[HPforGrownups] Re: Why did Sirius trust Pettigrew? WAS: Snape investigating Potters' Betrayal

[k12listmomma]

No: HPFGUIDX 186563

> jkoney:
> I don't believe he was a DE at the time, because like you said the dark 
> mark
> would have given him away.

Shelley:
I am not so sure the Dark Mark was visible to just anyone. Otherwise, it 
would be EASY to see if anyone was a Voldemort supporter by just demanding 
to see their arm. I get the feeling that it wasn't that simple. We see from 
Crouch Jr's trial and revelations that it took a long time for his dad to 
figure out that his son was involved, and so it wasn't as simple as saying 
"show me your arm".

Philip:
Certainly, like Dumbledore, Voldemort would have been careful to ensure that 
Wormtail was not obviously a Death Eater. I suspect he may have received his 
mark when he was able to betray the Potters. This would seem a suitably 
useful piece of information worthy of such a position. Also as soon as this 
happened, his spying ability was useless. It is of course possible that the 
reason Pettigrew murdered Sirius was to ensure his cover was retained - 
Sirius
would have blown it otherwise.

Shelley:
No, I don't think the Dark Mark gives you away that easily that others could 
just recognize it, since Malfoy was a professional involved in the Hogwarts 
school, and others kept their professional lives in the Ministry of Magic 
all while being Death Eaters or involved with Voldemort. People around them 
had to put together other clues to see if they were suspected of being a 
Voldemort supporter, and if Peter played his role well as friends to James 
and Sirius, I don't think the Dark Mark alone would have given him away. I 
think we see evidence from canon that the first time around, before Lilly 
and James were murdered, that the spies who served Voldemort were 
everywhere, blended into the WW, and that having a Dark Mark didn't just 
give them away.

I get the distinct impression that nature of the Dark Mark changed when 
Voldemort fell- that the spell somehow got corrupted or lost it's powers to 
be fully invisible or stealthy so that even when people were looking for it, 
that it would be hard to find without the secret password or spell to make 
it show. Stupid kids like Draco are so obvious about touching his arm and 
bragging about doing something special, but an adult who was intending to 
keep spying wouldn't be brazen to go showing it off. To spy adequately at 
all, the Dark Mark had to be invisible to the ordinary public; otherwise, as 
a spell it would betray every person whom it was put upon.