A/N: This story was written for The Houses Competition, Year 2, Round 7.

House: Gryffindor

Position: Year 3

Category: Short

Prompts: 4.[Setting] A seaside village that was once an important port.

Word count: 1989 words (according to Google docs)

Betas: Thank you to CK (Theoretical-Optimist) and Shiba (Shibalyfe) for beta'ing :)

Other: The title is a play on the book, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. It's got nothing to do with the plot, though, but I really loved it haha. This is slightly AU in that we don't know what happened to most characters post-epilogue (I don't count the Cursed Child as I've never watched or read it), but at the same time, I don't want to have diverged from canon and say it isn't AU or lose points for not stating such.

For all Teddy fans, please don't hate me for this. I don't mind the next-generation, and I'm sure Teddy (not just being a Hufflepuff but how he was raised) would have been kind and really loved Victoire. However, no human is flawless, and I do see him as being a 'typical' clueless teenager (and I apologise for that; I don't think all teens are clueless, I simply mean this is based off some of the males I dated in the past who did have good intentions but weren't always... tactful).

Thank you for reading this, and I sincerely hope you enjoyed it! Feedback is most welcome :)

The Old Man and the Ship

She never believed in love; those who did were clearly delusional.

Victoire sighed as she turned from the clock. She still had ten minutes before her shift ended, and a further six weeks before she could quit for good.

She had thought working in Wally's Wizarding Cafe for the summer would be a great chance to not only earn some Galleons, but to also spend some time with her boyfriend, Teddy. Unfortunately, whilst he moved up to become manager alongside the gorgeous Amanda Wood, she was stuck serving whiny brats something called 'babyccinos' and avocado toast to their equally whiny parents.

"Vic? Can you please serve that customer?" Teddy pointed to an old man sitting on the deck.

It seemed he was too 'busy' checking over receipts with Amanda to do it himself, and with a huff, she walked over to the man.

"Would you like to order now?"

The old man had been sitting on the deck for most of her afternoon shift, his grey eyes staring out over the ocean. He was dressed in a rather expensive-looking cloak set, his long, pale hair shining in the sun.

"No," he said, not taking his eyes off the view.

Victoire sighed. "You better order soon or I'm going to have to ask you to vacate your chair."

The man glanced at her with a raised eyebrow. "Oh yes, I can see that you're very busy," he said, turning back to the ocean. "I'm waiting for someone."

She gritted her teeth. "What? Are they swimming here or something?" she asked.

"Don't be stupid. My wife's coming in on the ship."

"I'm not the stup—oh, whatever."

Victoire headed back inside the cafe. She couldn't be bothered reminding the senile old coot that only one cargo ship came into the port each week. She had bigger problems to worry about, and when she saw that Teddy was still going through receipts with Amanda, she threw off her apron and clocked off early.

She never believed in true love, because there was always someone to ruin it.

"I'm telling you, she ordered a Pumpkin Juice."

"You must've misheard her."

"I know what she ordered, Teddy."

Victoire slammed the plastic lid down on the customer's cup. Brown coffee sloshed onto the counter, and she hissed as it burnt her hand.

"Ugh, great!" she said, running her hand under cold water.

"Look, I'll deal with this; why don't you go see what that customer wants?" Teddy said, nodding towards the deck.

"Fine."

She stormed out onto the deck. Normally, Teddy would've gone out of his way to make sure that she was alright; then again, normally he wouldn't have treated her like she was an idiot who couldn't take a simple order.

When she saw that the customer was the same old man from the day before, her mood darkened further.

"Still waiting for that ship?" she asked.

The man turned to her, a smirk on his face. "If you knew the answer, why'd you ask?"

She sighed. "If you're not going to order—"

"Another coffee," he said, waving his cup around.

"Please," she muttered.

Victoire turned back to the cafe, only to see Teddy leaning over the counter. A couple of girls were standing in front of it, giggling away as he changed his hair colour for them.

Her cheeks burned, and she swung back around. If Teddy had time to 'serve' pretty customers, there was no reason she couldn't take a break.

"Your wife sure is taking her time getting here," she said.

"So is my refill."

Victoire rolled her eyes. Taking out her wand, she flicked it towards the inside of the cafe, summoning a fresh cup of coffee.

"There."

"That wasn't so hard now, was it?" the man said, taking the cup.

He didn't drink it, though, his eyes focused back on the shoreline.

Silence reigned over the deck, save for the giggles coming from inside the cafe. Victoire didn't really want to stay with the rude old wizard, but she didn't want to go back inside, either.

"What's her name?" she finally asked.

He took a moment to respond. "Narcissa."

"That's a pretty name."

"She was a pretty girl." A small smile played on his lips. "We had our first date here, you know. Back when this village wasn't overrun by filthy Mug—by tourists." He turned to her, a faraway look in his eyes. "Tell me, do you believe in true love?"

Looking over at Teddy, who was now helping one of the girls carry her drink over to a table, she shrugged. "Well, I did…"

The man snorted. "You looked like the type. I didn't think I did. You see, we were in the same house at Hogwarts, but we had vastly different ideals. It took me years to tolerate her—and yet only seconds to fall in love with her."

Victoire shook her head, trying to remember when she had realised she loved Teddy.

