Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine.

Learning To Keep Your Feet On The Ground

"Do you have everything?"

"Have a good year!"

"Behave yourself!"

"Don't forget to write!"

"Good luck!"

That's what I heard as I stepped onto Platform 9 3/4. It wasn't the first time I had been here; my brother started school three years before me. But this year it was my turn. I was about to start my first year at Hogwarts, and I felt terrified and excited all at once. People were everywhere with trunks and owls and cats all over the place; it was pure madness on the platform, and it wasn't helping my nerves at all.

"Alright now, dear, time to get on the train." my mother said as she looked at me with tears in her eyes.

"Okay," I replied, hugging her one last time, "I'll miss you guys."

"Don't forget to write and tell us what house you're in," my dad reminded me hugging me as well.

After I finished my goodbyes, I waited while they bid my brother farewell and told him to watch out for me. Then, we both headed for train. My brother left to find his friends while I searched for an empty compartment or even a near empty one, anywhere I could fit. I almost joined two redheaded boys who looked about my age, but they looked to be planning something and it didn't look like it could be anything good. So, I decided to skip over that one and only go there as a last resort. Finally, thankfully, I found one with only one boy inside. He looked around my age with brown hair and grey eyes.

"Can I sit here?"

"Sure," he smiled, "I'm Cedric Diggory. Are you a first year too?"

"Yeah, my name's Charlotte Langley."

Cedric and I talked about Hogwarts, what houses we wanted to be in, and what our families were like for the rest of the train ride. I would like to say that from that moment on we were the best of friends, but I can't. After we got to the castle, Cedric and I were sorted into different houses. He was in Hufflepuff and I was in Ravenclaw. We each made friends in our houses, and did not speak to each other for days after school began. It wasn't because we didn't like each other or house rivalry, we were just eleven and didn't really know each other and that's just the way it was. But we did become friends later, and it started in the most horrendous of all our classes, flying.

"Up! Up! Up! UP!"

"Having trouble?" I looked up to see Cedric grinning at me with his broom in hand.

"I think the broom hates me."

He grinned even more, "It doesn't hate you. You've just got to calm down a bit."

I knew he was probably right, but I was eleven so I just rolled my eyes and stayed irritated with my broomstick. Eventually, I did get the broom up, but that was about my only achievement in that class. Ever. When we got into groups and actually began using the brooms, Cedric was in mine of course. I had never been on a broom before, and I can't say I was too keen on being on one at all. Cedric tried to remind me to calm down, but once again I rolled my eyes and ignored him. So when we were supposed to kick off and levitate a few feet, I may have kicked too hard. So hard in fact that I flew right into the castle wall.

'That hurt' was my only thought as I lay on the ground looking up at the blue sky. Then a small slightly tanned hand appeared in my field of vision. I took it and let it pull me up.

"Are you okay?"

I looked up at the face attached to the hand that helped me. I glared. It was Cedric of course. He was trying not to laugh, but it got the better of him in the end. I shouldn't have been upset at him; everyone was laughing. I would have laughed too if it hadn't happened to me. But it did happen to me, and I did get upset at him.

When he was finally able to get a hold of himself his first words were "I tried to tell you to calm down."

I stopped glaring at him then; instead I hit him with my broomstick and knocked him down.

After that, Cedric and I became very good friends. And during that first year of our friendship I learned that Cedric had an annoying habit of almost always being right. I, in turn, developed the habit of rolling my eyes and saying "Of course" a lot. I never did learn to like flying though.