Does Draco have a Dark Mark?

[birdsofshore]

I posted about this new illustration for HBP the other day and it has given me many many Draco thoughts and feels.



Some of the replies with regard to Draco's Dark Mark really surprised me and I want to discuss this ahead of JKR possibly clarifying it in Pottermore. My general assumption from canon is that Draco did take the Dark Mark some time before 6th year, probably at the same time that he was given the task of killing Dumbledore.

My reasons for thinking this are:

1) This scene in Madam Malkin's (from HBP):

Madam Malkin dithered for a moment on the spot, then seemed to decide to act as though nothing was happening in the hope that it wouldn't. She bent towards Malfoy, who was still glaring at Harry.

"I think this left sleeve could come up a little bit more, dear, let me just--"

"Ouch!" bellowed Malfoy, slapping her hand away, "watch where you're putting your pins, woman! Mother -- I don't think I want these any more--"

He pulled the robes over his head and threw them on the floor at Madam Malkin's feet.

2) This scene in Borgin and Burkes (also from HBP):

Harry saw Borgin lick his lips nervously.

"Well, without seeing it, I must say it will be a very difficult job, perhaps impossible. I couldn't guarantee anything."

"No?" said Malfoy, and Harry knew, just by his tone, that Malfoy was sneering. "Perhaps this will make you more confident."

He moved towards Borgin and was blocked from view by the cabinet. Harry, Ron and Hermione shuffled sideways to try and keep him in sight, but all they could see was Borgin, looking very frightened.

"Tell anyone," said Malfoy, "and there will be retribution."

chibitoaster said in comments to my last post that JKR said in an interview with her editor that Draco did not take the Mark, but I can't find anything to back this up by googling. Can anyone provide a reference for this?

If JKR did say this (or says it on Pottermore in her upcoming Draco entry), then I'm not sure what to think. It just doesn't make sense to me from the information that we have in canon.

Possible explanations if JKR confirms Draco was not Marked:

- We are supposed to take Harry's conviction that Draco has a Mark as further evidence for Harry's penchant for thinking Draco is up to something. But, it really does look like he has a Dark Mark; it's not just Harry being obsessive (not this time, heh).

- JKR wanted to deliberately mislead us into thinking Draco has a Mark, to confuse us about how deep in he is with Voldemort. (cf Snape). But this is pointless, because she never uses this confusion to achieve anything within the text. It's not like we suspect that Draco is Marked and then later we find out he's not, and it's a great shock to learn actually he's been working for Dumbledore the whole time or something.

- Draco drew on a FAKE Dark Mark and used it to scare Borgin. I really like this theory, and I can totally see Draco doing this. He wants the power and protection that being a Death Eater brings, but he can't actually bring himself to kill anyone or take the Mark (or perhaps Voldemort did not think him worthy of the Mark). It makes my heart twist for him, so if this was the aim, I like it. But, again, this is sort of pointless, because JKR never reveals that it's fake in canon, so it doesn't have the desired effect. It's a nice theory, but it doesn't really work.

- JKR did initially mean Draco to have a Dark Mark, but later changed her mind for ~reasons. I'm afraid this is what I'm probably going to assume, if she is quoted as saying Draco never took the Mark.

Obviously, in the film version, Draco does have a Mark and when I looked at an earlier sketch for the new illustration, it seemed to be very much influenced by this moment in the HBP film.






I know JKR didn't have ultimate control over what happened in the films, but I presume she did veto anything she was really uncomfortable with? The fact that Draco is Marked in the films suggests to me that JKR was happy with that premise.

However, the fact that the sketch for the new book illustrations has changed from Draco aggressively displaying his Dark Mark, to Draco (possibly) hiding a Mark, is interesting. It seems pretty clear to me that that's what he's doing in the new illustration - why else would be be clutching at his left forearm like that? But at the same time it's not as unambiguous as the sketch would have been.