"Still, she made me work for it," the man continued. "I'd spend hours down by the dock, waiting for her father's ship to come in. She'd stroll around by the pier, her nose in the air, pretending I didn't exist. I'd send her owl after owl asking her out, only to try again when I saw her scrunch the letters up."

"Sounds a bit stalkerish."

"It drove me crazy," the man said. "But I got her in the end, and it only took one rose to do it."

She raised a thin, blonde eyebrow. "Oh? How?"

"I gave it to her sister," he said, smirking.

Victoire huffed; just when she thought she was going to hear about a decent man, it was ruined.

"Typical," she muttered, strolling back towards the cafe.

Only some people took love seriously.

"A beautiful flower for a beautiful lady."

"What's this?" Victoire turned to Teddy and saw that he was holding a red rose.

Teddy's cheeks turned a little red, as did his hair. "A sorry?" he asked hopefully, batting his eyelashes.

Although she placed her hands on her hips, trying to show him he needed more than a little charm to make everything up to her, a smile played on her lips.

"Look, I know things haven't gone to plan lately, but I want to make it up to you. How about we go to dinner tonight?"

Victoire sighed and accepted the rose. It smelt wonderful, and she blushed a little that he remembered how much she liked them.

"Sounds perfect," she said, allowing her smile to fully show.

Teddy grinned at her, his hair changing to a sunshine yellow. Leaning forward, he pecked her on the cheek before heading to the counter.

Victoire tucked the rose into the pocket of her robes and turned around. Her good mood vanished, however, as she saw that the only customer inside was none other than the old man.

"I thought you'd be back to hear what happened next," he said.

She rolled her eyes. "I work here, as you very well know, and all I want to hear is what you'd like to order so I can hurry up and serve someone worthy."

The old man shook his head. "'Serve someone worthy.' Ha, never thought I'd hear that again. Not after the war, anyway."

"What do you want?"

"My wife."

The answer threw her off, and she stared at the man. He was looking out the window, but this time, his gaze seemed uncertain, almost like he was lost.

It was probably why, against her better judgement, she asked, "How'd you two make up?"

The man sighed. "There have been many occasions, but I suppose you mean the time I gave her sister the rose?"

Victoire nodded.

A faint smile was back on his thin lips. "Well, after I survived the 'date' with Bellatrix, Narcissa insisted I take her out so she could show me what a good date was. And she did."

"Where'd you go?"

"Down by the pier. We walked for hours, gazing up at the stars over the port. I don't think I've ever been as relaxed as I was then."

"So it was smooth sailing from there?" Victoire snuck a peek over at Teddy.

He smiled and pointed to the clock above him, signalling that it wasn't long before their shifts ended.

The man cleared his throat. "Absolutely not. With her point proven, she refused to go out again."

"But you married…" she said, turning back.

"That was our fathers' arrangement. Even so, when we both grew up a little and agreed to put aside our differences, it wasn't so bad. We had our wedding, spent years trying to have a child, finally had a son, and spent the usual years of wedded bliss arguing over the small issues and making up for it later on at night."

Victoire cringed. "If you two are still married, why isn't she here now?"

The man closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. When he reopened them, she was surprised to see there were tears welling up in his usually cold eyes.

"As I said, we had vastly different opinions on certain things. She didn't really like my line of work, and although I promised her to quit, I found myself drawn back into it."

"Was it really worth the money?" It was something she had asked herself many times when she thought about her cafe job and its strain on her and Teddy's relationship.

The man snorted. "Does it look like I need money? No, it was more complicated than that. But alas, now I'm here alone, hoping I can finally make it up to both her and my son."

Victoire smiled. There was something about the way the arrogant old man was willing to wait days for a ship that probably wasn't coming, just so he could apologise to his wife, that filled her with hope.

Victoire tried to smile as she poured the old man a coffee, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. When he shook his head and said, "Not today," it dropped completely.

"A ship's just docked into port," he said, smiling. "Didn't think she was coming, did you?"

Victoire shook her head and followed his gaze. Sure enough, there was a cruise ship pulled up, and quite a few people were milling around the docks.

"Do you think she'll forgive you?" she asked.

The man's grey eyes bored into her own. "If she doesn't, I'll keep trying."

Victoire glanced over at Teddy, who gave her a sheepish smile. He had apologised over and over again that morning for not making their date, explaining that he had to take the extra shift or risk Amanda's wrath.

She smiled back as he headed towards her, but her heart gave a funny jolt. She wasn't sure if it was because she was disappointed about it, or worse, if it was because, deep down, she really wasn't.

"When it's real, true love is worth fighting for," the old man said. "And when it's not…"

He stood up, and using his cane to balance him, ambled off towards the entrance of the cafe.

"Good luck!" she called after him.

The man only grunted.

"Finally; he was starting to scare some of the customers away," Teddy said.

"His wife has just arrived."

Teddy tilted his head before recognition shone in his eyes. "Don't you know who that was?" When she shook her head, he said, "Lucius Malfoy. I think the time in Azkaban rotted his brain a bit; his wife died years ago."

Victoire turned to the edge of the cafe's deck and looked out over the pier. She could see Lucius sitting on the dock, staring out into the waves.

"Anyway, perhaps we could clock out early and have that date now?" Teddy asked.

With her eyes still on the old man, she sighed. "We need to talk."

She never believed in love, because true love never lasted.