I've been thinking about Twelve Months and I think it will be a different type of story than anything we've read so far in any of the previous Dresden Files case books.  It almost has to be different.  I'm paraphrasing here, but on more than one occasion Jim has said that the story of every Dresden Files novel is the worst two or three days of Harry's life in that given year.  Except for the first three or four novels, which take place about only 4 to 9 months apart from one to another. 

Up till the present, all of the previous Dresden Files novels have had Harry playing beat the clock while facing seemingly insurmountable odds, but not this time.  OK, at some point in the next novel; probably near the middle of the novel, Harry will realize he is facing a deadline to accomplish some seemingly impossible goal, but almost certainly, it won't be like Death Masks, Turn Coat or Changes; where a Red Court vampire challenges Harry to a duel right at the start of the story, or when Harry has a wounded Morgan show up on his doorstep asking to hide him from the Wardens or when Susan tells Harry in the first paragraph of the first chapter that the Red Court has kidnapped Harry and Susan's daughter.  I'm guessing Twelve Months will be more of slow burn type of story.  The conflict or conflicts in Twelve Months will unfold at a more deliberate pace   

So, that has me asking what the through line will be; the main story, that will flow through the entire novel.   I suppose we could get twelve short stories, one for each month, but I seriously doubt Jim would take that route.  So, what will Twelve Months be about? 

We know Harry will be dealing with the trauma of losing Murphy and the general trauma of what occurred during Battle Ground.  We also know that Harry talked to Michael about reinventing himself, becoming The Wizard of Chicago; whatever that will mean.  Though Harry has always self-identified as the black sheep of the White Council, someone skeptical of the leadership, the quality of their decision making and even their morality, he has also seen himself as being part of the same Council.  Now he has to create a new identity for himself.

So, the above give us a couple of themes which might carry through the novel: grief, recovery and reinvention.  However, themes are not the plot, they are ideas which underlie the story.  So in asking what the story will be, we need to look at the elements Jim will be working with. 

*We know Harry will be going out on dates with Lara Raith.
*We know that Molly will have a role in planning these dates; Mab ordered her to set them up, most likely after negotiating with Lara or possibly
  Lara's proxy, on where the dates will be held and other important elements related to these public outings.
* We know Lara was caught off guard by Mab's declaration that Lara would marry the Winter Knight to cement the alliance between
   Winter and White Court; however, we can confidently guess that Lara will quickly realize she has been given a golden opportunity to firmly place
   Harry under her control.  My guess is if Mab makes an early appearance in Twelve Months and Harry points this out to her, Mab will respond that it
   is Harry's responsibility to see that this doesn't happen.
  Speaking of Mab...
* We know Mab expects demands that Lara and Harry will get married at the end of Twelve Months.  Does this mean there will be twelve
  dates?
* We can confidently assume the Winter Queen has been or will be setting up Lara for something else beyond being an ally of Winter.  Mab always
   plans for multiple possible outcomes in any given situation.  Possibly Mab sees Lara as a potential replacement for Molly, though that is just a
   guess on my part.
* We know that Harry told Ebenezer that he won't try to get out of being the Winter Knight unless he can bring Molly out of Winter as well.  Maybe
   we will see the beginnings of such a plan take place in Twelve Months.
* We can safely guess that Ebenezer will go ballistic when he hears that Harry and Lara are making public appearances together, that they are
   romantically involved.  The rest of the Senior Council and Harry's friends; maybe former friends, on the Council, like Luccio and Ramirez, won't be
   very happy either.
* We know that LTW will be coming back at or near the end of the story to tell Harry if he and his allies will help Harry understand what it means to
   be Starborn.  Whether this will play an important role near the end of Twelve Months or set up an important plot point in a later novel is anyone's
   guess.  If this element is important to the end of Twelve Months, I think that would likely mean that Outsiders will be playing an important role in
   Twelve Months, necessitating Harry learn more about being Starborn ASAP. 
   Speaking of Outsiders...
* We know Justine is possessed by Nemesis and that she is pregnant.  However, her pregnancy won't carry through the entire the entire novel,
   though it will probably be an important story element for the first two thirds of the novel.
* We know that Waldo Butters has the perfect weapon to harm Nemesis and probably drive it from Justine and her unborn child, without harming
   either one of them.  We can guess that at some point Waldo will become involved, but perhaps Jim will have Waldo preoccupied with another
   mission to keep the easy solution from being an option.
* We know Thomas is locked up under Demonreach, but there isn't any time limit on how long he will remain there.  Maybe a time limit will be
   introduced, but we have no way to know if such a thing will occur. 
* We can safely assume that if Thomas is released from his imprisonment, the Swartalves will still be looking for him.
* We know there is a "Men in Black" like organization; the Librarians, who will almost certainly have an operative or two in Chicago.  They will
   almost certainly be interested in Harry.  Being a mortal, he is the easiest member of the supernatural community; the ones with power, not low
   level members who hang out at Mac's, to keep track of and perhaps even approach.  Conversely, Harry might notice he's being followed and
   decide to initiate contact himself.
* Harry made a promise to the survivors of those people who followed his Banner during the Battle of Chicago, that they can come to him once,
  should any of them need his help.
* Finally; just to be clear, the earlier point that Mab expects Harry to marry Lara Raith at the end of Twelve Months does set up a ticking clock, just
   a really slow clock.  And also, not a ticking clock leading to an outcome as dramatic as Demonreach blowing up and taking half of North America
   with it or Ethniu destroying the mortal world.  The stakes in Twelve Months are much more personal and life altering for Harry than end of the
   world for everyone else. 

