Hermione in US/UK

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 16063

Ahhhhh . . . I have just returned from Canada, Land of the UK 
Editions, and am finally, joyfully the owner of my very own Harry 
Potter books!  I will resist buying a full set of the US edition, but 
thanks to the library I can now indulge in one of my favorite 
obsessions: finding differences between the editions.  Some, like the 
fact that Harry refers to his "mum," not his "mom," in PS, just 
confirm my view that Arthur Levine is being a disingenuous jerk when 
he says they only translated the expressions that would cause 
confusion.  I accuse him of trying to Americanize Harry.  They seem to 
have stopped making that particular change since JKR made it big.

But I'm particularly intrigued by the more substantial changes.  
Here's one:

UK PoA, p. 272:

  "Er--Mr. Black--Sirius?" said Hermione timidly.
  Black jumped at being addressed like this and stared at Hermione as 
though being spoken to politely was something he'd long forgotten.

US PoA, p. 370:

  "Er--Mr. Black--Sirius?" said Hermione.
  Black jumped at being addressed like this and stared at Hermione as 
though he had never seen anything quite like her.

I really like the change.  The UK version seems a bit obvious to me.

The US version also de-timidifies Hermione, which leads me to another 
passage that I'm 99% sure doesn't exist in the US edition (darn . . . 
maybe I do need a set of those . . . no! bad! ::bangs head against 
wall::):

  'I think we'll be able to pull the door open,' said Ron, peering 
over [Fluffy's] back.  'Want to go first, Hermione?'
  'No, I don't!'
  'All right.'  Ron gritted his teeth and stepped carefully over the 
dog's legs.  He bent and pulled the ring of the trapdoor . . . etc. 
(PS p. 200)

Could someone with a US edition confirm that this isn't in it?  I 
could swear I've never read that before.

Amy Z

------------------------------------
 "Yeah, Dumbledore's barking, all 
 right," said Ron proudly. 
    -HP and the Philosopher's Stone 
------------------------------------
new, corrected sig (formerly said "off his rocker")