One of the great unsolved mysteries is the aptly named Department of Mysteries. The room revolves to reveal different doors, or to disorient the unprepared visitor.
There are the Brain Room, the Death Chamber with The Veil, the Hall of Prophecy, the Planet Room, the Time Room, and the Locked Room.
We get to see what are in the other rooms because Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna and Ginny open the door to each room and go in. But we never get to see the Locked Room.

OoTP p. 775.

Why is that door locked when all the others contain things that are very clearly powerfully magical or just plain powerful. The Time Room contains ... time itself? Perpetual time? A time loop? The Hall of Prophecy is obviously a very important yet vulnerable place, with all the Prophecies stored there but it is able to be accessed by the students. The Death Chamber is hugely important and in a sense dangerous and of course later will prove to be a tragic place. However, all these rooms can be opened. Why is the Locked Room locked? What is in it that is more powerful and important than in the other rooms of the DoM?

Dumbledore says that the room contains love, which we know is very powerful and is ancient magic, and is what caused Harry to be the boy who lived, the only person ever known to have survived the AK. Was DD right, does the room contain pure love that is so powerful, and more powerful than anything in any of the other rooms, that it must be contained above all?
Lily's sacrifice was an act of love. How does this compare to whatever is in the Locked Room? And how can it melt a knife blade?

So what did you guys think when Harry pulled out Sirius's melted knife?

I actually don't remember noticing that the knife melted. I always imagined it shattering because this was a lock it couldn't open and was guarding something too dangerous. i was pretty glad it didn't open because i imagined everything in the room rushing out and knocking everybody over. not very profound, but what I imagined.

my very first post!!!

I honestly think this room has to do with the whole Pandora's box paravel, the only thing left in it was Hope. Here it is love, if it is the most powerful force they want to keep it safe and locked away. Honestly I had hoped for something more then a well of Amortentia *snort*. See this is why it's ok to have SOME questions unanswered.

thats a good theory! JKR did use a lot of myths and stuff in coming up with her background stories. did anyone ever say that there was a well of Amortentia in the room? that would by way boring. if any old NEWT student had access to Amortentia, why on earth wud the Ministry have locked up a vat of it?

I did wonder if the well was something Jo came up with on the spur of the moment when asked the question. The problem is of course that amortentia doesn't produce real love so studying its effects wouldn't really be valid.

Great poll Moose !

This may seem strange, but I'd rather stay with Dumbledore's simple Love, rather than go to Jo's well of Amortentia. (I've read somewhere that it is the ultimate sign of an author's success when readers believe the characters they created rather than the authors themselves, and this seems to be one of those instances.) It's just that somehow, the latter takes away the mystery out of the whole question, whereas Dumbledore's answer sort of answers it without amswering it, if you know what I mean. Typical Dumbledore !

I suppose the reason it is locked away is that it is a very powerful and mysterious thing which should not be left lying around loose somewhere. It wouldn't do to have the likes of Voldemort chancing upon it and utilising it to make some horrible weapon out if it, assuming that he wants anything to do with it at all.

As to why Sirius' knife melted, my practical reasoning is that the Ministry would have put strong enchantments on the door to keep whatever is inside safe and obviously, not everyone at the Ministry would be as inept as Umbridge. Someone was bound to think of such a knife and put in a charm or jinx to counter it on the door.

The fanciful reasoning is that Love being the most powerful thing the world has ever seen, a mere knife, even though it is magical, wouldn't have a chance of destroying it or even hurting it in anyway. It seems symbolical of Voldemort's shot at possessing Harry to me. Harry is the room which is filled with that strange force, Voldemort is the crude knife, and of course, Love is Love. Voldemort tries to take over the room/Harry by force with the use of his magical power/knife, but the power of Love inside the room/Harry proves too strong for him and he is forced to abandon his plan and run away.

