The following changes and common misconceptions have been released by Rowling’s American publishers, Arthur A. Levine books. The mistakes will be corrected in future editions of the book.
See also differences between the U.K. and U.S. editions – a number of grammatical errors were present in the U.S. edition but not the U.K. edition.
| book and page | original version | change |
reason for the change |
| HBP/10 (U.S. only) | The site, therefore, of Fudge stepping out of the fire once more… | The sight, therefore, of Fudge stepping out of the fire once more… | This is just a typo that wasn’t caught prior to the release of the first edition. |
| HBP/38 (U.S.) | The misty fug his breath had left on the window… | Correct as is | This is NOT an error, though people often think it is. Check out the definition of ‘fug.’ |
| HBP/47 (U.S.) | Dudley had that moment peered round the living room door. | Correct as is | Many people think the word ‘at’ should be inserted: ‘had at that moment,’ but this is a common British usage of the word. |
| HBP/103 (U.S.) | “Yep – ten ‘Outstandings’ and one ‘Exceeds Expectations’ at Defense Against the Dark Arts.” | “Yep – nine ‘Outstandings’ and one ‘Exceeds Expectations’ at Defense Against the Dark Arts.” | To earn 11 OWLS, Hermione would have had to sit an extra exam for a subject she wasn’t studying since she was taking 10 subjects. |
| HBP/135 (U.S.) | If Malfoy wants something fixing… it’s probably something Dark or dangerous, isn’t it? | Correct as is | Again this is British usage; ‘fixed’ would be considered correct in the U.S. |
| HBP/269 (U.S.) | …with nothing in it except an old wardrobe and an iron bedstead. | …with nothing in it except an old wardrobe, a wooden chair, and an iron bedstead. | A couple paragraphs later Dumbledore drew up the hard wooden chair that wasn’t in the earlier description. |
| HBP/342 (U.S.) | …straightening her hat. Have a little purkey, or some tooding. | …straightening her hat. “Have a little purkey, or some tooding. | The quotation mark was left out of the first edition. Note that the spelling is correct as is; Mrs. Weasley is so flustered that she’s mixing up the pronunciations of “turkey” and “pudding”. |
| HBP/476 (U.S. only) | ‘Yeah, I s’pose I’d better,’ said Harry. ‘I don’t reckon I’ll need all of it, not twenty-four hours’ worth, it can’t take all night… | ‘Yeah, I s’pose I’d better,’ said Harry. ‘I don’t reckon I’ll need all of it, not twelve hours’ worth, it can’t take all night… | This is was a mistake made by the U.S. editors. |
| HBP/485 (U.S.) | “Had a house-elf taste every bottle after what happened to your poor friend Rupert.“ | Correct as is | This is not the first time Slughorn gets Ron’s name wrong, so no, it is not a mistake. JKR is aware that Rupert is the name of the actor who portrays Ron, but she made this choice intentionally. |
| HBP/493 (U.S.) | “I had it from the Bloody Baron…” | Correct as is | In the U.S. we would use ‘heard,’ but this is another case of British usage. |
| HBP/591 – 592 (U.S. only) | “He cannot kill you if you are already dead. Come over to the right side, Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine. What is more, I can send members of the Order to your mother tonight to hide her likewise. Nobody would be surprised that you had died in your attempt to kill me — forgive me, but Lord Voldemort probably expects it. Nor would the Death Eaters be surprised that we had captured and killed your mother — it is what they would do themselves, after all. Your father is safe at the moment in Azkaban…when the time comes, we can protect him too. Come over to the right side, Draco…you are not a killer…” | ‘Come over to the right side, Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine. What is more, I can send members of the Order to your mother tonight to hide her likewise. Your father is safe at the moment in Azkaban…when the time comes, we can protect him too… come over to the right side, Draco…you are not a killer…’ | This edit was made in the U.K. editions, but missed in the U.S. originally. The change now has the two editions matching. |
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