HHH-7206 caused an NPE in TwoPhaseLoad#initializeEntity. This was found while reproducing HHH-7910 – the test described there is necessary to reproduce this NPE.

doInitializeEntity checks 'if ( entityEntry == null )' and throws an AssertionFailure. This is too late and needs to be done in initializeEntity, before the 'entityEntry.getPersister()' is attempted.