Newt had been putting off leaving his briefcase and going to find an Ashwinder for an absurd amount of time. It had been nearly two weeks since he had arrived in Italy, and the entire time he had remained in the Inn, in his room, and in his briefcase.

However, he was convincing himself that he had a mighty good excuse. Along with the rest of his fantastic beasts, he had been spending a great deal of time with his new wolf. There was something that drew him to her—interested him to the point that his favorite pastime was to study the magnificent creature.

Along with that, he enjoyed hypothesizing what she might have been. What might happen as soon as he takes the manacles off her.

Over a few days, Newt had continuously entered her habitat and threw a fish toward the wolf. Each day, he would throw the fish a lesser distance from himself, and each time the wolf would walk over—eat the food, and remain lying in her spot whilst staring at him.

Sometimes he chose to talk to her, telling her many stories or random facts or anything really, but other times he chose to be quiet.

Nevertheless, the wolf did not growl at him anymore, simply remaining silent. He realized that the wolf rather enjoyed fish. It put a smile on his face to watch her eat it with so much enthusiasm.

Newt was naturally a shy man: reserved and awkward when interacting with other humans. But when he interacted with his creatures, he seemed to turn into a whole other person. And there was almost always a mutual love, his creatures loved Newt just as much as he loved them.

As Newt entered the wolf habitat to feed her dinner, he held a rather large fish in his hands. For what he was about to try and pull—he needed more of an incentive for the wolf.

And this seemed like the best way.

The wolf watched him curiously from the other side of the habitat as he walked further in than he usually did, stopping when he was in the middle.

Thankfully, she did not growl at him which was a good sign—she only watched him through narrowed golden eyes of caution.

Mavka wondered what this magical man was up to, taking note of the much bigger and tasty-looking fish in his hands. But there was also a twinkle in his eye, and Mavka learned that twinkle meant he was up to something.

Never anything bad—but always something inconvenient for Mavka.

Her stomach rolled as she watched the wizard get down on one knee and made odd noises with his mouth. The sound annoyed her seeing as she was not a real wolf, but Newt had no possible way of knowing that.

It irritated her more seeing as she felt the need to respond to the call. She had been stuck as a wolf for far too long.

"Here, Darling—come here...!" Newt called kindly, holding out the giant fish.

It was then that Mavka was met with the sinking realization that Newt wanted her to come to him... and eat the food out of his hand...

Her distrust and anxiety skyrocketed. Because he was technically the one in power here, he could do ANYTHING to her and she would not be able to do much to stop him. There was nowhere for her to run, not when she was stuck in his briefcase. And she could not shapeshift which left her virtually powerless.

But then again—he had no clue she was of the Therian people.

To him, she was a normal wolf, and he had no reason to harm her. Under her fear, Mavka knew that if Newt wanted to harm her, he would have done it when he first brought her into the sanctuary.

Along with that, he had explained to her and appeared honest about his explanation of this being a rescue reserve for creatures of all nature. All brought together and taken care of by Newt's gentle and kind hand.

When he had no clue that she was a Therian, then what did she have to fear? What did she have to risk? He would gain nothing but guilt if he hurt her.

At that moment, Mavka made a decision. She chose to trust this magical man—chose to have faith in that he truly was a good soul. It was this decision that would make or break her being able to put trust in others for the rest of her life.

For she knew that she would not be able to handle it if Newt betrayed her, because if Newt Scamander, this kind wizard betrayed her, then that meant that there was truly no one in this world that she would ever wholeheartedly trust again.

Slowly, Mavka took a step forward—paw after paw. She kept her eyes pinned on Newt—staring straight into his odd but beautiful splotched hazel eyes. Newt stared back, putting everything trustworthy and pleading into his gaze.

Newt did not break eye contact, keeping his calm and gentle demeanor as he encouraged her forward. Even with the wolf's initial hesitation, he was surprised by how fast she began to walk over.

She stopped multiple times in her journey, hesitating, but Newt continued to gently sway her toward him.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Darling..." He would coo softly. "Come here, love, you're doing so good..." He encouraged.

Mavka really did not know how to feel about the praise. She knew that as much as she wanted to hate it, it actually made her feel quite good and trust him more.

She was now feet away—six feet perhaps.

Mavka had an incredible nose, so she had always been able to smell Newt. But this was the closest that she had ever been to him, and being so close she could smell his natural musk. He smelled forestry, not bad by any means but most people might not like it as he smelled much like the animals he cared for.

Natural and wild.

She stopped at six feet, her eyes continuously darting from his gaze to the fish in his hand. She unconsciously licked her lips as the smell of the fish quickly overpowered Newt's sweet musk.

Mavka took another step forward only to retreat in fear, shying away from him. Newt was very patient, smiling encouragingly at her and allowing her to continuously take a step forward only to recoil seconds later.

This was definitely not the time to rush her—not that he wanted to—unless he wanted to risk scaring her off. However, being so close he could finally see the odd speckles that were sprinkled throughout her blonde coat.

