A nostalgic trip! Best moments from the Harry Potter reunion special

Reunions are always emotional! Two decades after the first film of the franchise was released, Daniel Radcliffe, along with stars Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and more franchise alums, returned for a special reunion, 'Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts.'

The new special will surely take you on a magical yet emotional journey with lots of tears. So for all the Potterheads out there, we’ve curated a list of memorable and most interesting revelations from the special: From why Emma Watson nearly left the franchise, to Daniel Radcliffe secret crush. 

 

The cast and crew of the legendary film series come back together to celebrate 20 years since the release of the first film and the franchise. During the emotional reunion, stars also remembered the costars who are no longer with us, including Richard Harris, Richard Griffiths, John Hurt, Alan Rickman and Helen McCrory.

Tom Felton remembered his on-screen mother, the late Helen McCrory, who died in April at the age of 52 after battling cancer. Talking about her, Felton was seen getting choked up as he remembered his on-screen mother Helen. ''She taught me a lot. See? I can't even say it. She had this ability to sort of show such empathy in her eyes. It was a real treat to work with her." Narcissa's husband, played by Jason Isaacs, also spoke about the late actor by saying, ''I said, 'I think I've just met the best actress I've ever seen in my life. I feel lucky to have worked with her and just shared just so much frankly adolescent laughter with on the set."

Remembering Alan, Watson said, "Alan Rickman never talked to me like I was a child. He always took my thoughts and opinions very seriously, which I was very touched by," added Watson.

Emma Watson and Tom Felton close friendship is not hidden from the world, but during the special reunion, the two spoke more about their special bond.  “Emma and I have always loved each other really,” Felton said. Watson revealed that she fell for Felton during one tutoring session where they were given the task of drawing. "Tom had drawn a girl with a backward cap on a skateboard and I just don't know how to say it, but I just fell in love with him," Emma admitted. 

Further, Felton said he was very protective of her, I've always had a soft spot for her and that continues to the day.'' While Watson noted that nothing has ever happened between them romantically, she added that they still "love each other." 

Guess how 'Harry Potter' movies would have looked without Emma Watson, but it's a shock for all the fans to know that both Emma once considered leaving the series. In the special, David Yates (who directed the last four Potter films), said that when he was brought on board to direct Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Warner Bros. and producer David Heyman have told him that the actress Emma wasn’t sure if she wanted to reprise her role as Hermione.

Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy, spoke about the burden that Emma had on her shoulders, saying, ''People definitely forget what she took on and how gracefully she did it,” he said during the reunion. “Dan and Rupert, they had each other. I had my cronies, whereas Emma was not only younger, she was by herself.”

“Yeah. I think I was scared. I don’t know if you ever felt like it got to a tipping point where you were like, this is kind of forever now. The fame thing had finally hit home in a big way,” Emma said.

Daniel Radcliffe had a huge crush on ‘Harry Potter’star Helena Bonham Carter while working on the film franchise. 

Radcliffe confessed his secret teenage crush and revealed he gave a letter to co-star Carter, who played Bellatrix Lestrange in the iconic franchise. “Dear HBC,” Radcliffe, 32, began the letter, “It was a pleasure being your costar and coaster in the sense that I always ended up holding your coffee,” he added.

Embarrassed Radcliffe reads further, ''I do love you and I wish I’d just been born ten years earlier so I might’ve been in with a chance.''

During the filming, 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,' director Mike Newell actually got injured while he was showing Oliver and James Phelps, who played George and Fred in the films how to fight each other. '‘Well of course I was a tubby 60-year-old gent at that stage and I really shouldn’t have done it,’' explained Mike.

''I remember gripping him around the waist and trying to fling him about and cracked a few ribs. So I was in absolute agony from then on. Of course the wonderful thing was I had made a complete twit of myself and everybody felt much better.’' Said Newell. 

Emma Watson recalled her kissing scene with fellow cast member Rupert Grint on the series and said it was “horrifying” for both of them.  They kissed in the final film of the franchise, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II’. Emma Watson said, “Obviously, us kissing was the most horrifying thing either of us has ever had to go through.” 

Rupert recalled, “I think I kind of blacked out. I just remember your face getting closer and closer to mine.” She continued, “Kissing Rupert was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. It just felt wrong, so wrong on every level because Dan, Rup and I are so much siblings.”

 

For the magic, the Harry Potter films used a lot of CGI but the set designers used real burning candles in the Hogwarts main hall. "One of my favorite moments on set ever was the moment when all the floated candles started burning through the ropes that tied them to the ceiling and just started falling through the Great Hall," Radcliffe joked. 

The main leads of the series  Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint also discussed how the iconic franchise and their character affected them in real life. During the special show Grint admitted that when the filming was coming to an end, it marked a “weird time” and he felt as if he “lost track” of who he was. “Towards the end it was kind of a weird time, especially kind of finishing,” Grint says. “I feel like I lost track of who I was and who the character was, I didn’t really know where they ended or began. Weird things, even my name didn’t feel like my name. I felt like I only knew how to do one thing. I knew how to play Ron.”

Radcliffe agreed, adding, “There were some things where it was like ‘Who am I? What do I like to do? What is important to me?” Watson said, “It’s almost like we did the most extreme form of method acting.”