When you work in a franchise for years, bonds are formed between employees that last a lifetime. Harry Potter is no different, as a deep bond developed between Emma Watson and Tom Felton, quite different from the dynamic of their characters Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy in the films.

When the first film came out, Watson was just 11 years old, while Felton was three years older. They were even younger, having started work on the film two years before its release, and not knowing any better, labyrinth The actor did things that he still regrets today.

Tom Felton humiliated nine-year-old Emma Watson

Tom Felton began his acting career in the late 1990s and made his feature film debut with the film The borrowers. He appeared in a few other projects before landing the role of the arrogant and cunning young Slytherin wizard Draco Malfoy, who often mocked Gryffindor’s Hermione Granger for not coming from a wizarding family.

In true Draco fashion, who would mock Hermione at every opportunity, twelve-year-old Felton once humiliated Watson. In his memoirs More than the magic wand: The magic and chaos of growing up as a wizard (above Independent), Felton recalled the “painful” Memory of how he laughed at the actress during a dance performance for her colleagues.

He mentioned that at the time, there was a real rift between the actors playing Gryffindor and Slytherin students. While Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Rupert Grint (Ronald Weasley) and Watson formed a trio, the other trio consisted of the slightly older actors Felton, Jamie Waylett (Vincent Crabbe) and Josh Herdman (Gregory Goyle).

Felton wrote that they thought they were cooler because they were older and listened to rap music. He reported that this was one of the reasons why they were cruel to Watson during her performance. He wrote:

We walked to Emma’s show giggling, the giggling getting louder as she danced. We were just being silly boys, mostly out of discomfort and because we thought it would be cool to poke fun at each other, but Emma was visibly annoyed at our thoughtless reaction. I did feel a little stupid, and rightly so.

Watson once openly admitted that she had a crush on Felton when they were younger, so one can imagine how she must have felt when the young actress behaved that way during her performance. Thankfully, Felton realized his mistake and later apologized to her.

Tom Felton on why he felt terrible after being so rude to his co-star

Felton wrote in his memoir that in that moment it felt like an act of youthful thoughtlessness, something that happens quite often. Still, it plagued his conscience and as he grew older, he found the answer behind his feelings about the memory.

I think the answer lies in the fact that over the years I have realized that Emma has struggled the most and faced the most difficult situation of all of us, starting from a very early age.

Watson has been smart and thoughtful since her early years as an actress, but there is no denying that as the youngest member of the cast whose first acting role was in such a major project, she faced more difficulties than any of her other co-stars. Felton wrote that he was glad that their friendship had developed into a “Touchstone” for her life, despite his initial insensitivity.

The Harry Potter The film series is available to stream on Peacock.