Ch 33 The Hidden Farms
Wednesday morning Scorpius ate breakfast at the dining room table with Rose, Narcissa, and Druella. Of course, Druella's Elf Rapier was there to feed her. After breakfast Scorpius announced, "I need to go into my father's office and see what secrets he has waiting for me."
All the witches were sure Scorpius was going to be finding out family secrets, and it worried Rose and Narcissa.
Scorpius went into the office that had been his father's, and his grandfather's before him. He had four small keys from his father, and one small key that Lucius had apparently hid on himself and never given to Draco. Harry had provided an Auror to accompany Scorpius, but none of the keys would work if the Auror was in the room. There seemed to be no problem having an Elf, however, so Scorpius had two Elves with him, WJ and TJ. Both had come to the Malfoy family with Astoria, but both were now totally loyal to Scorpius and Narcissa, and not to their former mistress Astoria.
There were a lot of records, and some obviously illegal spells and substances, connected to the key from Lucius and three of the keys from Draco. The fourth opened a desk drawer, and in the drawer was a parchment that said, Since the time of Roman Empire a select few in England and France have maintained farms, giving us a secret source of funds and a secure place to hide. Never reveal the existence of these farms to anyone but your son or heir. There are strong spells keeping you from ever mentioning the existence of these farms to any witch, or any wizard unless they have also been to the farms.
Take this key to the west wall of the room. A hidden door will open, and you will go into a room with a fireplace. Take Floo Powder and Floo to "Malfoy's Farm." If you do not already know what to do instructions will follow.
Scorpius went to the West wall, and a door appeared. When he went through it he saw a fireplace, and he followed the instructions and went to "Malfoy's Farm." The Elves accompanied him. He was in a circular room with what looked like handcuffs or restraining irons on the wall and floor. People were coming in, taking off their clothes, and lining up around the wall.
There were terrified house elves cowering in one corner of the room. (Scorpius could not call them Elves, from the looks on their faces, their lack of clothing, everything about their bearing.)
Scorpius was not sure how many beings were in the room, but he later learned that there were twenty-nine Magi and ten house elves. The Magi ranged in age from a toddler to one over one-hundred and twenty. A few on either side of thirty Magi slaves and ten house elf slaves seemed to be the number on each of the farms.
The parchment went on.
You are in the Room of Domination.
You must now take possession of the farm by taking possession of all the slaves that work the farm. If mated, the slaves will line up, male behind, female in front, by age. The children will line up on the left of the youngest mated couple.
All males must be put in restraints standing up, with females lying down in front of them, also restrained. Everyone who is old enough to walk must be restrained.
Starting with the youngest, you must, over the next weeks, rape each mature female. Later you must share this pleasure with your son and heir, and with the other farm owners. The slaves are your possessions, and you must possess them.
Within twenty-four hours you should kill one of the slaves. Kill the least productive, usually one of the oldest. If any slave is handicapped, they must be killed."
Scorpius looked at horror at the spells he was instructed to say as he raped, at how utterly wicked they were. How utterly humiliating and demeaning. How the spell you said as you killed reduced the person to a worthless possession.
Scorpius looked in horror at the people as two of the oldest men put the others in restraints. Everyone was obviously terrified, including the children, but they obeyed like they had been charmed to obey.
Scorpius remembered that his father had taken him as a child, maybe five or six years old, and made him hold a knife while together they killed an older man who was restrained. He remembered the blood getting on him and his garments as he stood next to the man while he was bleeding to death. Draco had said something about how the slaves blood was now on him, and he, Scorpius, was guilty of murder, and that is why he could never tell anyone except other slave owners what he had done. The memory was then hidden, but as soon as Scorpius entered the Room of Domination the memory was as clear as if it had happened yesterday. Scorpius also thought he might have sexually abused a girl about his age, or at least touched her in an inappropriate manner, but that memory was not as clear.
Scorpius also remembered that just three years ago, the summer after he turned thirteen, his father had taken him to the Room of Domination and had him rape one of the females. Scorpius remembered that his father had to charm him to obey; he did not willingly rape. As soon as the forced physical act was finished he felt dirty and ashamed. Draco again had the memory hidden from Scorpius, but as soon as Scorpius entered the room he remembered being forced to rape the slave, and he recognized her, as sorrow and shame overwhelmed him.