She was even bigger up close—not gargantuan but certainly bigger than the typical wolf.

Newt became silent, only allowing his eyes to twinkle in a kind manner while motioning to the outstretched fish in his grasp. And finally, Mavka leaned forward and closed the space, her teeth grasping it out of Newt's hand.

She ate it quickly, dropping it to the snowy ground as she ripped through it. Newt remained crouched down, putting down the arm that had been holding the fish. Rather, he watched the wolf with a smile—eyes taking her in curiously.

What Newt was not expecting; however, was for the wolf to finish scarfing down the fish and immediately pounce on him.

He yelped as she jumped on him, causing him to fall from his knelt position and backward into the snow with a loud grunt. The Magizoologist cursed himself for his careless behavior, knowing full well that he should not have been that close without caution. However, he remained calm as he felt the wolf's weight on top of him.

Even a seasoned animal caretaker as he was not expecting for the wolf to suddenly start licking his face and sniffing all over his body. Within seconds, Newt understood that she was showing him a form of affection and gratitude as well as smelling him to see if he had any more fish on him.

He was unable to contain his chuckling laughter, finding the way that the wolf on top of him was sniffing and licking over his body and his face was quite ticklish. As Newt had learned in his studies, she was displaying affection in a typical way that quadrupedal mammals tended to do.

"Alright, alright..." He laughed as he managed to get his arms free, stroking her soft fur and returning the form of affection as best he could.

Her fur was soft under his fingers, and her tongue was warm as she continuously licked his face.

Newt was more surprised at the fact that she was displaying such affection despite being so hesitant toward him only moments prior. But he realized from the second he brought the first fish to her that this wolf had quite an affinity for the slimy water creatures.

It seemed fish had been the trick to gaining her affection—she must have especially liked that last one he gave her since she was sniffing him so violently for more. Well, now he suspected that she was sniffing him for the sake of sniffing him now: trying to familiarize herself with his scent, perhaps.

Or maybe she was smelling him for the other creatures that had been around him all day.

"What a sweetheart you are..." He huffed while continuing to pet and nuzzle her back.

The wolf growled in appeasement as he nuzzled her.

Mavka was not able to stop herself from pouncing on him when she was finished with possibly the best fish she had ever had. It was large and perfectly slimy and salty. It instantly put her in a good mood and made her crave more. It also melted away any lasting hesitance she had toward Newton.

It had been a very long time since she had the affection of another human being. Or affection at all for that matter—the closest she got was the rare times that she nuzzled the pups of the wolf pack she had been a part of for a short while.

To be so close to Newt, sniffing and nuzzling him as she was felt far better than she would admit. The loneliness that had become a part of her was gone at that moment, especially when he petted and nuzzled her right back.

She smelled the different creatures on him: Demiguise, Niffler, Bowtruckle, Mooncalf, Occamy,  Erumpenent, and many many more.

Mavka could not stop herself, her inner beast winning as she started nuzzling him harder and pushing herself closer to put her own scent on him as well. As soon as she started rubbing her body on his—which was hilarious seeing as she was lying on top of him in the snow—Newt started huffing from the weight.

It took him a second, but when the wolf transitioned from nuzzling to rubbing, he realized that she was now trying to place her own scent on him.

Just as he started stroking behind her soft ears—the wolf suddenly leaped away from him with a wag of her tail. She yipped in an almost friendly manner before darting away from him. Newt rose a brow as he pushed himself to rest on his elbows, watching the wolf leave him.

He made no move to follow her, wanting to allow her to get used to her new display of affection before he attempted to push her anymore.

Slowly, he stood up—placing his hands on his waist as he watched the wolf trot into her den and rest lay down on the rug. She was facing him, watching him from the comfort of her den.

Newt smiled at her, taking his wand from his trousers and pointing it upward.

"Nivis Maxima..." He muttered, causing a whitish-blue light to shoot from the tip of his wand and explode soundlessly in the air.

Immediately, snow started to fall in the habitat—Newt spinning around with his wand pointed outward to ensure the snow stayed falling only in the snowy wolf habitat. He had noticed the lack of fluff and softness to it when the wolf had pounced on him, it was time to put a fresh coat of snow on the ground.

The wolf whined in disdain from her den, laying her head down on her paws.

"I thought you liked snow!" He rhetorically said to the wolf earning an irritated huff in response.

He laughed, once again concluding that the wolf could understand him to a degree. And he suspected that it was a degree higher than most magical creatures.

Nevertheless, seeing as he took her from a snowy area, he figured it was best to keep her habitat as similar to that of where she originated from.

With that, he spun around and walked toward the shed of the sanctuary to exit the suitcase. It was time that he had dinner himself and got a good night's rest.

Mavka watched him go, satisfied when she took a whiff of the air and smelled her own scent mingled with the other creatures on Newt Scamander. Her eyes closed on their own accord after that, the wolf finding peace in the magical snowfall that came down outside of her warm little den.

For the first time in a very long time: she fell asleep feeling both safe and loved.