I presume again that JKR has approval over things like illustrations, but does anyone know this to be the case? Jonny Duddle's other finished pieces are more or less identical to his initial sketches - this seems to be the only one where there has been a significant change, which suggests to me some editorial intervention. If JKR did have input, this would back up the idea that she wants the issue of Draco being Marked / unMarked to remain ambiguous. And, rereading the passages from the Half-Blood Prince, I feel this is what she's aiming for. She likes the possibility of it, but she doesn't want to definitely confirm it. Why? I don't really get it. Why not confirm that Draco either is or is not Marked during the series? I do tend to be a reader who likes things quite black and white, but I can't see what this uncertainty adds to the series, or our appreciation of Draco's character.

Finally (if you made it this far), I have to own to having a vested interest in Draco being Marked. I really like the Dark Mark and what I can do with it in fic. I like Harry having a Dark Mark kink. Or being appalled by it the first time they get naked. I like a redeemed!Draco being ashamed of it. Similarly, I like a dark!Draco who uses it to intimidate or unsettle. I like it if they're getting romantic and he accidentally flashes it and Harry SEES and REACTS and Draco ASSUMES and FREAKS and, oh, there are just so many fabulous possibilities for Dark Marks. Please don't take them away from me, JKR. /o\

I'd be interested to hear thoughts about any of this. Especially as I am meant to be cleaning and tidying. Please save me from that extremely dull fate and come and hypothesise with me instead.

Comments

[eidheann_writes]

I think she wants it to remain ambiguous. She spends a lot of time exploring the morally grey areas with Draco. What she said about him being a bully and a rather shit person who thought he wanted what the DEs offered but quickly found himself in over his head.

And I see not specifying his marked status as feeding into that. You could equally argue he was marked summer between 5th and 6th year when tasked with killing Dumbledore as you can he was unmarked and would (presumably) get the mark after completing the task.

If he's unmarked - I adore the headcanon of him drawing the mark on his arm to intimidate people with. It goes along with the "hasn't realized he's in over his head" are Draco of the earlier books and makes a really poignant bridge between that and the Draco he had become by the end of book 6.

Because at what point in that year does he realize how *hard* it is? The cabinet, Dumbledore, all of it. The transition between "this is what I want" and "I really don't want this" is a very important part of his arc.

[eidheann_writes]

Er and all that and I got sidetracked and don't know if I lost my point

Not specifying means jkr can leave the moral greyness intact. Did Draco need to be marked to agree to his task? Did he not? How much was coercion and how much was just Draco?

[birdsofshore]

I see not specifying his marked status as feeding into that

I can get that, definitely. I suppose I just want her to have the courage of her convictions. It's like, she wants us to think he's Marked. She wants Harry to think he is. But she wants to leave it open, to not be definite about it. I think what made me feel irritated by it was the realisation that, having left it open, she could now come back and say, "oh no, he wasn't Marked at all." I dislike this possibility intensely, for some reason.

If he's unmarked - I adore the headcanon of him drawing the mark on his arm to intimidate people with. It goes along with the "hasn't realized he's in over his head" are Draco of the earlier books

Yes, I like it too! And it would explain why he doesn't get caught with the Mark at any other time in the books. But I don't actually think that's what JKR intended. Could work really well in a fic, though.

[pauraque]

I was going to say basically the same thing before I read your comment — that leaving it ambiguous could be a way of emphasizing his own ambivalent feelings, and subtly point to the fact that he is not as fully committed to Voldemort as a Marked status would imply.

[lq-traintracks.livejournal.com]

Canon is canon -- the heavy insinuations are there -- Draco has a Dark Mark. (That's my read of it, and it won't change from Pottermore or anything else she says about it.) That said, if fanfic writers want to play with him not having one, that's cool, of course. Anything goes in fanfic. But I prefer him having one, too, for all the reasons you said. And I *believe* he has one. I think a good writer could make a good case that he doesn't, but since that's not my preference, they'd have to make it great. ;-)

<3

Edit: I should probably say that I've had NO COFFEE. The coffee maker broke. So I think I'm a bit...prickly in my response. I agree with the others that there's intentional ambiguity, but my own personal read is that he really does have one.

