Disclaimer: I don't own. Please don't sue.
A/N: Spur-of-the-moment drabble. I have no idea where it came from.
Warning: Hints of Harry/Snape!!


Selfish

"Potter! Stay behind!"

Harry looked up wearily, his eyes blurred with pain and lack of sleep. Snape purposely ignored all the signs of fatigue evident to everyone else in the school. His glare didn't once falter from Harry's face as the Gryffindors left with condolences to their classmate, and the Slytherins exited laughing. Once the door was closed and the noisy students had moved away, he prowled towards his least favourite pupil.

"And what, pray tell, makes you so special, Potter, that you feel you can NOT PAY ATTENTION!" he bellowed, hands slamming onto the desk at the last. To his disgust, Harry didn't flinch. His head slowly tilted back so he could look into the furious, pale face of his teacher.

"You're no different from anyone else, Potter! The rules still apply to you, and that includes not napping in class! The Headmaster might neglect to punish your insolence, but when you turn your debatable charms on me I will not stand idle! Always you have thwarted me, taking action just to spite me. I won't stand for it! I refuse to let you continue to break rules that are there for a very good reason!" Here Snape took a deep breath, and Harry could hear spittle rattle in his throat. Or maybe that was his eardrums - he wasn't too sure now that he had been deafened partially.

Unfortunately for him, Snape wasn't finished. "You're just like your father! He was always disobeying rules, sneaking behind the backs of authority, thinking he was so high and mighty. Perfect Potter, the Gryffindor who could do no wrong. I vow that I will not let you behave that way. As long as I teach at this school I will battle your childish whims and bigheaded pomposity. I -"

"It's always about you, isn't sir?" Harry said tiredly, bringing Snape up short.

"What?" he spat. Harry gave him a mirthless look, eyes as old as the ages.

"You try to paint me as the selfish villain, one who should never want for anything but does, regardless. I can't count the number of times you've accused me of thinking I am the centre of the universe. But it's not true." Here Harry smiled, a small, bitter quirk of his lips over his too-thin face. "I'm not, though. It's you who is the selfish one. Always complaining about the world's injustices, glaring at everyone because they don't revolve around you. Yes, you've had some rough deals in life. I'll be the first to admit. But what you don't see is that there are others on this planet that have had it just as bad, often worse, than you. Perhaps if you stopped taking everything like a personal insult you wouldn't be so bitter, and you'd realise that there are six billion people on Earth, all of who have suffered in some way. You are not alone, you are not unique, and you not the brunt of every joke, prank and cruel twist of fate that the gods decide to play."

Snape's mouth opened and closed wordlessly, and Harry thought of the old fish cliché. He stood up, a hand rubbing absently at his eyes, then his stinging scar. Smiling at his professor, the same as before, he leaned over the desk slightly and pressed a kiss to Snape's cheek.

"But then we all have our faults," he said in the same calm, even voice. The door was silent as he left.

It was a long moment before Snape blinked, pulling himself out of deep thoughts. It was a longer moment still before he left the dungeons in a swish of black robe and made the long trek to the Headmaster's office. He felt the craving for a lemon drop.