I noticed a detail that I found interesting, but am unsure if it was intentional. You had several family tapestries destroyed in this chapter, is it supposed to be symbolic of something? The owners of both trees survived, so it wasn't the end of their lines...yet. Obviously the heir of the Gaunts is marked for death, and hopefully the heir of the Prince family is also going to bite the dust by the end as well.
I am just not sure what symbolism you are trying to portray.
Author's response
Basically yes. Since Tom and Severus are both the end of their respective lines, the tree is dead. Tommy will be destroyed, but as I have indicated, Snape will not die. What I have planned for him is far worse. In either case, as he is the end of the Snape line (Unlike in canon, here he is a purebood, with the Snape line being the dominant one.) and has no real prospects, his line is done. The tree is a foreshadowing of that. Since Eileen felt the mugglebornes were equal to the purebloods, it's possible, that other members of her family survived. In either case, it's not that important to the plot.
I may have her make a cameo when Snape is arrested.
Alorkin