Scorpius looked at the soulmate ring on his hand, which was flashing in alarm. Scorpius didn't know exactly how he knew, but he thought he remembered Albus telling him how, when Cleo and Rose had become pregnant, that Albus and Cleo's ring were flashing in alarm. He remembered his discussions with the bishop, and with Cleo and Rose about feeling dirty after his father had taken him, wherever, even though he didn't remember. Now he could remember, and he felt even more ashamed and dirty.
"Stop," Scorpius told the assembled beings, Magi and house elves. "Go back to what you were doing. I will be back later."
Everyone looked at him in shock. When they did not do anything, Scorpius insisted, "I do not want anyone restrained. Please go back to what you were doing before I came. I will be back later."
The terrified people and house elves did as they were told as Scorpius left.
He took the parchments, really a small book, and returned to Malfoy Manor. It was obvious that he needed to do something immediately, and he was NOT going to take possession of the farm and people by raping or murdering anyone!
Scorpius left the office and found Rose in the nursery next to their bedroom, where she had set up a small office and art studio. He told her, "We need to see your mother right now!"
They went to the Ministry, and the two of them were led up to Hermione's office. Scorpius showed the book to Hermione, but she could not read it. Winky volunteered, "Elves can read those documents."
Winky started to read. "To take possession of the farm, you must again, in front of all the witches, wizards, and house elves, rape any witch that is of age to show that she is your possession. If possible you should also kill the oldest or most infirmed being, publicly, to indicate that their lives are owned by you.
"If you have a son or grandson old enough they must also take part in these ceremonies.
"Then you must notify the other families that you have taken possession of your property. If you do not, the other families may take the property from you."
There was a great deal more information.
"We need to go through this information much quicker than we can by listening to you read," Hermione interjected. "Who can read this?"
"Any Elf," Winky replied, "but Galadriel would be best. Plus, Thorin and his grandfather. Goblins up to eyeballs in this, I think."
Hermione called in her Administrative Assistant. "Jack, please see if you can get Galadriel, Thorin the goblin, and if possible his grandfather Zefenslot over here ASAP. There are major major issues with the Malfoy Estate, and I urgently need their help."
Jack grinned. "I will get some help, and we will take care of it."
After Jack was gone Hermione turned to Scorpius. "Is this the first time you were at this farm?" she wondered.
"No," Scorpius admitted. "I didn't remember anything until I arrived today, because I was Imperiused. I don't think my father took me the last two or three years because he was afraid that I could resist being Imperiused. The spells keeping me from remembering came off as soon as I took the private Floo to the farm on my own.
"I do feel very dirty because of what my father made me do, though." Scorpius looked down at the floor, not wanting to look at Rose or Hermione, feeling very guilty.
"I think a third of the people working at the Ministry did something during the last war they are ashamed of, and most of them were not Imperiused, Scorpius," Hermione advised her son-in-law. "You did the right thing by not following the directions given but coming right to me."
"You told us, Cleo, Albus and me, that you felt dirty after your father took you into his office, and you couldn't remember what had happened," Rose remembered. She sighed a large, long sigh.
Winky disappeared, and a short time later walked into the office with Harriet Tubman. Hermione gave Harriet the document, and Harriet started to read it, very quickly going through the pages. By the time Galadriel and Thorin were led into the room Harriet was finished reading.
"Duplicate the book so both can read, please," Harriet told Hermione. Hermione duplicated the small book of papers, and handed one of them to Galadriel and the other to Thorin. Thorin was only three pages into the documents when he left the room and said something to Jack Miller, who they could see was talking to a couple of other people when the door was shut again.
Galadriel slammed the small booklet of papers shut and announced, "We need a large conference room, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Harry Potter, and I think Teddy Lupin. If Zefenslot comes in he should be asked to join us as well."
Hermione said something to Jack Miller, and led the assembled crowd to a large conference room on the first floor. Harry and Kingsley were there almost immediately, both followed by individuals getting some last minute instructions. It took a few more minutes for Teddy to show up.
When everyone was seated Galadriel started in. "It looks like a two-thousand-year old secret of hidden farms worked by slaves has finally been revealed. I am sure that these documents are only the start of what we will be finding.
"Only wizards who are initiated into the secrets of these hidden farms and enslaved beings can read the documents. It is charmed so no witch can read them, nor can anyone outside of the group of wizards who have inherited these properties, passed down father to son over almost twenty centuries.
