Dark Mark visibility & tattoos in general (was: Snape and the Order)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 93799

Inky/Julie wrote:

Fudge seems able to recognize Snape's tattoo (he recoils), and 
> interestingly he 
> doesn't react to Snape per say.  He doesn't say "Get away from me 
> you Death Eater scum!" or "You idiot Albus, you gave a Death Eater a 
> teaching position?!"  Fudge seems more upset about the timing of the 
> revelation as another of Dumbledore's 'tricks'.  I suspect that its 
> not a surprise to Fudge or the higher Ministry officials that Snape 
> had been a Death Eater, since Dumbledore vouched for Snape in the 
> trials. 

Carol:
I'm not sure how to interpret Fudge's reaction. I always interpreted
Snape's revelation of the Dark Mark as an act of great courage,
assuming that Fudge didn't know about it until that point, but it
might have been simple frustation with Fudge's obstinacy and idiocy.
At any rate, Fudge is clearly rejecting evidence placed right under
his nose--rather like Vernon dursley denying that magic exists. 

But the point I really wanted to make is a minor clarification. the
Dark Mark is not a tattoo, a Muggle "art form" created with ink and
needles. I'm almost certain that he says somewhere, probably in GoF,
that it was *burned* onto his arm, presumably through some sort of
spell (maybe even Morsmordre, which Barty Jr. uses to send the Dark
mark into the sky at the Quidditch World Cup).

My impression has always been that the existence of the Dark Mark to
identify Death Eaters was not widely known, or it would have been much
easier to prove or disprove their guilt. It's possible, as you
suggest, that it faded completely away during the Vapormort! years,
but wouldn't that have indicated to the DEs that Voldemort was
actually dead and their service to him was ended? I think that at
least a trace of it must have remained.

Also one of the purposes was to enable DEs who didn't know each other
to recognize each other. (Imagine identifying yourself by rolling up
your sleeve only to discover that the other person was really an
auror!) I think it was a secret mark known only to the DEs themselves
and probably Dumbledore (and Barty Sr., who would have seen the mark
on his son's arm when he took the dying boy home in place of his dying
wife--such a stupid thing to do!)

Not sure where I'm going with this post. I guess I just want to know
what others think about the Dark Mark and to point out that it wasn't
a tattoo but a burned-on, magical calling card that, if touched by LV,
burned not only the arm of the touched DE but all of the others as
well, reminding them that worse was to come if they disobeyed the
summons. 

Carol, who thinks we'll hear more about the coward Karkaroff in Book 6