So, we have some potential for strong drama, some possible comedy on the dates with Lara and Harry; plus, maybe there will be some Outsiders besides Nemesis making an appearance, or not.  Then there is this new group, the Librarians.  A possible threat, but perhaps also possible allies.  Lots of possibilities but no easy to identify story here.  How do you think the story will play out, or more clearly, what will the story be?

I'll make this guess on how Twelve Months might start, based on nothing in particular.  Molly, or more likely a proxy she sends in her place because she is busy with Winter Lady duties (Also, because Jim will want to keep Harry isolated from his strongest ally), will deliver a message to Harry describing the details of his first date with Lara; where it will be, what he is expected to ware and so forth.  If Molly sends a proxy in her place, it will be someone like the Redcap who Harry despises.  Harry will be told on a Monday that date will be on Friday and he is expected to make a good showing for Winter.  Harry will brood about being used as; not a brood mare, a brood stud, for Mab.

However, Harry will be pulled out his self pity mood when one of the people Harry promised to do a favor for, shows up asking to collect on that favor.  Whatever help this person needs, it will look like a relatively simple task for the Wizard of Chicago to perform but will reveal a much deeper threat, not just for that individual but for many others as well.  It will be the kind of thing that Harry would have called into the Council when he was a Warden, but he can't do that any longer.  Harry will need to use all his skills and some luck to survive, make good on his promise and show up for his first date with Lara on time.

Maybe this new threat will involve Outsiders or perhaps a group of Fomor who weren't able to retreat to Lake Michigan and instead took up temporary residence in Undertown or maybe it will be Cowl or some major family of the White Court looking to take Lara down a peg or two or perhaps the Librarians will pose some existential risk we can't yet imagine.  It could also be some combination of these or other supernatural players. 

Whoever, whatever or wherever the threat comes from, Harry will only get a glimpse of it in the first month of Twelve Months.  He will need to use his detective skills to find and put together clues in the following months.  All the while he will also have to deal with Lara and Mab's schemes, unwanted interference from Ebenezer, his seeming inability to help Thomas and his own depression and sense of loss.

My alternative beginning involves Harry running down a clue to Justine's whereabouts, which misses Justine but uncovers something else.  Something scary, sinister and only hints at what is to come.

Now it's your turn.  Be as detailed or not as you like.  What are you expecting to see in Twelve Months? 