Now I'll toddle off before I Hulk out for no reason. O_o

<33

[who_la_hoop]

"Canon is canon -- the heavy insinuations are there -- Draco has a Dark Mark"

Ah, but don't we see the heavy insinuations from Harry's point of view? And he's overly invested, at this point in canon, in Draco being a Death Eater and having taken the Mark. So I reckon it could just be Harry reading into the situations what he wants to see.

[torino10154]

I think it's intentionally ambiguous--ie we never actually SEE it--but I always assumed he was Marked. And Draco was in very, very deep--we see him tasked with killing Dumbledore, nearly killing others, as well as torturing people. We also know Regulus was a DE and he was certainly not very old when he was Marked since he died so young. But I find either scenario believable. It doesn't throw me out of a fic one way or the other.

The other thing though is that the Mark fades. So any fic post-war, I don't expect it to be noticeable. Snape shows his Mark as proof Voldemort returned. That wouldn't make any sense unless it was gone otherwise.

Snape strode forward, past Dumbledore, pulling up the left sleeve of his robes as he went. He stuck out his forearm and showed it to Fudge, who recoiled.

"There," said Snape harshly. "There. The Dark Mark. It is not as clear as it was an hour ago, when it burned black, but you can still see it. Every Death Eater had the sign burned into him by the Dark Lord."

Even here, it's not clear only an hour after he was called. So years later? With no Voldemort around? Perhaps a faint scar at most. Because again otherwise I don't understand, well, anything about Snape and his Mark. How could Dumbledore have defended him if he only needed to show his arm? (Though, Dumbledore certainly is known to overlook things when convenient.)

Not sure whether that helps or not really. Like I said, I think he is Marked but I don't think, unless it's set HBP or DH, it actually makes a HUGE difference. It would just be another scar. ETA: At most. It's possible it wouldn't show at all.

The other thing I am adding is regarding the art. I think, if anything, that's just correcting what the MOVIE tells us. She keeps it unclear and I can see wanting the art to reflect what is actually in the book. I don't think that means he either does or doesn't have it. The illustration is just saying, "we don't know from canon."

[josephinestone.livejournal.com]

How the Dark Mark works has always confused me. I would really like her to expand on that. Did it completely disappear, or just get darker when Voldemort called them? etc.

[vaysh]

I think JKR deliberately did not come down on one side or the other. We, as much as Harry, are supposed to suspect Draco has taken the Dark Mark but we are not getting the final answer. This is why I think the illustrator ultimately went with an image of Draco where - again - we can suspect he is clutching his arm because he had taken the Mark but we have no ultimate proof.

I can see JKR being content to have the movies show the Dark Mark on Draco's forearm, because the visual impact is so much stronger. She would not go against the director's wishes, I think. She is quite reasonable, and very aware of the differences between movies and books. But her books are her baby, and there she did not want something she meant to be ambiguous be clarified through the illustration.

My reasoning why canonically I don't think Draco took the Dark Mark is this: The Malfoy family was already very much on the decline in Voldemort's favours at the end of fifth year. The Dark Mark is a sign of honour, an initiation into the inner circle of the Death Eaters. I cannot imagine Voldemort would bestow this honour to Draco right after Lucius has failed to secure the prophecy for him. It would more sense that Voldemort promised Draco aka the Malfoys that he would get the Dark Mark once he killed Dumbledore. Draco's wild accusation to Snape that Snape was after a glory that he himself was out to gain, speaks to that theory, I think.

Which still leaves us with an ambiguous canon that we can play around with whichever way we please. I usually write Draco with the Dark Mark, for all the reasons you described.

[vaysh]

Just adding to say I never heard of an interview where JKR outright said that Draco did not take the Dark Mark. I'd be very interested to read it, if it exists. But with such a topic, you'd think a simple google search would bring it up.

[this-bloody-cat.livejournal.com]

I remember when I first read the books I was 100% sure Draco was marked. It wasn't until I started following the H/D fandom and saw people questioning this online that I ever wondered whether he really was/wasn't. And then I realised it's not explicitly stated anywhere in the books -- Harry never sees Draco's mark, though he doe SPY on a number of scenes that seem to suggest there is a mark.

