Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard

by Tom Felton

I dedicate this book to the Muggles who got me here.

You know that person in your life who makes you feel seen? That person who is somehow a witness to all that unfolds? That person who knows—really knows—what is happening to you and what you’re going through, without anything having to be said? For me, that person is Tom Felton.

It’s one of the purest loves I can think of. We’re soulmates, and we’ve always had each other’s backs. I know we always will.

That’s true friendship, and to be seen and loved like that is one of the great gifts of my life.

I’m Robbie and I’m playing Hermione Granger. I’m Emma and I’m playing Rubeus Hagrid. I found it hilarious at the time—huge Robbie and tiny Emma swapping parts—and it was typical of Robbie Coltrane to ease any tension in the room with his brilliant sense of humour. He understood that you couldn’t have a room full of kids and try to take everything too seriously, and he had a knack of lightening the atmosphere.

I’m not Draco. Draco’s not me. But the dividing line is not black and white. It’s painted in shades of grey.

I’d learn, as the years progressed, that some people find it difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction, between fantasy and reality. Sometimes that could be trying. But I wish I’d had Alan’s confidence to remain in character during some of those meet and greets at Leavesden Studios. There’s no doubt that in doing so, he brightened many a day.

“I’ve always known I was a duck,” she said, “but I’ve spent my whole life being told I was a chicken. Every time I try to say ‘quack’ the world tells me that I have to say ‘cluck.’ I even started believing that I was a chicken and not a duck. Then we started hanging out and I found somebody else who quacked. And that’s when I thought: To hell with them, I really am a duck!”

Emma has taught me so many valuable lessons over the years, most importantly: don’t always follow the herd, never underestimate the power of a woman and, whatever you do, keep quacking.

That’s Rupert in a nutshell: quirky, cheeky, thoughtful, reliable, kind—and a good guy to know if you fancy an ice cream.

As in every golfing contest we’ve ever had, the Weasleys won. Bloody Gryffindorks.

that it’s our choices, not our abilities, that show us what we truly are.

I always had the impression that Alan himself was never uncomfortable with silence. Silence, in fact, was his preferred state of being.

One letter, though, hit the hardest. It was written by the person in the room who I knew the least. My lawyer, whom I’d barely ever met face to face, spoke with quiet honesty. “Tom,” he said, “I don’t know you very well, but you seem like a nice guy. All I want to tell you is that this is the seventeenth intervention I’ve been to in my career. Eleven of them are now dead. Don’t be the twelfth.”

“Try to leave every environment better than when you found it,”

Greg also liked to talk to the seagulls. At first I thought this was ridiculous. In a very friendly, high-pitched voice, he’d tell them: “You’re so beautiful! You’re doing a great job!”

Just as we all experience physical ill-health at some stage in our lives, so we all experience mental ill-health too. There’s no shame in that. It’s not a sign of weakness.

I’m no longer shy of putting my hands up and saying: I’m not okay.

It’s easy to bask in the sun, not so easy to enjoy the rain. But one can’t exist without the other. The weather always changes. Feelings of sadness and happiness deserve equal mental screen time.

“I couldn’t get out of bed this morning because everything felt too much.” “I don’t know what I’m doing with my life.” “I know I’m loved, so why do I feel so lonely?” Rather than see therapy as the emergency consequence of excess or illness, we should start to see it for what it can be: an essential opportunity to take time out from the voices in your head, the pressures of the world and the expectations we place on ourselves.

The only true currency we have in life is the effect we have on those around us.

To Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, for all the years at Hogwarts and beyond. To Emma Watson, for quacking with me all these years. To everyone who worked on the Potter films, for helping to shape who I am today.