𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡.

But food had been rather scarce the past few weeks, there was not much for her to hunt. Mavka figured it had something to do with it becoming colder from the never-ending storm that had been raging near her den for weeks now.

She could not even remember the last time there was such a long winter storm—it had to have been years.

Then again, Mavka was not sure how long she had been stuck as a wolf. It was a miracle she survived, she figured it had to have been the better part of a decade now. Thankfully, as the saying goes: time heals all wounds.

And Mavka was strong.

While she was still lonely and sad—it was not the pure terror and pain she was in the first few young years that she was alone in the snowy wildness. She had been stuck as a wolf for so long that she could barely even remember what she looked like in her humanoid state, let alone as any other creature.

It was as though she had turned mostly wolf.

But she did not feel like bothering herself with such things, she barely even noticed the manacles at this point. She accepted that her fate was to live as a lone wolf in the snowy forests of... somewhere in the world.

Despite accepting her fate, she still dreamt of the day she might be able to get revenge on those who tore her life to shreds.

They had attacked so quickly that night—swift and silently. Her people did not even stand a real chance at defending themselves before the majority of them were placed in manacles and knocked out by various curses.

But Mavka would not be so easily defeated if she ever had her chance at revenge, she decided that she would transform into a dragon and burn them all to ash.

Perhaps one day—she could dream.

Mavka had become part of a pack a few years back, a real wolf pack with real wolves. She was no more than an omega in a pack that consisted of a mated male and female and their children. But... even if they were actual animals... it made her feel less lonely.

They had since moved on, and as hard as it was, Mavka chose to stay behind. Mostly because she knew the pack would be breaking up soon seeing as the alpha male and female were getting old for wild wolves and the children were becoming antsy to set out on their own.

And experiencing that would be more heartbreaking than staying behind as they set off. At least by staying behind, Mavka could remember her little wild wolf family as they were.

She whined as her eyes caught sight of a moose—and she mentally debated if it was worth the risk of attacking. She was a bigger wolf than most because she was not a natural wolf, but the moose still had much on her in terms of size.

And she was hunting alone, if she failed it could very well end with her badly wounded... then she would be hurt and starving and that was never a good mix.

On the other hand, if she succeeded in taking the moose down and with the snow storm, that meat could last her days. She'd need to drag any remains back, of course, but that was better than dragging only herself back empty-handed.

Decisions, decisions.

The moose remained unbothered even as it saw the wolf, the bigger animal not believing a lone wolf would ever try to attack it. That also worked in Mavka's favor, the game was unsuspecting.

She was unable to decide for the moose was scared off by something appearing.

Mavka was startled as well—immediately crouching low to the ground as she watched something spin into existence.

A magical man appeared, in human clothing and holding onto some sort of... object in his right hand. She tilted her head, the object was a square bag and the name of such a thing was on the tip of her tongue but she had been disconnected from the human world for so long she could not remember for the life of her what it was.

Her ears were sharp and her eyes wide as she took in the sight of the magical man.

Fury grew within her as she watched him: remembering the poachers that came for her so many years ago. How she barely got away.

A multitude of smells was coming from the square bag in his grasp—different scents from different animals. His bag must have been enchanted to hold so many creatures within, her nose does not lie to her.

Was he a poacher?

Mavka was on immediate alert as she listened to the magical man sigh and look around.

"This is the place..." He mumbled to himself, his words prime and proper—an accent different from what Mavka was used to.

She understood most Earth languages, a skill that naturally came with being a Therian, but when she was human the way she pronounced her words was much thicker and in a different language than this man was speaking in.

But even she had to admit she liked the way he spoke, like something warm and homey.

The man slowly placed his object down, biting his lip as he did so. Carefully, he opened the case... and proceeded to step inside.

So Mavka was right—the thing was enchanted!

Unable to stop herself as she saw him now gone, she ran over to the bag and circled it while hesitantly smelling around it. Whatever enchantment it was made the bag very deep and very large.

It was bigger on the inside.

