This was requested by diva-gonzo on tumblr, using the a prompt from someone else's list. So that's something else I don't own! (Full credit on my tumblr.)
"Oh my God," Ginny said, twirling around as they left the cinema. "That was amazing! Let's go again!"
Harry laughed. "Well, I'm glad you liked it," he said. "I think next Wednesday, they're showing—"
"No, let's go again now," Ginny said. "And see it again. I want to see it again right now!" She looked so completely delighted that, at that moment, Harry would willingly have sat through Mulan for the remaining five showings of the day—until it was taken off the cinema's list, if he had to. "It was so good!" she said now. "The bit where she—" She mimed stabbing an invisible Hun. "And then she—"
She continued play-acting her favourite scenes, which appeared to be all of them, and Harry watched her, relieved to see her smiling so much again. He had taken her to the cinema as an early birthday present, but also because going out in the wizarding world appealed to neither of them. He hadn't been sure she'd like the idea of watching a film, nor had he any idea what was even showing these days, but he'd seen the word 'Disney' on the Mulan poster in the cinema's entrance and figured that he couldn't go too far wrong. He was right: Ginny had been stunned, then awed, then finally delighted by the film and all he cared about was seeing her finally smiling again after so long.
In fact, he was so busy staring at her that he didn't see the small pothole in the pavement and tripped over, causing her to fall about laughing again. When he didn't get up immediately, however, she stopped. "What's wrong?" she asked.
Harry grimaced. "I've hurt my ankle," he said, pulling up the left leg of his jeans and rolling down his sock.
She crouched down beside him, realising at once that if Harry was actually admitting to being injured, this was unlikely to be just a scratch. She pulled a face as she saw his ankle. "Wow, that's swollen up already," she said. She reached out and touched it as gently as she could, and Harry hissed in pain. "Do you think you've broken it?" she asked.
"I don't think so," Harry replied. "I think it'd hurt more if it was a break, but it's still pretty painful."
"Could be just a sprain," Ginny said, though she sounded doubtful. "Still—not to worry," she added, brightening. "We'll get you home and Mum'll have it fixed in a jiffy! You won't even have to go to the hospital."
"Yeah, I imagine she got quite good at fixing breaks and sprains with you lot around as kids," Harry said dryly.
"Just a bit," Ginny agreed. "Now, how are we going to get home?"
"I'll apparate us," Harry said. "But we can't do it here, in broad daylight. There's an alleyway just down there, see? It should be pretty secluded there, no muggles will see us. I'll side-along you."
"That's great," Ginny said patiently. "But how are we going to get there? You can't walk."
"I'll be fine," Harry said, brushing off her concern. "Just help me up, could you?"
Ginny looked like she was going to argue with this statement, but instead pursed her lips, got into position, and, with Harry's arm around her shoulders, helped him to his feet. "Aarghhh," Harry moaned softly, as he tentatively tried putting his foot on the ground again.
Ginny bit back the 'told you so'. "How are you going to get all the way over there?" she asked, pointing. The alleyway wasn't far—only about a hundred meters away or so—but it may as well have been on the moon for all it looked like Harry was going to be able to get there. Stupid, noble Gryffindor boyfriend...
"I'll be fine," he insisted, gritting his teeth. She raised an eyebrow. "If I could just...lean on you though, that would be great."
"I could carry you," she offered.
"Don't be bloody ridiculous," Harry answered.
"Fine," Ginny said. "Though I'll tell you what's bloody ridiculous: you! The Chosen One—Voldemort himself couldn't kill you, but a little bit of pavement? You're a goner! That'll teach you for leering at me." She stuck her nose in the air primly, and Harry laughed.
"Oh, shut up," he said. "Come on. Let's go." Very slowly, they hobbled their way towards the alley. About halfway there, he asked, sentences coming in short gasps because of the pain, "So you...liked the...film then?"
"It was amazing," Ginny said, her previous enthusiasm coming back. "Absolutely amazing. Can we see another?"
"Of course," Harry said. "I haven't been...to the cinema in...years and years—the Dursleys weren't exactly...big on treats, you know?" Realising the amount of pain he must be in to be breathing so disjointedly, Ginny slowed her pace significantly. "You can get films to watch on televisions, which have miniature versions of the screen we watched it on, in your house, though. Even Dudley used to like Disney films," Harry continued.
"I thought the film was called Mulan?" Ginny asked, as they paused for a rest by a bin.
"It was," Harry replied. "But Disney is the company that make the film. They do lots of cartoons for children."
"Cartoons?"
"Pictures—moving ones. Drawings, like we saw," Harry explained. "But some films are made with real people, acting, like at a theatre but even grander because they can add all sorts of different scenery or special effects."
Ginny absorbed this. "Wow," she said, with feeling. Harry laughed. "You know—we'll have to take Dad to one. He'd love it."
