A couple of random Hallows thoughts

Do you think that one unacknowledged reason for Dumbledore wanting Snape to be the one who finished him off was that if the curse on the Gaunt ring was the thing that actually did him in, then the allegiance of the Elder Wand would pass to Voldemort? Certainly Snape didn't seem to know about the Wand before Voldemort started looking for it.

And on the subject of that ring: had none of the previous Gaunt owners ever turned it over three times before? Even just twiddling it on their finger might do it. Perhaps the user/wearer had to know what they were doing to get the Resurrection Stone effect, or at least be thinking along those lines. I can picture a scenario with a drunk Morfin alone in his cottage absently playing with the ring and thinking about Marvolo and Merope, and suddenly their shades appear -- in Marvolo's case, berating him -- but every now and again he drags them back, until one day he loses the ring ... (Hmm. There's probably a fic in there somewhere. I'll add it to the growing pile of plotbunnies that I'll not get around to.)