The Answer(hopefully) to Who Fixed Little Chicago (FULL SPOILERS)

[derrick]

But that may be incidental, because I can't think of any reason Mab couldn't just cross over and mess with LC any time she felt like it, regardless of Harry's metaphysical link to her. Can anyone else think of a reason Mab couldn't mess with the model if she wanted to?

No.  Just wanted to add that Mab owns Harry's 'life, fortune, and future'...and I remember another statement of 'blood, bone, and breath' or something similar.  So, from that perspective, Mab wasn't messing with Harry's model of Chicago.  Mab was fixing her Little Chicago that she let [her] Harry build and keep in his apartment...that Mab let him live in.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Actually, something just occurred to me: Mab is the Queen of Air and Darkness, etc. etc. She's the ruler of one of the most powerful supernatural groups in existence. Is there some reason that she couldn't step over and tweak a magical construct if she felt like it? Some rule that would prevent her from doing so, if the urge took her?]

Harry's wards and threshold ?

[Arjan]

Harry's wards and threshold ?

And not just breaking them but leaving no traces at all.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

And not just breaking them but leaving no traces at all.

I still think our best bet, whoever did the actual fixing, is that they came in via Murph or Thomas' amulets and were allowed through the wards.

The pool of people who could convince Murph or Thomas of this seems small; the pool who could magically manipulate them into doing this is basically anyone Senior Council strength or stronger that we have seen or heard of, IMO.  Who are also good candidates for having foresight or intellectus enough to see that an unfixed LC was a problem in the first place.

[knnn]

Remember also that in "Backup" we've seen that Bob is willing to lie to Harry if it's in his good interest, so if someone said to Bob:

"I will show you where there's a fatal bug in your Chicago software if you swear not to tell Harry who did it", he probably would have agreed.

His subsequent "someone changed LC" could be the best he can do given this oath - it's a warning that the basement security is breachable.

[sjsharks]

I didn't read most of the posts here, but I think I know why mab didn't let anyone know if she did it. If Harry knew she had messed with it he wouldnt touch it because of 1 scary winter queen sabotage or 2 if she did fix it he would owe her yet another favor

[laura118b]

Harry's wards and threshold ?

Ah, but that was before he and we knew about the easy access through his workshop. And being a different level, indeed not converted into living space like the rest of the apartment, I don't know as the threshold would count for it.  Not to mention I still don't see Lea or Mab having problems crossing the threshold if it was in the godmother line of duty.

Plus crossing the threshold stips a person of most of their power, I can still see Mab having enough left over to fix LC no problem.

[knnn]

FWIW, the fact that all those little folk can come in and clean his apartment whenever they like (and remember that he didn't give express permission the first time they came around and did it), indicates to me that pretty his ward aren't all that proof from faerie.

[Joefoe]

not to mention lea was behind his threshold and had enough juice to put susan and martn to sleep. Actually that may be another bit of information that Jim referenced and we had not picked up on. The fact that Lea was in Harry's apartment uninvited and seemed to not have any problems from his wards or threshold

[laura118b]

not to mention lea was behind his threshold and had enough juice to put susan and martn to sleep. Actually that may be another bit of information that Jim referenced and we had not picked up on. The fact that Lea was in Harry's apartment uninvited and seemed to not have any problems from his wards or threshold

Ummm, no wards anymore at that point, and no threshold since well no door.  All that was post FBI.

[knnn]

yah, but this was after the FBI had blown through it and trashed the place.  Also, he had forcibly and crudely disabled his wards by that time, so they wouldn't be a factor.

Edit:  Mentioned already.

[AcornArmy]

Harry's wards and threshold ?

The wards: I've been looking, and I can't find anything to say whether or not Harry's wards would affect someone coming into his home from the Nevernever. If they're set up around the physical structure of the building, they may not. Harry once said that he had wards around the door and windows, but even if they completely surrounded his apartment, they might not cover entrance from the spirit world. Prior to Changes, we've never seen any travel from one side to the other while in Harry's house, so there hasn't been much commentary to go on.

The threshold: A threshold wouldn't stop Mab. Even if it killed 99% of her power, she would probably still have more than enough left to stomp Harry into the dirt, which would be more than enough to fix Little Chicago. And Harry's threshold has never been stellar to begin with. It would not be an impediment to her if she chose to enter his lab.

[knnn]

The wards: I've been looking, and I can't find anything to say whether or not Harry's wards would affect someone coming into his home from the Nevernever. If they're set up around the physical structure of the building, they may not. Harry once said that he had wards around the door and windows, but even if they completely surrounded his apartment, they might not cover entrance from the spirit world. Prior to Changes, we've never seen any travel from one side to the other while in Harry's house, so there hasn't been much commentary to go on.

Didn't they leave from the top floor of Harry's flat in GP, during the attempted infiltration of Bianca's place?

[sjsharks]

Didn't they leave from the top floor of Harry's flat in GP, during the attempted infiltration of Bianca's place?

I think it was just outside the front door

[AcornArmy]

Didn't they leave from the top floor of Harry's flat in GP, during the attempted infiltration of Bianca's place?

That's true, they did. I had completely forgotten about that. The area across from Harry's top floor looked exactly like his top floor, except cleaner. And then they came out into a spirit-world version of Chicago.

Hrm. That doesn't really help much with the question of wards, though.