"Do people still seem to be taking to the transition well?" Sasha asked, a combination of genuine curiosity mixed in with trying to steer the casual conversation in a more substantive direction.  Idle small talk had never been one of his strengths and, though it was a necessity, it always felt forced and insincere.  More appropriate for the type of business relationship he maintained with his lawyers than with former classmates and ... well, friendly acquaintances or even friends.  Despite past differences and tensions in the past, Sasha had been able to find common ground with Xavier since leaving Hogwarts and it was a change that he'd welcomed. 

"I would imagine things would seem to be settling some?"

But, this was not strictly a friendly visit.  The shrinkable message he'd sent Xavier with his tiny elf owl, Jack, had requested a business meeting and Sasha's fingers fiddled with the corner of the list in his pocket as he took a seat. 

As he got himself settled and unbuttoned his coat, he slipped the page from his pocket and rested in his lap.  "I'm glad you were able to make time to meet with me.  I had some, potentially, abnormal purchases I wanted to make and I figured it made more sense to meet with you.  Primarily, I'm interested in placing a bulk order on some animals.  Nothing too substantial, at this point.  Just ... a couple dozen male and female puffskeins, about a hundred billiwigs and ... a lot of flobberworms."

He offered a slight grin and quickly added.  "And, I had some other requests that may be a little bit more abnormal." 

Receiving the letter from Sasha had been a welcomed surprise. Ever since leaving school he felt as if he was finally coming into his own. Despite the fact that he now found himself the head of a multi billion galleon company, he felt as though he had finally become the man he had been desperately trying for in his final years of school. Reconciling old (or even forming new) relationships had helped that along. Sasha being a perfect example.

He had arranged for the meeting to take place at the manor rather than one of his offices. When the former Ravenclaw had arrived he had been escorted to Xavier's study. The large room was lined with bookcases, a large bay window that looked out on to the grounds, a roaring fireplace and large desk and two highback leather armchairs all in gorgeous shades of burgundy and mahogany. He had motioned to the chairs while fixing them both a drink.

He handed the glass to Sasha while taking his own seat, "The transit'on defini'ely wasnae smooth. I was mor'n willin' ta give it all up but I thin' I've found me groove wi'h it."

He nodded along as Sasha mentioned the business aspect of their visit, "o' course. Shouldnae be too hard ta arrange. The breedin' facilities are doin' well right now. Especially wi'h thee smaller creatures. Christmas season, right?"

He leaned back in his chair and crossed one leg over the other curiousity sparking in his eyes, "Abnormal purchases? Do tell, Herr Schlagenweit."

Sasha chuckled, slightly, and nodded his head.  "Transitions take time," he agreed, with a slight shrug.  "Mine certainly has more than its fair share of bumps in the road and I didn't have the complication of nearly as many people.  I don't envy you that; I just had two lawyers and more accounts than I wanted to ever deal with." 

Xavier's wealth seemed to come from an active process that involved people doing things and products being sold.  The generation of each galleon, from the outside at least, appeared to be connected to direct participation.  Sasha's had come from the proverbial trust fund, nest egg - the product of a ruthless international banker who'd known exactly where and how to invest his money.  Beyond deciding which accounts to change or move or consolidate, Sasha didn't actually have to do anything.  The money just made more money by existing, not unlike a mold infestation or colony of rats. 

For better or worse, that lack of direct involvement was part of what had brought Sasha to this meeting.  He had far too much money that required far too little time to obtain and that left him bored and searching for things to do with it. 

Like buying almost a hundred puffskeins.  And usually discarded animal refuse. 

He grinned and nodded, pleased - though not surprised - that the first part would be easy enough to arrange.  With a slight shrug of his shoulders, he added, "Christmas season is just what I had in mind.  Flobberworms for everyone.  At least the people I don't like; the others are getting puffskeins." 

The rest was, potentially, a little harder - though not abnormally outside of Xavier's usual business.  Though, first, Sasha couldn't help but flinch and chuckle, uncomfortably, at the use of Herr Schlagenweit.  "I've really got to change that." He said, quietly, shaking his head.  "What do you think of ... Sasha Stone.  Or, Sasha Snow?" he asked with a chuckle and a shake of his head.  He was getting off topic.

"I understand you sell animal parts and supplies for things like potions.  I definitely would be looking for a steady supply of a variety of ingredients.  I was also hoping I could potentially buy ... well ... whole carcasses of animals and other various refuse from older, breeding or stillborn animals."  He unfolded the two page list and slid it across the desk towards Xavier.  In addition to the three live species, it contained an extensive list of supplies - all from the company's list of normal products, just in larger quantities - aside from, perhaps, the carcasses, brains, blood and afterbirths that featured high on the list.