"The wizards never thought they would have to hide these documents from house elves. Goblin allies needed to be able to read these, so Goblin Elves can read them as well."
There was a knock on the door, and Zefenslot came in. Thorin opened the documents to a section and had his grandfather read it. The old goblin read the section proffered, and swore under his breath. He then looked at Scorpius, and asked, "Have you taken possession of your farm?"
"Rape all the witches to show they are my property? NO WAY. There must be something we can do to break these curses and free the slaves, Magi and Elf."
"If he could capture all the other owners?" Zefenslot asked, looking at Galadriel.
"Albus and Cleo are not at their full powers yet," Galadriel answered, "but working together I think we can break the curses. We just have to capture all the other owners, in England and France, first."
Everyone looked at Harry, and then Kingsley.
"Will the Portkey handcuffs work from the farm?" Harry wondered.
"I can find out," Scorpius replied. "If it transports one of the wizard slaves to the Ministry cells it should work on everyone."
"Try it on yourself as well, Scorpius," Harry told the young man. "Could Elves follow Scorpius to the farm?"
"Yes," Galadriel replied. "The farm owners view all Elves as slaves."
"What will it take to get an Auror there with Scorpius?" Harry continued.
Galadriel admitted, "Only a wizard who has raped a witch can go through that Floo, until we change the magic."
Teddy sighed. "I often feel I ought to be in prison for what I had to do to stay alive on that cursed island. Dennis McGraw and I should both be able to accompany Scorpius."
There was some rapid discussion, as Elves from all over started to appear in the conference room. Within an hour a very large contingent of Elves, plus Scorpius, Teddy, Dennis and several Goblins were at Malfoy Manor. Scorpius led the way through the Floo.
Scorpius first tested the Portkey handcuffs. They worked!
Scorpius send a message through the Floo in the hidden farm to the other hidden farms, asking the other farm owners to come to the Malfoy farm so he could take possession of it.
First through the Floo was William Bulstrode, followed by his son Burley, who had just graduated from Hogwarts. Elves put Portkey handcuffs on each of them, and they disappeared.
Edward Yaxley followed, accompanied by his father Thomas, and his son Felix. They were followed by a French wizard. The French wizards were transported to a special holding cell, and from there directly to France.
Also arrested from England were Niles Hanley, Arthur Lestrange, his father Alexander, his older son Marshall, James Rosier and his son Robert.
It took over two hours for everyone to show up, but eventually the wizard families who owned all five of the original twelve French farms and the other five British farms were captured.
Once all the owners of the farms were captured, Scorpius asked, "Now how do we break the curses on these farms?"
"Bless them, baptize them?" Galadriel wondered. "The instructions tell the owners to keep Christian artifacts and symbols away from the farms, Jewish artifacts and symbols as well."
Harry suggested, "Let me call Bishop Scherica."
Within the hour the bishop was there, accompanied by three priests from Switzerland and Jack Lewis, the pastor of the church Harry attended. Rabbi Sloan was also there. Galadriel explained the situation, as well as she could, to the bishop. None of the clergy could go through the Floo.
Bishop Scherica read the book, and consulted with Galadriel. He then blessed the book, anointing it with oil and sprinkling it with blessed water while asking that anything of the devil and evil be driven out. Writing briefly appeared before disappearing again. He took out his wand and tried some spells to reveal the writing, eventually finding one that would work. It seemed that praying for curses to be removed, then doing the spell with the wand, then sprinkling the book with holy water, seemed to work best.
"I think the spells, counter-spells, and blessings worked here because England and France were Christian," the bishop theorized. "There is left over Druid magic in the spells keeping most people from going to the farms as well, but it seems to be very old and weak."
Bishop Scherica opened a container and marked the sign of the cross on the Floo with blessed oil. He then sprinkled it with water, blessed water he explained. Then all of the clergy put their hands on the Floo as Bishop Scherica proclaimed, "I bless this Floo and the places it leads to. We assembled here reject any curses, any works of the devil, and claim this Floo and where it leads for the good God of all."
A foul smell came out of the Floo, lingering in the air.
The bishop then took out his wand, and performed some curse breaking spells on the Floo.