Just as she suspected, as she hesitantly placed her head inside the bag to look—she was greeted with a whole other world. Her sensitive hearing caught onto the sound of many different animals doing many different things, and she could hear the man walking toward somewhere else in the bag.

He was talking to someone as well... a Bowtruckle? She could smell the tree insect on him.

The nose of a Therian was insanely amazing—possibly one of the best noses of all the creatures in the world.

"I know it's cold Pickett, but we need to return Arya to the forest where she belongs and then we can go..." He paused before stopping in his steps. "Ah—hello, Arya! Yes, we're here—time for you to go home!"

Mavka could smell the animal that she heard the man talking to: Arya was a big creature. A Polar Owl-Bear.

Of course, she had run across her fair share of magical creatures in these snowy forests and Polar Owl-Bears was among them. There were actually quite a few lurking about so she always had to be careful when hunting in fear of running into one.

Usually, Mavka would be the main predator in the animal kingdom seeing as the Therian could transform into anything of any size at will. But seeing as Mavka was otherwise unable to shift—she was limited to doing things only a wolf of her size could do.

And unfortunately, that did not include taking on Owl-Bears head-to-head lest she want to die.

She was irritated that this man was releasing one nearby her—the creature would probably make this area home meaning that Mavka would need to leave and hunt elsewhere. It was in times like these that the urge to shift became prominent: she was meant to be the prime hunter.

However, she did not dare try for fear of agonizing pain that would eventually break every bone in her body if she tried to shift with manacles on. Manacles that she had tried countless times to get off.

Alas, without opposable thumbs such a task was nearly impossible. Especially with each limb being imprisoned by one.

"Yes, yes, come on, Arya—you're home now...!"

Mavka jumped away from the square bag, a briefcase but she did not know this, and raced until she was hidden behind a brush of dead plants. It was amazing that any sort of plants were even able to stick out through the snow—it caused Mavka to need to stay low to the ground.

Thankfully, hunting silently was a wolf's greatest skill, so it was not hard for her to stay silent and out of view. And she had a feeling that if it came down to it, she would probably be able to outrun the Owl-Bear.

Such big beasts were known more for their brute strength rather than speed.

Mavka watched with wide eyes as a burly creature was suddenly expelled from the bag—a looming beast of white feathers and a large owl-like head. The body of a bear but the features of an owl. An Owl-Bear.

It made a groaning chirp noise as it looked around, thumping as it stayed near the suitcase.

The magical man popped out a second later: adorned in a neat waistcoat and bowtie. Suspenders held up brown trousers and his feet were adorned in short leather boots. The fashion of modern men these days is what Mavka supposed.

Her tribe, when in humanoid form, stayed in the forest enraptured in nature—so they did not wear such fabrics. Her people had worn light and breathable clothing as a transformation would often rip any garments worn.

Mavka tilted her head at him—it'd been a while since she had seen a human.

And her last encounter with them had not been good.

He was a white man. Tall and slightly lanky with some muscle—she had a feeling he was a quick runner.

"Home sweet home, Arya! How does it feel being back in the forests of Alaska?"

Alaska? So that's where she was—after all these years Mavka finally found out where they had managed to take her. Not too far from her tribal homeland which was somewhere in the dense wilderness of what the humans referred to as 'Canada'.

However, there was nothing left for her to go back to even if she did manage to find her way back to where her tribe once was.

Usually, Mavka would have long since been gone. After all, this magical man was exactly the type of person she should look out for.

But seeing him release a magical creature had her wondering if he was different from the poachers who captured her. She knew not all magical humans were bad, just like not all people of Therian were good.

She was just unlucky to have run into some of the worst magical people to exist.

She watched the man speak to the Owl-Bear, he spoke softly but with vibrance. He pet Arya's head with ease, his eyes sparkling as watched her.

"You should be safe here, Arya, animal-traffickers haven't been spotted in this area for years..." He told her. "It's a highly protected area after an incident a few years back."

Mavka continued to watch and thought about his words. She supposed it was true, the only poachers she had seen were the ones she escaped from in the first place. Other than that, once she was far enough she had never seen another human again.

This man was the first.

The bear let out a groan, almost sounding sad as he continued to nuzzle her and pet her.

