Tom Felton says Ralph Fiennes improvised creepy Voldemort hug in Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2

There are a few moments from the Harry Potter series that have entered the meme hall of fame for being unintentionally funny. (See: “Not me, not Hermione, you.”) Recall the moment in Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 when Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) accepts Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) back into the fold with a creepy hug. It’s chilling in the context of the film, but American audiences found it “absolutely hilarious,” Felton writes in his new memoir Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard (per Insider).

“I must have done that walk 30 or 40 times. For many of the takes I did the same thing: walking past Voldemort, keeping my distance, pacing slowly, head down, slightly terrified. Ralph would look at me differently every time. Sometimes he’d smile. Sometimes he wouldn’t. Sometimes he would break off his monologue and tell me to go back,” Felton explains in the book. “In the middle of one take, as I was pacing towards him for the umpteenth time, he lifted his arm just a fraction. It was the slightest movement, but enough to stop me in my tracks and think: is he trying to hug me?”

He continues, “Uncertain, I shimmied towards him, my arms down by my side. He put his own arms around me and gave me perhaps the most uninviting hug ever captured on film. Even on set it chilled me. A hug from Voldemort was scary for Draco, and it was equally awkward for Tom. It gave me goosebumps then, and the memory gives me goosebumps now.”

“That was one take out of 50,” Felton writes. “I had no idea they were going to use it until I saw the film for the first time at the premiere in London. The audience was completely silent. There was something so very twisted about that moment, something so wrong about watching Voldemort’s warped display of affection, that I could sense everybody around me holding their breath uncomfortably.”

The scene certainly had a lasting impact, though Felton confesses he’s confused by those who find it funny. “To this day, I have no idea why,” he admits, “But I love it!”