It's heavily implied in canon that Amortentia smells of things you love (like?). Hermione apparently smells freshly mown grass, parchment and Ron's hair (according to JKR), and Harry smells treacle tart, broomsticks and "something flowery from the Burrow" which turns out to be Ginny.

It's also apparently researched in the Department of Mysteries.

My thoughts on this is that Amortentia probably works by making the consumer associate what they do love with whoever the potion is keyed too. But it seems strange to me that in the world of Harry Potter that magic as powerful as love can be hoodwinked in such a way. It doesn't sit quite right with me.

 

Love is just an emotion. Is Amortentia any more egregious than the Imperio curse? With your take on it, it's basically a directed, potion-version of a confundus charm, no? Mixing wires and associations in the brain?

Been a while since I read canon, but Amortentia not being an 'unforgivable' (I bring up being a while since I've read canon bc it might be demonized, I don't remember) always rubbed me the wrong way. It's been shown that spells can be resisted, but can a potion? Dark shit.

 

I don't think it's anything so scientific.

Amortentia makes your fall in love, by the simple mechanism of making you fall in love. It's magic.

The smelling things you love is a side effect of being hit with love magic.

 

It's about attraction, not love, creating love is impossible after all. This is what Hermione says about the smell

And this is how Slughorn describes the effect

I think it's no more complicated than this potion making the user one of the things they're most attracted too.

 

It's more than attraction though-- Tom Riddle Sr. was engaged to be married when he immediately dropped his entire life to run off with Merope Gaunt. And from everything we know, that wasn't even necessarily Amortentia but quite possibly some lesser sort of love potion (unless Merope was secretly a Potions mistress off screen).

That speaks to obsession and mind control much more than just finding someone sexy.

 

And thus you exist in an ever rotating cycle of bezoars and calming draughts? Assuming bezoars work on love potions of course.

 

The magic of the potion reads your mind. It then makes you think you smell something you like, but in reality it's just an illusion.

Also, if Amortentia affects the mind then I suspect it can be fought with Occlumency just like Veritaserum can.

 

While it's only been explicitly confirmed outside the books by Rowling, Snape's description of it in the book seems to include things like it clear enough.

this is how Snape describes it.

A potion that influences the mind seems a clear enough case of a external magic that penetrates the mind, making Occlumency a fitting defence.

This is Rowling also confirming that it works against Veritaserum on her old website.

We also see that it explicitly works on things beyond simple legilimency and can be used to block the connection between a horcux and a master soul, since both Voldemort and Harry use it to protect their minds from each other.

This is the confirmation of Voldemort's use

and this is Harry's use

Overall I'd say that it would work against love potions as well.

 

I suppose, but even discounting Rowling's statements, you need some reason for Veritaserum usage to not be standard procedure in the justice system.

 

Pottermore + JKR interviews

EDIT: Ninja'd

 

Didn't Snape use Occlumency to be a spy and lie directly to Voldemort's face? Although not explicitly stated in canon, I think it works within canon and is somewhat sensible since it is related to lying or presenting false information as if you truly believe it.

If veritaserum can access some objective truth of the universe, then occlumency might not work, but since the person has to drink the potion and they are the ones compelled to tell the truth, it seems to be mind magic of some sort.

Edit: Since Amortentia can smell like something you love despite not interacting with you in any physical way, I think it accesses some objective truth rather than getting the information from your mind. I think this works because only you can smell that thing, so it is a secret that still belongs to you (inspired by Rowling's talk about the fidelius charm and Taure's Victoria Potter).

 

I don't think Britain has a right to not incriminate yourself, so I'd be surprised if magical Britain did. That also means not answering the question (assuming that's what you mean by telling truths that don't tell the truth they want) probably leads to the court assuming the worst. Expense works to an extent, but e.g. trying Death Eaters that claim to have been under the Imperius seems important enough to shell out for it.

 

I didn't miss your point, I just wanted to show that there was some stuff in canon that I think made one option more likely. Of course, that doesn't mean it's absolutely the case beyond doubt.