That's an excellent observation rowena! I've never thought of it that way before. The room, used to study one of the most mysterious of emotions; being so powerful that a knife couldn't open it's door and melting the knife. This scene demonstrates the power of love; the door almost seems to laugh at the possibility that a mere knife can open it, or touch it. Just like Harry: the love in Harry's heart was too powerful for Voldemort; the pain he felt was like being scorched and he would melt from the sheer force and power of love; those are the consequences of possessing Harry. Dumbledore was right, as usual ; Voldemort wouldn't try it again!

[font="Tahoma"]Funny,rowena r, you're "fanciful reasoning" was exactly how i thought of it. As if the room of love couldn't be reached for a reason that wasn't completley pure. I like to think it has no enchantments on it, but no one can open it because no one has tried for the right reasons. That said, i dont think anyone would ever be able to open it. The love in you're heart is plenty enough if you're true to yourself!

rowena I love your fanciful reasoning.

My answer to why the knife blade melted was, "to protect the mystery." Would any of us really want love explained in some cold, clinical terms? Not me. Part of the uniqueness of love is it's mystery. There is a passage in the Bible that describes love. (I Corinthians 13:4-8) It says that love is patient and kind. Love is not boastful. Love always protects, trusts, endures. It's a beautiful passage and so true in it's description of love. But it doesn't explain love. (nor would I want it to...regardless of what my adolescent love-sick self might have wished for many years ago. )
Love inspires people to the heights of heroism and nobility. It drives people to despair. It saves lives. But it is always, always, complicated and mysterious.

I, too, voted that Love is what is in the room. (DD's word, vague though it often is, is good enough for me. Sorry JKR!)

As for why the room is locked? I voted other, because if indeed, love is what is contained in that room, then all of the options except for one apply to it:
Love IS an unspeakable mystery.
Love IS powerful.
Love IS dangerous.
Love IS awesome.
And, love DOES respond to the right person. (the person capable of loving.)

So, there's my 2 knuts! (Really great topic Moose!)

well i agree with JKR because remember how ron acted when he drank it. love can make you do crazy things. and just think if the ministry made it its already more powerful that what a bunch of hogwarts students can do. plus they are doing testing on it so it could be all crazy and powerful. how would want a bunch of ministry people walking around being HOPELESSLY in love with the first person they saw. thats pretty dangerous in my eyes. its kinda like imperious in a way

I hadn't heard that Jo had said it was a well of Love potion... Does anyone have a link to that interview???

Anywell, of course love is dangerous! and wonderful and overpowering and intoxicating!

Ditto, and I agree with what roonwit also said, that Amortentia doesnt produce true love, only an illusion of love.

This is also true but, all of those rooms contained very powerful and dangerous, and unlike the love potion not all of their effects wear off after a whiles.

So I'm not totally sure what's in the Room but I think it is love like DD said, but how does one define love. I think the room does contain love in some form, and it is so powerful that the door has to be locked even more so than with the other rooms despite what they contain. Being so powerful it melted the knife blade because of its power and force, and also as a defense system to protect itself and to protect others by denying them entry. If it can do that to a knife blade, could a person withstand the impact of what's really in that room

What is in the Locked Room? I think I'll trust the author on this one. It's love potion. Although Amortentia isn't love, it is something wizards made to mimic love. No human being can contain love in a room, so the Ministry put in the nearest thing to it that can be made by humans. It's sort of like the way scientists still really haven't recreated the organisms created in Chemical Evolution.
Why is this the only locked room? Because it contains something awesomely dangerous which is an Unspeakable Mystery that opens only for the right person who can withstand its great power. I chose "other" because it is a combination of the listed things.
Why did the knife blade melt?
-Love can do anything Because it simply can. No question about it.
-It was perceived as a threat Love isn't too close to violence and the knife was scaring it(sorry; I couldn't think of anything else to make the point clearer).
-To prevent entry Because it's a threat, it prevented the entry of the owner of the knife
-To demonstate the force and power Although true love doesn't brag, Amortentia is sort of like infatuation which does.
-To protect the Mystery Because although love is powerful, it is also something which needs to be protected from impure substances(even if it's not really love).
-To protect people unable to withstand such energy Some peope can't handle love. Love sometimes kills.