"Now, don't take that tone... this is where you belong and I'll come to visit, of course!" The man sounded as though he was trying to convince himself of this.

Mavka pondered about this man—this kind man who appeared to rescue animals.

Despite every instinct telling her not to do it, the loneliness in her chest seemed to tug her in his direction. Perhaps he could rescue her?

Then again she was not a typical animal, she was a Therian. There was no telling what he would do if he found out—for most wizards the reward of being a Metamorphmagus was worth the price of a life being lost.

Especially when the only sacrifice was the life of someone they didn't know. If she approached this man and he took her manacles off and she revealed herself to him—he very well might drain her for the gift of being a Metamorphmagi.

But he seemed so kind... and she was so lonely...

Mavka gave a small huff as she thought, what were the chances he would even be able to help her? She had no home to return to and she did not exactly desire to live in the human world. Then again, she had no qualms with transitioning to live in the wilds of somewhere warmer.

She'd been in the snow long enough.

Maybe she could shift into a dolphin and live in the warm Atlantic ocean, that certainly sounded fun. Fish were much easier to hunt than game as a lone wolf in a constantly snowy forest.

And she had never lived in the ocean long term before.

She gave an excited snort at the thought, and while the man had no hope of hearing such a nose with his weak senses—the creature next to him did.

Mavka's fur stood on edge as the Owl-Bear let out a ferocious growl, stepping away from the magical man and slowly walking in circles.

The man watched the Owl-Bear before allowing his own gaze to travel around.

"Now what predator could have such a creature as you worked up?" He said to himself.

The Owl-Bear sensed the dangers of Mavka—a Therian. Of course, the bear had no understanding that Mavka was imprisoned with manacles and was therefore no threat to him.

Mavka stayed frozen, eyes trained on the threat. As she shifted, prepared to run—the beast reared its head in her direction ears perked before it lunged toward her.

Mavka let out a loud cry, darting away and just missing being trampled by the magical creature. Of course, Arya stampeded over the dead brush she'd been hiding in.

"Arya!" The man attempted to call as he saw the large wolf—a wolf that was far bigger than average.

The bear did not acknowledge him, letting out another roar at the perceived threat. Mavka was running on adrenaline as she continuously dodged the beast, allowing it to chase her around the area.

The man pulled out his wand as he did not want either creature to get hurt, especially when he noticed the fur rubbed off near the paws of the wolf from what appeared to be some sort of cuffs of imprisonment.

He had rescued enough creatures (magical and non) to recognize the signs of animal abuse. This wolf had very clearly escaped a poaching incident if the cuffs on its limbs were anything to go by... but wait, were those manacles?

Manacles were used to obstruct any magic within magical creatures—an imprisonment technique that Newt Scamander hated with every fiber of his being.

But why would a non-magical creature be manacled? His thoughts raced thinking this could perhaps be an unidentified magical creature—a hybrid of some sort. There was no other reason poachers would place manacles on it.

That last thought was all he needed to flick his wand toward his briefcase, silently casting a spell. At that same moment, as Mavka ran past the briefcase—a vortex suddenly pulled at her, a force so strong that the wolf was yelping as it tugged her into the briefcase by force.

The case closed directly after, its lock snapping shut.

The Owl-Bear immediately calmed down as its perceived threat disappeared and Newt was putting his wand back in his pocket with a satisfied smile on his face.

Although he did feel incredibly bad knowing he probably scared the wolf, but it was the best way to help it. He would release it back into the wild as soon as he got those manacles off. A̶n̶d̶ p̶e̶r̶h̶a̶p̶s̶ n̶u̶r̶s̶e̶d̶ i̶t̶ b̶a̶c̶k̶ t̶o̶ h̶e̶a̶l̶t̶h̶.

He noticed right away that the wolf was rather skinny for it being this time of the year, and it was alone from what he could tell. Wolves rarely traveled alone and it was dangerous for a wolf to be without a pack or at least a mate.

Newt was taken out of his thoughts as Arya nudged him. He smiled, stroking her head and saying his last goodbyes while promising to visit.