Tom Felton lays bare 'secret love' for Harry Potter co-star Emma Watson

Harry Potter alum Tom Felton has finally let the world in on his "secret love" for his co-star Emma Watson in his new memoir.

The 35-year-old, who played the role of Draco Malfoy, shared that his initial relationship with Emma was frosty but turned into a special bond.

"I loved and admired her as a person in a way I could never explain to anybody else," he said after denying for years of a spark between the two.

"My relationship with Emma did not start well. She'd have been forgiven for not wanting much to do with me. It got worse."

After bagging their respective roles the actor revealed that he often joined his fellow Slytherin cast members on cigarette breaks to listen to rap music. 

In one of those breaks he said it emerged that Emma had put together "a little dance show in her dressing room that she wanted to present it to us at lunchtime".

Tom explained: "We were predictably dismissive. We sniggered our way down to Emma's show and the sniggers grew louder as she danced. We were just being s***** boys, largely out of awkwardness and because we thought taking the p*** was cool. I did feel like a bit of a d**k, and rightly so.

"In the end, it was up to one of the hair and make-up ladies to tell me what was what."

However, he added: "I've always had a secret love for Emma, though not perhaps in the way that people might want to hear. That isn't to say that there's never been a spark between us. There most definitely has, only at different times."

He also spoke of the time when he was first told that Emma secretly crushed on him when he was 15 and she 12.

"Rumours started to abound that there was more to our relationship than we were letting on. I denied that I liked her in that way, but the truth was different.

"My girlfriend at the time knew straight away that there was something unspoken between us. I remember using the familiar old line, 'I love her like a sister.' But there was more to it than that.

"I don't think I was ever in love with Emma, but I loved and admired her as a person in a way that I could never explain to anybody else… we were kindred spirits. I know for certain I'll always have Emma's back and she'll always have mine too."