Harry Potter e la pietra filosofale

I love seeing the different editions of well-known books.  Even when they get it wrong (yes, I mean you, The Twilight Saga: Wuthering Heights), it's interesting to see different interpretations of stories I know.  Which is why I love the various translations of Harry Potter that the library owns:

These are the Spanish and German translations of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, respectively.  It's fun to see the different Harrys, but it's so interesting to see what events from the story make the cover.  In the Spanish language version, we see the golden egg that's a clue in the Tri-Wizard Tournament as well as the horses from Beauxbaton.  In the German version, Harry is flying around the dragon, trying to get the golden egg.  (Also, his glasses are that super-tiny, super-cool German style.)

However, the version that's most perplexing to me is the Italian version:

Obviously, wizard chess plays a part in the Philosopher's Stone, but where does ROUS come in?  And why is Harry wearing a rat hat?  And perhaps most disturbingly, why is Harry wearing Slytherin house colors??

The cover is kind of off, but the Italian Harry Potter offers something the others don't: illustrations!

This is when we first meet Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall.  I wonder if there was a misunderstanding about Prof. McGonagall, who is able to transform into a cat, but is not actually a cat-woman.  I do like Dumbledore's super-size beard, though - it denotes extra wisdom, surely.

The Hogwarts Express!  (That's Hermione looking out the window - in Italy, she has a schoolgirl bob.)

Various pictures I liked: Harry capturing the Snitch, Dudders' pig-tail, Harry buying Hedwig (love that they have the same glasses).

Norbert! This is my very favorite illustration: it's got the main three (where's Harry's glasses?), a HUGE version of Hagrid, and Norbert, doing the cutest little baby-dragon sneeze ever!

I found a compilation of Harry Potters around the world here - the Finnish one is particularly great!