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Rupert Grint Says His ‘Harry Potter’ Costars Emma Watson and Tom Felton Had a ‘Playground Romance’

Rupert Grint Says Emma Watson and Tom Felton Had Sparks
Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and Tom Felton. Shutterstock (3)

Practical magic? Harry Potter costars Emma Watson and Tom Felton always appeared to have a romantic connection off-screen, at least according to their former castmate Rupert Grint.

Related: ‘Harry Potter’ Stars: Then and Now

“There was always something,” Grint, 31, told Entertainment Tonight on Monday, November 18. “There was a little bit of a spark.”

Though the Servant actor acknowledged that there “were some sparks” between Watson, 29, and Felton, 32, he stated that he wasn’t in the business of starting rumors about his longtime pals. He added, “We were kids. It was like any kind of playground romance … I didn’t have any sparks. I was spark-free.”

Fans have long speculated that Watson, who played Hermione Granger, and Felton, who portrayed Draco Malfoy, were more than friends. Earlier this year, many questioned whether the English actors were an item when the Little Women star posted a self-portrait in February with the caption, “Friends capture you best @t22felton.”

Related: Emma Watson’s Complete Dating History

Months later, Felton sparked additional rumors when he shared a photo of the pair in August. The duo were dressed in their pajamas as he taught her to play guitar. “Quick learner x,” he captioned the pic.

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Quick learner x

A post shared by Tom Felton (@t22felton) on

To drive the narrative further, Watson once admitted that she had a romantic attraction to Felton when they worked on the Harry Potter franchise. “Between the ages of 10 and 12, I had a really terrible crush on Tom Felton,” she revealed on The Jonathan Ross Show in 2012.

“We love a bad guy, and he was a few years older and he had a skateboard, and that just did it really,” she continued. “He used to do tricks on it. He was so cool. He totally knew [I had a crush]. And the thing is, he’d turn and go, ‘Oh, I see her in a younger, sisterly way.’ And it just broke my heart, still does.”

Related: Couples Who Fell in Love on Set

Earlier this month, Watson defined her relationship status as “self-partnered” while speaking with British Vogue. (She has previously been linked to Chord Overstreet, Johnny Simmons and Roberto Aguire, among others.)

“I never believed the whole ‘I’m happy single’ spiel,” she said in the magazine’s December 2019 issue. “I was like, ‘This is totally spiel.’ It took me a long time, but I’m very happy [being single]. I call it being self-partnered.”

Felton, meanwhile, applauded Watson for coining the now-viral term. Speaking to the Daily Mail on Monday, he said: “I like it! It’s the first I’ve heard of it, but it’s great.”

The Feed actor noted that he’s “in the same category” as Watson, adding that he’s “quite happily self-partnered.”

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