Don't install the Fedora Distro, Yet. not sure if your problem has been resolved yet or not, but if you do an install now you WILL end up tearing XP from the disk.
OT: Wow, this must be a really dead thread. 2 Months and no updates.
Anyways, what you would want to do is download Partition Magic from the internet and install it. You won't be able to partition XP while the disk is in use, using the standard (built-in) tool. This is Microsofts best safeguard, but isn't very convenient.
The order of things would be like this. Defrag your HD, Reboot, Start PartMag, Partition as little endspace as you can. I'd say about 2 Gigs of your HD. Install Fedora (Im assuming this is core).
OT Again: Man this brings back memories... my instructor did almost the same exact thing.
No, I didn't follow my instructors lead and wipe my XP, common sense told me not to install when it asked if I wanted to format existing partitions.
Although this is a dead thread, I post this message in hopes that students in the future will NOT listen to their instructors when they say, "Find out how to install Linux from the website." It's most likely that he already wiped his drive, gave you the disk not knowing what he did himself, and is still ticked about losing XP.