"Mmm," said Harry. He liked Arthur Weasley a lot, and had no doubt that, with his affection for all things muggle, he would have enjoyed seeing the film even if it was ostensibly meant for children. However, as he was also hoping to introduce Ginny to that other great cinematic tradition—snogging in the back row—he was reluctant to encourage her to bring her father along.
The pain in his ankle pulled his thoughts away from that more pleasant direction, and back to reality. "Come on, then," he said, and Ginny nodded. Together, they hobbled their way into the alleyway, and, after checking several times that the area was clear of muggles, he apparated them both back to the Weasley's home.
Unfortunately, he landed right onto his bad ankle and collapsed again, with a yelp of pain. Ginny winced sympathetically. "I'm sorry," she said.
"Not your fault," he grunted. "Never mind. Not far to go, now."
Ginny straightened up, and glanced around, biting her lip. "Um..."
Harry looked up at once. "What? I didn't take us to the wrong place, did I?" he asked.
"Not exactly," she said apologetically. "There's the house," she added, pointing. "And here's us."
"Ah," said Harry.
"Indeed," she agreed.
He had apparated them to the Weasley's house—almost. They were at the bottom of the hill, and the house was at the top. The hill was not terribly steep—more of a gentle slope than anything else, but Harry still seemed to wilt, looking at it.
"It'll be fine," Ginny said, trying to inject more confidence into her voice than she felt. "I'll help you again, and in ten minutes Mum'll have fixed this so you won't feel anything anymore, you'll see."
"Great," Harry said flatly. She helped him up again, but even with him leaning almost all of his weight on her, he could barely take a couple of steps. "Don't think landing on it helped," he grunted, as they stopped for a rest having travelled basically no distance.
"You don't say," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "Honestly." After another few moments of absolutely no progress, an idea struck her. "Did they send me daughters, when I asked for sons?" Ginny sang, under her breath.
"What?" he asked. It took him a moment to realise she was quoting the film they had seen earlier.
"Harry, face me," she instructed. He turned, so he was standing in front of her. "We must be swift as a coursing river, with all the force of a great typhoon," she sang again. He wasn't sure what she wanted him to do—dance? Sing along with her?
"With all the strength of a raging fire, mysterious as the dark side of the mooooon!" On the last word, she crouched down and grabbed his legs, swinging him over her shoulder with a grunt.
"Ginny, what are you playing at?" he asked, astounded.
"Getting you...up this hill!" she grunted. Considering his size in comparison to hers, she was fairly powering up the slope. He knew she had done some weight training as part of her Quidditch practise, but this—this was insane. He wanted to wriggle out of her grasp, sure she'd injure herself, but he was wary of kicking her, and, from his rather difficult vantage point, he had managed to ascertain that they were already about halfway up the hill, and travelling much faster than they had been before.
"Ginny, for Merlin's sake, put me down!"
"No," she grunted at him.
"Please put me down, it's just a sprained ankle!"
This time she ignored him, continuing on up the hill. She was breathing fit to burst, and he realised she must have absolutely no energy left to spare to respond, but was still reluctant to move in case he injured her further. Still he continued to implore her to put him down with greater and greater urgency, positive that this would not end well—for her or him.
"Ginny? Ginny! What's going on?!" he heard Mrs Weasley's voice call.
Great. She must have been in the garden, watching his humiliation. He was Harry Potter—survivor of death on numerous occasions, only to be felled by a pavement. Not only that, he then had to be carried by his girlfriend—in front of her mother! Typical.
Having reached the top of the hill, and The Burrow's garden gate, Ginny placed Harry back down on the grass and doubled over, panting heavily. "Are you okay?" he asked, but she waved him away, collapsing onto all fours.
"Will someone please tell me what is going on?" Mrs Weasley asked, bustling over. "What in Merlin's name are you two up to?!"
Fortunately for Harry, once Ginny had caught her breath enough to explain about his sprained ankle, her mother had been able to fix it in a trice, with just a simple spell (although she still made him sit with it elevated and iced).
Less fortunately, Ron had witness the entirety of him being lugged up the hill by his girlfriend from his bedroom window, which he had nearly fallen out of laughing so hard, and so Harry had to endure endless teasing from him and the rest of Ginny's brothers when he shared what had happened to the Saviour of the Wizarding World with them. They got him a walking stick for when the two of them next went on a date, and, though they did go back to the cinema, he was never again able to summon up quite the enthusiasm for Mulan that he had first had...
Author's note: Mulan did indeed come out in the summer of 1998 (I checked! I originally wanted them to see Hercules, because Ginny = Meg, right? But that came out in '97 and so wouldn't have been shown in cinemas by the summer of '98. And no, of course, I couldn't take any liberties with the timings. Fic must be 100 percent accurate ofc ;) ), and I should add that in addition to not owing anything associated with Harry Potter, I don't own the lyrics to I'll Make A Man Out Of You, either. Sadly.
