Grimshaw Tailoring and Alterations

In Knockturn, there is a storefront for a business that no one can recall ever being open. (Although Archer Radley seemed to have heard there were some business hours.) The Necromancer arranges payments and deliveries here.

The sign out front was once gilded script letters, but it's so filthy and out-of-repair that it's barely legible. Through caked-on windows, one could see a neglected shop, cluttered with dresses and robes on forms and mannequins.

The front door is frequently found to be unlocked. There is a back room with blackened windows that is occasionally used by Knockturn denizens for making unsavory deals. A second doorway leads to a stairway down to the basement.

The Ledger

On 9 Dec 2011 Kurby Bagnold found a very old dusty ledger in Grimshaw's. It contained centuries of apparent transactions in a list. Names in the ledger included: Nathan Briggs, Lorelei Hunt, (11 Nov 2011) and NPCs Luthiel Carlisle, Dancastle Lockhart, Morwena Lin, Daedalus Diggle, and Arthgallo Rosenstein. And Kurby's father Howell Bagnold (1970s).

The Ossuary

Somewhere magically hidden below the shop is an ossuary, filled from floor to celing with bones. It contains an altar and on the floor a large carving of a rune. Natalie Morrow 'found' it by falling through a sudden hole in the floor in the back of the shop. 9 Dec 2011 [1] This is distinct from the known basement.

The ossuary began as a crypt, and all those buried there were not necessarily lured in or murdered. However, in recent times, the spirits have reached out to wixes like Bagnold and Nemo to warn them of the ritualistic murders happening every 28 years.

Relevant Plotting Page

Ghosts of Grimshaw's

References

• Sellaphixes did business with someone apparently representing Grimshaws in the late 2000s. They ordered everything by delivery and nothing had anything to do with tailoring.
• According to Nathan Briggs, they placed orders for delivery from Sellaphix Apothecary recently and often. Pick up was always in a different location by a darkly cloaked witch. May have definitely ordered Runespoor parts.
• Zelda Sellaphix met that witch once: "One of those old sorcerers held together with string and nightshade." [2]
• The body of Rosemary Hampton was found in the basement in October 2009.
• The last official record for the building was that it was owned by a 'Grimshaw' in the 1700s. Other documents about it may be tied up in Gringott's Bank. REFERENCE NEEDED
• As of October 2009, some of the floorboards on the ground floor are missing after Jonas Trevelyan transfigured them into water. [3]
• In late 1989, Lorelei Hunt reportedly told her brother Leander Hunt about an abandoned dress shop in Knockturn Alley where "people would sell anything" when he was looking for a place to purchase unicorn blood. [4]
• According to Nathan Briggs it is known that Grimshaw's is a common place for criminal deals.
• Zelda Sellaphix claims they are out of business. [5]
• Cameron Rosier and Jonas Trevelyan explore the shop, following a lead. [6]
• Nate Briggs and Lorelei Hunt meet in Grimshaw's to exchange goods and payment (unicorn blood), where they encounter Cinaed Tawse. [7]
• Late one night, Nemo and Kurby Bagnold find the shop mysteriously open for business. [8].
• Jonas Trevelyan returns to investigate the shop, this time with trainee Fauna Blake and a surprise visitor, Lazarus Blackburn. But the shop attacks once more, forcing them to flee. [9].
• Lorelei Hunt finds more than she bargained for when the shop attacks her and she falls into the ossuary. She steals a skull and flees.[10].
• Nemo and Kurby Bagnold return to Grimshaw's.[11]