"How generous of you. You can be forgiven for thinking that He ever expected Malfoy's boy to succeed, as you've never observed him in class - but suffice to say that I had been keeping an eye out for the opportunity for some time." Hardly a fair assessment of Draco's academic achievements, but Snape had little enough doubt that he'd ever have been able to pull it off, regardless. "Sickly and elderly though he may have been, Dumbledore was always formidable. I maintain that it was wise to wait."