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

[k12listmomma]

No: HPFGUIDX 186564


> Shelley:
> 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.
>


Replying to my own post, just add some more canon to this line of thought:
Snape and Karkaroff know that Voldemort is growing stronger through their 
Dark Mark. It had grown cold, grown dead when Voldemort lost his powers, and 
when his powers regained, the spell starting regaining it's full effect 
again. It's very possible that when Voldemort became "Vapormort", the spell 
lost it's ability to be stealthy, meaning anyone could see it. But, I doubt 
highly that it was visible to anyone but a Death Eater in the period before 
Voldemort's fall.