Okay, the first important question I have is, is Bob once again living with Harry? Butters hands him to Harry in a backpack in the battle, Bob goes into a lot of stuff, hold that thought will get into that in a minute. So okay,I can see Butters doing that, Harry needs all the help he can get in the battle. Butters himself has advanced in his Knight training to the point where he may no longer need Bob to be successful. There also might be some Holy Knight ethics questions around using an entity like Bob in a fight that Holy Knights are involved in. I actually think that unlikely because Sanya uses an AK-47 or rather the Russian version of that that I can't spell and it isn't a problem. I am thinking that Butters indeed gave Bob back to Harry, because Harry used him to scan the castle's wards and to check further for traps after Marcone vacated it. Now he still might be on loan, but I do think Bob is back with him.. Which brings up a couple of more questions, 1] is Bob going to tutor Bonea now? 2] Is Harry going to have to keep her locked up when she gets older, least he suddenly becomes inundated with a bunch of infant Bobs?
2] The BIG QUESTION, did Bob give us a huge preview of what Mirror Mirror is all about? Why else would in the middle of the battle when things are going to hell would Bob map this out for two or three paragraphs? I know others have written about this so I apologize for repeating some of it.
A] Reality can break.
1] I got the impression from what Bob said, that the Eye can do it. Unless it was an illusion Harry put a stop to it when he bound the Titan and shipped her off to Demonreach.
2] However there is another way this can happen.. Ferrofax, Bob confirms that. We know he said he was going to limit what he was going to do to help in Peace Talks.page289
"My contribution to the defense must be subtle," Ferrofax said. "To do otherwise
would be to risk destroying more of the city than I save."
What if he meant more than a fricking earthquake, but
reality itself. What if though he tried to be subtle, but it is hard to be when you are one of the primal forces in the universe. Collateral damage is always a risk, in this case, it is
reality.2] page 156 Battle Ground
"Chaos," Bob said.
"More specfic?"
"Impossible! Widespread insanity for the mortals, maybe. Maybe transmissible insanity. Hallucinations, tulpas, and outright unintentional creation of things right out of people's imaginations. Animals and people changing form or nature. The breakdown of Newtonian physics. Hell, even quantum-level rules might change, with the consequences that are literally unimaginable.
Two plus two might equal five. Twilight Zonestuff. I don't know. No one knows. You cannot predict chaos because it's chaos, Harry.
So maybe it starts slowly, have we seen perhaps some evidence that this might be beginning to happen? Marcone/Namshiel being so cooperative with Harry for starters. While yes, Marcone wanted to save his city, but can you really see Namshiel handing over the Eye that easily to Harry? Or in fact Marcone handing over his castle? Reality frayed just a bit maybe? While Namshiel isn't, Marcone even as host is still a mortal.
The White Council, all mortals, powerful wizards, true, but still mortal. While we knew before it all hit the fan that they wanted to vote out Harry, a couple of things don't seem quite right. They declare that Harry violated the First Law when he killed some Turtlenecks with magic.
Sentenced him to death, ordering the Blackstaff to do it, then suspended the sentence. Does that not seem just a bit off to you? Then there is Carlos coming to Harry to give him their verdict is also a bit off.
I am talking specifically his rant about if Harry had only leveled with him, talked to him,
Drakul and Mavra wouldn't have showed up and did what they did. Further that sixty thousand people wouldn't have died in Chicago. Really? Harry could have talked all day to Carlos, that wouldn't have changed any of that. Though back to reality, I can see Carlos being very pissed about what Harry did putting that hex on his cloak..
So, here is where we are in the next book. Reality is cracking and someone has to go back and somehow prevent Ferrofax from doing the damage he did.. Not a small order.. As far as the Laws of Magic are concerned, in this case in for a penny, in for a pound. He is already accused of breaking the First Law, technically another when he raised Sue, and bonding Toot to him with pizza, so what is one more? Time.. I also predict that the "British Prisoner " is Merlin. Harry is going to wake him up to ask for advice.. Historically/methodologically speaking Merlin has lots of experience with dragons, most likely knows Ferrofax personally, also knows time travel... So Harry begins his quest and the first problem he encounters is how to tell reality from the alternate reality, and the temptations he might encounter not to return things back to the way they should be.. I don't know, Murphy lives and isn't killed, his father and mother never were murdered, hell he might decide he would prefer it if he never was born a wizard at all.. His second problem, dealing with Ferrofax. So, we shall see..
Oh and one more thought, since Chandler was booted into with might be an alternate reality by
Drakul, Harry meets up with him. Chandler then becomes Harry's "Spock" if you will, keeping him grounded on what is real and what is not. If anyone makes it back to this reality with Harry, it is going to be Chandler.