Dean supposed, that if he could sit still that long, that Miss Applegate's rationale made sense. They were certainly a challenge, one he had no patience for, but at least it was different from the traditional answers he got. "Languages and travel." Dean answered honestly figuring there was no reason to say anything else. He suspected Miss Applegate wouldn't have volunteered her answer if she hadn't meant it. Dean liked to think he was pretty good at reading people and he liked her honesty.

"I was raised in a bilingual house, English and French. Took to it like a fish to water, so now I do it for work." It had opened up so many doors for him that Dean didn't even know what else he would do with himself.

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Hanna smiled. While she'd had lessons as a child, she was not sure she could do anything more than stumble through a conversation in French now. She was impressed that he was more skilled. "Translator, then?" she guessed — (there was only so much work one could do with languages, after all.) "How many languages do you speak?"

  

Dean nodded with a grin. "Five fluently, though I don't know how much Latin counts any more these days." He could read it just fine, but nobody spoke it aloud anymore so he had no idea how he was with speaking it. "I am currently working on three more, though Spanish is easy, having both French and Italian under my belt. Mermish is the hardest so far." Dean had been working on Arabic the most, finding it a language the department lacked and they dealt with often, considering business with the bank and in quidditch. He was almost there with it, just needed some more practice.

"I took Gobbledegook at school and I also speak Greek." Both of which were also helpful as there weren't many in the department who also spoke them. Dean liked to be useful, job security and all. French was widely spoken by the upper class, and the rest weren't too uncommon, but he supposed he liked the challenge of it too.

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The following 1 user Likes Dean Hudson's post:1 user Likes Dean Hudson's post
   Johanna Applegate

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"That's very impressive," Hanna said, genuinely — it was likely obvious from her raised eyebrows and bright smile that she was charmed by Hudson's ability to speak so many different languages. (Although frankly, she was charmed by everything about him.)

"I can speak a little French," Hanna said, smile turning slightly sheepish — most girls of her age and birth could speak at least some French. "But that's it for me, I'm afraid."

  

"The French is near and dear to me. My other is French so it started when I was born. I think I started in French before my mother realized I should also speak English." Dean chuckled. Considering they had lived in Britain at the time and his father's French was passable, but not fluent, English probably should have come first.

"Mostly I just find them fascinating, the cultures surrounding them, the places that speak different dialects. It's what I enjoy the most about it all." Dean had always been easily interested in a variety of subjects, but always came back to languages. They opened and had opened so many doors for him already that it was just a way of life now. The travel was the bonus, he could be anybody anywhere and it was of no consequence as long as he paid attention to his details.

With a finished drink, Dean set the it down on the nearest table. "Shall we be bold again and take another turn on the dance floor?" Once was usually enough, two was going to cause people to talk, but he didn't particularly care.

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Being half-French was rather romantic of Mr. Hudson; he seemed like a very roguish and handsome person, and while Hanna knew she ought to give roguish gentlemen a wide berth, she was getting rather desperate in her age and it wasn't as if avoiding handsome roguish men had done her any services in the past several years.

So she was happy to agree to his proposal. "Yes, let's," Hanna said happily, and joined him.