Draco's alleged dark mark

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 162516

MQ:
> If Draco has the dark mark on his left arm as Harry suspects...

> would Madam Pomfrey not have seen it when ministering to his wounds?
*(snipping more re: Dark Mark)* 
> Or does Draco not have the mark yet?  I wonder if Voldemort's order 
> is like other magical orders of lore, and if Draco has not yet been 
> through the proper initiation to earn the Dark Mark. This is a big 
> bone of contention in my house at the moment.

Ceridwen:
Most people I have talked to think that Draco has indeed taken the 
Mark.  What is it he is showing to Borgin in "Draco's Detour" if not 
that?

I think Draco has been given the task and told it is an initiation: 
if he succeeds, he will be given the Mark, and be LV's favorite.  
What he isn't told until Christmas break, in my opinion, is that, if 
he doesn't complete the task, he and his parents will be killed.  I 
don't think LV wants Draco as a DE, he only wants his head on a 
platter to shove in Lucius's face before he kills Lucius as well.  
Draco is not intimidating, he is not brutal, he is not the poster boy 
for Death Eaters.  He's the punishment before the execution.

I don't know what he would be showing Borgin if not the Dark Mark.  
But that snippet smells like misdirection to me.  No one can see what 
he is showing, he could have been showing him a rabid bunny rabbit.  
But I can't buy that LV brands the people he means to kill off that 
offhandedly.

Ceridwen.