So IDK. As other people have said, I suspect JKR was being deliberately ambiguous.

[birdsofshore]

I think she was, the tricksy mare! I do love her skill with ambiguous scenes, my favourite being Dumbledore's death, but for some reason this particular one frustrates me. I think because it's never resolved in canon, and perhaps I prefer loose ends to be more tied up.

When I looked back at the scenes from HBP, and also this new illustration as compared to the original sketch, it did seem quite clear that ambiguity was the aim all along.

[raitala.livejournal.com]

I think Draco did take the mark, or not so much took it as had it branded upon him as a mark of Voldemort's power over him and his family. I'll be a bit disappointed if it is explicitly taken away.

[birdsofshore]

Yes and yes. I can get behind both of those things.

[blithelybonny.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of him having one for the possibilities~ like you mentioned above, but I also don't mind the idea of him not having one. If he doesn't, I like to think it's because LV didn't think he was worthy of it, since he failed in his task, can't kill, etc.

useless comment is useless, lol.

[birdsofshore]

It's not at all useless. I like reading people saying they don't mind too much either way; it's calming me down! I don't want to feel all disgruntled and anxious about it.

[huldrejenta.livejournal.com]

I'm leaning slightly towards that he didn't take the mark, for a lot of the same reasons that vaysh described, but I love that it's ambiguous. In fanfic I'm rather fond of the idea of him having the mark, for a lot of the reasons that you've described.
I have to say, though, that I hope JKR doesn't confirm one way or the other. I find a lot of the background info on Pottermore interesting, but I'm not equally fond of the "this is what really happened in canon" writing.
(On a different note, I've seldom seen so many angry and sad people as on the wolfstar tag on Tumblr when Remus' biography was released, saying that he'd never been in a relationship before Tonks. Sirius did not like that, hahaha.)
Canon is canon :)

[birdsofshore]

Yes, I'd prefer if it was left ambiguous, I think. I do see the benefits for it.

Poor old R/S shippers! That was a blow for them.

[firethesound]

I think Draco's being Marked had nothing to do with him as a Death Eater -- it was a way to punish his parents. So the issue of it potentially being given after he completes his task of killing Dumbledore and "proving" his worth as a Death Eater doesn't ring true for me, since it's not about HIM, it's about the failures of his parents, specifically Lucius. Anyhow, I like the ambiguity of it from Harry's POV, whether we don't know for sure in canon whether he's got it or not, and I think the change in the cover reflects that better. The change from aggressive to defensive fits more with how Draco is portrayed in the book, so that change may have something to do with that? Plus, we never see the Mark in the book, so why should it be on the cover?

Either way, even if JKR says after the fact that he wasn't Marked, I don't see it making a difference in fandom. At least I still will be writing Draco with a Mark, because yes Dark Mark kink, and being ashamed, and flashing it around to be intimidating, and all the lovely feely things you can do with it. <3

(I love Draco's Dark Mark more than I probably should.)

[vaysh]

I totally agree that at this point, Voldemort was out to punish Lucius for his failures, using Draco. He is "exposing" Draco as a "coward" by making him torture other people, and the task to kill Dumbledore is basically a death sentence. Or it would be if Dumbledore was another kind of man as he was.

But why would getting the Mark be punishment? Because it would make Draco vulnerable to be detected as a Death Eater? Torino above has commented that Snape taught all these years (and at this point is still teaching at Hogwarts) with a Dark Mark on his arm, and yet nobody ever suspected.

[who_la_hoop]

I usually prefer him with him, but I think canon doesn't prove the issue either way - Harry thinks Draco's got one, so he 'sees' evidence for one, where there might not be one. I mean, Draco's wearing a shirt under his robes so there was no real danger of his Mark being revealed in the first scene, and in the second there's no reason Voldemort couldn't have given Draco some kind of token or letter - it doesn't have to be the Mark.

I personally think that he probably did take it, and that it was forced upon him to guarantee his compliance, but you could equally read him as not taking it and it all just being in Harry's head.

ETA: I think the JKR quote is the Mugglenet one, which specifies Draco is a Death Eater, but doesn't confirm he has the mark:

MA: He was utterly fascinating in this book.