"The fresher, the better.  Most could be frozen until I pick them up but I'll let you know if there are any that I might need immediately." 

Xavier had let out a soft chuckle when Sasha mentioned giving flobberworms to people he didn't like. While he was well aware of the joke he was tempted to mention that the former Ravenclaw must have a lot of people on his list considering the quantity he was looking to buy. He kept it to himself though, allowing the other man his joke.

Curiousity was certainly piqued and he eagerly took the list handed to him. As Sasha continued he scanned through the ingredients. Along with breeding and conservation his company helped move, obtain and create ingredients for general potion making - anything they didn't need to kill the animals for, unless the animals themselves had died under 'ideal' circumstances. He wasn't about to repeat O'Morain's mistakes.

"It will take some time with the quantities you want but I'm sure we can work out a deal."

He placed down the list and looked to Sasha in all seriousness, "As for the more abnormal request, I'm obligated to at least ask - you're not planning on doing anything nefarious, now are you?"

"It will take some time with the quantities you want but I'm sure we can work out a deal."

Sasha shook his head, waving a hand to express his lack of concern for that.  "I don't necessarily need it all at once; a regular, steady supply of pure, quality ingredients is more important than getting all large quantity at one time."  With pure, quality ingredients being a higher priority than even a regular supply. 

Luckily, he had some flexibility when it came to what he needed when and he was willing to work within the limitations of supply. 

Again, Sasha offered a quick shake of his head though he wondered if Xavier had been expecting someone would confess to nefarious plans, if that had been the intent.  Luckily, as far as he was concerned, that wasn't the case for him and it was part of why he'd come to a respectable distributor rather than pursing obtaining supplies through a more discrete source. 

"No.  I'm not planning any weird rituals or dark magic or anything.  Don't worry.  It's more for educational purposes.  In my free time, I've started pursuing a couple independent research projects and I'd rather get supplies from reputable resources or animals that have already lived out there lives.  So, this seemed like the best option."  And, between the puffskeins, billywigs and flobberworms, he'd have fairly basic representatives of mammals, insects and worms.  Everything else he was looking to do could be done with supplies. 

Not nefarious, however, didn't necessarily mean popular.  So, Sasha felt compelled to add: "but, I imagine too may questions would lead to complications and delays.  So, I am hoping for a little discretion."

Xavier let a smirk dance across his lips, "Discretion I can do." Truth be told, he only asked because he was more or less legally obligated to. The last thing his company needed right now was more bad PR. Aunt Sheridan would have his head. She had a hard enough time trying to deal with him inheriting the company, he didn't need to make things worse by making bad business deals.

He grabbed a pen and a note book, flipping it open. He started to write a few things down before snatching up a business card, scribbling on the back and handing it to Sasha, "This is the info for the head of our Distribution Department. I'll let him know to get in touch with you and we can set up a regular schedule of shipments for you. Prices can be determined as we go."

He sat back in his chair, marvelling at the former Ravenclaws insistent pursuit of knowledge, "What kind of research as you doing? Just out of curiosity."

"Perfect," Sasha offered as he reached across the table to take the business card.  "Prices I'm not too concerned about.  Only potential sticking point is having sufficient turn around time.  Transferring funds from the muggle to wizarding world hasn't been the most straightforward and muggle lawyers tend to sniff around a little too much if too much disappears too quickly." 

If it hadn't been for the economic downturn a couple years before, and all the (probably not unwarranted) suspicion surrounding his step-father's wealth, movement of money probably wouldn't raise the same interest.  But, Sasha was making it work and the small trickle of income from the Ministry going straight to his Gringott's account did help. 

For a moment, Sasha hesitated at Xavier's question, memories of the other's past anti-muggle sentiments still fresh in his mind.  It was clear, though, that much had changed about the former Slytherin.  Even if the other objected, Sasha suspected the promise of a solid business deal would be more tempting than upholding personal beliefs. 

"My primary area of interest is where and how the mundane and magical worlds interact, on a physical level.  How Newton's laws of gravity are mediated by levitation charms.  Or, well, this is more geared towards the origin of magic.  Assuming evolution is universal-" jury was still out on how big of an assumption that was.  "Is magic the default and non-magic a mutation?  Or vice versa?  Is it a fifth nucleotide that muggle science can't differentiate?  An extra-planetary virus that landed with the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs and got injected into some early slug and spliced into some highly conserved gene?"  Sasha blushed slightly and shrugged, but watched Xavier closely for his response before nodding towards the list.

"I have a few studies I want to start with just to answer some basic questions.  Flobberworms and puffskeins represent, well, fast reproducing members of two basic animal kingdoms.  They'll be good models to start with when comparing magical and mundane biological organisms."