Even though I didn't write the OP, I will say why I think it there is a good chance it will turn out to be correct.

IMO, Harry doesn't have a clue how to raise his spirit child or maybe only one clue.  Maggie can have more or less normal conversations with Bonnea because she is a child.  She doesn't see anything unusual about interacting with a talking skull because Maggie doesn't have a frame of reference to inform her what Bonnea really is and how different Bonnea is from a mortal like herself.  So Maggie treats Bonnea like a friend or younger sibling she's looking out for.  Harry knows what Bonnea is and treats her with kid gloves.  Near the beginning of Peace Talks Harry says that Bonea, "is someone to be carefully managed."

Managed, not raised.  I suspect there is a problem with that single minded kind of thinking.  I think Bonnea will need guidance; in some respects, just like any other child, but not exactly because she isn't a mortal and her potential for doing harm is so much greater.  We all know Bonnea isn't a ticking bomb, she's wet dynamite.  With the innate knowledge of a wizard and a fallen angel at her disposal and with the added difficulty Harry will have teaching a spirit of intellect about ethics and morality; if someone, something or a dangerous situation gives Bonnea the right push or wrong push at the right moment, things may go boom!

Harry probably wants to keep Bob as far away from Bonnea as possible, because Bob would want to help Bonnea and that could be extremely dangerous.  However, my guess is Harry needs Bob's help.  Harry needs to understand what it's like to be a child who is also a spirit of intellect, to help him make better decisions raising Bonnea.  Bob's involvement will accelerate Bonnea's growth and when the right or wrong situation pops up to push Bonnea even further, she could go from zero to sixty.

P.S. At some point in the near future, Harry might need Bonnea to go from zero to sixty.  Ignoring theoretical political alliances Harry might make in the future, without becoming an immortal himself or learning some powerful new magical techniques, it's difficult for me seeing Harry becoming much stronger or a more potent force than he already is.  Bonnea's knowledge could be a real difference maker for Harry.  Bonnea herself almost certainly has the potential to be more powerful than Bob or Bob's blue counterpart, evil Bob.  If this doesn't happen in the next few books, I think it almost certainly will in the BAT.   

Cite, please?  I don't recall this, at all -- that the Red Court was ever composed of half-turned.

The Red King and all the LOON's were full-Ramp, and AFAIK have been so for a long time -- long enough ago that they were well-established as rulers in Mesoamerica when Cortez arrived.

I recall WoJ that they got so powerful by somehow using their venom to addict entities previously worshipped as gods by mesoamericans, and drain that power to use for themselves.

I don't recall this, either.

It's quite simple, but perhaps I didn't state it clearly.  Every member of the Red Court was at one time a human who was bitten by a full member of the Red Court who had authority to make new members.  (Side note:) Apparently, Bianca didn't have permission or authority to do this until she was promoted in Grave Peril.  I don't recall if it was Thomas or Justine who told Harry about her new ability or authority to create new members of the Red Court.

However, before becoming a full fledged Red Court vampire, each individual is only half-turned.  You already know this from Susan's example.  Some people who are bitten might make their first kill the night they were bitten while others hold out for years, decades or even centuries, like Martin.  So, every member of the Red Court was once only half-turned until they made their first kill.

We don't know if the Red Court could infect a non-human with their bloodlust.  We haven't been told if this was possible.

I think the Ramp's are creatures of the Nevernever, natively; I note several similarities in the descriptions of the native-form (without fleshmask) Ramps, and the Ick... and suspect them of being related entities.

It appears that after writing Storm Front Jim retconned the Red Court.  In SF, Harry mentions that vampires are creatures of the Nevernever and that it takes most of their energy to simply maintain themselves on the mortal plane.  I don’t remember if this was after Harry had his run-in with Bianca or if this bit of exposition occurred before that point in the story, but she was the only vampire we meet in SF, so Jim; through Harry, told us the Red Court are native to the Nevernever.

