Charles frowned and looked away from the seething Emma, who threw up her hands wildly and stomped off to look over a meadow bordering the trees they were standing underneath.

"Shall we go back to the coven?" Charles suddenly said.

"I suppose. However, the ministry will likely show themselves soon, if not already. Our coven is the closest to this place." Emma turned back to Charles, who had the decency to look ashamed. "No matter. Maybe the woman and the girl won't remember what we looked like." Emma sighed, and then looked back over the moon-lit meadow. "We had better go. Less chance of being accused by the ministry. Come on."

...

Emma rushed into the coven's center, wildly looking around. Nothing seemed out of place, and no one seemed to be acting unusual. So word had not yet spread, nor had the ministry gotten there in Charles' and Emma's absence. They were likely investigating and gathering evidence before coming to the coven, Emma thought to herself. That meant that she had time to prepare her fellow vampires... and herself.

...

Emma strode back and forth in front of the group of arguing vampires. She had just informed them of what Charles had done, and now they were discussing what to do. She could feel Charles' eyes on her, steadily watching her while she paced. She was still unsure about what would happen, especially to both Charles and herself. Even though Charles had been the attacker, Emma had been present, which meant she could be viewed as responsible for the man's death, at least in the ministry's eyes. The ministry was always looking for an excuse to execute vampires, even if the particular vampire had only been present during an altercation.

Emma sighed, she wouldn't run. After thirty years of being a vampire, she had seen much of the ministry's unfair treatment of vampires, but she refused to act or be scared. Fear wouldn't serve a vampire well, rather she forced confidence and arrogance within her stance as she strode back and forth. She could only hope that her facade would not be seen through by the ministry, or by whomever the ministry sent to investigate the whereabouts of the coven's members during the time of the attack.

Now she just had to decide whether or not she and Charles should lie about their whereabouts. Her first instinct was yes, but then she realized that the witch mother would likely give the ministry both a description and, possibly, place her memories inside a pensieve and show the ministry exactly what the vampires who attacked her looked like. Emma went cold at the thought, knowing that if that happened then there would be no trial or chance to defend themselves against the ministry. It would mean an immediate death sentence for both of them, as the ministry wouldn't care about Emma blocking Charles' access to the little girl. All they would care about was that Emma was present, which would mean an immediate death sentence.