The crowd went through the Floo. The clergy blessed the Malfoy farm Floo, and then all the Magi, all the Elves, all the animals and buildings. When they were finished Zefenslot asked Scorpius, "Should the Magi and Elves continue to work? I can have all the goblins continue to work with them as if nothing had changed, for now."
Scorpius looked his mother-in-law, and Hermione advised him, "I would think that the farmers should continue to farm. There will be no more torture, and conditions will improve for everyone, but for right now it is best if work continues as usual."
They then took the farm Floo to the other farms. They could even take one of the Floo connections to one in France. The clergy blessed all the other farms, first in England, and then in France, and removed as many of the curses as they could. It was late in the evening when they were finished.
Before they left, Zefenslot told Scorpius and the assembled group, "I will be working with the Goblins who have been handling the farm money. The spells binding them to secrecy have changed, but it will take the Goblins at least two days to figure out the finances.
"Scorpius, you should be at each farm every day for a while. You should ask questions and find out what each farm grows, how they make their money, how they support themselves. I would strongly advise you not to make any decisions until you have good advisors who you can trust, and until you know much more about each farm.
"Remember, a crop grows best when it can hear the farmer's footsteps on the field."
Harry added, "Scorpius, the best farm Elf I have is Sojourner Truth. I can ask her if she has an Elf who could help you. Maybe even one you could hire."
"I would appreciate that," Scorpius replied. "I'm just woefully unprepared for all this."
That Wednesday afternoon, while Scorpius and the clergy were busy, Harry called Gray Blackburn and his wife Lavender into his office. He explained all he could about the hidden farms, and then told the couple, "There are two Hogwarts students that probably have been taken to the farms by their fathers, Lucius Hanley, who is a seventh-year, and Simon Lestrange, who is a first year. They need to know that their fathers are being detained because of the farms. I also want to know if, now that at least some of the curses are broken, they remember what they could not, and can talk about what they could not talk about."
"We will call Minerva," Lavender replied. "We will try to meet with the two students after dinner."
Later that evening Lavender and Gray came to twelve Grimmauld Place to meet with Harry. They came by Floo, and were met by Mabel the elderly house elf who guarded the Potter home. Mabel led them upstairs, announcing, "Master will see you now."
"I asked Mabel how she liked working for you," Gray remarked, "and she forcefully remarked that she was an honest house elf, and she served her master with honor and without pay."
"Her descendants are Elves," Harry remarked, "but Mabel will die a house elf.
"How did your meetings go?"
"Two meetings, two different results," Gray explained.
"Simon Lestrange remembers a little. I do not think he wants anything to do with evil. There seems to be a fair amount of conflict within the Lestrange family, and horror at how evil Bellatrix was."
"The Hanley family," Lavender added, "is another matter. I think all the males in that family are taught to be vicious from an early age. Lucius Hanley was very uncooperative. He and his father lived alone, except for a couple of Elves, since his wife and daughter moved out."
"We don't want Lucius Hanley to inherit the farm and continue to abuse people," Harry thought. "I'm not sure who is going to own the farms, though. It is almost like by capturing the other wizards Scorpius can claim ownership of everything. I'm not sure, though."
"I think you have a big mess on your hands, Harry," Lavender suggested with no small sympathy.
It was just after ten in the evening before Scorpius had said goodbye to all of the people who had accompanied him to the hidden farms. Teddy Lupin told Scorpius, "I will meet you here at nine with a group of Magi and Elves to visit all of the farms again."
"Thank you, Teddy," Scorpius replied with a weak wave. It was obvious that both of them were exhausted.
Rose led Scorpius into the dining room where there were sandwiches and a salad for him to eat. Rose and Narcissa were with him.
"Tomorrow we want both of you to come with us to visit all of the farms," Scorpius told the two witches. Rose and Narcissa agreed to spend the next day with Scorpius.
Rose went up to the Master Suite with Scorpius, and accompanied him into the In-Suite bathroom. The showered together, her washing him more than he washing her. Rose dried them both with a spell, and led her tired husband to bed.
Scorpius put on his pajamas and lay down on the bed with his back to Rose. She cuddled up against him and told him, "I am very proud of what you did today."
"I just feel so dirty, so ashamed," Scorpius cried, obviously very upset.
Rose had seen Scorpius in this mood before. It was going to be hard for him to sleep, except when he was as uptight as right now she knew that if she could get Scorpius to make love to her it would relax him and allow him to sleep.