JKR: Well, I’m glad you think so because I enjoyed this one. Draco did a lot of growing up in this book as well. I had an interesting discussion, I thought, with my editor Emma, about Draco. She said to me, “So Malfoy can do Occlumency,” which obviously Harry never mastered and has now pretty much given up on doing, or attempting. And she was querying this and wondering whether he should be as good as it, but I think Draco would be very gifted in Occlumency, unlike Harry. Harry’s problem with it was always that his emotions were too near the surface and that he is in some ways too damaged. But he’s also very in touch with his feelings about what’s happened to him. He’s not repressed, he’s quite honest about facing them, and he couldn’t suppress them, he couldn’t suppress these memories. But I thought of Draco as someone who is very capable of compartmentalizing his life and his emotions, and always has done. So he’s shut down his pity, enabling him to bully effectively. He’s shut down compassion – how else would you become a Death Eater? So he suppresses virtually all of the good side of himself. But then he’s playing with the big boys, as the phrase has it, and suddenly, having talked the talk he’s asked to walk it for the first time and it is absolutely terrifying. And I think that that is an accurate depiction of how some people fall into that kind of way of life and they realize what they’re in for. I felt sorry for Draco. Well, I’ve always known this was coming for Draco, obviously, however nasty he was.

Harry is correct in believing that Draco would not have killed Dumbledore, which I think is clear when he starts to lower his wand, when the matter is taken out of his hands.

[torino10154]

Not to quibble, but based on what Snape says, Death Eaters *are* Marked so JKR saying Draco is actually a Death Eater would mean he was Marked. Granted the ~system could have changed from when Snape was Marked, as when he says that he hadn't actually gone back to Voldemort yet. But apparently Regulus was Marked at 16 so there is also precedent for Draco to be Marked at that age, being from a pureblood family--which Draco is half-Black as well.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hannelore/]

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).

[birdsofshore]

I think there are so many possibilities, it's a very intriguing topic. It was interesting for me because I thought that everyone was more or less of one mind about it, but then after my last post I realised there was quite a breadth of opinion, which is always fun :)

[gracerene]

My Draco definitely has a dark mark, for basically all the reasons you mentioned above. I think that JKR does want it to sort of be ambiguous, which is why it's never explicitly stated, but I think she would have had some veto power if she was super against Draco being marked in the movie.

If she says he doesn't, I will happily ignore her. :D

(Though I will say, that I don't think Draco would have drawn a fake mark on his arm. That seems to be the kind of thing that Voldemort would not take kindly to, and I think Draco would have been way too afraid to pull that off)

[birdsofshore]

I expect you are right about Draco not daring to fake a Mark... I just liked the idea, the pathos of it really, that Draco might be desperate / foolish enough to try to fake what he hasn't dared / managed to achieve in RL!

[celestlyn.livejournal.com]

Well, I'll be fine with whatever she says about it. I always assumed that he was marked and deeply regretted it. JKR has enough control of what happened in the movies that if the script writer's wanted to have Draco show it in the film, she could have nixed it if she wanted to. I heard one of her interviews, maybe one of her Leaky ones, where she was asked and she quietly said that, yes, Draco had taken the mark. Then she quickly moved on like she didn't want to spend a lot of time talking about it.

I'd actually prefer if if we find out that he wasn't marked and had faked it to scare people. But it would have been hard to fake the bathroom scene where he shows Potter his arm. He's clearly emotionally strung out, losing control, and having a meltdown. He didn't plan for Harry to interrupt him amid his breakdown, so a fake mark seems unlikely.

Whatever the great lady decides to say is fine with me though. In my mind, I still envision a post-war redeemed Draco. It's clear from the scene at King's Cross in the epilogue that he has stayed out of Azkaban, married and raised a son.

Still it will be interesting to see what she says about Draco.

[birdsofshore]

I heard one of her interviews, maybe one of her Leaky ones, where she was asked and she quietly said that, yes, Draco had taken the mark. Then she quickly moved on like she didn't want to spend a lot of time talking about it.

