The Weasley Clock

[Carol]

Pippin wrote:
<snip>
> | IMO, just as Hogsmeade had more than one pub, the Weasleys have
more than one clock. From memory, since I am also too lazy to look
this up, the grandfather clock mentioned in CoS is in the living room.
The kitchen clock, first mentioned in GoF, tells where members of the
Weasley family are and is the one that Mrs. Weasley carried about with
her.
> 
> [Lee]:
> Well, yes and know.  The grandfather clock is in the living room or
sitting room.  It is described as follows:
> 
> "Mrs. Weasley glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner. Harry
liked this clock. It was completely useless if you wanted to know the
time, but otherwise very informative. It had nine golden hands, and
each of them was engraved with one of the Weasley family's names.
There were no numerals around the face, but descriptions of where each
family member might be. "Home," "school," and "work" were there, but
there was also "traveling," "lost," "hospital," "prison," and, in the
position where the number twelve would be on a normal clock, "mortal
peril." "  (GOF, US Edition.)
> 
> Now, no mention was made of two clocks, so we have an inconsistency
of description:
> 
> "She turned to look at a large clock that was perched awkwardly on
top of a pile of sheets in the washing basket at the end of the table.
Harry recognized it at once: It had nine hands, each inscribed with
the name of a family member, and usually hung on the Weasleys' sitting
room wall, though its current position suggested that Mrs. Weasley had
taken to carrying it around the house with her. Every single one of
its nine hands was now pointing at "mortal peril." " (HBP, US Edition.)
> 
> So, I guess either she did a Reducio on the grandfather clock or
this really is a serious Flint which warrants fifty points from JKR's
house. :-)

Carol:
Exactly. There's only one clock with hands that can point to "mortal
peril" instead of the time (Mrs. Weasley wonders in HBP whether anyone
else has a clock of that sort), and it's described inconsistently,
first as a grandfather clock and then as a wall clock that can be
taken down and carried around in a laundry basket.

It's exactly like Percy's Prefect badge, which is described in SS/PS
as silver, yet is somehow "identical" to Ron's red and gold one in
OoP. At least JKR recognized *that* inconsistency as a Flint and had
it corrected in later British editions.

IIRC, Scholastic has a consistency editor who should have caught both
sets of inconsistencies. (What, exactly, are they paying her for?) I'm
not aware that Bloomsbury has a consistency editor, but a copyeditor
who had edited the previous manuscripts should have caught them. Maybe
they use a different copyeditor for each book.)

Carol, noting that JKR could easily avoid such discrepancies by simply
checking the earlier books