"When your father had you rape those witches he raped you! You have started the process to end all this," Rose insisted. "Make love to me, just to reinforce that sex is good, is holy, is right, with the right person and at the right time."
Rose held Scorpius for some time, as he gradually relaxed. Eventually she had his attention, and they did make love. Rose knew that if Scorpius climaxed, if they made love, Scorpius should fall asleep, which he did. The actual act was far quicker than she liked, and she was just on the edge of being unsatisfied, but this was not about her. She looked at their soulmate rings, which were glowing. Love was not a 50/50 arrangement. At times you each had to give your all. She fell asleep feeling very satisfied.
Scorpius arose the next morning, Thursday, to his muggle/magical/mobile blinking. His mother-in-law wanted to come to breakfast. Rose was stirring, so he woke her up. She agreed, and told Scorpius, "Tell her to come at eight."
So he did.
Scorpius, Rose, Narcissa, Druella and Hermione ate together that morning. Astoria sulked in her rooms and did not attend.
"Harry is talking to Sojourner, his farm supervisor, this morning," Hermione told the Granger-Malfoy household. "I do think you need to visit each farm every day for the next few days."
"When will we get to go back to school?" Rose wondered.
Hermione shook her head 'no.' "I doubt if you will be able to be back this year. I think that the best way for you to finish any coursework you want or need is to hire tutors to teach you privately."
"What is going to happen to the wizards you captured, and their families?" Rose wondered.
"Right now Harry and the Aurors are questioning them," Hermione replied. "I do not have any idea what is going to happen to them or their families. The legal ownership of all the farms, in France as well as in England, is quite uncertain at the moment, as is the legal position of all of what may be the former owners."
At nine Sojourner Truth showed up at Malfoy Manor with a young Elf couple. Sojourner greeted the Magi, saying, "Hermione, Rose, Scorpius, Narcissa, greetings. I assume this is the heroine Druella Black? Greetings."
Each of the individuals acknowledged the greetings.
Sojourner continued, "This is my son Gabriel Isaac and his mate Grace. They are fully capable of managing a farm. If you wish, they will accompany you on your visits for the next week. After that, we can all talk about what you want to do next."
"Thank you," Scorpius replied. He looked at his great grandmother, his mother, his mother-in-law, and his wife. "What do you say?" he wondered.
"I think you ought to see if they can help you," Rose replied. "I've never pictured you as a farmer."
"I do as well," Narcissa added.
"I agree." Hermione said. "Also, I think you ought to take Narcissa and Rose along."
"I would like to have both of you help me," Scorpius responded.
"I would like that!" Narcissa enthusiastically agreed.
"I would too, but I would also like to work on redecorating Malfoy Manor," Rose volunteered. "Only when I have time, of course, but Malfoy Manor is just … it isn't very comfortable."
"Visit today and tomorrow, at least, Rose. If you let Narcissa help you should be able to find enough time you need to in order to redecorate Malfoy Manor," Hermione told Rose.
"I'm comfortable letting Mum Malfoy help Scorpius right now," Rose reflected. "That should break the paternal way the family has been managed better than if I just went with Scorpius occasionally and mum Malfoy wasn't involved."
"I agree, Ms. Granger-Malfoy," Sojourner agreed.
Hermione left to go back to the Ministry, but the rest, including Sojourner spent the rest of the day visiting all of the farms. They tried to record all the names of the people and house elves, and tried to find out what each of them did. They also found out that the house elves magic was somewhat limited by some old agreements, or something. Anything to do with house elves or Elves became rather fuzzy the further back you went.
The people were Magi, not Squibs, but their magic was limited by spells, and by some sort of spell or limits put on their wands. Figuring out what had been done to them to keep them enslaved was going to take time and effort.
The Magi in Britain all had names that started with 'Malfoy's' followed by their personal name.
The situation in France was more complicated, with names and other issues. As soon as the French Ministry became involved everything in France seemed to be complicated.
Meanwhile the Magi and house elves mostly seemed to be grateful for the lack of abuse.
Thursday morning Harry Potter and two of his best interrogators, one male, one female, strode into the holding cell of William Bulstrode. Harry took one look at Bulstrode and recognized the look. It said, 'Potter is a cocky piece of excrement.'
