The Final Conflict: Ekrizdis
In 1997, the wizarding world faced a final, primal threat that predated modern magical history: the resurrection of Ekrizdis. The 15th-century architect of Azkaban, Ekrizdis was a master of the darkest, most irrational arts known to wizardkind. While Darius Zogratis had revolutionized magic through science and logic, Ekrizdis embodied ancient, unyielding malice.
For the first time in his meteoric career, Darius met an equal—not in intellect or innovation, but in sheer, raw magical weight.
The Seven-Day Siege of Devon Island
The final confrontation was a titanic clash that took place in the desolate High Arctic of Canada, on Devon Island, a barren, Mars-like landscape. From December 14 to December 21, 1997, the island became a literal forge of god-like magic.
The conflict was not a conventional duel with wands, but a war of reality itself:
Ekrizdis commanded legions of ancient, primal Dementors, forces of pure despair.
Darius countered with mastery over spatial distortions and pure light-based magic.
The energy released during the week-long battle was so immense that the tectonic stability of the region failed. Witnesses from the Canadian Ministry of Magic reported the surrounding Arctic sea boiling for miles.
In a final, desperate act to ensure Ekrizdis could never return, Darius employed the ultimate application of his second-year discovery. He collapsed the "Soul Pocket" dimension within himself, transforming it into a localized singularity. He dragged himself and the Dark Wizard into the void.
Devon Island physically vanished from all official maps, sunk into the Arctic depths by the catastrophic pressure of the magical fallout.
A World in Mourning: The Zogratis Legacy
The loss of Darius Zogratis shocked the world he had spent the last decade perfecting.
Albus Dumbledore: The retired Headmaster addressed the school not about victory, but about sacrifice. "Darius Zogratis did not just save our lives; he saved our future," he declared. "He was a man who looked at the impossible and saw a puzzle to be solved. He gave us the tools to live without fear, and in the end, he gave his life to ensure that fear could never take root again."
Harry Potter: Now seventeen and finally free from his own prophecy, Harry felt a profound, quiet grief. Standing on the coast of Scotland, he realized that Darius had given him the greatest gift: a world where Harry could just be a normal man, rather than a weapon of fate. He whispered a simple "Thank you" into the Arctic winds.
Hermione Granger: Hermione organized the "Zogratis Archive" at Hogwarts to preserve every one of his breakthroughs. Refusing to believe his energy was simply gone, she theorized that every time someone casts a counter-spell or uses a healing principle he invented, he remains a part of the magical field he fundamentally changed.
Darius Zogratis, the Grand Sorcerer who had conquered death, despair, and disease, departed the world he created at the age of twenty. His legacy is not a tomb or a monument, but the scientific principles that underpin all modern magic, ensuring that the Age of Zogratis endures.