Harry Dresden's New Apprentice!!?!

[g33k]

Well, given Harry's status or lack thereof with the White Counsel, it's got to be someone already estranged from the White Counsel and/or has no interest or hope of getting in their good graces.
 ...

I suspect Harry has no useful way to get a candidate to the WC's attention.  Anything Harry does -- anyone Harry recommends -- arrives under the taint of "probably the tool of that fae-compromised warlock, Dresden."  Harry would be putting them into the same "Sword of Damocles" Warden-hounded role that he hated so badly (if they didn't just chop the poor 'prentice out of hand, on "general principles").

So anyone he finds who really needs training?
100% on Harry for that training.

... I also think that Butcher is unlikely to intro a major new character at this point ...

Tho FWIW it doesn't have to be a "major" new character!  IIRC we only ever met Kim Delaney in the opening of Fool Moon, but she had been (for a short while) Harry's apprentice; just enough to set her on her feet, she was never going to be WC-caliber.  So it might be another short-term apprentice like that.

Also, I think it highly-unlikely Jim will intro & lay the foundations for a major/recurring character in one of the shorts:  he usually keeps key character & plot development to the novels.

Looking back, I'm going with Fitz from Ghost Story.  Certainly seemed like that character was going somewhere.  Took up a subplot and a lot of ink but then exited midway thru that book, and haven't seen him since.  Fitz felt like groundwork, and you know how Butcher drops stuff in books from left field and then uses the stuff later.

All told, I really like this theory!

Your points about "subplot... a lot of ink... felt like groundwork" are I think pretty damned compelling arguments that Fitz will be back; and this could be his (re-)entrypoint.

... I think Mort Lindquist would be more suited to act as a mentor to Fitz, seeing as Mort can interact with ghosts he could give Fitz much more practical advice then Harry ...

How about this plays instead to a different fantheory:  Harry organizing the "lesser talents" (via the Paranet) not just for self-protection, but to police their own ranks (vs. warlock-ism), to investigate, etc; but above all to detect emergent talents and scoop in to educate them, train them, and as much as possible to prevent the Wardens from needing to Snicker-Snack any more youth-gone-astray.

Mort would be the natural "department head" for all sorts of ghostly stuff; so (for "Out Law") Fitz is Harry's apprentice, but then (near the end of the story) Harry hands him off to Morty for specialized training, and Fitz remains through the following novel(s) an ongoing (but peripheral/occasional) character.

Harry finds that this works really well; he does a compare/contrast between "Korean Kid" vs "Fitz" and decides to try formalizing & spreading the notion.
 

[Mira]

Tho FWIW it doesn't have to be a "major" new character!  IIRC we only ever met Kim Delaney in the opening of Fool Moon, but she had been (for a short while) Harry's apprentice; just enough to set her on her feet, she was never going to be WC-caliber.  So it might be another short-term apprentice like that.

She never really was Harry's apprentice, there was no agreement between them.  Basically he answered some of her questions when he could but he never instructed her nor was he even a mentor for her.  Actually she was using him to get the magical information she needed, she had no interest in becoming a wizard.

[g33k]

She never really was Harry's apprentice ...

Better tell Harry that... HE thinks she was!

... she had no interest in becoming a wizard.

She had no ability to become a WC-caliber wizard, she just didn't have enough mojo.

[Mira]

Better tell Harry that... HE thinks she was!

Harry's words were, "sometimes apprentice,"  that's pretty casual, Molly was his apprentice.  I sometimes give tips to people about dog training, however while I can say I am sometimes their trainer, they are not really my students. 

She had no ability to become a WC-caliber wizard, she just didn't have enough mojo.

Which proves my point!  If Kim was apprenticed to Harry, he was thus teaching her to be a wizard someday.  You said yourself and Harry also said it I believe that she didn't have the talent to become a wizard.  I doubt that Harry would have consented to teach her to be a sorcerer.  So what was he teaching her to be?  No, saying she was his sometime apprentice was a mere figure of speech.

