Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts is set to debut on January 1, 2022 on HBO Max as well as on Sky and streaming service NOW in the UK.

And ahead of its release, Emma Watson, 31, has revealed that she can remember the exact moment that she ‘fell in love’ with her former co-star Tom Felton, 34, during a tutoring session between filming.

The actress – who played Hermione Granger in the wizarding movie franchise – reminisced about her crush on Tom

Who portrayed villainous Draco Malfoy, and vividly recalled Tom making her heart skip a beat for the first time.

The pair also shared a warm embrace as they hugged with delight while reuniting on camera in The Great Hall for the TV 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.

She 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. 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 centre of dating rumours 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.”

‘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. 

‘For the first two movies, I had a huge crush on Tom Felton. He was my first crush. He totally knows,’ she told Seventeen in 2011.

‘We talked about it – we still laugh about it. We are really good friends now, and that’s cool,’ said Emma, who is now dating businessman Leo Robinton. 

During an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show she elaborated: ‘Between sort of the ages of 10 and 12 I had a really terrible crush on Tom Felton.’

She explained: ‘We love a bad guy and he was a few years older and he had a skateboard and that just did it, really.’  

Emma said Tom ‘totally knew’ about the crush but would say: ‘”Oh, I see her in like a younger sisterly way,” and it just broke my heart.’   

In June, Tom shared sweet words about Emma. When asked about their relationship, he told Entertainment Online: ‘We are something, if that makes any sense.

‘We’ve been very close for a long time. I adore her. I think she’s fantastic. Hopefully she returns the compliment.’

But, when pressed on the manner of their relationship, he explained it was not romantic and more of a ‘Slytherin/Gryffindor thing’. 

Tom previously dated Jade Olivia Gordon, who starred as Draco’s wife Astoria Greengrass in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.     

Emma’s admission comes as Daniel Radcliffe recalled first kisses, horrible haircuts and growing up on the ‘greatest playground in the world’ as he joined Emma, Rupert Grint and their former co-stars in heartwarming scenes released ahead of the Return to Hogwarts reunion special. 

Three short videos show the stars, who played Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, chatting about spending their formative years on the set of the iconic film series, and speaking fondly of the ‘strong bond’ which they’ll always have.   

In the first clip, Emma, who was the tender age of 11 when the debut film was released, admits: ‘It feels like no time has passed — and loads of time has passed,’ while Rupert adds: ‘I feel like this is the perfect time to sit down with everyone and reminisce.’

Speaking of the Wizarding World, Daniel admits: ‘I’ll always be happy to talk about it. I think people expect me not to want to talk about it. But that’s like somebody never talking about their childhood or teenage years.

‘Every part of my life is connected to Potter and to Leavesden. My first kiss is connected to someone here, my first girlfriends were here… everything I can think of is that related right now. It all spirals out from the Potter set somewhere.

‘Everyone also says things like ‘you grew up on screen’. Well yes and know. We did our growing up privately still, we just did it on a film set, and we did it with each other, and that’s bizarre.’

Elsewhere, Daniel can be heard saying: ‘The thing that scared me most was the invitation. But there’s something so joyous about seeing everyone.’ 

In another teaser clip, Daniel looks back on the overgrown hair which he and Rupert often sported in the Harry Potter films.

He asserts: ‘My one bone to pick with Mike Newell, is that every year when we left for the film, we finished a film, they said ‘don’t cut your hair over the summer, we’ll cut it when you get back, and we’ll decide what they want to do.’

‘And me and Rupert both dutifully grew our hair for months, and then came in and he was like: ‘Great!’

‘And we went: ‘No, no no no no. You’re not leaving us like this? We’re supposed to be becoming teenagers and dating girls in this film. Like, you can’t? That’s not what it’s gonna be is it?’

‘So I think we were pretty devastated as we realised that it was. But still, I still love the man!’

In the third video ahead of Return To Hogwarts, Helena Bonham Carter, who played Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter, recalls one of her favourite scenes.

She says: ‘One of the highlights of my part was when I had to pretend to be Hermione pretending to be Bellatrix. I’ve still got the teeth. I’ll put them in actually!’ 

Elsewhere, Emma admits she was nervous ahead of the reunion, saying: ‘You know, some of us haven’t seen each other for years, and so it’s just been a joy, an unexpected joy.

‘I really didn’t know how it would feel. I felt quite overwhelmed this morning and then I’ve just been really pleasantly surprised by just getting to relive it all.’

In another short clip, Ralph Fiennes remembers how he decided to accept the role of Voldemort in Harry Potter.

The actor explains: ‘My sister has children who were then around 10, 11, 12. And I said: ‘Martha I don’t know about this Voldemort.’

‘What, you’re being asked to play Voldemort? You’ve got to do it!’ exclaimed the actor, mimicking his sister’s reaction.

Elsewhere, Daniel emotionally confesses: ‘I wouldn’t be the person I am without so many people here.’

Rupert adds: ‘It’s very overwhelming to think that I’ve watched you grow up and I’ve seen every stage of your life.’

One of the film’s directors then gushes: ‘Oh god, every day was a memorable moment because every day – as a director you’re on these incredible sets.

‘So you walk into the Great Hall one day, you walk into the Chamber Of Secrets. As a director it’s the greatest playground in the world.’

Finally, Emma speaks sincerely as she asserts: ‘When times get dark and things get really hard, there’s something about Harry Potter that makes life richer.’ 

Rupert tells Emma: ‘There’s a strong bond that we’ll always have,’ before they share a hug and are joined by Daniel.

Sitting in the Gryffindor common room as the iconic trio, Rupert tells his former co-stars: ‘We’re family. We’ll always be part of each others’ lives.’ 

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