It was emotional and also intense to have such an intimate moment so closely watched.

What was it like to sit down with Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint in the Gryffindor common room? I am so happy they are still there for people to enjoy, me included. I am just so happy they still exist! Most film sets are torn down the minute a scene is finished. How did it feel to be with your castmates again on those incredible sets? As they hug and Watson wipes away a tear, even casual viewers are guaranteed to weep. She recalled how, as a 10-year-old, she wanted the part so badly that it worried her parents the day she “fell in love” with Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) and the time she considered leaving the franchise because “the fame thing had finally hit home.” Even more affecting? The scene where she and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) reflect on having grown up together and agree that they’ll always be family even if they don’t see each other all the time.

The now 31-year-old actor, who has since played Belle in Beauty and the Beast and Meg March in Little Women, opened up about the joys and challenges of embodying the precocious Hermione Granger in eight blockbusters filmed over 10 years. Many of the standout moments in the nearly two-hour-long extravaganza, however, came courtesy of Emma Watson. It featured waltzes in the Great Hall, secrets shared in the Gryffindor common room, the revelation that Goblet of Fire director Mike Newell cracked his ribs while play-fighting with James and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George Weasley), and that Radcliffe had penned a love letter to his co-star Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange). But, on New Year’s Day, *Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts-*broadcast on HBO Max-marked this milestone with a lavish and heartfelt reunion. For fans of the era-defining Harry Potter series, it’s difficult to believe that two decades have passed since Daniel Radcliffe first picked up his wand as the titular Boy Who Lived.

Emily watson harry potter