II

Lucky's first meeting with her team had been awkward between her accent to her attitude, but one well-toed kick was all it had taken for her to get in their good graces. It had surprised her just how serious both the instructors and the other players took the sport, especially considering it wasn't any sort of formal club. It was further proof to Lucky that she was no longer in America; where soccer was just the place parents took their kids to because they didn't want them to get hurt playing anything rough. Then again, Lucky had to admit that safety had a factor in her choice of summer activities…at least it was a sport played on the ground and the balls didn't fight back.

"How's the lucky rabbit's foot today? Good? Ready for our first game?" Beckett asked on the way past.

"I wish we could have gotten to play more before this game, and with less stupid head-butting kicking and elbowing exercises," grumbled another boy.

"You're such a ninny, Jeffery!" Silvia declared. "Besides, with the way you block, you need all the practice you can get. I can't believe they're making him keeper today."

"'Ey, don't worry, I'll keep up," Lucky assured her.

"I don't want you to have to keep up. I'd like a respectably low score for our first game," Silvia said. Just then Mr. Brown called them over to talk about positions and strategies.

Lucky attempted to listen despite her nature to be easily distracted, but when Silvia (who was as a rule never distracted) nudged her hard, Lucky had to turn and see what was up. On the other side of the pitch, a golden head of hair rose over the other team a good four inches above the rest, standing near the center of their team as they too went over last minute plans.

"I thought they weren't supposed to let anyone over fifteen in this league," she murmured.

"Bet he's a ringer," Lucky whispered back. "Midfielder or something."

"Or center forward," Silvia said glumly. So a striker himself? Lucky considered it as she gazed at the other team, but was drawn back to attention when a whistle blew.

Jennifer tried her best to keep up with the action after the game began, but there was such a mob of players she couldn't tell who had the ball. In fact, she got so turned around that she nearly cheered when the tall boy with the feathered blonde hair butted one into the net. Fortunately she heard the groans around her and caught herself before she clapped, straightening her hair instead.

"Jeffery Sparks hasn't got a chance against that Hampton boy," Porter said, shaking his head.

"Look at the size of him! Ain't no way that chap is fourteen. Sixteen more like," complained Mr. Cliffs, who was sitting behind them. "Someone should go have a word with the referees about this!"

"No, I do believe he is fourteen," said Severus. Everyone sitting nearby looked at Severus in surprise, for those had been the first words he had spoken since they had gotten there. "Our son was about that tall at that age, albeit leaner."

"You have a son older than Lucky too?" Porter said curiously, glancing at Jennifer again.

"Jennifer, doesn't that boy seem a bit familiar to you?" Severus asked, looking through a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles at his hands again.

"Hm? Should he look familiar?" Jennifer asked curiously, forcing herself to try and pick him out of the mob that had reached center field again. "Why, so he does!" she said with a surprised smile.

Lucky didn't recognize the boy, but she was already annoyed with his speed, agility, and the sweeping grin that went across his face just before he scored…it was as if he knew beforehand that it was going to go in.

"Damn it all, why doesn't Brown switch Jeffrey out?" Silvia cursed as she ran up beside Lucky after the second goal in a row.

"He needs the practice, amiga…"

"Yes, but why during our first game?" Silvia said.

"Lucky!" Beckett shouted with surprise when she wasn't where she was supposed to be. Instead he kicked it over to Seaver, who made a weak attempt to slide the ball past Hampton's keeper's feet.

"What sort of play was that supposed to be?" the goalkeeper barked at them as he threw it back in. "Just because your keeper is incompetent doesn't mean I am!"

"That's what you think you…" a short whistle blew as Lucky attempted to finish her sentence.

"Let's keep it in English, if you please, and mind your choice of words in any language!" the referee scolded her. Lucky felt a rush of heat in her cheeks when the keeper snickered, and she attempted to focus in on the game. The Pinks were two points down and making no progress, and now she was determined to get past that sniggering idiot who began to taunt her again the moment she had her back turned.

