Grammar question - differences in editions?

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 148781


> Geoff: 
> (1) This is very interesting because, if you have quoted canon 
> verbatim, I think we have another situation from the tower chapter 
> where editions disagree.

houyhnhnm:

It is "what he would tell you" in the US edition as well.  I replied
to the original post while at work, without checking the source.

I see little difference in meaning between "may have told you" and
"what he would tell you", however.  Either phrase implies that what DD
has just heard conforms with what he would *expect* Snape to tell
Draco, not what he *knows* Snape has told Draco.  In other words, he
is using the Berkeley Subjunctive to obscure the actual degree of
confidence that exists between Snape and himself. (IMHO)

I agree that what comes after the "but" is probably of greater
significance, than the "would have".  By now, any unfinished statement
in a Harry Potter book is bound to be food for thought, though the
food sometimes turns out to be smoked herring.  I don't really have
any ideas about it yet.