Eric raised an eyebrow at the stranger. "Mister Charming?" he repeated. Not a lot caught Eric off-guard, but that comment certainly had. It seemed more people knew him (or of him) than he was aware of. Being a watchwizard in the Atrium, perhaps people made a point to find out who was watching them and remembered their names and faces just in case it mattered later on. Eric had a history of false arrests and accusations (like the time he arrested Sturgis Podmore), but being called 'Mister Charming' was a new one for him.
"Because I'm an intellectual," Eric replied. He had always been a Ravenclaw in so many ways, but certainly left school behind when he graduated. He could not imagine being his age, thirty-two, and still clinging to his house traits and seeing himself as only that. Eric was much older now and had been out of school for a very long time. Though he was curious, and at the moment with a bloke who was likely the one to make comments to him (though he did not know who it was at the time, nor did he know now). "So, naturally, my next phase in life is to come to terms with that and recognise there are emotions I need to reconcile."
Laughing, even Eric knew how ridiculous that sounded, especially for him. "Besides," he continued, "we're in the middle of a war. Those who do not wear their heart on their sleeve have something to hide. I imagine not many people would actually want the Ministry coming after them because they're tight-lipped. Politics and feelings matter now, and they're a crucial discussion, don't you think? Why sit next to someone at a bar if you discover they don't talk and therefore you don't know whether or not to trust them?"
Eric finished his beer and asked for another as he licked his fingers of the grease. Turning his attention back to the wizard, Eric looked him up and down for a moment. "Ask me whatever you want. Most likely I'll offer an answer that's ambiguous enough that it'll answer the questions just enough so that I won't have to clarify anything."