Tom Felton at the Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio Tour earlier this year (Photo: Mike Marsland via Getty Images)
Harry Potter star Tom Felton spoke of his “shame” at the way he and his colleagues treated him Emma Watson on the set of the first film.
Tom played Draco Malfoy in all eight installments of the Harry Potter series and admitted that the divide between Gyryffindor and Slytherin spilled over into the real world in the early years of the series.
““I guess we thought we were a little cooler,” the actor wrote in his new memoir, “Beyond The Wand: The Magic And Mayhem Of Growing Up A Wizard.”
“We spent our free time together listening to rap music – Wu-Tang, Biggie, 2Pac.”
Tom further recalled an incident in which nine-year-old Emma – who is three years younger than him and the only girl in the film’s main cast – invited her co-stars to watch her perform a dance routine in her dressing room.
Emma Watson (Photo: Taylor Hill via Getty Images)
“Our reaction was predictably negative,” he wrote. “We walked into Emma’s show giggling and the giggling got louder as she danced.
“We just acted badly, mostly out of discomfort and because we thought it would be cool to make fun of her, but Emma was visibly annoyed by our thoughtless reaction. I felt a bit like an idiot, and rightly so.”
Eventually, Tom apologized to Emma for his behavior and they “put their relationship behind them,” although he says he still feels guilty when he thinks about the incident.
He said: “It was just a stupid, thoughtless act by a teenager, this kind of thing happens every day. Why does this moment stick in my mind? Why is it so painful for me to remember it?
“The answer, I think, is that over the years I have come to realize that Emma has struggled the most of all, has had to deal with the most difficult situation, and that from a very early age.”
Emma Watson and Tom Felton in 2003 (Photo: Brian Rasic via Getty Images)
“The last thing she needed,” he added. “In an environment that should have been safe, friendly and familiar – and usually was – Josh (Gerdman, who played Goyle) and I were laughing at her dancing.
“That’s why I’m ashamed when I remember our behavior. And that’s why I’m glad that our friendship didn’t fail because of my insensitivity, but became something deeper. A touchstone for both of our lives.”
At the recent Harry Potter reunion, Emma revealed that she used to have a crush on Tom. He has since confirmed that the feelings were mutual, although they were never more than friends.
“That’s not to say there was never a spark between us,” he wrote elsewhere in his book. “There certainly was, just at different times.”
This article originally appeared on HuffPost UK and has been updated.