yeah, well, that question kept on bothering me for some time... actually I do have to agree with Rowena. The most funny thing about it is, that I do believe more in what DD says than in what JKR "made up", oooops
Nevertheless I voted for anyother option still, because that reduced my guilty feeling about having to decide between JKR and DD
No, honestly, the Amortentia thing is just too pragmatic and economic imo. You don´t feel really in love today? Well, no matter just get yourself a glass of Amortentia from the DoM and evrything will be fine. As if!
I agree Dragon that love shouldn´t be seen as something that can be stored away just like that, it is not something we humans can "touch" only something you can experience etc.

My wish for what is in the room is a bit cheesy but here I go:

The room contains all the happy memories and all the deepest heratfelt emotions of love that people feel and experience. Taken together it would overwhelm anyone so that they have to be protected, but kept in that room- which stretches into eternity naturally- the power radiating from that room can be sensed all over the world. Like a heart beating in one body, this room beats for the whole world...kind of


ok, that really got very cheesy, but maybe you get my meaning...

Hmmm ... well, JKR may have told us what was in the locked room, but I prefer DD's definition - it just seems so much more fitting. Jo also said that DD speaks for her, and I like to think of her speaking through DD on this one. The heartfelt sentiment he expressed is just so much more powerful than saying the room holds a well full of potion.

As for why the room is locked, I think it's because that the door will only open for the one who really understands love - including the power of sacrifice - so it would open for very, very few people. Harry would be one, Lily would be another; perhaps we could even add Sirius, James and Remus to that list. There are many more who gave their lives in sacrifice and love, but those four were the four who mattered most to Harry, who loved him most, whose sacrifice meant the most, so - IMO - their sacrifice was greater.

Why did Sirius's knife melt? I think his knife melted because the force in the room was greater than the power imbued in the knife, if that makes sense. A wizard's knife would be powerful, and we know that Sirius was a hugely talented wizard. My theory is that Sirius also imbued that knife with his love for Harry, but the force within the room was stronger even than that, even though both emotions are intensely powerful.

*wanders off for some chocolate since no sense is coming from fingers*

Here is what I voted for.
It contains love as Dumbledore said so.I dont believe that he would lie to Harry for the sake of it.
It's the only locked room as it contains something too powerful.Otherwise wizards would've been have able to handle it.
Harry's blade melted as to protect the secret.There are many things we are not supposed to know and it may be for the better as it can be a secret too powerful to hold that can turn the world upside down is used corruptly.

I have a question: if the room is so powerful; how exactly is love studied by the Ministry? Do they only study a myriad of love potions? And how can something so powerful such as love be harnessed and held in a room in the Ministry?

The way I take this is that in a way Jo and Dumbledore are both right. I voted for Jo because, well, its her book, she made the character of Dumbledore, but the way I see it is that in that room they were trying to understand love. Love isn't something that can be brewed or stored away-but a love potion can be-therefore the unspeakables were making a huge brew of an extremely powerful love potion and trying to disect it in a way and figure out, as much as they possibly could with only a replica of love, what exactly love was. So I think Dumbledore is right that there was love in that room-because in a way the power and inscrutability of love was in that room, however at the same time perhaps love is too great, too strong to ever enclose in a room and so the unspeakables came as close as they could.

Well Dumbledore said that it contains love and I believe him, and it is the most powerfull feeling so that is what melted Harry's knife.And also the ministry are studing that powerful force that comes from love and maybe that is why it is locked because it is too powerful.