Severus might have missed the escalating exchange on the pitch had not Alex's cell phone rang just then. But the sound had caused him to look up just in time to see the Hampton's goalkeeper pantomiming a bullfighter, waving an imaginary blanket at the obviously annoyed Lucky.

"What?" Alex said with such horror and surprise that everyone's attention turned to her, including the other parents in the stands. "You must be joking, how did he get in? He what? No, I'm downtown. I'll pop right over…" she said and got up, despite the protests of those sitting behind them. "Sorry! Sorry! I've got to go," she said, Jennifer's eyes widening as Alex's met hers. Jennifer then turned to Severus.

"Muggle in the Ministry. Something about the telephone booth," Jennifer whispered to him fervently. "Perhaps one of us should go…"

"Don't you think the Ministry is more than capable of handling it?" Severus murmured back. "Besides, I'm watching the game."

"You haven't been," Jennifer said knowingly. Those weren't his normal glasses; they were Dumbledore's. He had brought his book with him and had turned it invisible, reading the entire time.

"I am now," Severus said in an even lower voice, nodding back towards the pitch. "And if you were paying attention, you would see there is some cause for concern. I am beginning to wonder if this wasn't an even worse idea than I originally thought."

Jennifer turned back to the game, looking between Lucky and the keeper thoughtfully. Would Lucky be able to keep her restraint if provoked? After all, she had only a year of training, and she did have a temper…

Indeed, Lucky had felt her temper start to rise, but had done everything she could to redirect that energy towards the game. Her team seemed to sense the change, and suddenly abandoned their defense position as Beckett once again got a hold of the ball. This time she was ready; and as he lifted it up to her she head-butted it high into the corner as their flailing goalkeeper made a futile attempt to recover it.

"Goal Fortuna Conejo," the referee said, making a note in the score.

"What kind of name is that?" the keeper spat once he caught his breath.

"My name is Lucky, and soon to be Snape," Lucky retorted.

"Lucky Ehsnape? Even worse," he jeered.

"Hey, knock it off, Chris," shouted the tall blonde, but his attention was immediately taken away as the ball came back into play.

It was not long before their striker got control of it, and Lucky hurried to catch up with the pack just as the tall boy made another shot for the goal, apparently aiming the ball right at Jeffery's head! Defensively, Jeffrey brought his arms up in front of his face, succeeding in ricocheting the ball back. Silvia instantly became alert, kneeing it away from the boundary and towards Beckett.

"What a ninny!" Silvia declared again, brushing her bangs out of her face in exasperation.

Lucky took off in a run to get in position ahead of the field as Beckett began to dribble the ball up the Pitch. But the Hampton defense was giving him trouble, nearly stealing it away.

"Your team doesn't have a chance," Chris said the moment she got into hearing again. "In fact, they stink, just like you do, Fortuna Conejo," he said, intentionally slurring her name. Lucky whirled around and glared at him angrily. Suddenly she dove into the fray, coming in from the side and stealing the ball from Beckett so fast that he nearly stumbled over his own feet.

With the Pinks crying out her name and the other team racing to keep up, Lucky kicked the ball hard and sent it soaring right below the keeper's belt. Chris caught it, but at a price. As the crowd winced in sympathy, Chris' eyes went out of focus and he fell backwards, letting go of the ball as he lay there, groaning.

"A rather violent game, football," Severus commented to Jennifer in the stands.

"Caution, Conejo, unsportsmanlike conduct for rough play," the referee said, holding up yellow.

"Caution! That was intentional! Should have been a red card, not yellow!" Chris rasped as his coach tried to help him up.

"Un pequeño accidente," Lucky said innocently, showing with two fingers just how small she thought the mistake was. "Sorry, chico. I was just trying to make a goal. It is your job to defend it."

"It looked like an accident to me," said the tall boy from the Hampton team. He had come up alongside Lucky and she got a better look at him. He really was tall for his age…with a slender nose and a strong jaw that looked as if he hadn't quite grown into it.

"Chance! Take over keeper," the coach called out.

"Suits me better anyhow! But of course, you probably know why," he winked at Lucky, who blinked at him in confusion. "Let's see about finishing this game clean, shall we?"

