Harry Potter and the Scandal of No Value

Editorial

July 15^th is the day that people all over the world have been waiting for; the next film of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. But what have the Golden Trio been up to while they filmed? Are they all really going out with each other, like the world of Harry Potter fandom likes to think? In the last film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, we finally had a taste of romance with Harry and Cho, proving that, although there is an evil wizard after him, Harry Potter still has hormones. In the next film we will finally be seeing a development in not only Harry’s, but Ron and Hermione’s love lives, too.

Jessie Cave said to Tatler UK “I think Rupert [Grint] is a little scared of me”, which is unsurprising as her character (Lavender Brown) spends the majority of the movie “psychotically bouncing around the Harry Potter set, trying to kiss Ron”. Daniel Radcliffe had different views about his on-screen relationship. “I think Bonnie [Wright] was maybe a bit nervous, and I probably was, too. It is very much the case that it's nowhere near as exciting to film those scenes as people would imagine them to be. I hate to disillusion everyone,” he told Teen Magazine in an interview.

However, off-screen things are a little different. Since the third movie rumours have been circulating about the love lives of these legendary actors. It was widely believed that Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson were dating in 2002, but there has been no evidence other than their friendship to support this. However they were spotted together on Valentine’s Day, 2008, huddling together in a restaurant “totally absorbed in one another's company”, as a witness told Britain’s Daily Mirror, but the very next month sources say that Watson was being aggravated by Grint’s girlfriend of the time, Lily Allen. Watson spoke offensively to Allen a witness, who immediately told all they knew to Daily Star, had heard sweet Emma herself say into the phone “We’re busy right now, like you should be, Lily,” before slamming the mobile down on her. Unfortunately, Grint did not appreciate this and went “berserk at Emma for being so rude to Lily and cutting her short.” So who’s it going to be, Emma; Ron or Harry?

Alas, for the press this is about as scandalous as their lives get. Jason Isaacs, who plays Lucius Malfoy in the films, told the Telegraph UK, "It would be so great for the press if one of them would go off the rails and end up in rehab, but they are, actually, just really sweet guys … What is amazing about them is that they are still respectful and have humility and work ethic.”

Radcliffe himself said this to Details Magazine, "I don't pretend to do anything particularly wild. People talk about rebellion and they say, 'Where is the teenage angst?' But I say I try to do it simply by the choices I make in the work I do. I just like wrong-footing people. I write poetry and I love it. I like being different from most other people in my generation."

This movie is promised to be the best yet, filled with drama, action, romance, mystery and, of course, magic. With the long awaited romance aspect, our Ron Weasley has finally found a girlfriend in one Lavender Brown (Cave), a cheery but slightly psychotic Gryffindor, and Hermione Granger is now depressed and vengeful. Harry Potter, the protagonist, however, is falling for his best friend’s sister, Ginny Weasley (Wright), who is in turn going out with Harry’s classmate, Dean Thomas (Enoch). As you can see, the actors’ lives are much more exciting on-screen, really.

Sarah Vinaev