Harry Potter: Instant Kill

The Goblins were efficient in sweeping the vaults for Voldemort's Horcrux, taking only the better half of the next day to completely search the entirety of the vaults stored with them. I received a letter informing me that my information was validated, the object destroyed and the vault owner fined the contents of their vault.

The Vault owner being Lord Rosier who lost a lot of gold and artefacts to the goblins while also failing his Lord in his protection duties. The Goblins did not inform me exactly what was taken but since his family is one of the sacred 28 and dating back to the time of the Norman invasion of England, the wealth they had should have been substantial.

Informing the Goblins was only my first step on the path to war, with them taking care of one Horcrux and the Fenrir Greyback pack I would have a much easier time. Fenrir was a monster who enjoyed turning children into werewolves while torturing family members who got in his way, having him out of the picture early would save a lot of lives and trouble later down the line including Lavender Brown's.

My next step would be to make sure the next Horcrux, the Diadem, was destroyed in the next year. This would mean that 4 of his tethers were removed by the end of my second year in school, clearing the path for the golden boy to swoop in and clean the Moldeshorts away.

Having started the first step and planned the second, I relaxed for the summer vacation while sending and receiving letters to/from Daphne. She was spending time with her family in France while her father brokered a deal between their family greenhouses and a French potion producer. From what Daphne told me the French potion industry was far more advanced than our counterpart, they had embraced the Industrial Revolution 200 years later and integrated some automation into the potion brewing. 

This allowed simple potions that didn't require wand waving or precise stirring to be made in the thousands effectively 10x the production of the English variant, "So it seems it is just England holding on to traditions with a death grip." I mused while sitting at the dining table one evening.

"What makes you say that?" Walburga asked after chewing her food, "Well from what Daphne had told me the potion producer they are meeting has added some muggle industry into the process to increase the amount they can make. It is quite a smart idea however the technology they are using appears to be about 200 years old."

"That is interesting, you say that the muggles have progressed passed that point by a huge margin?" She asked while formulating a plan. Receiving a nod from me she continued, "I will have to look into some muggle technology then and see if any of our business' can benefit."

"That would be ideal however, you will need to get the production method authorised by the ministry which has been aggressive with the muggle item tampering laws as of late," I stated while flinging a wrench into her plans only for her to smile before replying, "Money can solve a lot of things dear and if the law is too harsh we can try to appeal it since many Muggle-borns have been struggling with the innovations recently."

After that short conversation with Wulburga over dinner, she went away while ordering Kreacher to get her books detailing recent technology. The books only took her a day to read but the missives she wrote took her much longer, she was sending 5 per day all over the country sending upgrades or blueprints for entirely new machines. During this time she seemed hell-bent on progressing the technological era of the wizarding world on her own barely taking time to pause her tinkering.

Arcturus' health was slowly improving over the 4 weeks Wulburga spent inventing, he would sometimes be able to walk around his room without the coughing fits that would normally keep him bed-bound with normal colour coming back to his skin rather than the sickly scale green dragon-pox turned it. 

He was finally able to leave his room in the last week of the holidays as his strength slowly returned and the pox marks faded, "I thank you for distracting her, Erik. I wasn't able to get a minute of peace before you returned since she was playing matron." He placed a thick leather-bound notebook into my hands in such a way that Walburga wouldn't see before whispering, "The names in that book are people who fought with me in the last war. If they are still able they will support you in this one, use my name to introduce yourself and the phrase 'The Rose's Bloom Again'."

Looking through the book when I retired to my room for the night, I saw many names that were familiar along with a few from outside of England. The most notable names that were not belonging to the sacred 28 or other prominent pure-blood families were, Pierre Delacour and Marcel Lowe. Out of the two families, Delacour would be the best to contact as the Lowe family was suspected as a member of Volde's Death eaters.

"I suppose it will not hurt to find out what Mr Delacour can do for me if he is still alive, it was never mentioned what Fleur's family did as professions so this may turn out to be a bust." I wondered aloud while skimming through the book to make sure I didn't miss anything on my first pass.

When finished I quickly penned a letter to Pierre Delacour, stating that the Black family would be going to war again in the near future and that his assistance could be useful depending on what he would like to help with. At the very end of the letter, I stated that further details of the war would have to be asked in person and that 'The Rose's Bloom Again' before signing off as Heir Black.