Dean Thomas

[davewitley]

No: HPFGUIDX 40293

Judy wrote:

> So, in the British version, is Dean not mentioned at all during the 
> Sorting Hat scene in Book One?

Yes, I believe that is the case.  It is his insertion that makes the 
passage seem flinty in the US version.

> Does the UK version say 
> anything to introduce Dean, other than mentioning his sports 
posters? 
> (I assume Dean is one of Harry's roommates in both versions.)

I don't know for sure, but I think that there is just that extra 
sentence inserted: otherwise the two versions are the same as far as 
Dean is concerned.  Unlike Pip, I did not discern from what is in the 
UK version that Dean is black.
> 
> The idea that Dean is from an orphanage -- the same orphanage as 
Tom 
> Riddle -- sounds quite possible.  I'd love to see Dean be more than 
> just a superfluous filler character.
> 
Didn't Riddle buy his diary in the Vauxhall Bridge Road?  If so, I 
think it unlikely that he would have been on his way from Kings Cross 
or Diagon Alley to an orphanage in West Ham.  Though of course he 
could have been based in West Ham or nearby and had other reasons to 
be in that area.

David, who thinks that having US 'translations' gives the series a 
certain mystique: American fans can graduate to the 'original text', 
while Brits can see if the (JKR-approved) translations shed light on 
the original.