It was a mark of how bad the last week had been that the other two agreed with him. What is the meaning in this context?

Question

> There was a tap on the dark window.> > “It's Hedwig!” said Harry, hurrying to let her in. “She'll have> Charlie's answer!”> > The three of them put their heads together to read the note.> > *Dear Ron,*> > *How are you? Thanks for the letter — I'd be glad to take the Norwegian> Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best> thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are> coming to visit me next week. Trouble is, they mustn't be seen> carrying an illegal dragon*. > > *Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest> tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him> away while it's still dark.* > > *Send me an answer as soon as possible.*> > *Love, > Charlie*> > They looked at each other.> > “We've got the invisibility cloak,” said Harry. “It shouldn't be too> difficult - I think the cloaks big enough to cover two of us and> Norbert.”> > **It was a mark of how bad the last week had been that the other two> agreed with him. Anything to get rid of Norbert — and Malfoy.**I don't quite understand the last two sentences in bold above, especially the first one. The sentence seems to be saying: *it was a mark that the other two agreed with him.* But I don't get what it is trying to convey and what "**a mark**" really is? What's the correct way to understand them?--Excerpted from Harry Potter.

Answer 1

Hi! I love seeing an excerpt from Harry Potter :-). Let me rephrase the sentence for you in the way that I am interpreting it, and then explain my thoughts:

The other two agreed with Harry, which showed how bad the last week had been.

Does my rewrite make it make a little more sense? I think the "mark" is just a synonym for proof or evidence. In other words, as the next sentence in your excerpt describes, the characters are all extremely eager to get rid of Norbert and Malfoy, so this is why they are so quick to agree to Charlie's proposal in his letter. I guess that if the last week hadn't been so bad, they might not normally agree to this type of thing. But precisely because it was so bad, they agreed, which was proof that it had been a bad week.

Hope this helps!

Kind regards,

Alissa G.