"Old and Valuable" Whomping Willow - But Why?

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 109691

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Cathy Drolet" <cldrolet at s...> 
wrote:
> Brenda said: 
> "I just wanted to clarify something: some posters (Pat, DuffyPoo, 
> KathyK, etc) have pointed out that Snape never says 'old' and Harry 
> never describes as 'ancient tree'.  I have also noticed that the 
> references they made came from US edition, whereas I got mine from 
UK 
> version..."
> 
> 
> DuffyPoo:
> Yes, I did say that Snape only says old, as that is the quote from 
my book, a Canadian HB edition which is supposed to be exactly the 
same as the British edition.  I just this minute checked, and my PB 
edition says the same thing.  

Geoff:
UK editions for reference....

'"I noticed in my search of the park, that considerable damage seems 
to have been done to a very valuable Whomping Willow," Snape went 
on..'

(COS "The Whomping Willow" p.63 UK edition)

'Snape looked as though Christmas had been cancelled. He cleared his 
throat and said, "Professor Dumbledore, these boys have flouted the 
Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry, caused serious 
damage to an old and valuable tree...."'

(ibid. p.64)