Exactly. Dumbledore was speaking metaphorically. You can't keep love locked in a room - it's not a tangible thing. It's a feeling - an emotion felt by a person. The Unspeakables are attempting to study that emotion and the closest they can come to that is Amortentia because it creates the illusion of that emotion. They can take that potion and study the effects and make educated guesses about the real thing on the basis of the results.

I voted for "essence of love" because I think its the very crucial element, that "something" that is so difficult to define and capture, the elusive "something" that makes us sometimes love something or someone that is bad for us. (Chocolate anyone? Oh, no, sorry, that's addiction, not love ) I think its because its so elusive that wizards need to study it, you wouldn't study something you already knew enough about.

I think it is dangerous in the wrong hands but would open for the right person. We know it wouldn't open when Harry was there in OoTP but he's grown and matured since then. He's known what it is to make a self-sacrifice for "the greater good", he was prepared to give up his life to save others. I think he might now be able to open that door.

I voted for the knife melting because the protections of the room needed to prevent entry in order to protect the mystery within and people unable to withstand its energy. As I said, I think that was Harry then, maybe now it would let him in

My answer: who doesn't believe Dumbledore?!? ;)

When I first read that the knife melted I didn't think much (too excited to be reading) on my second read through, I remember thinking:
'Oh darn, a present from Sirius wasted!'

Funny how materialistic that thought was...

I actually took JKR's explanation to mean that the Unspeakables did more than just create a phantom love, but were actually dissecting/distilling what was the essence of love...what caused it...what made it...what makes us so reactive to it. So, I think it was all of the loves to be honest, I mean that's what they were doing is figuring out what was the essence of love by making a powerful love potion and deducing it's affects. Do you know what I mean? A breakdown of chemical compounds and re-sorted to make the potions stronger.

Also, the room was locked to protect the MoM, so they don't get sued. To prevent entry, because it was really too dangerous and you never know how an individual will react to it. Perhaps, this was even a secured room to some unspeakables, so only a few could work on it at a time. I wonder how they even were able to get into the room, if the potion was reactive like amorentia where all you had to do was sniff the air to feel the effects, gas masks perhaps?

Idon't think an Amortentia fountain could be what's in there. Love isn't something most wizards would understand (In the way Dumbledore did), and even though Amortentia might make sense in some ways, it just doesn't seem right. My biggest problem with it is that it's a love potion. I always thought the reason Voldemort couldn't understand love was because there was no real love between his parents. He was born because Merope was giving Tom Riddle, Sr a love potion. That's not love. Lust on Merope's part, but that's all there was. It's not real. This might be a ridiculous connection, but to have the same type of potion that caused (as I saw it) Voldemort's inability to love be used for the study of love, doesn't make sense.

It may just be that the interior of the room was better unknown.

So, how then do you create a more powerful potion without first knowing or exploring what makes us love? Therefore, the essence of love.

Love is a real chemical reaction within your brain...it's just chemists can't re-produce its effects in our world, but it is a tangible substance. That's what I meant by study it's affects above.

In a hypothetical way you might be correct about Merope and Tom Riddle, but all evidence points to as long as the baby is held within critical periods of birth the child can establish normal human bonds. Merope wasn't the first one to use a love potion, yes even to get a guy, so hypothetically then more Voldemorts should have been born. Or it could be reasoned something specific was wrong innately with Riddle Jnr. Unless Merope constructed her own potion and its side effects were zapping love out of an embryo...it wouldn't have been ministry-approved, so who knows.

Some have also argued that Riddle Jnr. souls represented aspects of his personality and when he severed the soul one of the bits, love or human bonding was forever broken and he was therefore unable to love or repent, because of his own ambitious doing.

I voted for the Dumbledore option, but I also think it contains the essence of love. As many people have said, I don't think the room just has a well of Amortentia. I've always thought that Amortentia creates a strong infatuation, as opposed to true, selfless love. How Ron acted under the potion struck me as more of an obsession. It's artificial love. However, if Amortentia does create 'real love', I suppose it would be important to study as the more dangerous side of love.

