Apollo had been expecting the girl to blush, but she didn't, and it made him somehow interested in finding out what it might take to make her do so. That, he decided, could be kept for later, when he actually knew her better. He didn't try to be manipulative, exactly. He was just good at it. Which is why, when she asked about why he and Christian had taken on the store, a dark, almost pensive expression took over.
"It isn't that it's not fun," he began slowly, raking his fingers through his hair. "But it wasn't entirely our idea. Our father - you may have heard of him? Blaise Zabini? He really wants me to be involved in business. It comes with the territory of being the eldest l-" Apollo cut himself off before he allowed the word 'legitimate' to escape, "heir," he finished lamely. He wasn't interested in throwing out the fact that he had an illegitimate sibling, after all. It wasn't as though Apollo didn't get along with them so much as he wasn't sure if there would be retribution for his talking about it.
"Anyway, I picked the store, and Christian is sort of managing it more than I am. I'm busy with my apprenticeship at St. Mungo's part of the time, so that gets in the way a bit."
Apollo also left out the vindictive streak that had caused him to select this particular store. He had known, at the time, that it would infuriate his brother, and that had been his only real reasoning for it. But he didn't ever admit as much out loud. Not to strangers, at the very least. Her story cut through his thoughts as if she had known what he was thinking. Apollo swallowed once, then leaned against the shelf again.
"I'm sorry to hear that," he returned. He had felt a fleeting desire to convince her to go flying with him, more out of curiosity than in hopes of convincing her to buy anything, but that had been stifled somewhat. "My brother had the same problem," he admitted. "Mid Quidditch match a couple of years ago. We thought he wasn't going to make it, for a while. Or, well, his friends did. I sort of knew he'd be okay. We tend to come out of things better than we expect, after all. As a population, I mean," he clarified, his Healer side peeking through.
Realizing that it would seem strange that he had chosen the store a few years back, right after Christian's accident, Apollo paused to consider why they still owned it. He didn't feel so vindictive or ironic anymore. Perhaps it was more that "I've sort of been working on making the equipment safer, as much as I've been able." He realized belatedly that it wasn't untrue, but he had been doing it without thinking about it. Strange, he mused to himself, a small smile appearing on his lips. It had just sort of... happened.
"It's a shame," he added in an attempt to change the subject with ease, instead of focusing on his weird act of what might seem like charity, "that you don't want to go flying. The view over the British countryside is actually magnificent. I think you'd enjoy it more than you imagine."