The cast of the Harry Potter movie series grew up right in front of our eyes. In many cases, we grew up right along with them. We probably idolized these actors, especially Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, because we either identified with them or had a crush on them. Little did we know how much drama went on behind-the-scenes of our favorite movies! Some of the controversies and scandals began to leak from set long before the cameras stopped rolling, but we learned even more once the actors were no longer under their contracts. They were friends and enemies, and they made some mistakes. Even some of the older cast members played pranks on the younger cast or had their own share of behind-the-scenes drama. Find out what behind-the-scenes drama happened on Harry Potter and never look at the movies the same way again!

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15 Emma Watson considered quitting the series by the fourth film

Via: harrypotter.wikia.com

Emma Watson told several news outlets that she had “felt trapped” in her role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series. By the time they began filming the fourth movie, she seriously wanted to quit and move on with her life. She told the Daily Mail that the schedule had been so grueling and so structured that she just felt like a prisoner and struggled to get through her days while on set. Her co-stars hadn’t considered quitting the series once their initial contracts ended, but Emma Watson just wasn’t sure if she wanted to give her life away again. It was a tough decision. She ultimately decided to stay on. But the reason she had wanted to quit was mainly that she wanted her life back.

14 Harry Potter fan bloggers were told to cease and desist by Warner Brothers

Via: harrypotter.wikia.com

Warner Brothers tried to shut down fan websites during the height of the Harry Potter craze. So, while the rest of us were enjoying the films, the WB had it in for fan websites and caused quite a bit of controversy over it. The movie company claimed intellectual property rights and wanted to own the domain names for several Harry Potter fan websites. The effect of this battle rippled through the fan community. Fan website owners didn’t want to bow down to the powers that be, and it ended up causing plenty of legal drama over the course of the films. The fan bloggers would receive numerous letters to turn over their domain names to the studio and remove all of their images. It was an ongoing thing that caused a lot of headache for everyone involved.

13 Speaking of fans, Daniel Radcliffe used to sleep with some of them

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Daniel Radcliffe, who played Harry Potter in the series, used to get it on with some of his fans. That’s right. If you’d been at the right place at the right time, you would have had a chance to get some private nookie time with your favorite wizard. He told Mirror all about it! Sleeping with his fans wasn’t a habit, though, because he said he likes having a girlfriend. But he admitted to dipping into the groupie pool of admirers a few times, especially after he’d been drinking. And while he’d been an adorable and awkward little boy at the start of the series, Daniel Radcliffe did become a rather dashing figure of a man when he grew up. It’s no wonder that fans wanted him to enter their chambers of secrets.

12 Alan Rickman didn't want the young wizards anywhere near his BMW

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Alan Rickman ("Professor Severus Snape") didn’t want his younger co-stars, especially Rupert Grint ("Ronald Weasley") and Matthew Lewis ("Neville Longbottom"), to come anywhere near his shiny BMW. Why? Because the little hooligans had spilled some milkshake into his other car. Rickman didn’t want them to harm his BMW in any way, shape or form. So, that meant he had to ban the mischievous little boys from hanging around his car. BMWs are beautiful vehicles and rather expensive; we can’t really blame him for not wanting it to get ruined. Yet, we can also imagine the boys wanting to find ways to annoy the man who played their professor in the series. How many times did he have to tell the kids to behave? The annoyance on screen was probably fueled by the antics of the children in the early days of filming of the series!

11 Daniel Radcliffe came to work drunk... a lot

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We’d like to remember a young Daniel Radcliffe as the little boy who wanted to save the world by just becoming a really good wizard. But that’s not the full truth and nothing but the truth. Daniel Radcliffe grew up and became a bit of a drunkard. That’s right. The Harry Potter actor liked to tip a few back and would come to work still drunk, which would get most of us fired. He told the The Telegraph that he never drank while on set, but would spend his nights drinking. The alcohol hadn’t worn off by the time he had to show up for work every morning, so he would just come in totally wasted. Forget the hangover. This young man just came in drunk out of his head.

10 A head lice outbreak among the child stars delayed filming during 'Chamber of Secrets'

Via: playbuzz.com

What do you get when you put a bunch of kids together? Even the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had to deal with an outbreak of head lice! The filming for Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets had to be delayed once it was discovered that several young cast members had gotten head lice. That meant that everyone needed to be checked and treated until they’d received the all-clear. Head lice is no fun. And it has nothing to do with how clean you are because lice will live on you whether you’re clean or dirty. As long as you have hair for them to live in and some juicy blood for feasting on, you’re able to get head lice. And kids are really bad about sharing their combs and hats. That’s one way to spread head lice over and over again.

9 Emma Watson's hamster Millie died on set

Via: harrypotter.wikia.com

Emma Watson once had a pet hamster named Millie that would come on set with her. She loved that hamster, but the movie life was just too much for the little fluff. It died during the filming of the first Harry Potter movie and left her a little heartbroken. In fact, she even dedicated her Britannia Award to her beloved Millie in an acceptance speech that shows just how much the hamster had meant to her. Emma had been 9 or 10 when Millie died and still felt the need to talk about her hamster at age 24 when she gave this awards speech. According to ET Online, Emma Watson and cast had even buried the hamster in a coffin and had a funeral to commemorate its life. Millie was a wonderful hamster.

8 Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe had been accused of smoking weed on set

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Daniel Radcliffe had reportedly been seen smoking a rolled-up cigar at a party, which sparked the rumors that he was also smoking weed. And another person claimed to have gotten a photo of Rupert Grint taking a hit on a bong! But both actors and their publicists maintained that it wasn’t what it looked like. Radcliffe likes to smoke cigars, and Grint has a lookalike or impersonator on the loose. Even the hint of a scandal is enough to make things difficult for actors, especially when they’re still not quite adults. Child actors who have too much scandal following them might not get hired as often. And it’s bad enough when you have to explain things to your parents! Imagine having to explain yourself to the entire world.