I think the room is locked because of it being to awesome. Love is the most powerful thing in the world. A whole room filled simply of love, in its purest form, could be dangerous, I guess. Also, I voted that the knife melted because of protective enchantments. I don't think it was love, because why would love, in whatever crazy form it is in, want to keep people out? (Then again, if the love didn't 'want' to keep people out it probably would be stronger than enchantments, but now I'm just confusing myself.)

I voted for the essence of love because I would like to believe that what was inside that room was the closest containable thing to pure love. In a sense, my belief is a combination of DD's and JKR's. I believe Dumbledore because...well, he makes sense. I also believe JKR in some ways because although Amortentia is only an imitation of love, it's still true that people sometimes do the same bad things for true love that they do for a cheap imitation of love, so in some respects Amortentia can be as powerful. Not sure that that made any sense whatsoever, but I can't think of any other way to explain it. In the second category, I voted for 'other' because I believe love is too powerful, dangerous, and awe-inspiring to be in an unlocked room. Thirdly, I originally voted for "other", but I think the reason for that is because "love can do anything" sounded kinda cheesy. Basically, I believe that love works in ways that no one can understand, and that it's perfectly credible to believe that love was so much more powerful than Sirius's knife that the knife could not stand up to it.



I kind of agree with that. What I think is that while the room contains all the happiness that love can entail, it also contains the truly awful things that can happen because of love. After all, love is a wonderful thing, but it can also be terrible in the sense of what it can do for good or bad.

Contains a well of powerful love potion which is a very dangerous thing indeed! It melted the knife blade because it is hot, of course, you silly people

I really dont remember the room that much so I just guessed

I said Love: because Dumbledore said so, because it was to dangerous (love can be dangerous), and because the night was perceived as a threat.

Isn't this obvious (at least the first one)?

It's the love potion...She said it on Pottercast!

She could say that Luna was right all-along and that Fudge DID have an army of heliopaths and it would be true!

Why is this the only locked room?

Do we know this for sure?
Well, it's locked because, once again, she said on Pottercast that (she referenced what Slughorn said about love in Book 6 if anyone wants to get the page...) Love is very dangerous. There have been wars that have been sparked by someone's misinterpretation of love. The Crusades, the Trojan War (although that wasn't really about Helen...) are a few examples. Mothers have been lead to believe their baby is possessed and killed them out of their 'love' for them.

So for that one i picked: It contains something too dangerous

Why did the knife blade melt?

Well, it's an extremely dangerous object in the room...

So for that one i did: To prevent entry, To protect people unable to withstand such energy and Other (mainly this one, as it is protecting, not only people unable to withstand such energy, but also to protect potential victims).

I thinks that the 'mystery' behind the locked room errr ....i s pretty straight forward. (perhaps Trelawny would say that my 'inner eye' needs to be broadened ....)

We have to believe JKR's word because it's the definite thing!! So you have a well full of potion there because JK says so. Of course the potion is powerful and that's one of the reasons that room remains locked. Anyway, it isn't a great idea to keep a room having some love potion open to all.
Why did the knife melt? Because of some force, the power within the room.

I find it very logical.

Well in my point of view i think it really doesn't matter what is in it to be honest if its that powerful lets just leave it alone.

I respect your opinion but, I can not agree. To me, a huge part of what HP is all about is the theorizing. Few other books have captured the imagination the way HP has, making us want to know everything about everything, and theorizing about what we dont know.
To me, knowing what's in the locked room is very important. Why was only that one locked (or we're told only this one is locked). What is so powerful that it has to be locked away and can melt Sirius's knife? Why is this secret more important to guard than the Brain Room or Time Room, or the Veil? These are fascinating questions leaving so much room (no pun intended) for speculation and theorizing

I believe what Jo said: the room has a vat of the strongest love potion in the world. I admit I was a little disappointed, but that explanation makes sense since it was in the ministry and it had to have some purpose and it needed to be studied. Although not the truest love I can think of, it is the closest thing to a simulation of the effects of love that the ministry could get.