That's interesting! We can't find any confirmation of JKR agreeing Draco had a Mark, so I'd love to find a transcript or other reference to that.

I agree, it seems Draco could have done a lot worse for himself in the epilogue. I remember an interview JKR gave where she said that Draco tries to be a good dad, as well, and avoids repeating the same olf mistakes with Scorpius. ♥

[onthecount.livejournal.com]

I am DREADING JKR's new thoughts on Draco tbh. I don't see how anything she has to say will be enriching to the corner of very comfortable and gay fanon we've eked out for ourselves.

I feel like Voldemort marking Draco is a way of getting him amped about his task, and like. He's 16! He's stoked!!! He's going to prove himself, he's been given this incredible opportunity to prove his worth to his father's cause/boss and he's oozing confidence and independence. And at the same time, Voldemort marking Draco is a way of telling Lucius he fucked up so hard and now he's basically out of commission? And Voldemort is just gonna take Draco in his place.

But! There's more textual evidence (in the books! extraneous canon is just that—extraneous) that we cant say for sure than there is for him either having it or not having it. But I don't think it's completely incidental that it's Draco's left arm in Madam Malkin's, or that Draco shows Borgin something that is both easily accessible and terrifying. I doubt it's something like a letter or a photo? The Dark Mark seems like the most likely option. I also think Harry's intuition when it comes to Draco is less of a reason to discount his suspicions than people want it to be? He's not wrong about Draco being a Death Eater and I don't think he's wrong about Draco having the dark mark either. There's the issue of the barrier put up on the astronomy tower (and this is, canonically, a speculation) that only allows Death Eaters through. The fact that Draco goes through with Snape after Snape has AK'd Dumbledore, and Snape dispels the enchantment, can be used to argue that Draco isn't marked, HOWEVER, I doubt that was The Plan, so Draco would have had to be able to get through it.

I like Draco having the dark mark post-war as a reminder of what he's done? Like sure it was essentially a hostage situation and he was a child inundated with his family's bigotry, but he still did harm, and I think him having a scar that shows that is honestly good for him and his humility and growth as a person, and is also a great parallel between Harry and Draco.

[birdsofshore]

I think him having a scar that shows that is honestly good for him and his humility and growth as a person, and is also a great parallel between Harry and Draco.

Oh, yes, there are so many dramatically effective things that we can do with a Dark Mark post-war. ♥ I'm wondering if that's why I'm clinging so hard to the idea of him having one in canon?

[daleah.livejournal.com]

"In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Draco Malfoy openly displays his Dark Mark to Albus Dumbledore. In the novel, it is not verified that Draco received the Mark, though it was highly speculated by Harry Potter that it was what Draco showed Borgin as a form of intimidation."
This is cannon according to Harry Potter wiki.
According to the canon only the inner circle of Voldemort gets the mark, and they are all powerful.
"The werewolf might be allowed to wear Death Eater robes when they wanted to use him, but only Voldemort's inner circle were branded with the Dark Mark: Greyback had not been granted this highest honour."
—Harry Potter on Fenrir Greyback's lack of a Dark Mark
Although Voldemort gives Draco mission to punish Lucius, it is unlikely anyone could get him to put his mark to someone for who he thinks that he is not worthy.
I like to think Draco got the Mark because it proves that he is a powerful wizard.

[birdsofshore]

That's interesting, I hadn't thought of the Mark as a measure of Draco's own magical power before!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that, as usual, fanon fills 90% of my brain and canon only about 10 so I hadn't even realised that the Dark Mark was up for discussion... Love this post. And love that illustrator's name!

[birdsofshore]

Wow, yes, fanon has such a siren call. I was talking to a non-fandom friend the other day about H/D and she said "Malfoy? That little ratty git?" LOL. I had fun explaining that fanon!Draco wears leather trousers and is urbane and irresistible.

[khalulu]

I don't think the movie proves anything, because remember the scene they shot where Draco breaks ranks in the final battle and throws his wand to Harry? They decided not to use it, but they didn't say "JKR nixed it" - they seem to have had a fair bit of latitude.

