Visiting the Harry Potter set feels like going to Disneyland for the first time: you keep your eyes wide open and your mouth gaping when you see how huge it all is. And yet, Leavesden Studios aren't much to look at: thousands of square metres of impersonal warehouses in the middle of an average countryside, an hour's drive away from London. When you enter them, they are actually disappointing: the glue and paint smells have nothing to do with the magic of the movies which sent us into raptures these last four [sic] years. You do need a lot of carpenters, painters and workmen of all kinds to transform the common raw materials into the magnificent sets and terrifying creatures that J.K. Rowling [sic] invented!

The whole place is so big that some people cycle from one set to another. Some even use a golf carts ... It's 10 a.m., everyone is already in place and two shooting teams are getting busy at the same time. Fortunately, Rupert Grint is available: "There's a relaxation room for when we have to wait. Since I've stopped school and don't need to study, I spend my free time playing ping-pong." The little redhead of the first film has grown into a beanpole, but the same can't be said of Daniel Radcliffe: he's only five foot three. Unlike his schoolmates, the hero didn't have any free time for us. We had to wait until the evening, when the shooting stopped, to get to talk with him.

"My favourite film is the one we're shooting right now. The Harry Potter universe is not at all childish anymore." We were also lucky enough to talk with ravishing Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), the youngest of the trio, but also the most reasonable. Between scenes, she revises her lessons, and is cautious about her future career.

Sirius Black's House: The sets range from grandiose to bare. In the fifth episode, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", the young wizard visits his godfather's family house. Just like his surname, Sirius Black's house is completely... black! But the most stunning part when you go in is that everything is real: forks, chandeliers, dust... "

Since the sets might be needed again in another episode, we only use high quality materials, and never throw anything away; all the set elements from the previous movies are stored in numbered boxes."

Next door, there are large spaces covered with blue fitted carpet: it's the blue key, used as a background for CGI. Quidditch matches are filmed there, for example. The actors sit on mechanically-driven broomsticks, and the Quidditch stands are added later on by computer.

90 Percent Shot in the Studio: Surprisingly, 90 percent of the scenes in the Harry Potter movies are filmed in the studio. For instance, we saw the shooting of a scene set in the countryside surrounding Hogwarts, entirely filmed indoors. Daniel Radcliffe, sitting on a mound, has just learned that one of his loved ones is dead. The wind blowing in his hair, tears flow out of his eyes. The scene is heartrending... but shot indoors, in an annex to the studio which looks like a bunker! It hardly matters: on the big screen, it will seem 100 percent real!