Amortentia and re The morality of love potions/Merope and Tom Sr.

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 152404

> Magpie:
<BIG SNIP>
> If Tom did realize that this 
> wasn't love he was feeling, because it didn't feel good, if he's 
> suffering anything like obsession a cold shower is useless.  The 
> only way he can stop suffering is to be with Merope. It could feel 
> very much like being enslaved.  

Alla:

Well, yes, I agree, BUT I am having even bigger problem on 
Tom "should have been able to not act on his obsession" argument. 
Yes, Love potion produces obsession, but um, how do we know that the 
person who drank Love potion is able to distingush between the two. 
I mean, yes, the outside observer ( whoever that was initially who 
created the Love potions, or somebody who tested them, etc) made 
that conclusion, but for all we know person under the influence of 
Love potion indeed thinks that he IS in love.

And we HEARD from Ron that he thinks that he is in love with Romilda 
as Pippin pointed out earlier. Pippin also argued that Ron was not 
sure, but I saw no evidence that Ron was thinking that he feels 
something else, not love. And how could he? His judgment was 
impaired and Harry, if I may, does not take any chances, does not 
let Ron to decide for himself, he treats it as if Ron was poisoned, 
IMO. And he IMO indeed was drugged and badly hurt.

Magpie:
<SNIP>
> The love potion is described as being the most dangerous Potion in 
> Slughorn's classroom iirc and, as others have pointed out, we 
don't 
> even know if it was a Love Potion.  It seems like it was since DD 
> says it was, but I don't think Harry's suggestion of Imperius is 
> supposed to just be wrong, it's a significant answer showing how 
the 
> two are so similar. 

Alla:

Not to turn it into another singing praises to Harry reply, but I 
think that Harry has an instictive ability to spot Dark magic 
sometimes. I think it will grew in book 7 and we may even see Harry 
pulling something similar to what Dumbledore did in the cave.

So, yeah, I am inclined to give some weight to Harry characterising 
Love potions as Dark and comparing to Imperio.

Oh, and of course not saying that Harry is like DD or that he never 
tried unforgivables or anything like that, just thinking that those 
could be hints of Harry strong abilities to deal with Dark magic, 
which may help him dealing with Horcruxes.

JMO,

Alla