What did Snape know, and When did he know it?

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 169435

Dana earlier:

> The DEs come in and they take a specific place in 
> the circle, they form around LV, leaving gaps that 
> should contain DEs that are missing, like they were 
> expecting more still to come. Of course one could 
> state that people were just told were to stand without 
> knowing the identity of the people standing next to 
> them but to me this still gives a problem.

Dana:

> Him having a specific place in the circle seem to 
> indicate he did and him having a dark mark and not 
> merely used as outside spy indicates he was there 
> when LV had something important to share with his DEs.

houyhnhnm:

After re-reading the chapter and thinking it over,  I 
find that I am not ready to concede as established fact 
a formal protocol of position in Death Eater circles.

They apparated all over the place, then crawled on their 
knees one by one to kiss the hem of Voldemort's robes, 
backed away and stood up.  This sounds haphazard to me.  
Nothing is said about wizards criss-crossing the circle, 
jockeying into position, switching places, as you would 
see with a group of, say, choristers seeking out their 
assigned positions on a set of risers.  They just backed 
away and formed a silent circle.

If they were used to a certain number of Death Eaters 
showing up, then they would automatically form a circle 
with a certain radius (I'm sure most of them weren't 
eager to be any closer to Voldemort than they had 
to--Look what happened to Avery).  They would leave 
gaps because they were expecting others to come (or 
hoping).  I mean they would be counting, rather than 
looking for specific individual. They only closed ranks 
once Voldemort had turned his attention to Harry.

As for Rowling's writing that Wormtail "took his place 
in the circle", to me that just sounds like idiomatic 
English.  I mean, how else would you say it?  You 
could say "he joined the circle" I suppose.  If I 
were were describing someone joining a circle, I 
think I might say "took his place in" without 
necessarily meaning the person had an assigned 
position.  Like you might say s/he took her/his 
seat.  It's his or her seat after they take it, right?  
Wormtail took *his* position because it was his after 
he took it.  It just seems like a natural way to say it to me.