25 Jul Harry Potter’s Viktor Krum Is All Grown Up And Now I Want Him To Take Me To The Yule Ball

The Harry Potter series is arguably the literary equivalent of the Beatles. Penned by a then penniless single mother, J.K. Rowling, in Edinburgh cafés while her baby daughter slept, the story encouraged a generation of children to read – and taught adults and children alike that while there are demons in this world, with enough love and courage, they can be beaten.

Adapted for the big screen in 2001, Harry’s story thrust a number of child actors into superstardom – notably, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. What made the series unique was that its readers got to follow Harry as he grew up on paper and this was something which they witnessed first-hand on the big screen through its child actors growing up.

The changes which these actors went through, for many, were a testament to the fact that a seemingly ugly duckling can become a beautiful swan, and fans of the series went wild a few years ago when they discovered that the once dorky Matthew Lewis – AKA the eternally unfortunate Neville Longbottom – grew into a ripped and, quite frankly, ridiculously handsome young man.

After all, anyone who grew up in the early noughties can admit to having a Harry Potter crush. For me, it was Lucious Malfoy – evidently, my younger self had quite mature taste. Played by Jason Isaacs (who’s a mere three years younger than my dad!), I just couldn’t get enough of his long blonde hair and bad boy demeanor. Draco was too wimpy in my eyes. But his dad? Offt!

The other week I realized that my love of the Malfoys hadn’t left me, either, when, after one too many glasses of wine, I found myself chatting to a guy who looked exactly like Draco. Clearly, tipsy me was onto something because it turned out that his uncle had directed the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. And yes, he did get my number #SlytherinTillIDie.

Speaking of the Goblet of Fire, news has emerged that one of its stand-out actors, Stan Yanevski, who played Viktor Krum (the man won Hermione’s heart long before she realized that the love of her life was, in fact, Mr. Weasley) is unrecognizable now.

In the highly unlikely event that you’ve forgotten Krum – perhaps you’re just a part-time Potterhead, in which case, we can’t be friends – he was the Durmstrang champion during the Triwizard Tournament who took Hermione to the Yule Ball.

While their romance was, admittedly, short-lived, I think we can all agree that the moment that Hermione emerged in her stunning pink dress was one of the most memorable in the series. No longer just a know-it-all with frizzy hair, for the first time, her male counterparts realized that hiding beneath her Hogwarts robes was a truly beautiful young woman.

Anyway, back to Yanevski, as the pictures above demonstrate, the Bulgarian actor had a very clean-cut handsome look back when he appeared in the Goblet of Fire in 2005, but now, well, if you saw him on the street, you wouldn’t recognize him.

The 33-year-old has ditched Krum’s signature short hair and goatee in favor of long hair and a bushy beard. He’s also got even bulkier since playing Hermionie’s first on-screen love interest and acquired a lot of tattoos.

Relive the heartwarming moment when Krum and Hermione made their way into the Yule Ball below:

[[jwplayerwidget||http://content.jwplatform.com/videos/T5Um01ol-Q0L14jDU.mp4||T5Um01ol]]

Is it just me, or does the hunk look a little bit like Jason Momoa? One thing’s for sure, he could definitely play a member of the Dothraki in Game of Thrones if its makers ever decide to film a spin-off and need more men to play these fearsome warriors.

When I first read Harry Potter, what made it so appealing was Rowling’s idea that wizards and witches don’t live in a separate world us muggles. Instead, it’s simply reality with a twist, but it’s clear that just like their non-magical counterparts, a decade makes a world of difference to witches and wizards’ appearances, even if they don’t forget their roots.

So what has Yanevski been up to since competing in the Triwizard Tournament?

Unlike many of the other Harry Potter actors, his filmography hasn’t grown considerably since 2005, but he has appeared in a further two movies – Resistance (2011) and XIa (2016) – so hopefully we will be seeing more of him in the future.

The actor’s still got legions of fans too and boats an impressive 100K followers on Instagram.

In fact, he recently made an appearance at a ComicCon and recreated his iconic Yule Ball dancing scene with a fan!

Now, I don’t know about you, but this is making me so nostalgic for the Harry Potter series. But at least we have Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, a spin-off movie set in the magical universe, to look forward to November!

The post Harry Potter’s Viktor Krum Is All Grown Up And Now I Want Him To Take Me To The Yule Ball appeared first on Viral Thread.