Barnabus the barmy ducked from a particularly violent clobbering from a troll. The clobbers never hurt or bruised, and by now he should be used to the constants battering from the ugly giants that crowded his tapestry but their was something about his human instincts which made him expected pain. Ducking behind a tree to the side of the tapestry Barnabas glanced across the hall. He could see a house elf dressed in a bizarre range of clothes with several pairs of hats and socks pacing in front of the corridor. This struck Barnabas as odd especially with a second elf lying slumped against a pillar also wearing clothes. Barnabas watched as the room of requirement appeared and he dragged the second house elf in nervously. The first house elf then crept out. Barnabas sighed and began teaching the trolls pirouettes.

A few days later Barnabas noticed a bespectacled fifth year pacing again he strained to look closer but a bash sent him flying and by the time he had steadied himself on a nearby tree the boy had vanished. Shortly afterwards various Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuff, but Barnabas noted no Slytherins began to congregate in the corridor opposite. Some clutching coins tightly glancing at them nervously. The bespectacled boy arrived flanked by a bushy haired girl and a boy with hair that looked like he was on fire. The buzz that was circulating the ensemble died down as the boy opened the room of requirement and lead the group in.

The same group of people began returning to the hall every few days after school some with a secretive look. At one point Barnabas saw the dark haired boy exit with another girl looking dreamy eyed. Christmas passed, Barnabas knew this from the Christmas decorations the large hairy giant draped over the tapestry. Shortly afterwards the group return and began meeting up again. One day Barnabas observed the group entering the room of requirement as usual. After about twenty minutes a pink toadlike lady and several Slytherins marched forward followed by a jittery curly haired girl biting her lip and trembling. The toad knocked on the door smartly and then immediately pushed the door open. The bespectacled boy was standing in the centre of the group wands pointed out. Barnabus quickly turned his attention to the trolls not wanting to see what happened next.

A year later Barnabas noticed a blond haired slytherin boy who resembled a ferret poking around the room of requirement. Barnabus watched him till he had disappeared inside, Barnabas then turned his attention to a first year girl who was staring at him with a look of boredom Barnabas stared back. Squealing the first year girl dropped her scales. The bushy haired girl moved into view and wordlessly fixed them. Barnabus regarded the silver haired boy with interest he was always dashing into the room of requirement often clutching objects such as apples, bits of parchment and once a live bird. Sometimes the boy would enter empty handed and return clutching objects similar to the ones he took in.

Towards the end of the year Barnabas sighted the bespectacled boy dashing frantically around the hallway before diving into the room of requirement clutching an ink splattered chemistry book. He left running away from the room as if it was in flames. Barnabas saw no sign of either boy for several weeks till the silver haired boy reappeared in the middle of the night. He had grown thinner and seemed to have not slept for months. The silver haired boy took several attempts to open the room before he could enter. The people he returned with were clad in black flowing robes with masks that sent shivers down Barnabus's spine. The silver haired boy was in the centre looking like a nervous wreck with perspiration running down his forehead and a nervous look on his face.

Another couple of months passed and Barnabas relied on the scraps of conversation that he could hear from passing groups. From what he could gather the headmaster had been killed and someone had sent a witch and wizard to spy on Hogwarts.

Something had changed at Hogwarts the students who passed his tapestry seem afraid and downcast. Some students sported bruises and cuts. One particularly mutilated boy had begun pacing in front of where the room of requirement was. After that other students often the same ones who had come last year appeared over several days. Barnabus looked out for the boy with glasses and his two friends but none of them turned up although there was a girl who had the same flaming hair and freckles as the ginger boy.

A stern faced witch and wizard wearing identical black robes had begun pacing in front of the room of requirement. After a few minutes the witch went to the door and prodded it with her wand she stepped back and the wizard pointed his wand at the door and fired sparks at it. The witch and wizard continued visiting the door and trying to get in they were occasionally joined by a crow like wizard who seemed short tempered and irritable. Late one night Barnabas observed the bespectacled boy and his two friends leaving. That night was one of the times where Barnabas wished he knew what was going on. He could hear explosion from the great hall and the room of requirement seemed empty. The bespectacled boy returned and after a short series of conversations the other occupants left. The boy left the room and paced in front of the now empty brick wall. A door appeared and the boy dashed inside before being joined by his friends, the silver haired boy and two thugs that flanked the silver haired boy. The last thing Barnabas saw was the bespectacled boy on a broomstick before he was engulfed in fire.

After the battle of Hogwarts the remnants of the troll tapestry were mended so when James, Lily, Rose and Albus came to Hogwarts they could say "that's barmy Barnabus".