When did Snape's spying career begin?

[dicentra_spectabilis_alba]

No: HPFGUIDX 36172

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., IAmLordCassandra at a... wrote:
> Dicentra
> 
> 
> > Whoa!  Hold the phones.  Somebody check GoF again.  (I've only got PoA
> > with me today.) Does it *say* that Snape was a DE who turned or does
> > it only say that he was a spy?  What if he never was a DE?  That would
> > be interesting.

Cassie replied: 
> Well, I think we can be sure that he was a DE. Why? Because he has
the Dark 
> Mark burned on his arm. And he couldn't have done that himself
because that 
> thing wouldn't work when Voldie touched his or another DE's mark.
And from 
> what understand of it, though I don't have my GoF with me either,
Snape was a 
> DE who defected and turned spy.

Dicentra backpedals a bit:
What I meant to say is what if Snape agreed to become a spy *before*
becoming a DE?  He would go along with Voldemort and get the Dark Mark
burned in and all that, but never would he be a DE at heart.

--Dicentra, who thinks this theory might be wrong but can't prove it
at the moment
 
>