However, this bit about vampires being native to the Nevernever has never been mentioned again.  It really doesn’t make sense anyway.  The Red Court were once humans who got half-turned until they killed someone and went full Rampire.  Maybe whatever created the Red King was native to the Nevernever, but since that time all the members of the Red Court were humans that had been turned.  If a member of the Red Court could infect a non-human, we haven’t seen one or been told it was possible to do.

What would the White Court of Vampires have to do with Lea and Justin?  Yes, Lord Raith murdered Harry's mother, but I don't see any evidence that he had anything to do with either Lea or Justin.

I should have explained.  It's manipulation on a scale that someone like Lara Raith could admire, though Lara or any of the Raiths would have used a different method to attain it. 

Lea makes a deal with Margarite LeFay to protect Harry, then while still fulfilling her given word, either allows Harry's father to be murdered or does it herself as part of a deal with Justin DuMorne.  DuMorne thinks he has won a great prize but Lea has simply offloaded the drudge work of teaching Harry basic magic skills until she can find a way to dispose of Justin.  A break between Justin and Harry (Did Lea have anything to do with that? Meaning, did she have another deal with whoever summoned HWWB?) allows Lea to get Harry to remove Justin for her and to top everything off, it allows Lea to make a binding deal with a young, desperate and naïve, starborn wizard Harry.

P.S. New topic on the same character.  Thinking back to the dénouement of the Battle of Chicken Pizza in Changes, Ebenezer approaches Harry and Lea and asks her to leave so he can discus "family business" with Harry.  Ebenezer knew who Lea was and he knew that she knew about Eb and Harry's familial relationship. 

It is one thing for Ebenezer to recognize The Leanansidhe; Lea is a very powerful figure in the Winter Court and Ebenezer has been around long enough to have had some experience with the fae, but as was pointed out in Battle Ground, Eb doesn't believe in casually dropping any information about anything, especially family.  Even if Eb guessed that Lea knew that Eb was Harry's grandfather, he still wouldn't have mentioned it, he might have said something like "White Council business" instead.

What I want to know is, how did Ebenezer know that Lea knew?  Margaret LeFay was on the run and probably realized that her time was running out when she made the deal with Lea to protect Harry.  Ebenezer wasn't there.  Ebenezer didn't visit Harry in the orphanage, Lea did.  Even if Harry told Eb about the deal he had struck with Lea to defeat Justin; after the White Council put Harry under the Doom of Damocles and under Eb's guidance, Ebenezer wouldn't have known how much Lea knew about Harry's family.

Did Ebenezer make his own deal with Lea?  I'm not speculating what such a deal might have involved, but those two know each other and not just by reputation.  It suggests something more is going on here and perhaps something important. 

My personal theory is that since we now know hhwb wasn't sent by Justin, he was sent for him.

Which meant that Justin (who had hijacked Maggie's Starborn plan for his own ends) needed Harry and Elaine ready early, which meant abandoning traditional brainwashing/conditioning in favour of Magical alternatives.

Unfortunately for him, hhwb was able to turn Justin's anti-outsider wmd against him.

This is a pretty good guess, but I also question it.  I mean, how do we know Justin didn't call up HWWB?  I like the idea, it does explain why Justin decided he needed to enthrall Harry at that particular moment rather than slowly indoctrinate or slowly enthrall him, but I don't think we have proof the Walker was called up by someone else.  Also, if Justin didn't call up the Outsider, who did?

If you follow this idea to its conclusion, it means there was another player in the game.  A person Harry currently has no clue exists.  Actually, it is possible that Harry has met this person, but he isn't aware that this person played such a significant role in his own life.  You also have to ask why this unknown party called up HWWB, because I don't think it would have been just to go after Justin.  We know that Harry meeting and defeating the Walker is what made Harry decide he had to stop running away from Justin, but did the party who called up HWWB expect that to happen?  That would mean they expected Harry to defeat the Outsider.  Perhaps they were testing Harry, to see if he was all that. 

