"Do you need a fan?" asked a curious voice out of nowhere. George looked down to see that a mini Draco Malfoy had found his way behind the till and was looking up at him curiously.
George grinned down at the kid. "Not that I'm aware of, kid," he answered, fully prepared to treat every random question with the seriousness it deserved. "Why do you ask?"
Mini-Malfoy—okay, George knew his name was Scorpius but Mini-Malfoy just sounded cooler to him—shrugged and picked up a glowing ball from the box tucked under the register in front of him. "Dad said you were hot, I thought a fan might help cool you down. This is cool! I'm going to go show Dad."
George had blanked out at Dad said you were hot and barely registered Scorpius running off with the glowing ball he had been fiddling with—it was, thankfully, merely a charm that changed colours depending on various conditions such as heat and emotions. Draco thought he was hot? Did Draco think he was hot as in temperature wise or attractiveness wise? Both he and Fred had agreed for awhile that they thought Draco was hot attractiveness wise, but that Draco would return that sentiment had honestly never occurred to them, especially given that Astoria had been his world while she was alive.
He was snapped out of his daze by Seamus coming up to the counter with his little girl and an armful of exploding paint. Daisy was grinning widely and George instinctively returned it as he started tallying the total cost. Seamus and Dean had adopted Daisy a few years ago and she had taken to the two of them like a duck to water, so much so that they had asked Fred and George if there was such a thing as paint that exploded. Daisy loved painting, but she also loved to copy Seamus in his experiments that often came with explosions in their early stages.
Fred and George had been delighted at the idea of paint that exploded on either a set command or at random intervals and had set to creating it almost immediately. Now, it was one of the most popular items among the younger kids and Daisy was their most frequent purchaser (and tester, because she was too cute for words and it was always a good idea to get the opinion of an expert).
Fred came up to him when Seamus and Daisy had left and whispered, "Tracey and Daphne just cornered me near the puffskeins and told me we were welcome, do you have any idea what that's about?"
George frowned. "No clue. I had a visit from Mini-Malfoy though, he asked me if I needed a fan because his dad said I was hot."
"Malfoy said what?" Fred asked, stunned.
"Just as lost as you are, Forge."
"Uh, yeah, about that…" They both whipped their heads around to stare at Draco Malfoy who was now standing at the counter holding the colour ball Scorpius had run off with in one hand and Scorpius' hand in his other.
"Malfoy," Fred greeted.
"Mini-Malfoy," George greeted.
Scorpius giggled and waved at the two of them while Draco sighed. "Why do I like this?" he asked himself.
"Because you're weird!" Tracey Greengrass yelled from the other side of the shop.
Draco glared in her direction. "Stop eavesdropping on me! I don't need you two hovering over me while I do this!"
"We're eavesdropping because we care!" was the response.
Fred and George exchanged looks as Draco sighed in exasperation. "Look," Draco said. "I may have said something that my son overheard that made him concerned for your wellbeing and come ask you if you were okay."
"He asked me if I needed a fan," George put in. "You said I was hot."
Draco flushed and ducked his head. "Yeah, yeah I did, didn't I…"
"Do I need a fan too?" Fred asked. "I have both of my ears, just in case you forgot. I am clearly hotter than Gred."
"Shut up, just because I'm holey, doesn't make you hotter."
"You shut up, maybe you heard wrong and Scorpius was talking about me. What side of you was he on?"
"You're both hot!" Draco blurted out and then froze.
There was cackling from the other side of the shop. "You're welcome!" called out Daphne. They could hear Tracey complain as Daphne chivvied her wife out of the store but soon enough it was just the four of them (and the other customers who were now clearly interested in the happenings) standing in awkward silence—well, Scorpius had picked up a floppy wand from the display and was waving it around happily.
"You could have just said it, you know," Fred finally said. "George isn't that deaf."
"I do appreciate the consideration, though," George said. "Makes it easier to decide whether or not I heard you correctly. For the record, you also need a fan."
"Oh yeah, you need like ten fans," Fred agreed.
Scorpius looked up from casting imaginary spells, "Are we getting fans, Daddy? I want the cool foldy ones!"
"I know the perfect place," George said. He looked at Draco, "If you want to make a date out of it."
Draco nodded, the colour ball he still held had turned bright pink. "Yeah, I'd like that."