Diary of a girl filming Harry Potter

Fake Date

Dear Diary

Well today was a surprise. After a morning of group scenes in the great hall, I was pulled into a meeting with Tom and the director. We chatted about Flo and Draco, their development in this film and stuff, before he came out with...

"By the way, we would like you too to go out on a date"

Both me and Tom reacted with nervous laughter and confusion. Mike, the director, continued with...

"A fake date guys"

And he literally meant it. He wanted us, as our characters, to sort of role play a date. How they would speak to each other, what they would talk about, how there bodies would react to being so close etc. Looking back it was a pretty good idea, but at the time, I was sort of terrified. I'd never been on a date, and I suppose this wasn't a real one, but it was the closest thing to one I'd experienced.

Mike went on to explain, in the film our characters would we picked out from the year dance rehearsals before the Yule Ball, to open it with a ceremonial dance. It was called the principal pairing or something, and it had to be the two strongest dancers, from opposing houses, dancing together as a sign of peace. Cool concept, but both me and Tom thought our characters would hate it.

So after lunch, they sent us back to the Manor House,  where we were to get dressed up and a car would take us to a restaurant, where our fake date would take place. Tom was pretty excited about it all, and made me promise to not break character the whole time we were out. In fact he said that from the moment I come downstairs all dressed up, we are Flo and Draco, not ourselves, and had to only act as they would. He also apologised in advance for anything he might say as Draco, which I laughed at before running up to my room to get ready.

I found a midi, silk, red, slip dress, that seemed pretty "Flo". I paired it with some black heels, and grabbed a black blazer so I wouldn't freeze to death. They said to go fancy, so I was trying. Flo wouldn't have put the jacket on until Draco had seen her in the dress, to get the full impact, so I followed on her footsteps. Tom text me saying he was downstairs, waiting and ready, so I made my way out my room. For the next few hours, I was completely and utterly Flo.

I got to the top of the stairs and paused as Tom... sorry Draco eyed me up and down. As I waltzed down the stairs the conversation went something like...

"Red, really trying to remind me I'm stuck going out with a Gryffindor"

"Anything to make you that little more uncomfortable Draco"

"It's giving me a headache"

"Rather I took it off?"

He seemed to blush at this, and I almost broke character, but clenched my teeth and managed to keep it going. Being Flo was almost second nature to me, same accent and lots of the same qualities, but she was definitely more fiery than I am. She's so fun to play.

The car ride over was more dry small talk, back and forth teasing and so on and this carried on into much of dinner. He did pull the chair out for me when we got there, which was sweet. Mike had said, we have to see a shift in them, a progression as the evening goes on, so that at the end, there's almost a fondness and understanding between them. He said they most likely will experience some forbidden love story in the later films, so we need to set a foundation for that.

So almost as if we'd ready each other's minds, we softened the conversation a bit, laughed at the muggles in the room, bonded over family issues and so on. It really felt real, like I was Flo and Tom was Malfoy. I guess we were doing our jobs right. Hah I can't believe my job is to go on fake dates with my best friend. Hilarious.

We talked for a good few hours before a car arrived to take us back home. We'd agreed to stay in character till we were out of our clothes. We could here everyone in the lounge as we arrived, so hurried upstairs to say our character goodnights. We walked to my bedroom door and said a sort of...

"Well that wasn't as torturous as expected"

"Speak for yourself, ahaha nah you're not wrong for once Malfoy"

"That's one more time than you then Finch"

"Aw and we were just starting to get on"

Awkward laughter.

"Anyways I should probably..."

"Yeah me too"

"Ok, well goodnight"

"See you in potions"

He started to walk away, then turned and said"

"Finch... the dress, it's, eh not hideous"

"Either is your suit"

And with that, the acting exercise was over. I couldn't wait to debrief with Tom, it was so exciting exploring our characters like that. I jumped into some PJs before running downstairs to find him. He seemed to be feeling the same way, as I met him at the bottom of the stairs and practically jumped into his arms. While the fake date was fun, it was sad being so icy and rude to each other all day and I needed the big squeeze he gave me.

"You were brilliant" he said

I laughed and returned the compliment. We are both so so SO buzzing to film our scenes this film. The Yule Ball, with the costumes and the dancing, will undoubtedly be the best week of my life.

And so after an hour or two in the lounge, chatting our unconventional day through with everyone, I'm back in bed. I'm so glad I've started keeping a diary again, I'd hate to forget days like today. Anyways, as usual it's way to late and I need to sleep. ASAP. So.

Goodnight