HP canon research help request!

[edenfalling]

I have a dim memory that someone once told me that in the British version of CoS, sometime between Harry and Ginny's exit from the Chamber and everyone's arrival at Dumbledore's office -- i.e., near the end of chapter 17 -- Ron attempts to hug Ginny and she rebuffs him. No such action occurs in the American version. (Trust me, I've checked.)

If this passage does, in fact, exist, I would like to use it in "Secrets" because it's an immensely useful bit of characterization... but I need the exact phrasing and timing to work with -- i.e., I need the text of the book from a couple paragraphs before the attempted hug through to a couple paragraphs after.

Does anyone have a copy of the British version, and if so, will you help me out?

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NaNo count: 1,300 words written, 48,700 to go. *sigh*

Comments

[chrissysparkle.livejournal.com]

No, no such attempted hug. The only bit that's even vaguely similar is when Ron attempts a fairly immature joke about Moaning Myrtle being 'fond' of Harry, after she says she would have shared her toilet with him, and Ginny simply keeps crying...sorry I couldn't help more!

[lurker-lost.livejournal.com]

I got an Australian version (a very old copy, Bloomsbury edition, 1998). I've bolded the relevant part for you, as well. =D

Then came a faint moan from the end of the chamber. Ginny was stirring. As Harry hurried towards her, she sat up. Her bemused eyes travelled from the huge form of the dead Basilisk, over Harry, in his blood-soaked robes, then to the diary in his hand. She drew a great, shuddering gasp and tears began to pour down her face.
"Harry - oh, Harry - I tried to tel you at b-breakfast, but I c-couldn't say it in front of Percy. It was me, Harry - but I - I s-swear I didn't mean to - R-Riddle made me, he t-took me over - and - how did you kill that - that thing? W-where's Riddle? The last thing I r-rememberm is him coming out of the diary -"
It's all right," said Harry, holding up the diary, and showing Ginny the fang hole, "Riddle's finished. Look! Him and the Basilisk. C'mon, Ginny, let's get out of here -"
"I'm going to be expelled!" Ginny wept, as Harry helped her awkwardly to her feet. "I've looked forward to coming to Hogwarts ever since B-Bill came and n-now I'll have to leave - and w-what'll Mum and Dad say?"
Fawkes was waiting for them, hovering in the Chamber entrance. Harry urged Ginny forward; they stepped over the motionless coils of the dead Basilisk, through the echoing gloom and back into the tunnel. Harry heard the stone doors close behind them with a soft hiss.
After a few minutes' progress up the dark tunnel, a distant sound of slowly shifting rock reached Harry's ears.
"Ron!" Harry yelled, speeding up. "Ginny's OK! I've got her!"
He heard Ron give a strangled cheer and they turned the next bend to see his eager face staring through the sizable gap he had managed to make in the rock fall.
"Ginny!" Ron thrust an arm through the gap in the rock to pull her through first. "You're alive! I don't believe it! What happened?"
He tried to hug her but Ginny held him off, sobbing.
"But you're okay, Ginny," said Ron beaming at her. "It's over now, it's - where did that bird come from?"
Fawkes had swooped through the gap after Ginny.
"He's Dumbledore's." said Harry, squeezing through himself.
"And howcome you've got a sword?" said Ron, gaping at the glittering weapon in Harry's hand.
"I'll explain when we get out of here," said Harry, with a side-ways glance at Ginny.
"But -"
"Later," Harry said quickly. He didn't think it was a good idea to tell Ron yet who'd been opening the Chamber, not in front of Ginny, anyway. "Where's Lockhart?"
"Back there," said Ron, grinning and jerking his head up the tunnel towards the pipe. "He's in a bad way. Come and see."


If you want more just lemme know, I'm happy to help!~
Also, all spelling errors etc are mine. Except the whole use of both okay and OK. I reckon you should just stick to one!! =p

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

eh? this is...weird. did this happen more often, leavign sentences out of the us editions? because this version gives a bit more character and edge tothings. blah. was gof a simultaneous one? i should look that up sometiem because I completely forgot. and i got us editiosn mostl ybecause i thought i'd be readignamerican english but for the rest they would be verbatim. strange...

[edenfalling]

That is really weird. My version goes like this:

"Ron!" Harry yelled, speeding up. "Ginny's okay! I've got her!"

He heard Ron give a strangled cheer, and they turned the next bend to see his eager face staring through the sizable gap he had managed to make in the rock fall.

"Ginny!" Ron thrust an arm through the gap in the rock to pull her through first. "You're alive! I don't believe it! What happened? How -- what -- where did that bird come from?"

Fawkes had swooped through the gap after Ginny.

"He's Dumbledore's," said Harry, squeezing through himself.

"How come you've got a sword?" said Ron, gaping at the glittering weapon in Harry's hand.

"I'll explain when we get out of here," said Harry with a sideways glance at Ginny, who was crying harder than ever.


After that, the text seems to be the same again. And aside from changing the first 'OK' to 'okay,' the revisions make no sense to me. (Well, adding in a line about Ginny crying is fine, but I cannot for the life of me figure out why deleting the attempted hug seemed like a good idea to either JKR or her editors.)