You've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed

This is really interesting! I can totally see what you're saying about the possibility that Draco would have taken the Dark Mark earlier. Even though it's possible that the Mark was only for the most faithful, there's a strong possibility that Draco could have been given the Mark by Voldemort as a *punishment* since he senses Draco's ambivalence(or, also, that he took the Mark under Lucius's direction, demand or pleading).