What If... Dumbledore had included Fudge in GoF Ch.35?

[Brangwyn]

No: HPFGUIDX 55416

This is my first post to the list, so please be kind ;)

Tom wrote:
> What we do know about Fudge's reaction to the Dark Mark on Snape's 
arm is that he "recoiled." (GoF, US paperback, Ch.36, 709) Following 
that reaction, Snape explains the mark: <cutting Snape's chilling quote
from GoF>

> So, I gathered a few things from this exchange. One, Fudge (unlike 
Dumbledore, who admits that he knew about the Dark Mark 'tattoo' in 
GoF, Ch.30, "The Pensieve") did not know that the Death Eaters had 
received this mark. Otherwise, Snape wouldn't have to explain. 

> Two, the mark is a famous symbol, so he does know *what* it is, but 
he doesn't know *why* it's there, and having heard about this for 
the very first time, I'm not surprised that he is so taken aback. 
That's shocking news.

> Three, if he *had* known about these things (as Dumbledore did) then 
perhaps he wouldn't have replied "I don't know what you and your 
staff are playing at, Dumbledore, but I've had enough." (GoF, US 
paperback, Ch.36, 710) Clearly, he is very upset by all of this new 
and freaky information. If he'd known earlier, then this would be 
easier to digest, because he'd have been prepared. And it would also 
have been yet more proof that Voldemort was back. But again, since 
Fudge is in the dark on the Dark Mark, he's not in the position to 
simply accept Snape's word... he's being told another ridiculous 
tale that contradicts what he knows, and as he points out, this is 
becoming a pattern.

Me:  And, four, it seems Fudge didn't know Snape was a Death Eater. 
But why not?  If Snape's trial was as public as Barty Crouch's and
Karkaroff's, and if Dumbledore stood and pronounced that Snape had been
a DE and then became a spy against LV (as he did in the memory in the
Pensieve), why doesn't Fudge know what seems to be common knowledge? 
We know he worked for the ministry at the time Snape would have been
tried.  But his attitude toward Snape seems to change entirely after he
sees the mark.  And, am I the only person who wonders how Snape manages
to stay alive with so many people aware of his secrets?


=====
Brangwyn

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