7 Alan Rickman and Michael Gambon pranked Daniel Radcliffe with a fart machine

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The adults in the room sometimes played the best pranks. Alan Rickman and Michael Gambon (“Dumbledore”) decided to do just that to their young co-star Daniel Radcliffe. According to an interview with Jimmy Fallon, Rickman asked Gambon if he could borrow his remote-controlled fart machine and place it in Radcliffe’s sleeping bag to use as a prank during one of the scenes that had all of the kids in the same room. Then they would make the fart machine rip a good one every time a line was spoken. Of course, it meant that there would need to be re-takes. But it was totally worth it. The kids had no idea what was going on, and Rickman’s character Snape would have been proud at the way he got back at that annoying kid Harry Potter.

6 Emma Thompson had to deal with seeing her ex-husband and his mistress on set everyday

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Emma Thompson portrayed Sybill Trelawney in the movies. And she ran into her ex-husband Kenneth Branagh and the woman he had cheated on her with, Helena Bonham Carter, while on the set of Harry Potter. How? Well, it turns out that they were part of the cast as well! Carter had been cast in the role of Bellatrix Lestrange, while Branagh had been cast as Gilderoy Lockhart. We go through life hoping to never run into our exes. And Thompson had to work with her ex AND the mistress he had left her for! Ouch. That had to be awkward. Imagine the tension involved with that triangle on set. Thompson has since remarried and moved past that experience. In fact, she told Hello Magazine that she and Carter actually get along, as well as two women in their situation could get along.

5 Jamie Waylett had been arrested for growing cannabis plants...and for being part of riots in London

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Jamie Waylett (“Vincent Crabbe” ) is no stranger to the jail system. The Harry Potter actor found himself in hot water after he was caught growing some cannabis plants. According to reports, the cops found over $2,900 worth of weed in his London home. As Vincent Crabbe on Harry Potter, he would bully Harry and his friends during Hogwarts sessions. His character was never liked at all. Turns out that Waylett knows how to get himself into trouble in real life as well. For the riot charges, he had been caught holding a petrol bomb but has been cleared of intending to actually use it to destroy or damage property. Crabbe did, however, imbibe some stolen champagne from a friend who had looted a supermarket. He had to serve two years for disorderly conduct.

4 Daniel Radcliffe had lost his V-card to a much older woman

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In an interview with Elle magazine, Daniel Radcliffe revealed that he had lost his virginity to someone who he had known very well. He also told the magazine that the experience had not been as horrible or embarrassing as first times usually are. But that’s not all! He revealed to another outlet that the woman he had slept with had been “MUCH older” than him. Wait... WHAT? That’s right. Radcliffe had been 16 years old at the time and claims that a much older woman helped him to shed his V-card and introduced him to the carnal arts. He wouldn’t reveal who she was or how much older, but it’s enough to make you wonder what went down behind the scenes.

3 And a goblin had been arrested for indecent exposure (several times)

Via: dailymail.co.uk

Playing a goblin in a film is no big deal. But acting like a perverted goblin in real life will come with serious consequences. Nicholas Read, an actor who’d played one of the goblins on Harry Potter, got busted for exposing his junk to an unsuspecting 17-year-old on the train in 2011. Ewwww. He had apparently been hiding his little goblin underneath a juggler’s hat before flashing the poor girl. He was even getting himself off while watching her on the train, and this went on for 30 to 40 minutes.

But the girl wasn’t going to let him get away with it. As soon as she got off the train, she reported it to the British Transport Police. Read was arrested when he got off the train at another stop. He also has a history of assault and probably shouldn’t be allowed near alcohol or women ever again.

2 Devon Murray had to pay his former agents a buttload of money

Via: dailymail.co.uk

Devon Murray (“Seamus Finnigan”) had been ordered to pay a buttload of money to his former agents, Neil Brooks Management, after they claimed that they negotiated most of his pay during filming of Harry Potter. This was when the actors were six films into the franchise! Murray is being accused of trying to break his contract with the management group and owing them unpaid commissions. Neil Brooks Management says that he owes them £286,000 ($372,000), which is a pretty huge sum of money. The agents eventually won £210,000 in court, so now Murray has no choice but to pay up. He had also been sharing on social media that he spent a lot of his money on partying and girls. That doesn’t make him look very good.

1 Emma Watson used to have a huge crush on the kid who played the detestable Draco

Via: harrypotter.wikia.com

Emma Watson admitted to having a huge crush on her co-star Tom Felton, the kid who’d played the hated Draco Malfoy in the movie series. She told Mirror that the reason she’d fallen for him in the beginning is that Felton had been slightly older, had a skateboard and possessed that bad boy quality that draws so many of us in. Remember that she had been 10 to 12 years old at the time. Young Emma Watson would check the call sheets to see if he would be coming in for work that day. Who hasn’t had a crush on someone completely wrong for them at that point in their lives? Apparently, Felton had not seen her the same way. He thought of her as an innocent little sister. This rejection had broken her heart. She’s since gotten over it, obvs.

sources: dailymail.co.uk, zdnet.com, mirror.co.uk, bustle.com, telegraph.co.uk, buzzfeed.com, etonline.com, teen.com, peopleschoice.com, hellomagazine.com, bbc.co.uk, nydailynews.com, huffingtonpost.com, elle.com