Harry performed the spell Galadriel and Bishop Scherica taught him to allow Bulstrode to talk about the farms, and then sprinkled some blessed water at him.
Bulstrode was obviously puzzled by Harry's actions. Harry then greeted the prisoner, "You had a nice farm, Bulstrode. Not one of the bigger ones, but nice."
"How would you know?" Bulstrode sneered.
"Once Bishop Scherica blessed the Floo connections with holy oil, sprinkled blessed water on it, and he and several priests and a rabbi prayed to deliver them from evil, it was easy to use them," Harry replied. "We have been to all six of the farms in Great Britain and all five in France.
"There will be no more raping, no more killing, no more abusing workers, Magi or Elf. Beyond that we want to see who wants to continue to help manage the Granger-Malfoy farms, and who is just going to curse and sulk."
"Malfoy doesn't own MY farm," Bulstrode shouted. "I want a lawyer. I want to be bailed out. I'm not telling you bastards anything!"
Harry replied, "You have already admitted to having owned the farm, something you could not do before today."
He and the other two Magi walked out. The went next door to the cell of Burley Bulstrode.
Burley stood up, and said, "Hello, Mr. Potter."
"Hello, Mr. Bulstrode. I need to do a spell and bless you so you can talk."
"Yes, sir," Burley replied.
Harry performed the spell and sprinkled Burley with the blessed water. Then he said, "We have a few questions."
"I will tell you everything I know, Mr. Potter, Sir. I'm not proud of what my father and some of the other men want me to do. I'm not proud that I did what they wanted me to do either."
They talked for over an hour about the farms. Finally, Harry asked, "Who else might be on our side?"
"Robert Rosier, for sure," Burley replied. "We talked about it the couple of times when we were on the farms. No one could talk about the farms unless we were on one of them. The charms that kept us from revealing them are, or were, very powerful. But Rosie Rosier is on the side of Albus and his allies, and we both felt dirty, bad, about what we were doing. We just didn't know how to get out of it.
"I don't know about Marshall Lestrange. He is only a year older, but in the dynamics of Slytherin that can be important. I do know Felix Yaxley, and I doubt if you will get any cooperation from him."
Harry asked his team to see how they could have Burley declared innocent, or guilty oflesser charges, so they could get his help. Harry thought they should avoid having Burley serve any time in Azkaban, but ideally just be on probation for a period of time.
Harry then went into see Arthur Lestrange. After the same spell and blessing actions, Harry asked Arthur, "What do you want to tell me about the farm?"
"What do you want me to say?" Arthur wondered. "I'm surprised we were caught? I'm sorry? I want to cooperate? I know some of what we did was evil, but I know that escaping the very old magic that made you do it was not easy either."
"How do your father and son feel about the farm, and how you had to cruelly dominate the beings who worked for you?" Harry asked.
"Albus and his friends changed the nature of Slytherin. Marshall was not on the side of those who railed against the changes like the Hanley family and some others. I hope you can … I hope he is not in too much trouble. My father has been involved with the farms for many more years. I'm not sure he took much pleasure in what he has had to do, however. More of us were caught in this evil than eagerly engaging in it. We are not all like Lucius Malfoy, who loved rape and torture."
"Who else is like Lucius, besides the Hanley family?" Harry wondered.
"William Bulstrode, but not Burley, I would guess. Probably the whole Yaxley family."
Harry ended up having a long conversation with Arthur Lestrange.
After two intense days of questioning Burley Bulstrode, the Lestrange family and Robert Rosier were let out, with agreements to work out plea deals. Ownership of their farms was going to be worked out later, and it was not clear that any of the families would retain any ownership of their former farms.
The Magi and Elves who worked for the Hanley and Yaxley families were adamant that they were evil masters, and the Ministry initiated proceedings to strip them of all ownership of their farms. James Rosier was a more complicated case, since he was not as evil and harsh as the Hanley and Yaxley men, but hardly repentant and cooperative. He was kept in custody along with the others. Robert Rosier had several long discussions with his father, and eventually James was allowed out on probation, with firm orders not to set foot on his or any other of the farms, and to allow his son access to all of the information that he possessed pertaining to the farm.
Something similar was happening in France with the French families and farms, something that Scorpius was already involved with and was going to have to be deeply involved with soon, although it was beginning to look like the French Ministry was going to end up owning and managing the French farms.
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