Snape's Dark Mark (was Re: Weird thought about LV & Wormtail and dark mark)

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 95600

> Bonny:
>
> I just find it hard to  believe that someone as composed as Snape
> would clutch his arm, thus  exposing for certain his dark past to
> everyone in the room, if the  statement were simply in reference to
> the mark. I believe there must  have been more to it, because Snape
> would never be so  indiscreet.

I find it very out of character that he does anything like  this at
all. The man's apparently a spy, for goodness sake, so why  do
anything so obvious, except for the reader's benefit? There,  I'm
afraid, lies the answer.

Having said that, there is good reason to  suppose that the Dark Mark brand 
*wasn't* common knowledge, so Crouch!Moody  having implicitly let slip that he 
knew about it might have been very alarming  to Snape. His clutching of his 
arm wouldn't have alerted *everyone* to the  presence of the Dark Mark, but it 
would have been an indication to Crouch!Moody  that he knew exactly what he was 
talking about.

I wonder why he wasn't  onto Crouch!Moody by then? He'd sussed
Quirrell, e'd recognised Lockhart for  the charlatan he was, he'd
distrusted Lupin (whom he of course knew) from the  start. Why not
distrust *this* DADA teacher? I can only assume that he knew  that the real 
Moody *didn't* trust him (as we see in the GOF Pensieve  scene).

The anxiety he displays then indicates that he really feared that  he might 
be exposed and his work for Dumbledore put to an end. Since he has  apparently 
managed to remain a spy without Voldemort exercising his revenge on  him 
indicates that he may not have been worried about losing Dumbledore's  protection, 
but only that his position at Hogwarts and as part of Dumbledore's  team might 
have been compromised.

I also think that he *might* have felt  his Dark mark burn at that
point. I argued once in the past that the Dark  mark was a more
effective way for DEs to recognise each other if they didn't  have to indulge 
in sleeve-rolling-up ceremonies. Since it seems that not all DEs  know each 
others' identities and they tend to go masked (and therefor easily  infiltrated 
by masked non-DEs)it might be a
considerable advantage to have a  mark which gave a tangible (is that the 
right term?) signal when a fellow DE was  in the vicinity.

I do think that at this point Crouch!Moody was playing  with Snape,
definitely enjoying his discomfiture, but possibly also sounding  himout, 
trying to work out if he did still have potential loyalties to Voldemort  that he 
could use.

Whatever, Snape seems to have been *so* discomfitted  by the situation that 
he didn't use his Legilimency skills to realise that his  interrogator wasn't 
all he claimed to be. I confess myself a little  disappointed. But not nearly 
as much as I'd bet he  was.

Unless...unless...part of his discomfiture was the dawning that  all
was *not* right with Crouch!Moody, that his Dark Mark burned
precisely  *because* he was in the presence of another DE who knew him for 
the traitor he  was. Now that is enough to make any man sweat. Even our  Severus.

~Eloise


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