I think Dumbledore brought the subject up and said that the locked room held love because he in his Dumbledory way wanted to point out to Harry that even the ministry realizes the power of love enough to keep that room locked. He's teaching Harry yet again: love is the most powerful thing in the universe. Love is something that people (and beings) FEEL, it's not something you can lock away in the room. However, I think this love potion does create the closest thing to love you can create, since love can't truly be created and bottled.

I think that the ministry keeps the door locked so that some random person can't go in and drink the potion and so whoever's drinking the potion can't get out, as that would be a disaster, as we saw with Ron. The knife melted because the ministry has to make sure no one gets in (especially not 6 idiot kids!)

In conclusion: both Jo and Dumbledore were right

I think that JKR is (was) trying to wrap things up with a nice little bow (I don't mean this in a bad way by any means..). I think that by saying that it is just a vat of love potion leaves it at an end with not much left to explain. If she said that it was love, there is deeper explanation to go into. Don't you think? There are so many branches of love, deep passionate love, parental love, brotherly love and so on.

I completely and 100% agree with you Moose . One of the things I really love about this thread is that the story doesn't end; we are allowed to theorize on anything and everything. The Locked Room/The Department of Mysteries is fascinating to me as a reader because of the fact that we are told enough about these rooms to spark our interest, and at the same time the rooms are like bait because we latch on and want to know so much more. This poll fits the bill perfectly. The most mystifying concepts are exemplified in the Brain Room, Time Room and The Chamber of death; to name a few. Time, memory and thought, love, death; these are the greatest mysteries of all in life! And Rowling has touched beautifully on them. Theorizing about those rooms in part is what makes the HP series all that much more exciting and enjoyable. If it wasn't for Rowling, none of us would be here .

The Locked room just mystifies me as a reader .

Rowena I like your analogy and your "fanciful reasoning!!"

I like to believe that Jo did not really mean a well in the literal sense, at least not of potion(sorry if someone posted the interview with that I only got through half the response). Maybe like a wishing well.

I think the knife couldn't open the door because it was so crude, unloving. And it represents how if you truely have love even a cut (imperfection) won't penetrate. The door only opens under loving conditions not because you tried to force it. Just like when Harry was trying to leave the room and he only had to ask for the exit.

"Where's the way out?" OotP, pg809

Love is the most powerful force on earth. It was Harry's love for his friends that lead him to sacrifice himself in order to once and for all stop Voldemort.

I more or less see the Love Chamber like the Death Chamber...in that it contains something we've not seen anywhere else, something fundamental and ancient probably created in the ancient times of "old" magic, as the Arch and Veil seem to be in the Death Chamber. And that it is something curious and immensely powerful, like the Veil, and fairly indiscernable to modern wizardry, so the study of it goes on, and on, ad infinitum. The chamber would be kept locked because of the uniqueness and power of this object.

I also note how the books show us not only the power of love, but the power of the lack of it. The story line is threaded with this theme. So I speculate that the love studied in the Love room considers both the light side and the dark side of the love issue.

Oh, and I suppose Sirius's knife failed to unlock the Love room door because a knife represents force, which is antithetical to love. So, the spell on the door recognizes it, and destroys it. I would guess the key to opening the door must be in harmony with the nature of love.

I really like how eloquently you stated the above, Lost Centaur. That makes a lot of sense about the knife and why it couldn't open the door. The only way to open the hallowed door was with love . And at that point in the series; Harry hadn't come full circle yet in his knowledge of not only himself, but the true power of love, and that really, love is much more powerful than magic. The concept of love is shown time and again with Lily's sacrifice; the scene in the Forest; and ultimately with Harry's own sacrifice.