[g33k]

Harry's words were, "sometimes apprentice"

No, he said "a sometime apprentice" (with no "s" on the end of "sometime").
That specific usage is usually taken to mean "prior" -- she was a prior apprentice (there are other definitions, but that is #1 at the OED).

... If Kim was apprenticed to Harry, he was thus teaching her to be a wizard someday.  You said yourself and Harry also said it I believe that she didn't have the talent to become a wizard.  I doubt that Harry would have consented to teach her to be a sorcerer.  So what was he teaching her to be? ...

Someone who pilots a fighter-jet can train a student to fly a commercial airliner (for many years, retired fighter pilots were the single largest source of commercial pilots for US airlines) -- they don't have to train them to be a fighter-jock.

A "practitioner" would be the term, I believe.  He was teaching her to be a better (safer, more in-control) practitioner.  She clearly had enough power to get herself in trouble; I really can't see Harry refusing to train someone like that (particularly an attractive young woman).

The odds are very good that -- though Dresden was undoubtedly overqualified to teach her -- he was still the only teacher who was qualified and willing.

[Mira]

Apprentice by definition;

a person who is learning a trade from a skilled employer, having agreed to work for a fixed period at low wages.
"

That wasn't Kim's relationship with Harry, she wasn't working for or with him, and it appears she was paying him very low wages [a steak because he was hungry] for knowledge so she could pass herself off as something she wasn't.  Because of his over active sense of taking responsiblity, Harry may have called her a sometime apprentice, but she wasn't.  There was no agreement between them, she did no work that we know of for him.

The odds are very good that -- though Dresden was undoubtedly overqualified to teach her -- he was still the only teacher who was qualified and willing.

No, he was the only one around that had the knowledge she wanted.  Harry started to answer her questions in payment for the steak, but when he realized what she was asking about and where it could lead, he was no longer willing to answer. 

Someone who pilots a fighter-jet can train a student to fly a commercial airliner (for many years, retired fighter pilots were the single largest source of commercial pilots for US airlines) -- they don't have to train them to be a fighter-jock.

You know it is a lot more complicated than that.  Also you didn't define "student," in your analogy, for some trades to become a student requires prerequisites. 

A "practitioner" would be the term, I believe.  He was teaching her to be a better (safer, more in-control) practitioner.  She clearly had enough power to get herself in trouble; I really can't see Harry refusing to train someone like that (particularly an attractive young woman).

Which doesn't make her his apprentice. He may have taught her some things, but he didn't train her, but she never was really a student of magic.  I can take a cooking class which would improve my cooking skills, but that doesn't make me a chef. 

[g33k]

Apprentice by definition;
...

I think we'll just have to agree to disagree.

Harry said she was ("was" in the past tense, had been) his apprentice.
You don't believe that, thinking it a "mere figure of speech."

I don't see either of us convincing the other one.

[Griffyn612]

I'm guessing Bonnie, based on the eager bit. She seems like the most eager existing character, and I feel like taking on a new apprentice he's not related to our responsible for would not be the best decision, and the therapy book is supposed to be about recovering, not making more issues, right?

[g33k]

... and the therapy book is supposed to be about recovering, not making more issues, right?

Well, that would be the normal therapeutic presumption, yes.

OTOH, this is Harry Dresden we're talking about; remind me again:  when has Harry done the sensible and appropriate thing, particularly in regards self-care?



... and, of course, this is Jim Butcher we're talking about:  the man has based his entire career on tormenting Harry and making his life harder & more complicated.

[Mira]

I'm guessing Bonnie, based on the eager bit. She seems like the most eager existing character, and I feel like taking on a new apprentice he's not related to our responsible for would not be the best decision, and the therapy book is supposed to be about recovering, not making more issues, right?

I agree with you, she has all the knowledge of Lasciel, plus the mojo to be a wizard.  However she is young and untrained, she could end up being Harry's answer to Namshiel.