THIS BOOK MOVES SLOWLY! Progress was so slow that Ron up and left. But now he’s back.
When Harry reappeared with Ron, I think a better opener would have been, “Hey, the locket’s destroyed. Here! *toss* Oh, and I found the sword of Gryffindor while I was out. It was in a puddle.”
Continuing on to the chapter named “‘I like strange things” Lovegood.