Chapter 73: Punishment

"Of course, it's also possible that I have this talent." Dali shrugged and said.

"All right." Hermione felt a bit disappointed.

Originally she had wanted to ask Dali for advice, but now it seems impossible.

She had tried this morning; without a wand she simply couldn't cast spells.

After Hermione finished asking, she saw Harry and Luoen looking at her, so she got up and moved to another seat.

"Wandless casting—I almost forgot about that!" After Hermione left, Luoen immediately said excitedly.

After Hermione left, Luoen immediately said excitedly.

"I forgot too." Harry said.

He remembered that when he was at home, Dali seemed already able to cast spells without a wand.

But he didn't expect such an ability to be so rare.

Harry quickly recalled and found that indeed very few people could cast spells wandlessly; the few he had seen, such as Professor McGonagall, were already very powerful wizards.

"Just some minor talent; you'll definitely be able to do it too." Dali said.

Luoen glanced at Hermione and said, "As expected, effort is worthless in the face of talent."

Hermione seemed to hear Luoen's words and gave him a white-eye look.

"Luoen." Dali frowned.

"All right, all right—I know my limits; I won't try something I clearly can't do." Luoen chuckled, not feeling unhappy at all about his inability.

Luoen chuckled, not feeling unhappy at all about his inability.

The weekend arrived quickly.

Dali and the others' collective punishment also arrived as scheduled.

The caretaker Feiqi notified everyone early in the morning to gather in the hall, then together they went to the hunting grounds.

This naturally also included the Slytherin students.

The punishment was much easier than everyone imagined, after all it basically covered all first-year students from Gryffindor and Slytherin, so it couldn't be too harsh.

Their task was to help clean up the hunting grounds and move some miscellaneous items.

Harry and Dali's punishment was a bit heavier; simply put—shoveling feces!

Exactly, it's shoveling feces.

When Hagrid brought Harry and Dali to that pile of feces, Harry almost passed out from the overwhelming stench.

"What animal produced this feces?"

Harry was shocked beyond belief.

This pile of feces in front of them was truly huge—about the size of a bed and half a person tall.

"Never mind who produced it; your job is to move it into the Forbidden Forest."

"Also, you cannot use a wand! This is your punishment."

Hagrid said.

"This punishment is really too light. Before, we used to hang students up and beat them." Feiqi, holding his Mrs. Norris, said regretfully.

Harry's face turned somewhat pale.

"Now hand over your wands."

Hagrid said.

If Feiqi weren't here, he could let some water slide.

But with Feiqi nearby, Hagrid couldn't let any water slide even if he wanted to.

"All right."

Dali and Harry handed over their wands.

"Actually, first-year newcomers don't know any magic." Hagrid, holding Dali and Harry's wands, said.

Feiqi glanced at Hagrid and said, "This is what Professor McGonagall ordered; we should follow their instructions."

"All right."

Hagrid helplessly glanced at Dali and Harry, then carefully placed their wands into his pocket, gently patted it and said, "Don't worry, I'll keep them safe for you."

"Thanks, Hagrid."

Dali said.

"All right, you can start now; the shovel and cart are over there."

Hagrid pointed to the tools not far away.

Then he and Feiqi left, but didn't go far, as they still needed to supervise the other students finishing their tasks.

"I never imagined I'd one day be shoveling dung at Hogwarts!"

Harry was so overcome by the smell that he could barely keep his eyes open.

"So what are we now? Dung-shoveling boys?"

Dali's mouth twitched, "Thanks for the apt description."

Harry grabbed a shovel, dug in, and lifted a large lump of dung into the cart.

"About……"

The already foul-smelling air was detonated by that shovel-full, the rich odor making Harry wish he could vomit up last night's dinner.

Dali also couldn't take it much longer.

He had thought he'd seen a lot, but he didn't expect this fecal stench to be truly his first encounter with it.

"Hurry up, or we'll be stuck here for a long time."

Dali held his breath and began working.

Just as the two endured the sky‑filling stench while loading the little cart, Luoen came over, led by Hagrid.

"This little fellow said he volunteered to help you, so I brought him over."

Hagrid's big hand patted Luoen's shoulder, nearly knocking him straight to the ground.

"Hagrid, can I still regret it now?"

Luoen looked at that mound of dung, his complexion paler than when he saw a spider.

"Probably not. Hand over your wand to me, and besides, if you don't finish the task today, you won't be allowed to go back."

"Alright, go quickly, before the meal is finished."

Luoen swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

"I might not want to eat for several days."

Under Hagrid's gaze, Luoen reluctantly walked toward Harry and Dali.

"This is definitely one of the most regrettable decisions I've ever made."

Luoen said.

"Good brother, thank you for your help."

Harry ran over and forcefully pulled the sluggish Luoen toward him.

"I......".

The stench of dung made Luoen feel sick, and he immediately vomited the breakfast he had eaten that morning.

"You all are busy, I'll definitely help you next time."

Luoen left that sentence behind and turned to run.

Dali and Harry exchanged a glance, then both rushed out and forcefully pulled Luoen back.

"Since we're already here, how can we go back without scooping some dung?"

"It's fine, trust me, you'll get used to vomiting."

In the end, Luoen couldn't escape Dali and Harry's clutches, and he dug dung together with them.

After the little cart was filled, Dali was in charge of pushing it to the Forbidden Forest, while Luoen and Harry continued loading another cart.

"Speed up, otherwise I feel we won't finish before nightfall."

Dali said as he pushed the cart away.

"Alright."

Harry said vaguely.

After Dali pushed the cart into the Forbidden Forest, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

He recited in Hermes Language.

"Leviosa Spell."

Who said casting a spell requires a wand? Even without a wand, Dali can still perform Magic.

Moreover, chanting in Hermes Language, a spiritual tongue, produces magical effects even better than a wand.

Buzz!

After Dali's incantation, the dung‑filled cart hovered and drifted forward.

Phew~

Dali could finally breathe deeply and freely of the fresh air in the Forbidden Forest.