Author's Note: Many thanks to my awesome team for their continuous help and support.

Written for...

Hogwarts Assignment #6. Lesson: Gardening. Task: Write about someone enjoying the hot weather in the means of a garden party, bbq or similar event.

Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. Team/Position: Holyhead Harpies, Seeker. Task: Write about a second chance on a rainy day

Around the World in Thirty-One Days. Prompt: Ice cream

Count Your Buttons. Prompt: Ice cream cone

Room of Second Chances

965 words

It was the hottest day of the year when Lily proposed a picnic for the group. The castle was far too stuffy to be cooped up all day and classes had been canceled already. A picnic in the shade and swim in the lake seemed to be their best option.

Sometimes, Lily thought, Muggles were smarter than wizards. All that magic and no one had invented an air conditioning spell yet.

She put everyone to work straight away. James was sent off to get butterbeer, and Sirius swore he had connections in the kitchens to get them food. Remus offered up some chocolate from his private stash.

Lily set about laying out a blanket for everyone to sit on, underneath the largest tree by the lake. It was lucky she'd been standing under it when the rain started. It was only a trickle at first, enough to make her believe it would die out quickly and leave everything a little damp but no less warm. Within seconds she was in the middle of an outright downpour, and she quickly created a shield to make it back to the castle dry.

:-:

"This sucks," Sirius pouted, watching the rain from the common room window as he finished his ice cream cone. He hadn't left the window seat for over an hour.

Most of Gryffindor house was down at lunch, but James had already refused to move from his seat on the floor. He kept trying to charm his clothes with a freezing spell, even though Lily reminded him that it was only meant for food.

"Well, we can't just sit here all day," said Remus. Lily nodded in agreement. As hot as it was in the tower, she wasn't used to laying around and not doing anything all day. If they didn't think of something soon, she'd die of boredom.

The portrait opened and Lily turned, surprised that anyone had come up early from lunch, but it was only Peter. He made his way over to them, running a hand through his damp hair.

"What're you doing?" he asked, watching James fan himself with a magazine.

"We're trying to decide what to do," Lily answered. "Did you get caught in the rain?"

"Rain? No. I just went swimming."

Sirius' head swiveled and he narrowed his eyes at his friend. "It's been raining for an hour, Wormtail. What're you up to?"

"I, uh…"

James began to rise from the floor and even Remus seemed intrigued.

"We're your friends, Wormy. If you've found something, you need to share it with your friends," Sirius reasoned.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Boys, leave him alo-"

"I found a lake, inside!"

James groaned and returned to the floor. "The heat's driven him mad!"

"I'm not," Peter protested. "It's on the seventh floor. I don't know how we never noticed before. I must've walked by a bunch of times, and then suddenly I found the door."

No one seemed convinced, but Sirius shrugged. "Might as well check it out. Not like we've got anything better to do."

"But it's too hot," James whined.

"It's a mystery, Prongs. Up you get."

:-:

Peter led them quickly to the corridor where he'd found the door, but just as they'd expected, there was no magical entrance to an indoor lake.

"I swear it was here!"

"I've been patrolling this hall for three years, Peter. There's no door here. It must've been further down the hall," Lily said gently, not wanting to shoot him down the way his friends had done.

With James and Sirius moping behind them, Lily and Remus humored Peter and followed up and down the hall a few times before James finally became fed up.

"All this walking is just making me sweat. Forget the rain, I'm going into the lake anyway."

Lily had to agree with him, the search seemed to be futile. She wrapped an arm around Peter's shoulders consolingly as they headed back for the tower, only to stop dead in her tracks as she noticed a door that definitely hadn't been there the first few treks through the hall.

"I told you!" Peter shouted excitedly, running for the door.

James and Sirius were right behind him, the possibility of exploring a new hidden room trumping their shock. Lily and Remus followed cautiously.

Just as Peter promised, there was a lake beyond the door, a perfect copy of the great lake in every way, right down to the giant tree she had been standing under that afternoon.

"This is amazing!" Sirius screamed, already running for the lake. James held back long enough to strip off his shirt and pass it to Lily before he was diving in too.

"Unbelievable," Remus muttered as he ran a hand along the tree bark. "It's so lifelike."

Lily looked up, expecting to see the ceiling above the treetop, but instead finding a beautiful, clear sky. "This is weird," she decided, but shrugged. "At least we can have our picnic after all."

Peter perked up. "Picnic?"

"Why don't you run back to the common room and get our basket? I've got it under a cooling charm by the staircase."

Remus was inspecting a blade of grass when Lily turned back to him.

"Whoever created this place would have to have more magic than all of seventh year combined."

"A Founder?"

"Maybe all of the Founders." He stood and brushed the dirt from his trousers. "We can't tell anyone about this place."

Lily watched as James and Sirius competed to see who could hold their breath longer. "No. It's bad enough that those two know. Can you imagine the kinds of things they'll try to create with this place?"

Remus sighed, shaking his head. "It's not too late to wipe their memories."

"Don't tempt me," she replied, laughing.