“They are not my own children, obviously, but they are like nephews and nieces or perhaps godchildren, and I feel really protective of them,” Heyman said as he sat in his office at the converted aviation factory here that serves as the movie set for the “Potter” series. “Here, look at this one — this is a photo taken the day the boys met. No one’s really seen this before. They were taking a little walk together to get know one another...”

“I know they all will have great success in whatever they choose to do,” Heyman said at his Watford office, putting away his photo collection. “Emma is astonishingly bright. She is radiant and relaxed. Dan is extremely focused on his acting, and I have the fortune too to read his poetry and short stories, and there are some major poets who have written the most glowing, supportive things about his work. And Rupert — Rupert is the most natural comedian of the bunch. I think that he is like an old person in a young person’s body. He is a wonderful eccentric, a distinct original.”

"This place is like going off to school,” he said of the cavernous Watford site, which houses high-tech movie gear in a somewhat moldering old fortress. “It even smells like school. There’s concrete stairs; it smells a little bit bad, like a dormitory. The school is falling apart a bit; three people have been hired full time to patch the roof. The set may fall apart the day we’re done with it, and maybe that’s the way it should be.”