Who is it that Wormtail is supposed to murder, in GoF?

[hermionegallo]

No: HPFGUIDX 81552

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Maria" wrote:
> Hmmm, I have the English edition which has different words put in.
>  
> Pg 15, English edition, softcover:
> "and if we proceed, if I curse--"  
> "If?" whispered the second voice.  "If?  If 
> you follow the plan, Wormtail, the ministry need never know that 
> anyone else has disappeared.  You will do it quietly and without  
> fuss;"
> 
> Because words such us curse and disappeared were used, I assumed 
that Wormtail and Crouch Jr, in the future were going to attack and 
curse Moody ... and because the plan worked, the Ministry didn't 
know.  


hg:
It makes perfect sense if the words curse/disappeared are correct, 
but just this past week I myself was agonizing over that passage, and 
I have the American version, which is murder/death.

Who makes edits when it goes to American publishers?  My husband 
thinks JK herself makes those changes, but I wondered if some 
American editor has a heavy hand with the red pencil.  I can't see 
any good editorial reason to change the passage, especially when it 
so obviously changes the meaning considerably.  If we go by the 
English version, it clearly means Moody, as he's to be kept alive, 
and he'll have disappeared with no one knowing anything about it.  If 
we go by the American version, it's all of a sudden a mystery.

What was unsettling to me about it was that Wormtail is clearly 
reluctant to do this act, and LV reminds him that he won't have to do 
it alone.  Only because of that do I think my husband may have a 
point, that JK herself made that change for clarity's sake, 
because "curse/disappeared" could so easily mean Moody, if she does 
indeed mean someone else.

Don't know if I've muddied the waters further...
hg.