"Lucky, stop fraternizing with the enemy and get over here!" Beckett snapped. Lucky hurried over as they set up for the free kick. "We're going to have major problems getting past this new keeper. He's tall and has incredible reach," he was saying when she got close enough to hear. "Keep it low, it's the only real chance we got of getting anything past him. We've got it tied now, we simply have to finish it before they finish us."

"Right. I don't suppose we could get one of them to take out our keeper so we can replace him too," Silvia suggested wryly.

Despite the fact that she hated Silvia's attitude in general, Lucky privately admitted that she was probably right. Now that Chris was out of the way and Hampton's main offense was stuck as keeper, the game took on a much more defensive tone. Back and forth the ball went, until it seemed to Jennifer watching with boredom from the sidelines that the game would go on forever.

"If this keeps up, the game's going into extra time," Porter commented, showing his own impatience.

"No, they don't do extra time in this club. They'll just call it a tie," Cliffs said from behind them. "They only got five minutes left."

"You mean there's a time limit?" Jennifer said with relief. Porter turned and stared at her.

"Of course there's a time limit. Whoever heard of a game that doesn't have a time limit?" he snorted. Sheepishly Jennifer looked over at Severus who decided to glance at his slightly folded hand instead.

Lucky was very conscious of the time, but with the Hamptons now completely on guard she found herself often flanked with players ready to stop her. She only needed the right opportunity! But as Beckett brought the ball up, another boy dove in front and the ball went flying down the wrong end of the field. Temptation hit her then as the ball was brought down by the other team and towards poor Jeffery. For a split second she contemplated what spell might give him a little help…that was when the tall boy's last words entered her head. Let's finish the game clean, shall we?

Feeling deflated, Lucky watched helplessly as the ball soared into the net behind Jeffery, still flailing his arms, and the parents of the Hampton Harbinger's cheered knowing there'd be little chance for Lucky's team to score in what time they had left. Strangely enough, Lucky realized it wasn't losing the game she minded so much as the fact that she had been looking forward to the challenge of trying to get a ball past the new goalkeeper.

"Well played! Bad luck," said many of the Hampton's when they came to shake hands. Lucky forced a smile on her face and joined the line, but didn't say a word when Chris pointedly avoided her.

"Congratulations," Lucky murmured half-heartedly to them, until the tall boy came up and gave her a more sincere shake of the hand.

"Bad luck. Perhaps we'll get to face off again later in the summer," he said with a smile.

"I would look forward to that," Lucky admitted with so much more enthusiasm. "But next time, it'll be us with all the luck." The boy paused then, a mysterious smile crossing his face.

"Oh, I have no doubt that you have a lot of Luck, Conejo," he said. "But don't forget, no matter what sort of luck you have, I'll always have a Chance," he winked at her. "Good afternoon, Headmaster…Professor Craw."

"Good afternoon, Mr. Chance. Keeping yourself occupied this summer, I see," Severus said solemnly.

"Yes, sir, but I'm not neglecting my summer homework either, sir," the boy answered.

"Summer homework?" Lucky echoed in surprise.

"Oh, you'll be getting it too soon enough," Jennifer teased her. "Good game today, Dale! I think," she added with a grin.

"You go to Hogwarts?" Lucky asked him accusingly.

"Of course. Ravenclaw, going into third year. Good game, Lucky, that kick was one in a million. See you," he said with a wave and then hurried to catch up with the rest of his team.

"Well, now that that's over with, shall we be getting back?" Severus asked, glancing suspiciously at the group of chatting parents as if half suspecting to get stuck talking to them again.

"But first, let's head to the Ministry to see how Alex is doing," Jennifer suggested.

"Oh, no we won't, Jennifer. We're going back to the house. I'm sure if we were truly needed we would have heard by now," Severus said. "I have very little time during the summer and I'd like to spend it in the study, if you don't mind. I'm not going back to the school without finishing my book." Jennifer sighed but decided not to argue, and Lucky wisely decided to do the same.