This was also the event that gave Lea the opportunity to offer Harry a deal, power to defeat Justin in exchange for Harry's loyalty or service.  However, Lea told Harry in Ghost Story that she didn't witness his confrontation with HWWB.  That is why she wanted to hear the story of young Harry's confrontation with the Walker.  I'm going to have to reread that scene between Harry and Lea to see if that is actually what she said or if she was playing word games with him.  Even if Lea didn't witness that confrontation she could have been aware of it if she also had made a deal with this phantom person who called up HWWB.  Than again, that might have violated her agreement to protect Harry so perhaps she wasn't involved.  I suppose it depends on how her agreement with Margaret LeFay was worded.  I find it hard to believe that Lea wasn't looking for an event that would cause a break between Harry and Justin.  Therefore, it is highly likely that Lea knows more about this episode than she let on in her conversation with Harry in Ghost Story.  Of course, that last statement depends on there being another party who called up HWWB.  This is either a really great idea or a rabbit hole to nowhere.

I think there are 2 possibilities:

#1
After reading Peace Talks, he did look for Harry and he did find him. But he didn't take him in, because he was taken care of. I think he planned on watching, if little Harry started showing magical talent at some time. If it never happened, Harry would never have known him. If Harry showed talent, Ebenezar would have taken him as apprentice or apprentice him to an other wizard he trusted.

But then Harry was adopted by Justin. Maybe Justin even got a tip from Ebenezar. During this time Justin was still supposed to be a respected warden, so good master material for Harry. But why did Eb approve of Justin not introducing his apprentice to the council?

#2
After Malcolm died, Lea took care that Harry disappeared from all mundane and magical screens, because of a deal Margaret made with her for Harry's protection. So nobody could find Harry. Not even powerful wizards with blood relation. Justin was just screening the orphanages for weird incidences. That's how he found Harry. It was the impossible long jump.


I think #2 is more likely, considering Morgan's journal entry. I guess, Justin still appeared at council meetings, but never told any other council wizard about his apprentices. But I also can totally imagine Ebenezar knowing where his grandson was, but just not interfering. Like he seemed to have done with his own daughter.
I hope this will be cleared up some day.

I won't be surprised if eventually we are told that Lea is the reason why Justin found out about and got ahold of Harry.  Now that I think about it, it is also possible Lea knows something about Elaine's origin story.  However, there is nothing in the novels, short stories or Q&A sessions with Jim that I've watched; and I've watched a lot of them, that remotely support this second idea.  It's pure speculation.

About my first and main idea, I keep thinking about a WoJ that states that Margaret LeFey didn't make the best possible deal she might have made with Lea for Harry's protection.  I have previously assumed that Margaret got Lea to agree to protect Harry from outside threats but didn't realize that Malcolm Dresden might also need protection.  In other words, Margaret thought that because Malcom Dresden wasn't a player in the supernatural world no one in that world would have a reason to target him.  Then again, perhaps Margaret did get Lea to agree to protect Malcolm Dresden, from everyone except herself.  I theorize that Lea either stood by and did nothing when Malcolm Dresden was murdered or she did it herself.

Lea's deal with Justin could have started when Malcolm Dresden was still alive.  Remove Malcolm to trap the boy in a system where he could be easily monitored and not wander the country with his father where anyone else might find him. Once Harry manifested magical abilities, Justin was suited to teach Harry basic use of magic.  Malcolm couldn't teach Harry about magic, so he was probably always seen as expendable by Lea. 

In my version of events Lea knew exactly what kind of person Justin was; even if the White Council didn't know, or fully know, about Justin.  She always planned to turn on him at the first opportunity and gain the use of Harry's abilities for herself.  Justin probably never realized that Lea had been training Harry; apparently to just believe in himself, when Harry returned to face him.  It's a series of moves that the White Court of Vampires would approve of.

I wondered about that myself.  It seemed a bit too Horatio Hornblower to me.  If they had something that looked like a mid 20th century artillery piece, that would have made more sense.