WHY MOLLY?
This is difficult to guess, and can seemingly only be explained by assuming Maeve knows more than she should. Either Maeve knows that Molly is Harry's best friend's daughter and a mortal practitioner coming into her talent, or it is an amazing coincidence that her plan hinges on. We know Arctis Tor was attacked by a rogue Denarian. We suspect this rogue Denarian was a Nemesis agent with a Coin. It's plausible to posit that Maeve and Nemesis sent another agent, the rogue Denarian, to clear out Arctis Tor, leaving the Wellspring unguarded why Mab was curing the Leanansidhe. And through Lea and the Denarian, it's possible Nemesis knows about Michael. But what about his family?
Gregor. Molly was targeted as Charity's daughter, and not as Michael's. We know she has Fae in her ancestry, and that this is likely the source of her and her daughter's talents. I posit that Charity is Aurora's descendant. Future Harry, by the way, isn't the only player operating on the periphery. Someone else is in town.
The sun had risen on our way there, though heavy cloud cover and grumbling thunder promised unusually bad weather for so early in the day. That shouldn't have surprised me either. When the Queens of Faerie were moving around backstage, the weather quite often seemed to reflect their presence.
We see this again in Small Favor and Ghost Story, where particularly frigid weather means that Mab is in the area. So, let's check out the opening to Proven Guilty's second chapter:
I turned my back on them and walked out of the warehouse into Chicago's best impression of Miami. July in the Midwest is rarely less than sultry, but this year had been especially intense when it came to summer heat, and it had rained frequently.
What the hell is Titania doing in Chicago? Combining this with Mab's assertion that Molly would be a better fit for Summer and the symmetry of a Winter scion becoming the Summer Lady while a Summer scion becomes the Winter Lady, and it's not unreasonable to conclude that Molly's Fae ancestry stretches to Titania.
But that doesn't answer what Titania's goal is. Fix and Lily aren't working towards it. They're working towards Maeve's goals. It would be a stretch for Titania to be infected with Nemesis, wouldn't it?
I suspect that Titania was trying to groom Molly to be Lily's successor, subtly, in the background. Maybe by nudging the right books into Molly's hands. I suspect that Winter's Queens knew this and were keeping tabs on Molly for that reason. And when the pump was primed, Maeve chose Molly to use as a fear anchor.
This is the wildest-assed guess, but I think it holds up
To me, the above quoted piece is pioneering work that I haven't seen before on this forum. The plausible link between Titania and Titania's choice for Summer Lady being that of Molly is excellent.
There's another time traveler in the tale, and I suspect he's working with Thomas. It seems suspicious that Thomas is tailing Harry on this one adventure. But there's something I noticed once Thomas joins the plot: he does his best to remain uninvolved.
I glanced at Thomas, who was facing away, a little apart from the rest of us, staying out of the decision-making process.
There are other instances where Thomas basically wallflowers. He's very careful not to disrupt the natural flow of the case as much as he can help it. I think, like Rashid, Thomas has future information.**
Hitting Harry keeps him out of the apartment. I posit that Future Harry is at the periphery in Proven Guilty, and whenever Harry is out of the apartment, Future Harry is using it as his base of operations. Future Harry has Thomas as a knowing accomplice.***
This is another strong argument that Thomas knows more than he lets on. Prior theories had interactions between Thomas and LC Fixer, even a time traveling Harry, but it seemed that no theory suggested that they were closely working together.
When Harry comes home and finds Thomas all packed up and ready to leave, there is a strange conversation between Thomas and Harry. About Mac's brew frozen into ice cubes, that Thomas says Mac would kill you for freezing it, that Harry says Mac can come over here and... (forget the final bit of the conversation). But there seems something that Thomas is trying to tell Harry, some hint about upcoming events. One could argue its simply chatter leading up to Thomas telling Harry that he is leaving though I'm sure Harry already knows that considering the packed bags.
Not to detract from your accomplishment but to state fact, the hot weather had been pointed out previously and it had been linked to Titania but no theory went any further than that. No one that I saw ever attempted to link Molly to Titania, Titania's play in PG, and Mab's statement in Cold Days, even viewed with hindsight.