Sorry to reduce you to tears - it was intended to be a hopeful piece.  And he is alive really.  No body, no portrait, no ghost - I suspect polyjuice myself, but there are plenty of other get out clauses.  He'll be back, never fear.

Thanks for leaving a review. 

Lol, yes, but you'd be cradle snatching.

Thanks for leaving a review

Thank you.

Thank you for reviewing.  Hopefully, this life will be largely uneventful, he'll have loving parents (though whether they'll still be together by the time he grows up I think is doubtful), become a well-balanced adult and find a loving partner. 

JKR's treatment of Snape was callous beyond belief, but this is the closest I'm ever likely to stick to her turn of events - as far as I'm concerned, he's alive and well and living in Barbados.  

 Thanks again.

Thanks.  Glad you liked it.

That's very kind of you.  Glad you liked it THAT much. :)

Thank you

It seems to have had that effect on a lot of people. 

Thanks, but you're right, there isn't a lot more to say since Hugo's personality will be different from Severus'  But should I get any further inspiration out of this then I might continue it.

Thanks, but there's no plans for a sequel. 

Thank you.  I did intend for such a conversation between Molly and Hermione (with Fred and George being the souls of Molly's dead brothers), but it would have taken the action away from Hermione and Severus for too long.  It's not an everyday occurance, but not completely unknown either.  (And it's the kind of thing men would poo-poo, so the women keep it to themselves?)

I went back through the reviews after I had posted mine and found one in which you wrote that Molly understood what Hermione was going through because she went through it with her brothers.  Personally, I still think you should have included it -- I think it might have made the story even richer and more poignant instead of detracting from it, because there's something very moving (at least to me) about the idea of Molly's dead brothers loving her so much and thinking so highly of her that they chose her to be their mother in the next life.  I don't know that you needed to depict the conversation -- maybe simply a short paragraph in which Hermione reflects on the conversation and takes comfort in the knowledge that her experience is not as unusual as she thinks.  However, the fact that it's not an everyday occurrence does explain why Hermione is so surprised by the experience at first -- if it happened all the time, surely she would have gone through it once already with Rose?  Perhaps it only happens with people whose previous lives were brought to a premature end through a tragic accident or at the hands of another -- it would explain why Molly experienced this with her brothers and Hermione experienced this with Severus.

In retrospect, I do think that it's a bit of a non sequitur in the story for Hugo to have both black eyes and black hair.  Maybe a slightly more convincing choice would have been for Hugo to have red hair -- he is still a Weasley child, after all, even if he's also the reincarnation of Severus Snape -- but with dark brown (black) eyes.

Ok thanks for that.  I suppose I am guilty from writing from a point of personal belief.  Namely, reincarnation is an everyday occurence - we've all had many lives and have many more to come and secondly that we choose the people who will help us learn the lessons we need to in our present incarnation. In addition, we tend to keep bumping into the same souls all the time.  What I meant by it not being an everyday occurrence was that the babies make themselves known - I think they would have to be very special/powerful to do that and perhaps very close to the mother in a spiritual sense.

As for the physical appearance, I had black hair as a baby which had changed to mousy brown by the time I was three. I envisage him looking more like Hermione than Ron - and his strength of personal will overrode genetics.  Severus/Hugo is a very special soul in this story.  Thanks again for reviewing. 

Thank you.  Glad you liked it.

Thank you.

I'm with you on that one - I don't like them either, but that's the closest to taking canon at face value that I'm ever likely to get.  Any other post DH fics I get around to writing will have Severus alive and well.   So, no plans for a sequel, sorry.

Many thanks for reviewing.

Thanks. I did originally plan a scene between Molly and Hermione where she reveals that the twins were her dead brothers, but it would have taken the action away from Hermione and Severus for too long. 

As for the Baron, I expect he has the ability to recognise souls, no matter which body it happens to be in.

I haven't planned a sequel - but if bunny bites, i generally go with it.  This has diverted me from my two wips however, for long enough.

Thanks again.

Cheers.

Thank you.

Thanks.  Glad you like it, but I'm afraid it's a one shot, so there won't be a sequel.  Sorry.

That so sucks. It was such a good idea. I would have liked to have seen where it would have went.Red

Thanks.  Glad you liked it.

I'm glad you liked it.  thanks for reviewing.

Thank you so much.

Thank you. Glad you liked it.