[birdsofshore]

You're right - I wonder if there were certain things she could handwave about (like Neville and Luna), and others where she put her foot down? I'd really like to read more about that process of negotiation / collaboration between her and the film makers.

[lijahlover.livejournal.com]

I think he was marked and I believe this cause I have such a dark mark kink.

Harry tracing the mark with his tongue......

Were was I?????

That is just my headcanon :)

You and I want him to have it for the same reasons.

[birdsofshore]

Yes! It's a delicious head canon. *clings tight to it*

[lettered.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this post! There is such interesting discussion.

I like that it's ambiguous, not so I can make my own decision, but so I don't have to make any decision at all! And we can have fics either way that still feel right. This is one of my favorite parts about the HP books--with as much as that canon tells us, there's still a whole lot that we just don't know. I love how that means I can write Draco with a Dark Mark in one fic and Draco without one in the next fic.

Now, to be honest, I'm not sure I've ever actually written Draco without the Dark Mark. But I like knowing all my fics can coexist peacefully with . . . dude, there was this one old old classic fic that ended with Harry telling Draco his favorite part about him was his blank arm and now for the life of me I can't remember what it is--but anyway I like that that fic is just as "correct" on that point as mine.

But anyway this is all to say that indeed, it would be a shame if JKR came out on either side of it, though I'd definitely just ignore it anyway.

[birdsofshore]

I like that that fic is just as "correct" on that point as mine.

But anyway this is all to say that indeed, it would be a shame if JKR came out on either side of it, though I'd definitely just ignore it anyway.

I have to agree with all of this! Let's hope the subject remains ambiguous, so we don't have to read DarkMark!Draco with our fingers in our ears, going lalala.

[lauren3210.livejournal.com]

I think the idea of Draco's Dark Mark was left ambiguous by JKR purposefully to represent the fact that the character himself ends up being slightly ambiguous? I mean, we never get any real kind of resolution for Draco (which I personally find frustrating as we know, lol), and I feel like the Dark Mark is a symbol of that overarching ambiguity. Which, really, if the choice is between Draco being ambiguous or being irredeemably evil, then I will take the ambiguity every single time, to be honest.

What I do like about the ambiguity in canon is how it involves Harry: it basically becomes his own headcanon - all of the things that he sees as 'proof' (borgin and burkes, madam malkins etc) could also have another interpretation. And i think that opens up a whole load of different theories that we see across fanfic, and none of them are specifically 'right' or 'wrong'. (Which conversely is also why I have such issues with that bloody epilogue, but that's a discussion/rant for another day, lol!)

But this is why I don't give a flying fuck over what she says in interviews or on Pottermore after the fact. Every little bit of information she gives out after the fact, my reaction is always "huh, that's interesting, but you should have put it explicitly in the actual books if you wanted me to think that as canon." So, to me, Dumbledore is not gay, and her statement after the fact is just an interesting and pleasing authorial interpretation; it's nice that she sees it the same way I do. So, if this new Draco "News" is about whether or not Draco took the Mark, then my reaction is just going to be "huh, cool story bro" *continues to read fics both with and without the mark*.

[birdsofshore]

I feel like the Dark Mark is a symbol of that overarching ambiguity.

Yes, I can relate to that. I think I've pinned down now that the thing bothering me about the ambiguity is that there can be further pronouncements made now the series is finished. I do find that challenging in general. It's like, we all have a lot invested in our own head canons for these issues that were left ambiguous in canon. But, if JKR wants to, she can come along and say, nah, you've been thinking that for years, but, nope. As a control freak I find this concept quite difficult :D

[dragonstag.livejournal.com]

I personally prefer to think Draco has a Dark Mark for the same reasons as you do, hehe. But if he really doesn't as JKR said, then I have a theory about what happened in Madam Malkin's: Draco was trying to attract suspicion from Harry. It doesn't make much sense, I know, but Draco has always wanted Harry's attention and tried to impress him in the books. Maybe this was one of those instances. Currently, though, what we have seems to be leaning towards the presence of a Dark Mark, and I'm glad about that! ^^