Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts is set to debut on January 1, 2022, on HBO Max. And ahead of its release, Emma Watson has revealed that she can remember the exact moment that she ‘fell in love’ with her former co-star Tom Felton.
The actress who starred as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter franchise recalled her crush on Tom, who played villainous Draco Malfoy. The two also shared a warm embrace as they hugged with delight while reuniting on camera in The Great Hall for the reunion special. Tom was 14 years old when the first Harry Potter movie came out in 2001, while Emma was just 11. They both starred in all eight Harry Potter films.
Emma recalled, “I walked into the room where we were having tutoring. The assignment that had been given was to draw what you thought God looked like, and Tom had drawn a girl with a backward cap on a skateboard. And I just don’t know how to say it. I just fell in love with him.” Emma Watson continues, “I used to come in every day and look for his number on the call sheet, it was number seven, and if his name was on the call sheet, it was an extra exciting day. He was three years above me and so for him, he was like, “you’re like my little sister.'”
Despite being at the center of dating rumors for years, to Emma’s disappointment, nothing ever happened between her and Tom, although the actor admitted that he was fully aware of his secret admirer. Tom said, “I think I was in the hair and make-up chair and someone said something along the lines of, ‘Yeah, she had a crush on you.'” Tom continues, “I became very protective over her. Yeah, I’ve always had a soft spot for her and that continues to this day. There’s always been something that’s like, I don’t know, a kinship.”
Since Harry Potter concluded, the pair have remained close friends in 2019 he posted a snap of him teaching her how to play guitar in South Africa. Emma has confessed in various interviews that she had a childhood crush on him in the early days of their friendship while making the movies.