Two ideas pop into my head about this: The Locked Door containing the Power of Love - and the fact it's located in the Ministry of Magic? Hmm...if memory serves me well does not the Ministry of Magic several times mess up the Magical Kingdom with it's inept handling of what it does not understand, and starts to remove Magical People who are considered a threat?

I personally would like to open that door, release that love energy elsewhere - not have it locked away in a bureaucracy.

Good Poll, by the way Moose_Starr !

I'll be going along an old joke from the mugglenet caption contest and say...Hufflepuff common room!

Kidding, it contains love, DD said so. It can't be opened easily because love is so powerful (can't believe I am saying that), and I have no idea about what they should have done to open it.

Alright, this is aggravating me...
Jo:

SOURCE: here

Really, guys? ITS A LOVE POTION!

I said it before, she could say that Luna was right all along, and Fudge did have an army of heliopaths, and it would be true.

She could say that Professor McGonagall had a rabid affair with Prof. Flitwick, and it would be true.

She could say that Prof. Trelawney is an amazing tennis player and it would be true.

She could say that Rufus Scrimegeour was 953 years old, and it would it be true.

She could say that Lucius Malfoy was in debt throughot the books and it would be true.

She could say that Neville became a traveling, feminist hermit and it would be true.

So, why are people arguing about what's in there?

Hopefully we're discussing and theorizing, not arguing. The reason for the discussion is twofold : the discrepancy between what JKR said and what DD said, also the opening question does ask what were your initial thoughts when you first read OoTP about the Locked Room at the DoM.
Some of us just like to speculate endlessly about things

Well, I have to say that if it was a love potion (a super potent love potion, that is), then there's more reason to have it locked. Still, the thoughts were also dangerous and that room wasn't locked, so I am hoping there is more behind it...

Do you guys know how in Raider's of the Lost Ark they open the box that is supposed to contain the fragments of the original Ten Commandmants and everyone dies because the power is just so awesome? Too awesome for man to feel? I think there is something like that in the Locked Room. It's full of the most powerful love in the world. And humankind isn't accustumed to it so if it were to be released, no one would survive because it's more powerful than a hydrogen bomb. No one would survive. The love burns so strongly that it would melt the knife to show that love is one of the most painful experiences iin the world.

Like some of you here, I actually also kinda prefer Dumbledore's version of what's in the Locked room - it's kinda cooler to just know that it's *love* and try to think of what form it could take I actually used to imagine a dark room with no windows with a sort of ghost-like form of force. Well, that's not very clear, but that's how I imagined At first, I didn't really like the well full of love potion thing. However, now, I'm starting to think that perhaps this isn't any ordinary potion. It being a *well* sort of make me imagine that the potion is almost like coming from the earth. Or perhaps there's some kind of magic that sort of makes it (love) condensate and is collected in that well/fountain thing. Well, dunno. Just a thought that came to my head.

Good question! Hm... Well, if we take Jo's explanation about the well full of love potion it at least makes the... erm... the means easier to imagine. I think, they only let a select few people to get access to the room and they probably have to go through some training or something. Also, as we've seen by the example of the melting knife, I think, there's some pretty strong magic (or perhaps even *love* itself) protecting the room.

As JKR already said its a room full of amortentia where the affects of love are study. That probably means they spend thier days using it on each other and seeing how love works and develops. They maybe trying to harness the power of love, but I simply think they are trying to understand love and all its complexity. Heck if there was some awesome love power in there all Harry need do is lock Voldemort in their and let it destroy him. I wonder what would happen if someone (like Bellatrix) gave Voldemort amortentia. Would it have any effect?

I don't know! Maybe not, besides, Voldemort would do Legimency and see that he was being given something he didn't like!

I'll go with Dumbledore. He may not have told everything, but what he told was the truth.

I believe the room contains both the essence and the meaning of love. One is pretty hard to separate from the other. the door is locked to prevent those who cannot yet understand or handle the knowledge, or would use it other than for good from entering. Harry was not quite ready yet.
The knife melted because of the protection placed on the room.