir, have mercy and save as many students as you can. Please, sir, save me!" Lin Mo continued.

Seeing Lin Mo's expectant look, Snape found it somewhat amusing. Children of this age are usually playful, so why did the little troll in front of him like to study, especially with him, this gloomy big bat?

"I promised you a few days ago, and I won't go back on my word, Mr. Lin. Please be mindful of Slytherin etiquette and don't act so foolishly." After Lin Mo's eager probing, Snape finally confirmed the happy times in Lin Mo's mind.

"Sir, you're the best. Thank you, sir." Lin Mo was extremely excited. Not having to attend Lockhart's class was truly something to be celebrated, delighted, and spread far and wide.

As Lin Mo swayed, the cage he was carrying, which had been completely ignored, also wobbled, and the little elves were hit hard again.

Looking at the snarling little elf in the cage, Snape felt for the first time a tiny, almost nonexistent, sympathy for this magical creature.

Snape was now looking at Lin Mo as if he were an idiot. He couldn't stand Lin Mo's constant outbursts in front of him any longer: "Mr. Lin, please watch your behavior."

Upon hearing this, Lin Mo stopped. Snape continued, "If Mr. Lin doesn't want to look too foolish, just leave that cage you've had for so long here. I'll go and sort out where these guys belong."

"I won't go back on my promise to Mr. Lin," Snape glanced at the stacks of homework out of the corner of his eye. "So, Mr. Lin, wouldn't you like to fulfill your obligation?"

Although Lin Mo knew Snape wanted him to grade assignments, he agreed anyway, thinking it was out of concern that his beloved Potions professor would be staying up all night grading mostly equally unproductive assignments. As a good student of his professors, Lin Mo naturally wanted to share their burdens.

"Is there anything you need me to do now, sir?" Lin Mo asked Snape, placing the cage he was holding at the far end of the desk.

"Since Mr. Lin is so enthusiastic, then come over and grade their homework. When grading, list their shortcomings and mistakes and correct them. I'll check how well you've learned your potions lately," Snape said, picking out the homework of fourth-year students from the hill.

Lin Mo took the stack of parchment and a quill pen handed to him by Snape, and sat down at the other end of the desk at Snape's prompting.

Fortunately, Snape's desk was large enough to hold all those piles of homework, with room to spare. There was also a considerable distance between them, the homework serving as a clear boundary between them, preventing any interference.

Snape did indeed intend to test Lin Mo, otherwise he wouldn't have given Lin Mo his fourth-year homework to grade first. However, this intention was only slight; his main purpose was to use the laborer.

Seeing that most of the assignments were done very diligently, Lin Mo also graded them carefully, after all, these students would be facing the OWL exam next year.

However, there were still a few people slacking off and lying around, so Lin Mo had to carefully identify them. As for leniency, Lin Mo could only guarantee a slight relaxation of one nanometer.

Otherwise, if Snape is not satisfied, Lin Mo will be criticized and will have to review this knowledge again, and may even be punished by writing a paper.

Another reason is that if Snape finds Lin Mo's grading too leniently, he might grade it more strictly, and grading it again would waste Snape's time, so Lin Mo's help would be meaningless.

Out of a desire not to tire Snape or himself out, Lin Mo's criticisms were rather harsh. However, out of humanitarianism, Lin Mo would still try to get as much as possible, repeatedly oscillating around the "excellent" mark that Snape had set for himself.

Fortunately, there were no classes this afternoon except for Defense Against the Dark Arts, so Lin Mo was very relaxed. In fact, the learning at Hogwarts in the lower grades is very, very relaxed; you can count the number of hours in a day on your fingers.

A few days ago, Lin Mo noticed a guy named Kalebo who was now in fourth grade. Lin Mo graded his homework, and compared to the overall level of his class, he could be considered to be in the upper-middle range or even a little higher.

Lin Mo spent a considerable amount of time carefully grading just one grade's worth of homework. After finishing grading the fourth-grade students' holiday homework, Lin Mo put down his pen and stretched a bit.

He looked up at Snape, who had already graded the second half of an assignment. Lin Mo quietly got up and very consciously walked to one side of the cellar, where he took two cups and poured some warm water.

Lin Mo knew that the cup with the antique silver pattern around the handle belonged to Snape himself; the Potions Master had deliberately distinguished these other cups from his own.

Lin Mo slowly walked to his seat and placed Snape's cup a little to the left of the Potions Professor, who was frowning.

Before sitting down, Lin Mo glanced at the homework out of the corner of his eye with some curiosity... "You'd better watch yourself, kid," Lin Mo thought to himself, a somewhat childish adult whose physical age had decreased.

Finally, after assigning grades, Snape looked at Lin Mo, who had already sat back down and was quietly drinking water, and at the homework that Lin Mo had already graded.

Snape picked up his cup, glanced discreetly at the water inside, and took a few sips. After putting the cup down, Snape gestured for Lin Mo to bring over the completed assignments.

Lin Mo handed over a stack of parchment, watching Snape's subtle changes in expression.

It must be said that Lin Mo had a good grasp of the situation, and Snape finished reading it quickly and was quite satisfied. He then looked up at Lin Mo.

This outstanding potions master was certainly aware of the tricks Lin Mo had played with these assignments, but considering that Lin Mo saved him the trouble of re-grading them, Snape decided not to hold it against Lin Mo.

If it were anyone else, Snape would have absolutely condemned them to the point of extermination for trying to rescue someone right under the Snake King's nose.

Snape could only console himself, thinking that since the little troll could control himself so well, it meant his skill level had already surpassed that level, which was not bad. Then Snape successfully manipulated himself.

Knowing he couldn't hide it from the other party, Lin Mo met Snape's gaze, gave an awkward smile, and received a glare from the Batman.

Author's rambling: Did anyone notice that in the previous chapter it was written that only those familiar with Lin Mo could notice how cheerful he was after Defense Against the Dark Arts class? This chapter simply says that Snape noticed Lin Mo was in a good mood. ҉٩(*^㉨^*)۶